In late August, the breeding birds of South Texas have raised their young and became less conspicuous. Nevertheless, even though colorful bird species like the Altamira Oriole might not be singing as much, the wetlands and mud flats on the coast offer more than enough birds to look for and photograph.
One of those choice coastal sites for birding in south Texas is South Padre Island. Although it’s a great place to go birding at just about any time of the year, it’s especially nice during late summer and fall. On a recent jaunt to South Padre Island, I came across some shorebirds and a good number of resident species.
There are lots of Least Sandpipers around. The characteristic yellowish legs of this common species are showing nicely in this image.
Although other shorebird species were around, many of the resident birds were presenting better photo opportunities so I decided to focus on birds like egrets, herons, and whistling ducks.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and their new born babies.
Whistling ducks show beautiful, striking plumage. However, they aren’t the only breeding duck species in south Texas. One of the other main nesting species is the Mottled Duck. This uncommon duck only occurs in the salt marshes of the gulf coast.
A Mottled Duck in south Texas.
A Snowy Egret was also bathing in the waters of the marsh.
Overall, it was a pretty good day for taking pictures of herons. While egrets and some other herons have long necks and legs that give them a graceful appearance, there are also species with short necks and stout bills.
The beautiful Green Heron is the most common small heron species in Texas and elsewhere in North America.
The Black-crowned Night Heron is a bit larger than the Green Heron.
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is the other night heron species that occurs in Texas. This is a juvenile.
A closer look at its stout bill and one of its golden colored eyes.
The three heron species shown directly above are fairly easy to see but the one below is a lot more secretive.
The Least Bittern is the smallest of the heron species that occur in North America and might even be the smallest in the world.
The Least Bittern is such a tough bird to see because it prefers to stay hidden in tall marsh vegetation. That said, South Padre Island and other sites in coastal Texas might be some of the easiest places to see this shy species.
A Least Bittern in the marsh.
The rich coastal wetlands of south Texas are always a good place to see and take pictures of birds. I wonder what will show up on the next trip to those coastal marshes?