Nothing to complain about this time #birdporn

Dear Multitudes,

The last two days have been a Birdie Extravaganza. South Texas rules.

We arrived at Estero Llano State Park early on Wednesday. After buying our Texas State Park Annual Pass and scanning the lake, we trudged the muddy trails to find this cutie:

The grass-loving Gray-Crowned Yellowthroat, if you know what I mean

This little guy is usually found only in Central America, but for some reason decided to come north, maybe to enjoy the cold weather? Fortunately for us, this migrant had not yet been picked up by the seemingly ubiquitous Border Patrol, despite several recent reports of his presence. So, with the help of a Snowbird who had seen him recently, we were able to refind the bird and track him for about 20 minutes. Our friend Laura, a Yellowthroat fan, will undoubtably be jealous!

The rest of Wednesday and Thursday has been one interesting sighting after another. We found this Eastern Screech Owl in the same box he/she was in last April:

This night owl needs to take lessons on how to sleep during the day. Tip #1: For a solid rest, do not stick your face
out the window.

The Least Grebe, rarely-seen outside of south Texas and occasionally south Arizona, came out to visit for a while:

Eyes glowing yellow, slightly demonically

We had a long encounter with a Green Kingfisher:

That's an absurdly large bill. And, you know what they say about large bills...

 And tracked down this White-eyed Vireo:

Like small lemons with wings and pointy bills, this vireo has a sour attitude. 

Thanks to a friendly, matronly birder, we got to see the Common Paraque during the day, normally found only in the gloaming or the witching hour:

This idiot was sitting right next to the side of the road in broad daylight. Of course, we did walk by him multiple times without seeing him, until we were physically pointed in the right direction, so I guess his camo works fairly well.

And, today we found a young female Prairie Warbler, far from her normal habitat:

Young lady, if you're hanging out in Texas waiting for Spring Break, you know you have two more months to wait, right?

Net, we've added nearly 60 birds to our year count in the past two days.

Tomorrow, we leave Pharr/McAllen and head east to Brownsville. We'll spend a few days around there, then move to South Padre Island for our last night in TX.

Love,
Me

p.s. the best road sign recently has been: "HITCHHIKERS MAY BE ESCAPING INMATES". Run, hikers, run!!!