Zopteryx's Absence Explained [Image Heavy]

[ZoPteryx]

I was out of commission for a while during the summer (4 months and not a single post, clearly I must have died!) mainly because of school, moving (my entire collection is still boxed up ), and then not having anywhere to move to.  This "forced", my family and I to take a vacation; no need to ask us twice!   We drove from coastal southern California to the Rio Grande region of Texas (aka: bird watching heaven).  Long story short, I thought I'd share some wildlife photos from the trip.  Enjoy!

First stop: South East Arizona (Tucson) and Madera Canyon

Two male Clark's Spiny Lizards (Sceloporus clarkii) battle for dominance of our hotel room balcony.

Male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra).

Male Broad-billed Hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris).

Next stop: Somewhere in west Texas

A remarkably tame Common Checkered Whiptail (Cnemidophorus tesselatus).

Ultimate destination: Rio Grande Valley and South Padre Island, Texas

South Padre Island birding center, complete with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Great Egret, White Ibis, Laughing Gulls, and lots of other stuff.

Beautiful Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor).

Alligator mississippiensis, and a big one too.

Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula), one of my target birds.

Green Jays (Cyanocorax yncas) at a feeding station.  Easily my favorite birds of the trip.

Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway).  The bird was very approachable, hardly any zoom used on this photo.

A scarily large land/ghost crab of some sort.  Seriously, this things leg span was at least as large both my hands put together!  And it was living in a garden!  Anyone have an idea as to its species identity?  It's too big an too blue to be Ocypode quadrata, isn't it?

Return trip: Just outside Tucson, Arizona.

Showy male Greater Earless Lizard (Cophosaurus texanus).

As cool as alligators are, the reptilian highlight of the trip was this Gila Monster (Heloderma suspectum).  I had actually spotted him the previous night, but was unable to get any good photos.  The next night, I found him in an outdoor hallway on the hotel grounds, even more interesting is that he must of climbed up some stairs to get there!

Home: back in Southern California, greeted by Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus).  The individual in the first and third photo has been named "Hook" by local whale-watching guides, due to his damaged tail fluke.




In the end I was able to add about 35 new species of birds to my life list, although a missed a few I'd thought would easy, in addition to loads of other cool wildlife.  I have many more photos of many other species, if anyone is interested. 

Thanks for viewing!


Great Dane Emma thinking: "Were gonna need a bigger boat!"

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

Awesome pics !  As much as it was a forced trip..you clearly made the best of it !

[ITdactyl]

Those are great shots.  Thanks for sharing the pics.  ...And to see blue whales... wow.

[DinoToyForum]

Stunning! The folks over at ATF would be interested too, and might be able to help with the IDs. 

[ZoPteryx]

Thanks everyone!  I'll definitely post these and more over on ATF too.

[sauroid]

awesome pics. and welcome back.

[Gwangi]

Welcome back. I for one am jealous of all that wildlife you got to see and photograph. Thanks for sharing.

[Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus]

I am a little late to this page, but still...
Wow. What an experience!