Index of Interesting/Unusual/Rare birds
Last Updated: December10, 2020 All birds were photographed in Texas unless stated otherwise:
Nov. 2013: a new section on ESTIMATING BIRD NUMBERS, using photos from a variety of situations: CLICK HERE. |
Two Emperor Geese,
from near Seattle, Washington - added May 11, 2014.
A male American
Wigeon with a striking head pattern - added Feb 23, 2004.
An American Black Duck from Fort
Worth, Texas - added Jan, 2000.
A
female Common
Pochard from Fort Worth in November 2003
- sadly too far away for definitive pics -
added Nov 23, 2003.
Poor flight pics of a female-type Harlequin Duck near Fort Worth,
Texas - added Dec,
2001.
Female Common
Mergansers at sunset, from west Texas - added April
12, 2013.
A Masked Duck from the Corpus Christi area - plus Lesser Black-backed Gull and Cassin's
Vireofor an unlikely one-day
Photo Triple ! - added Dec 23, 2004.
A pair of
Masked Ducks from south of Kingsville - added May 13, 2007 .
A male Alternate plumage Ruddy
Duck taking a bath, from the central
coast - added April 27, 2010 .
A bit of fun with some Least Grebes... - added July 31, 2006.
A Clark's
Grebe at sunset, from west Texas - added
April 12, 2013.
A rare opportunity to photograph six species of grebe including Red-necked
Grebe at Balmorehea Lake, western
Texas - updated
December 11, 2013.
an immature Brown
Booby from Port
Aransas, Texas - added February
27, 2005.
A Great Blue Heron
swimming with cormorants near Fort Worth - re-added Dec 11, 2005.
A group of Snowy
Egrets fishing on-the-fly in San Antonio
- re-added Dec 11, 2005.
An Ashy Cattle
Egret from Houston - added June 11, 2007 .
A flying Least
Bittern from coastal Texas - Added December 07, 2011 .
The first ABA Area record of Bare-throated
Tiger-Heron -
added January 02, 2010 .
A striking Basic I Mississippi Kite from the
central part of the Rio Grande drainage in Texas - added May 14, 2014.
A bit of fun with two Northern
Harriers near Fort Worth... - re-added Dec 11, 2005.
Two interesting Northern
Harriers from north-central Texas - added July 19, 2009.
A wonderful hour of hawkwatching that included eight
dark-morph Broad-winged Hawks - six
photographed, plus a nice flock of Wood Storks - added
October 20, 2013.
A wonderful ninety minutes of watching more than 35.000 Broad-winged Hawks
lift off and kettle over a McAllen, TX neighborhood - added October
10, 2016.
A January juvenile Broad-winged Hawk from coastal
south Texas - added
January 04, 2014.
Two Gray Hawks
from SE Arizona; one a 2CY completing its PB1 molt - added
September 05, 2013.
An immature Roadside
Hawk from southern Texas - added Feb 06, 2005.
Two light-morph Short-tailed Hawks from
southern Texas in 2004 and 2013 - updated August 04, 2013.
This Bald Eagle
from Alaska is a two-fisted killer! - added September 12, 2008.
A pesky yet impressive Peregrine: you go girl! - added Feb 07, 2005 .
A flying Peregrine
carrying unexpected prey - WARNING: it's a little bit gruesome... - added April
12, 2013.
A flying Peregrine
stirring-up gulls feeding over a pack of cormorants - updated
December 15, 2013.
A confiding Prairie
Falcon near an Icterid-packed feedlot in
south Texas - added
May 17, 2014.
The first Gyrfalcon
for Texas- Updated March 23, 2002.
Five Whooping
Cranes near Fort Worth; now with sound! - updated
Nov 02, 2003.
TWO(!) Common Cranes near Muleshoe,
Texas; - added
November 24, 2014.
All three species of Ptarmigan, from Colorado
and Alaska - added April 12, 2013.
The amazing first ABA Area record of Rufous-necked
Wood-Rail from New Mexico! - added July
14, 2013.
Virginia
Rail: headline:- "Migrant
Derailed by Front; Circumstances Grave..." - added
October 08, 2013.
A Spotted
Rail from southern Texas - added
December 23, 2020.
A reflective American Avocet from the
north-central Texas
- added May 20, 2014.
A white Killdeer
from north-central Texas - added July 19,
2009.
The 1st and 2nd U.S. Collared
Plovers, from south Texas - added
August 02, 2014.
Some Collared
Plovers from CHILE
showing broken fore-collars and broad side-collars - added
August 03, 2014.
Portraits of some Mountain Plovers from near
Pearsall, south Texas - added March 06 2005
.
Some tail-shaking Mountain Plovers from near
Pearsall, south Texas - added December 25, 2013.
A Mountain
Plover from near Pearsall, Texas; it is
a male in breeding plumage in January - ? - updated February
04, 2011 .
A Semipalmated Sandpiper wintering
in Texas (it has a deformity) -
updated Dec 20, 2005.
part of a Megaflock of Buff-breasted
Sandpipers on the Texas Coastal Plain
- added July 19, 2009.
A juvenile Sharp-tailed
Sandpiper from the
Texas Panhandle - added Nov 17,
2004.
A first-summer Surfbird
from the central Texas coast - added May
03, 2009 .
Wandering
Tattler - Texas's only record - updated February 04,
2011 .
Two dueling Solitary
Sandpipers from the central Texas coast
- added
September 10, 2013.
Three Ruffs
from Texas - updated November 13, 2015.
Three Northern
Jacanas from south Texas - updated November 13, 2015.
The first South Polar
Skua for the Gulf of Mexico - added Nov 13, 2004.
A Little Gull
in full juvenile plumage, from Texas in November - - re-added Dec 11, 2005.
First-cycle Black-legged
Kittiwakes from the central Texas coast
in early Spring and from south Texas in February - updated February 05, 2013.
Five species of
Tern in thirteen days at Lake Benbrook, near
Fort Worth - including Sooty Tern - added Sept 23, 2002.
Two inland waifs from Hurricane
Dolly in July 2008: a close Sooty
Tern, and a distant Storm-Petrel - added July 25, 2008 .
A Brown Noddy
from inshore south Texas waters - added
June 26, 2005.
Two male eastern Ruddy
Ground-Doves from southern Texas - updated November 13, 2015.
A gray-morph Chuck-will's-widow
from the Texas coast - added July 19, 2009.
Three Eastern
Whip-poor-wills: from Corpus Christi,
Texas - updated November 13, 2015.
Two Snowy Owls
from Texas - added
February 21, 2012.
A ghostly pale Great
Horned Owl from west Texas - added January 13, 2013.
A Long-eared
Owl on a day roost in San Antonio, Texas
- added
December 15, 2013.
Record pics of a Mountain Pygmy-Owl from Big
Bend National Park, west Texas- added Sept
03, 2007.
A Northern
Pygmy-Owl from Washington State
- added February 28, 2008 .
This Ferruginous
Pygmy-Owl from southern Texas had to
play second fiddle, despite showing very well... - added
November 11, 2014.
A Plain-capped
Starthroat from SE Arizona - added
September 05, 2013.
A male Broad-billed
Hummingbird from OUR
BALCONY (!) in San Antonio, Texas - added
January 25, 2015.
A male Broad-billed
Hummingbird plus adult female Magnificent
and male Black-chinned Hummingbirds from SE Arizona - added
September 05, 2013.
A male Broad-billed
Hummingbird from Houston, Texas - added Nov 13 2004.
A juvenile Magnificent
Hummingbird from near San Antonio, Texas
- added Oct 24 2004.
Male Magnificent
Hummingbirds plus adult male Calliope
from SE Arizona - added July 28, 2014.
A male Green-breasted
Mango from South Texas - added Aug
24 2004.
A male Buff-bellied
Hummingbird from South Texas - added May 05 2004.
An adult Violet-crowned
Hummingbird from west Texas - added December 07, 2011.
A female Calliope
Hummingbird from west Texas - added December 07, 2011.
Male Calliope,
Broad-tailed and Black-chinned
Hummingbirds from west Texas - added July 29, 2009.
Four species of hummingbird: Allen's, Calliope, Rufous and Black-chinned (plus a
bonus bird and butterfly!) on a February
day in San Antonio,
Texas - added February 05, 2013.
A "southern" Red-breasted
Sapsucker from West Texas - added March 11, 2005.
Williamson's
Sapsucker a male from west Texas - added May 23, 2011 .
A mixed pair of Red-
and Yellow-shafted Northern Flickers
interacting - re-added Dec 11, 2005.
Male Elegant Trogon
and Blue Bunting
from south Texas on January 14-16 2005 -
added January 16, 2005.
A flying female Ringed Kingfisher from south
Texas - added December 07, 2011.
. All four
Texas kingfishers in just over six
hours!
- added November 10, 2013.
A Northern
Beardless-Tyrannulet from south Texas - added
October 08, 2013.
A Buff-breasted
Flycatcher from the Davis Mtns, Texas - added May 31, 2005.
A Greater
Pewee wintering in southern Texas - added January 11, 2011 .
An unexpected Thick-billed Kingbird at
Portal, SE Arizona - added July, 2014.
A couple of Fork-tailed
Flycatchers from Texas - added September 03, 2008.
The first documented record for North
America of Social Flycatcher, from southern Texas - added Jan 09, 2005.
Poor pics of a
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
from the upper Texas Coast - added April 22, 2006 .
A young male Rose-throated
Becard from southern Texas - added August 15, 2010 .
An adult male Rose-throated
Becard from southern Texas - added
December 10, 2020.
A leucistic Loggerhead
Shrike from San Antonio - added December, 20 2005.
Three of six Northern Shrikes
in three days in the Texas Panhandle - plus the first
one from the Trans-Pecos in 25 years... -
updated January 13, 2013.
Two Black-capped
Vireos from the
Hill Country - added May 16, 2005.
A Hutton's Vireo from San
Antonio - added April 05, 2008 .
A Bell's Vireo from the
southern coast - added October 13, 2011.
Two Tamaulipas Crows from Brownsville, LRGV - added May 16, 2005.
Two Fish Crows
from eastern Texas in the summer of 2013 - added July 03, 2013.
Some southwestern Purple Martins from southeast
Arizona nesting in Saguaro cactus - added July 30, 2014.
Four western Purple Martins from
southeastern New Mexico - added July 14, 2013.
Two eastern Purple Martins from southern
Texas with very different P-molt timing... - added March 10, 2014.
Pioneering Purple Martins from the eastern
Trans-Pecos of Texas that are nesting inside light pole
fixtures and on ledges under metal canopies - added June 02,
2016.
A Violet-green
Swallow from Fort Worth - added June 11, 2012.
A Violet-green
Swallow from Colorado - added December 07, 2011.
A selection from a huge Swallow drop-in near Fort
Worth - added October 03, 2003
.
A Golden-crowned
Kinglet flashing his crest, from Washington
State - added February 28, 2008
.
At last, a Juniper
Titmouse from Texas! - added
September 24, 2013.
A comparison of Brown-headed
and Pygmy Nuthatches from Texas and Colorado
- added January 16, 2012.
A Brown
Creeper from eastern Texas - added January 16, 2012.
Phainopeplas
from west Texas - added December 07,
2011 .
An American Dipper
from the western Texas, by Willie Sekula - added December 01, 2014.
The second Texas record of Northern Wheatear
- plus Northern Jacana and
Carolina Chickadee for an
unlikely one-day Photo Triple !
- added January 02, 2010 .
Unexpected Western
Bluebirds from San Antonio, Texas - added February 22, 2012 .
A White-throated
Thrush from southern Texas - added January 11, 2011 .
A gorgeous male Varied
Thrush from San Antonio, Texas- added
November 08, 2004.
A thought-provoking Tropical Mockingbird from the
Upper Texas Coast - added May 01, 2012 .
A Crissal Thrasher
from west Texas - added May 30, 2013.
A delightful Painted
Redstart in Corpus Christi, Texas - added April 13, 2004.
Another lovely Painted
Redstart - this one from Arizona
- added September 03, 2007 .
A series of pages of various warblers from an amazing Fallout at
South Padre Island - added May 05 2004:
- male Bay-breasted Warbler.
- male and female Golden-winged
Warblers.
- male Tennessee, Cerulean and Blackburnian Warblers.
- male Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and Black-throated Green Warblers.
- male Northern Parula, American Redstart.
- female Cape May Warbler,
Philadelphia Vireo, plus "combos".
A scarce Black-throated
Blue Warbler from the Central Texas
Coast; an educational really dull female! - plus now a male from the same spot - updated July 19, 2009.
Yellow-throated
Warblers from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
Palm
Warbler from coastal Texas - updated October 13, 2011 .
Prairie Warbler
from coastal Texas - added September 11, 2013.
A black-throated
Tennessee Warbler from south Texas - added
April 29, 2013.
A Hooded Warbler from the central
Texas coast - added
April 27, 2010 .
A Worm-eating
Warbler from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
An unexpected Lucy's Warbler from Port Aransas, Nueces county, plus Bar-tailed
Godwit and Mag. Frigatebird from
the same day!
- added October 12, 2014.
A Colima Warbler
from west Texas - added May 30, 2013.
Northern Parulas
from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010 .
A Kentucky
Warbler from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
A Prothonotary
Warbler from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
Mourning
Warbler two Spring males; two "broken
eyering" immatures plus an unusual female from the Fall, from
coastal Texas -
updated November 07, 2014.
A MacGillivray's
Warbler from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
Scarce Cape May
Warblers from the Central Texas Coast - added July 19, 2009.
A nice, clean-looking male Tropical Parula from San
Antonio - added Jan 04, 2006.
A cooperative Hermit
Warbler from the Central Texas Coast
- added April 27, 2010 .
A rare Hermit
Warbler from the Central Texas Coast - added May 01, 2005.
An even rarer Red-faced Warbler from the same
Central Texas Coast spot as the above Hermit
Warbler; at bottom of page - added May 08, 2005.
A Red-faced
Warbler from southeastern New
Mexico - added July 14, 2013.
A lovely male Golden-cheeked Warbler from the Hill Country - updated May 20, 2014.
An obliging Swainson's
Warbler from Corpus Christi -
added April 25, 2007.
A record shot of a Golden-crowned Warbler from
south Texas - added December 07, 2011.
A lovely Rufous-capped Warbler from
south of San Antonio - updated November 30, 2004.
The long-staying Gray-crowned
Yellowthroat from
Sabal Palm, LRGV; but is it a pure bird???
- added May 16, 2005.
An Olive
Warbler from the Davis Mtns, Texas - added May 31, 2005.
A Hatching Year Red-legged
Honeycreeper from southern Texas; a
potential First for the ABA area
- added November 30,
2014.
A cooperative Sagebrush
Sparrow from west Texas - updated November 11,
2014.
A nicely-posed adult Golden-crowned Sparrow from
west-central Texas - added December 25,
2007 .
Flight shots of the Lewisville, Texas Snow Bunting. - added January 01, 2007 .
A male Varied
Bunting from the central Texas coast - added April 27, 2010
.
A male Yellow-faced
Grassquit from south-central Texas coast
(plus a handful of interesting "photo-mates" from the same
day) - added February 14, 2011
.
A Flame-colored
Tanager from the southern Texas coastal
plain - added
October 08, 2016.
Rare on the Texas coast, Western Tanagers; male and
female - added July 19, 2009.
A male Scarlet Tanager with golden wingbars
from south Texas - added April 29, 2013.
Male and female Crimson-collared
Grosbeaks from the LRGV - updated January 16, 2005.
A wintering Scott's
Oriole from Tarrant County, TX - updated March 15, 2003 .
Audubon's
Orioles from Bexar and Frio counties,
TX; north of their tradional range - added May 20, 2014.
A Black-vented
Oriole from south Texas - added January 11, 2011 .
A "gray-morph" Orchard Oriole from Corpus
Christi, Texas - added
April 20, 2015.
Yellow-headed
Blackbirds in flight (landing) from the
central Texas coast -
added April 27, 2010 .
Four forms of Rosy
Finch from Sandia Crest, NM;
all 4 types in flight, standing, and together in one shot. - updated May 23, 2011 .
A female Evening
Grosbeak from west Texas - added January 13, 2013.