Beaks in My Lens: RGV Texas: Day 3 - Sabal Palm, Hugh Ramsey and Parrots

#238 Red-fronted Parrots

We drove to the southern most point of Texas this morning, across the border wall and levee, to Sabal Palm Sanctuary. It was an incredibly windy day (~25mph) and there were few birds out and the wetland area was dried up. Next stop, the University of Texas RGV campus where a rare Social Flycatcher had been seen for the past few weeks. Despite having an exact location, and seeing a group of birders at that location, the bird was not There - speculation is that it was just too windy for a small bird. Disappointed, we headed back got the hotel for a nap. While Avi was still asleep, I snuck over to Hugh Ramsey Park (3 miles from our hotel) qand sat at the three feeder areas. The wind died down and the temperature was now in the 90’s - fortunately the feeders were in the shade - and the birds were busy, perhaps making up for lost time earlier in this day.

Our evening was spent a Tony Oliviera Park, where hundreds if not thousands of parrots come to roost for the the evening. They all arrive within a ~15 min. time span just as the sun is going below the horizon. There were several other birders there to watch. I imagine it is a lot like waiting for a rocket launch - a LOT of waiting for a few short minutes of intense excitement. My hours of watching videos and reading blogs about my camera functionality paid off because I was able to get a few good photos of the fast moving birds in the very low light!