Montana Travel Reports for 2006, March 25, 2006, World Birding Center

Not far, less than 1/2 mile from our campsite is the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, famous for it's birding. Here is their home web page, http://www.worldbirdingcenter.org/sites/mission/, it is easier to tell you where to look than to explain it all here. With the new camera in hand, off we went to one of the birding blinds. Here are a few photos:

Left: A Golden-fronted Woodpecker, he is about 10 inches long. His home is Texas and Mexico.

Right:  These lovely little blue birds are Indigo Bunting. Their habitat runs from Michigan to Texas, East Coast to about the Rocky Mountains (from what I can tell from the map in my bird book). I have only seen this bird one other time, and that was in Michigan at one of our State Parks. These little guys are 5 1/2 inches long. These birds were seen at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park on March 31, 2006 and were about 30 feet or more away from us. Al did a great job getting a photo with that new camera.

This is Altamira Oriole. He lives in southernmost Texas and in Mexico. He is such a vivid color he takes your breath away when he comes flying into a feeder area. When seen with the Green Jay (see below) their colors actually seem to enhance each other. This guy is about 10 inches tall.

This is a Green Jay, they are quite prevalent here, he is about 10 1/2 inches long, and I have to tell you, this photo, as good as Al did, does not do this bird justice. His back is a glorious color of green, and has shades and hues that are hard to describe. When seen in a group, they remind me of parakeets and the jungle. His attitude reminds me somewhat of the Blue Jay from home. The Green Jay is considered a Tropical bird, whose range JUST reaches the southern tip of Texas, specifically the Rio Grande Valley.