Galveston Winter 2015

Friend Aubrey Cruse and I went to Galveston on Friday, Feb 6 2015 disgruntled at the surprise cloud cover. A few minutes on the Island made us realize the day could be quite good, however, as multiple photo opportunities were popping up simultaneously. From one spot we could see (at reasonable photo distances) several Sandhill Cranes, two Northern Harriers, an adult Meadowlark, and two adult Kestrels. We returned the following Weds. and on both visits experienced the rare stress of passing up an appealing photo target because a better one was waiting. Soon I had experienced my best looks and photos ever of several species I had chased for years. It turned out to be two very rewarding days. The Caracara shown here endured 3 photo sessions. In the end it held its ground as we exhausted all photo angles possible and finally walked away. We did not count the Kestrels but likely saw around 25 or 30 on the first trip-far more than I have ever seen in one outing. I counted nearly 200 Skimmers in cropped photo #16-about half of the flock.