Big Bend National Park, Day 2.

Today we took a “float” down the Rio Grand. Anne was surprised that we had to paddle, and I was surprised that we hit white water. Happily, neither surprise did us in, and we did see some more amazing sights. Here are a couple of the highlights.

There were several black phoebes (Sayornis nigricans) hunting along the sides of the river.

They are close cousins of the eastern phoebes we see in Estabrook, and here it is again on a branch.

There was a trio of cinnamon teal hens, and here’s one of them. That’s the third teal we’ve seen, after the blue-winged teals in Estabrook, and the green-winged teals in South Holland.

Another fun surprise was this lone American pipit (Anthus rubescens) foraging in the shallow water. It nests in either “Arctic tundra and alpine meadows,” and “if you don’t live in the Arctic or above treeline, look for these birds in winter.”

Finally, once we got back to our lodge, there was still a smidgeon of light, so I took a walk to see if the setting sun had brought anyone out, and look who I found:

That’s a full quartet of mule deer including a well-antlered buck. Cool, eh?