I left home on January 19th and headed south as far as Waco, Texas for the night. The next morning it was another day of hard driving to South Padre Island for the night. The plan was to bird the World Birding Center the next morning before heading inland, but the wind was howling and my car was getting sandblasted. Instead of trying to walk in that wind I simply drove out on some flats overlooking the bay and birded from the car. These Royal Terns were huddled together facing the wind.
The wind was still raging at Laguna Atascosa NWR but I did manage to snap a few photos from the bird blind. This Olive Sparrow was the first of many Valley specialties.
