Paul Wentzel's photos of the black legged kittiwake south padre island

weird slurry sludge in pass at the jetty today

dead baby march 14th

This is a baby we lost this last week. Not sure but it looks like teeth did the damage to the fin but could be a prop...

here are a few recent photos taken from the research vessel
the little ones always want to see Rozzi the dolphin dog..

photo by Ted Sears and seen by Barry Kinch Here are the photos of the black headed sisken on the valley land fund lots south padre island

Hi Scarlet;
Regarding the bird I was talking to you about:
The first thought was Lesser Goldfinch but the black throat and yellow wing bar changed my mind. Ted Sears got some pictures that he will send to you as soon as he gets home and has them downloaded. I had Sibley, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Birds of Texas with us and could not find the bird in any of them. Both Ted and I have done trips to Mexico and Black-headed Siskin came to both our minds but with no field guides we didn't jump to any conclusions. We did stop by the Sealife Center to see if you had any info. When I got home I checked my Howell and Webb Birds of Mexico and found the Black-headed Siskin matched and called you immediately.
The bird was Goldfinch size with a black head and throat, yellow under parts with black tail. The yellow wing bars were very obvious. There was a bright yellow lower back.
We first observed the bird on the electric line on the north side of Sheepshead. It then flew across the road to the water drip at the back. It would move to both sides of the street and gave us very good looks. We watched it for almost 1/2 hour about 3:00 to 3:30 PM. It was still there when we left but we wanted to find the identity and report it if necessary.
Hopefully everything is found to be OK with our report and someone else can verify it if it is truly rare.
Ted will be sending pictures shortly.
Barry Kinch

Great photos by Ted Sears of the Black Headed Sisken also confirmed by Barry Kinch

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black headed sisken on south padre island

black headed sisken seen on the valley land fund lots on south padre island this afternoon around 3 pm photos taken by Ted Sears and also seen by Barry Kinch
Hi Scarlet;
Regarding the bird I was talking to you about:
The first thought was Lesser Goldfinch but the black throat and yellow wing bar changed my mind. Ted Sears got some pictures that he will send to you as soon as he gets home and has them downloaded. I had Sibley, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Birds of Texas with us and could not find the bird in any of them. Both Ted and I have done trips to Mexico and Black-headed Siskin came to both our minds but with no field guides we didn't jump to any conclusions. We did stop by the Sealife Center to see if you had any info. When I got home I checked my Howell and Webb Birds of Mexico and found the Black-headed Siskin matched and called you immediately.
The bird was Goldfinch size with a black head and throat, yellow under parts with black tail. The yellow wing bars were very obvious. There was a bright yellow lower back.
We first observed the bird on the electric line on the north side of Sheepshead. It then flew across the road to the water drip at the back. It would move to both sides of the street and gave us very good looks. We watched it for almost 1/2 hour about 3:00 to 3:30 PM. It was still there when we left but we wanted to find the identity and report it if necessary.
Hopefully everything is found to be OK with our report and someone else can verify it if it is truly rare.
Ted will be sending pictures shortly.
Barry Kinch