Beach Birds

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The weather was glorious last weekend and so the beaches around Quintana were crowded with people and vehicles. Given this, it wasn't surprising that birds were comparatively few and far between.

On Saturday afternoon Bryan Beach had only a couple of groups of shorebirds. As always, Sanderlings were the most common, busily crisscrossing the sand in search of food.


In addition to the American Oystercatcher whose photos I featured yesterday, there were a few Willets.


I was delighted to see my first-of-year Snowy Plovers, distinctive with their gray legs.


Some larger shorebirds had me puzzled for a while, until I realized that they were Red Knots, another first-of-year species for my trip list.


On Sunday morning we had a quick walk along Quintana Beach, where the sand was covered with shells, feathers and small crabs.




I searched among the groups of gulls for the Lesser-blacked Gulls that had been reported earlier in the week but all I saw were the usual Laughing Gulls. Mixed in with the gulls were a few terns, including a handful of Caspian Terns.


By now the beach was starting to fill up with people and so we left for home. Although our weekend hadn't produced the number of birds that I had hoped, we had both enjoyed the trip. After all, any Upper Texas Coast trip that produces Groove-billed Anis and Vermilion Flycatchers has to be regarded as rather special!
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