Dancing with Dolphins in the wild

off to dance with dolphins

2009-06-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

it is going to be a great day on the bay the babies are getting so big

2009-06-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

about time for a new post but my camera is down no new photos so here are a few of my dolphin pics...

photo of mystery bird by Ernesto

2009-05-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

dragon fly by Ernesto

2009-05-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

This odd bird must have some oil or something on it that may be discoloring it some and keeping it with a wet look. It is seems healthy enough and gets around alright so the flight feathers seem ok and very brown. It is warbler size and some feel the call was not yellow rumped that heard it.

It is pathetic looking. Here are a few more photos by Seth Patterson

mystery bird of SPI convention center photos by Paul Wentzel

2009-05-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

dolphin pelican osprey mangrove swallow box

2009-04-07T05:52:00.000-07:00

It appears that this osprey is making good use of the new mangrove swallow nest box put up recently by a student

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

2009-03-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

weird slurry sludge in pass at the jetty today

2009-03-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

dead baby march 14th

2009-03-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-03-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-03-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

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

t

black headed sisken on south padre island

2009-03-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

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

here are a few photos of the lesser black - backed gull

2009-02-10T07:30:00.000-08:00

this gull was seen today on the brownsville shipping channel near the intracoastal.

Dolphins and Osprey Nest

2009-01-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

Our Volunteer Taylor dancing with her dolphins

2009-01-05T15:19:00.001-08:00

Taylor has some kind of magic with my dolphins and now they are hers too.... they love her and she loves them....

Our kitties

2008-12-23T06:09:00.001-08:00

Here is Phoenix the Flame or Prince Phoenix and his little sister Princess Sassafrass and of course Rozzi the dolphin dog learning to cope with kitties.

turtle recovered from beach matches flippers on jetty

2008-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Here is the turtle recovered by Gibb Boza from the UTPA Coastal Studies Lab.
The flippers missing were photographed by John Yoakum on the Jetty and are posted below.

horrible turtle photo on SPI Jetty

2008-12-12T16:26:00.000-08:00

I was sent this photo by a fellow birder. He was walking out on the north jetty on South Padre Island to locate the purple sandpiper last Tue. Dec. 9th , and saw this horrible depressing scene while out there. This is horrendous.

Purple Sandpiper

2008-12-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Today we saw the purple sandpiper at the tip of the jetty on the north side. All the way out at the end. It was feeding about ten granite blocks in on the north side of the rocks.

Droopy beat up by the gang

2008-11-26T18:05:00.000-08:00

Here are photos of a loner dolphin we call droopy and with in the last few days he has been unmercifully beaten up by some older male dolphins. We do not know who but you can see his tail is ripped to shreds and the teeth rake and puncture marks all over his body. His only friend a Remora keeps him company as he begins the healing process. I have seen our dolphins recover from worse injuries but there is a question on how much internal damage he may have received from the pounding he took. Poor baby. I thank my group on board who helped me by driving the boat for me while I got these photos. This is the first dolphin for me to film this beaten up in the twelve years I have been filming and documenting their lives here in the laguna madre bay. Perhaps it has something to do with the recent loss of our alpha male Frosty. Later I saw all the older matriarch females in the bay watching over the pass in and out of the jetties.

Newborn dolphin Nov. 18

2008-11-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

As Mohawk and his family played around us excitedly I suspected something was happening that was fabulous and so it turns out a newborn baby was the celebration.
Here are my photos of the new baby , Mohawk who has healed so beautifully from his injury, see previous blogs , and of a mother carrying something in her mouth, which does not appear to be a fish.

2008-11-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

here are the photos to go with our post on texbird

the kisskadee chases the bird but he slips thru the tree and hopefully he will stay around.
I hope.

Another Jelly fish wish day and here is the teddy we found floating in the bay yesterday

2008-10-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

With Autumn and Bill from Atlanta on board today for their own private dolphin tour we were blessed with this wonderful playtime with Mohawk and his family. Woo hoooooooooooooo the little care bear was floating in the bay and we helped him out and now he is in the land of care a lot....

2008-09-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

Mohawk is healing. We were not sure this baby would make it and it is still in a fragile state. I took this photo on Aug. 20th. If you look at his other photo on this blog you can see the healing process taking place. It is amazing he has survived.