Getting Photos

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It's funny how things work out sometimes. After our first two days in the Rio Grande Valley, I had reasonable photos of most of my target birds. However, I hadn't managed to get a clear picture of a Green Jay, even though we had seen dozens of these large and colorful birds. Either they didn't stay in view long enough or they were partially hidden by branches or they were in very dark shade.

So, when we visited Bentsen Rio Grande State Park on Sunday, I was pleased to see that one of their observation blinds was called "Green Jay Blind". The site deserved its name because the feeders in front of the blind were busy with up to 7 or 8 Green Jays at a time. So I finally managed to get a couple of photos that I was happy with.

I also got a couple of shots of one of the Jays as it took a quick bath.

The real photographic highlight of Sunday was of a different bird, though. During a quick visit to Anzalduas Park, I spotted two more Green Kingfishers. One of them, a male, let me get close enough for me to take a photo that clearly shows what a remarkably long bill this little bird has.

BTW, earlier in the day I had seen the other Kingfisher species that I had previously missed: the Ringed Kingfisher. Unfortunately, this bird was perched in an inaccessible spot on the river bank and so this picture is the best I could manage.

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