I’ve decided to change the name of the blog. If you read the earlier post entitled What’s in a Name?, you know that the original name was just a place-holder until I decided on a proper name for a birding blog. When Sheila and I were at Rockport I saw a Mallard Hybrid that stuck out from the rest of the flock-a bit of an odd duck. It didn’t seem to bother him much and I took an immediate liking to him and have named this blog in his honor.
Since the last post I’ve either been at work of the weather has been terrible for taking pictures-60 mile an hour winds and dark, overcast days, so I don’t have any new pictures. So, I though I’d post a few more of the pictures from the trip to the coast.
Here’s the Odd Duck.
This Northern Mockingbird was vigorously defending this berry bush. Not sure what the berries are, but he seemed quite proud of them–loudly running off other birds that tried to eat them.
We watched this American Kestrel chase off this much larger Red-tailed Hawk. The kestrel screamed and dived at the harrier until he flew off. The kestrel followed him, still screeching and dive-bombing.
Green-winged Teals lined up on a rail, preening their feathers.
A Brown Pelican, an American White Pelican, some Ring-billed Gulls, and several Double-crested Cormorants preening and sunning.
The cormorants have turquoise eyes and their feathers are not water-proof, like most waterbirds’ feathers are. The wet feathers are heavy and this is thought to help them dive deeper–up to about 20 meters. When the get out of the water they stand with their wings outstretched to dry them.
There were small shore birds and gulls everywhere we went. Here’s a Black-bellied Plover–the reason it’s belly isn’t black is that it is either a female or an immature plover, only the mating males have black bellies and then only in breeding season.
For more of the birds we saw on the Gulf Coast see the road trip gallery.
Photoavian 