No I Did Not Go See the Elaenia This Weekend

This afternoon, while other lucky birders were on Padre Island enjoying the White-crested Elaenia, I was driving around Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge picking up mundane year birds such as Mottled Duck, Merlin, and Lesser Yellowlegs. It was a nice warm day but not buggy. The Skillern Tract presently has some excellent habitat for shorebirds and waders, and it was there that I had my best bird of the day, a Glossy Ibis (new addition to my Texas list). Sifted through a lot of White-faced Ibis to find it.At home I saw a male Rufous Hummingbird at our feeders today, and a green-backed Selasphorus hummingbird (probably another Rufous) was at the feeder by our kitchen window on Saturday.

Congratulations to Dan Jones of Antshrike's Bird Blog for finding the first North American record of White-crested Elaenia! It doesn't get any better than that.