Hooked

  I'll save the details on the long drive. It was a long drive. Exhausting actually. I don't think I could have picked a worse time to quit smoking but I'm sure the rental car company thanks me for it anyway. I'll also save the details on the next morning where for the first time in a week it was cold (45 degrees) in the morning and gray and overcast. It also was the first day in six days that the hook-billed kites didn't do their daily flyover. I was there from 7 am until 1pm with no luck. Then over to Laguna Atascosa for the rare chance of seeing a blue bunting that had recently been seen in a restricted area. It's a nice place. There are a lot of birds but not the one I had hoped for. We had one more day before we were flying home so that meant one more morning to try for kites. 

Standing on the dike at Bentson at 7 am it was a completely different story from  the day before. Not a cloud in the sky and and much warmer. I again separated from the group after talking with a bunch of people. I find that groups of people do a lot of talking compared to actually birding so I tend to go it alone. But I did meet a nice guy from Arizina who I plan to contact on my next trip out there since he lives in a great area for birds. 

After a little while a fellow Ohian joined us and we chatted a bit about the area and birds. Rick is a great birder and is lucky to spend the winter in such a beautiful place. 

We spent the next hour and a half watching different species of Hawks flying over with both types of vultures. Just after 11 we got on a bird that was a fair bit farther down the dike beginning to kettle with vultures. Without a doubt hook-billed kite. Then a pair of them. A dark male and a light female. We watched them through the scope and then they did the almost unthinkable. They actually flew closer. Overhead. Affording excellent looks. Including the hooked bill. It was a fantastic way to close out the trip. I had decided I was going to leave at noon to head back to Dallas with or without the kite. I left early and very happy. 

The long drive to Dallas was time rehash the birds and the scenery and the laughs. Lots of laughs.  It wa a great trip and I didn't want to go home but duty calls. And it won't be long before I hit the road again. The winter at home is brutal and there aren't any new birds in the state for me so I might as well go somewhere that has new birds. And sunshine.