Birding Naturalist Reports on the Spring Migration
(Pictured Scarlet Tanager)
The South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center’s Naturalist, Javier Gonzalez, reported what he says was the best Spring migration he’s ever seen. “It was a pretty exceptional Spring migration. Since I’ve started, it’s the best I’ve seen. That’s why I like working here. You never know it’s going to show up. We’re right off the coast and anything can just fly in.”
Gonzalez, an RGV Native from McAllen, realized at a young age how unique SPI was while spending time here with his father. “From an early age, I realized how special this area is in terms of nature and biodiversity. Here, there’s a greater diversity of plants and animals.” While fishing on the island, Gonzalez enjoyed being out on the water or beach observing nature while waiting for fish to bite. “That’s when I saw my first Roseate spoonbills and black skimmers. They were like my spark into birding and nature.”
Also managing habitats, Gonzalez keeps habitats healthy to track the greatest diversity of animals possible. “Bird watchers come in from
all over the states to see one bird. Certain habitats attract a lot of attention to this site and we get a lot of really cool birds that show up.”
As the Naturalist, he mentioned the element of surprise he feels going into work every day. “The element of surprise is always there. Anything is possible. In other places, it’s already figured it out and you can expect to see certain species, but here,” he says, “you never know what is going to come in. That’s what keeps it so interesting. It’s never boring.”
According to the report, this spring migration brought more than 214 species to the park, several thousand eyes (93k views) to SPI via Facebook engagement, youth engagement through a birding team, many visitors, and finally, a rare sighting of the Black Whiskered Vireo (pictured on the right).
Click here to register for a birding and nature tour.
Click here to see his full report during the last EDC last meeting.
Keep scrolling for more pictures below ?
Yellow-breasted Chat
Wood Thrust
Purple Gallinule
Reddish Egret (white morph)
Summer Tanager
Blue Grosbeak
|
|
|
Click here to unsubscribe.
| Click here to forward
View this email as a web page
Message sent by Island Matters , news@powc-spi.org
Island Matters | P.O. Box 2778 | South Padre Island, TX 78597
