FIVE species of Parrots Lower RIO GRANDE VALLEY TX Birding Festival 2024 Bird Photography

Sparky went down to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival to represent Friends of Sax-Zim Bog...but of course he couldn't go to one of the best birding spots in the country and just sit behind a table!
He had to get out birding and photographing some of the "Valley specialists" such as the parrots and parakeets.
He went on the Festival's "Parrot Palooza" and connected with Green Parakeet (photo lifer), Red-crowned Amazon (Parrot), Yellow-headed Amazon, and Red-lored Amazon.
A few days later he discovered that Old Hidalgo, TX has a breeding population of Monk Parakeet. Sparky survived a Chihuahua-pack attack, and soon after discovered a flock of 43 "Monks."
Sparky shares some photography tips for shooting busy birds in low-light conditions.

[@BadgerlandBirding]

Great seeing you in the Valley, Sparky! Great shots of the parrots! 👏

[@SparkyStensaas]

Thanks Ryan and Derek! It was great to finally meet you guys in person :-) give me a shout out before the podcast interview comes out and I will promote the heck out of it. Thank you!

[@BadgerlandBirding]

@ it’ll go out later today! I’ll email the link when it’s up!

[@joseph2535]

I enjoyed your podcast interview with Stensaas. He's a tireless advocate for Sax Zim Bog and his field videos are informative. Near the end of the podcast you guys tried to convince Stensaas to attend the Biggest Week of American Birding at Magee Marsh in Ohio. He was skeptical. The Biggest Week sponsors were also at the Rio Grande festival. By coincidence their table was right next to Stensaas. See the picture of him at 0:25. I wonder if he noticed.

[@TomReichner]

Your flight shots at 3:30 are gorgeous!

[@SparkyStensaas]

Those were my favorites as well!

[@ryanmarshik8971]

Love the flight flashed Amazon shot 👍

[@SparkyStensaas]

You and me buddy!

[@billbey1]

We also went to Hidalgo and discovered the Monk Parakeets. In their midst was a lone Green Parakeet. We also got good looks at a Black Phoebe right at the pumphouse yard. Interestingly, on the way down to the festival we stopped for lunch by the river in Austin and had a couple Monk Parakeets fly over us there.

[@SparkyStensaas]

Very cool Bill! Hope you had a good time at the festival!

[@billbey1]

@ We did our first year traveling for birding, started at SZB with GGO, NHOW, and SNOW under fairly mild conditions (not the roads though : )We met a friend there who told us about BWIAB, so we made it to Magee Marsh just prior to that festival, then finally RGVBF, where we added over 50 life birds. Thank you for your help at SZB, we were at the vis ctr and you mentioned a GGO on Admiral Road, we made it over to see the owl right on the roadside during daylight hours. It was a fantastic sighting. Enjoy watching your adventures on video as we contemplate our own next adventure...

[@birdsofray]

👏👏👏👏

[@SparkyStensaas]

Thank you, Birds of Ray!

[@michaelogle1315]

Monks are further north on the west coast

[@SparkyStensaas]

Good to know! A viewer also said that they are up in Massachusetts as well. I guess what I meant is that the coldest spot they live is Chicago. They have not yet made it to Minnesota!

[@kathyporter6479]

We have a small group of Monk parakeets in Winthrop MA which is a little north of Chicago.

[@SparkyStensaas]

Good to know! Winthrop should promote that in their tourism literature :-) Has there been any talk of controlling them or removing their big stick nests?

[@kathyporter6479]

@@SparkyStensaas It's a well known spot for local birders but is only one nesting pair on one transformer. I don't think it would be a big draw but it may be the northern most outpost of this tropical bird. LOL

[@eugeniolimon8302]

I road and in Pharr tx every day

[@SparkyStensaas]

Very cool! Neat part of the world.

[@martinestrada7636]

You all need better guides, I find birds all the time

[@SparkyStensaas]

We had a great time, though!