After two year of birding only in Maine (Pandemic and Maine Big Year), yesterday evening Ingrid and I flew into the Gulf Coast of Texas for a week of catching up.
First stop was the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas where we saw dozens of species including White Pelicans . . . damn we had missed them.
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/American-Coot.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/American-Avocets.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Black-neck-Stilt.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Blue-winged-Teals.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Great-tailed-Grackle.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Lesser-Scaup.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Long-billed-Dowtichers.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Northern-Shoveler.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Peid-billed-Grebe.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Pyrrhuloxia.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Reddish-Egret-White-Morph.jpg)
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tri-colored-Heron.jpg)
Later in the day, Ingrid spotted a small falcon on at platform a couple hundred yard from the road . . . a Aplomado Falcon. This Mexican species crosses the USA southern border occasionally. We had tried for this bird many times before the pandemic . . . glad to finally get it.
![](https://www.bigyearbirding.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Aplomado-Falcon.jpg)
Tomorrow we head for the Rio Grande Valley looking for a Bat Falcon, a rarity that has been hanging around since December.