Just one more…

It turns out that my flight back to Delft leaves later today than I thought, so I did have enough time for one last quick visit to Estabrook Park this morning. I was happy to see the great horned owl near its usual spot on the river again, and it was a little less buried in the sticks than usual. Perhaps it is no more excited about getting soaked from brushing against all the water clinging to the branches than I am.

Up by the pond, the little northern saw-whet owl was also “home” and just as hidden as ever, so I’ll spare you yet another photo of a few feathers and a bunch of blurry branches. Instead, this dapper American tree sparrow, with its rust-and-gray head stripes and yellow-and-gray beak, was far more willing to oblige us with a nice, clear image.

That’s all I had time for today, but here are some more pictures from west Texas. First is a white-throated sparrow, with its characteristic yellow-and-white eyebrow, near the Rio Grande. I also saw one in Estabrook just this morning, but couldn’t get a presentable picture.

Here’s a white-crowned sparrow, with no yellow in its eyebrow and a grey throat, at the bank of the Rio Grande. We’ve also seen these in Estabrook, but no one has reported seeing one there since October.

And finally, another look at that mule deer buck in the hills behind the Terlingua Ranch Lodge after sunset.

If your interested in more trip pictures, I’ve put all the wildlife into one album on flickr and all the scenery pictures into another.