While visiting our oldest son Chris and his family in San Benito Texas we decided to visit Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge.  The refuge is on a major flyway and over 400 species of birds have been recorded.  Although overcast and the wrong time of day we were able to see and photograph an Eastern Screech Owl seen at the left.  He/she was nestled in a drain pipe from the roof of the visitor center. Below is another nice picture of a green jay as taken in the blind at the visitor center.  And lastly, while driving through the park we got a picture of the quite ugly Turkey Vultures sitting in a tree.  This is one of the few times we have seen them not flying and using the thermals looking for road kill.

Our bird feeders in the backyard seem to attract hawks to feed on the birds.  This is one of many Sharp-shinned hawks that like to frequent our yard.

We spent Labor Day weekend at Chain o Lakes State Park near Albion, IN.  The remnants of Hurricane Isaac were to come through and we were worried about a lot of rain.  It didn't happen so we got some great flower photos because of the cloud cover.  During a hike on the new trail 9 we came across a field of flowers with 20-30 hummingbirds darting in and out.  What a sight seeing them chasing each other and stopping to observe us - as we observed them!

We've just posted a few new images to the Bird category!

Take a look around and you'll notice we've also included stealth updates to many of the other galleries as well.