I'm going to get a new digital camera and I'm testing out a Nikon P4. I want something that does great macro and is good for digiscoping. Today I got this photo of a zone-tailed hawk at Anzalduas Park at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Fest:

Here I took the photo through a Leica field scope (sweet shot of the "I'm gonna poop or maybe just turn around.")

And this one I took through a Brunton Eterna scope (super sweet shot--the zone-tailed staring down the paparazzi). I love how the bird is looking right at us. This is a very good species for the valley, I saw it last year at the ABA Convention in Tucson, still sweet to see. The bird is part of a controversy. On one of the field trips on Wednesday, a pontoon was taken to this area for birding and a common black hawk was reported and photographed (super rare for this area). Now, there's talk that it was actually this zone-tailed hawk (unusual but not unlikely for this area) that people saw. There's some "spirited discussion" going on. I saw one of the photos of the reported black hawk posted in the lobby and it looks like a zone-tailed to me, but I'm not going to arm wrestle over it, I wasn't there when they saw it.

I have more entries planned but discovered that I forgot about a looming Birding Business deadline so all spare time must be devoted to those articles today. Once I get them sent off, I can resume regular posting. Coming relatively soon: bugs of the Rio Grande Valley, more fabulous birds and a very special post: "How Paul Baicich schooled the Birdchick."