Brianbirdbrain

Once again I woke up Saturday morning with no intentions of driving 4 hours to see a bird, but I got the itch, and I was off to Port Aransas to look for a Western Gull that had been found earlier in the week.  This specie has been seen in the state only 3 other times and after a four hour drive and a ferry ride I arrived at my destination to find out I was about an hour late.  No problem, I figured the gull would return to its favorite spot at some point in the day.  Five hours later, it did not disappoint, for Texas Life Bird 432 Western Gull. I couldn't help but have that Pet Shop Boys song stuck in my head West End Girls.   And the five hour wait one the beach was not a complete waste of time.  I met some great birders and made some new friends, and as an added bonus I broke the century mark for Nueces county giving me 103 species for that county.  

We had plans for Saturday morning to take a day trip down the coast to see my in-laws but that trip got canceled at the last minute so I woke up with the usual question in my head... What am I going to do today?  I normally decide where to go birding on Saturday mornings when I wake up on Saturday morning.  This Saturday was no different, but I did wake up a little to late to try to go too far.  The Armand Bayou monthly bird count starts at 7:00am but I was a little late to try and make that one.  I could just go somewhere local but then I would be back at the house too early and have to figure out how to fill the rest of the day.  October is one of my least favorite months to bird for a few reasons.  Most of the summer birds are gone, the bulk of the migrants have passed already and now we just have to wait patiently for the winter arrivals.  So with all that stacked up against me and getting a little unmotivated I jokingly made the suggestion to driv...

Why was the chicken on the road to begin with?  The answer to that question is... well, it doesn't really matter to me.  I am just glad it was in the road because once they get off the road into the grass they disappear quick.  I'm talking about the Greater Prairie-Chicken, which is actually a grouse I suppose, and more precisely the Attwater's population.  They've been on the edge of extinction plenty of times and now live in the wild in only a couple places and are being captive bred at a few zoos.  Most of the prairie that God designed for them to live on is now gone, and because they nest on the ground fire ants are a big problem as well, and they are big delicious birds enjoyed by all predators.  Hurricane Harvey didn't help matters either. 29 hens were being tracked with radio collars before the storm and after the storm they could only confirm 5 survived, and the official count this spring documented only 26 of these birds were left in the wild....