Scenes from the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Part 1

I rolled into the Valley Tuesday evening and things have been pretty hectic at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival from hour one.  Much of Wednesday was spent taking in a field trip led, in part, by ABA President Jeff Gordon at the San Gertrudis Division of King Ranch, that south Texas establishment famous not only for being an exceptional birding site, but for being exceptionally difficult to access. Fortunately for RGVBF attendees, access is not a problem. 

We cracked 100 species for the day, and best, nearly every person on the trip saw a very high percentage of our final tally including target birds like Sprague's Pipit and Burrowing Owl.  All in all, it was an exceptional day in the field, and par for the course for this amazing part of the continent. 

I can't wait to see what the next few days bring.