Rare Bird Sighting - Juvinile Ruff at El Franco Lee Park - New photos added 11/26/11

[houtex01]

Decided to visit local park (El Franco Lee Park) last Saturday afternoon...was kinda surprised when I reached the parking area to see more than the usual empty or 1/2 vehicles...grabbed my camera/binoculars and headed toward the gazebo where there was a group of folks with cameras and spotting scopes...I soon discovered that there was a rare bird sighting causing all the commotion...a juvinile Ruff...thanks to the birders, didn't take long to spot it...here are a few photos...not the best quality...fairly distant shots for my 100-400 zoom...

Ron

[Shadow]

Nice find Ron. You can get updates on sightings like this here....

http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Texas_Birds

[sandboa]

Cool. I heard about this bird through the Texbirds listserve and really wanted to make the trip to see it, but haven't been able to do so. Neat that you stumbled into it!

You should consider sending in a report with your photos to the Texas Bird Records Committee. It isn't a formal review species, but it is a very rare bird for Texas (since it is an old world species!) and any formal documentation is good to have ((http://www.texasbirds.org/tbrc/bird_rpt.htm) . Even though hundreds of people have seen and photographed this bird, few have probably submitted reports.

[lhdvies]

Great find Ron, must have been exciting!!

[scottbuckel]

I went out to see the Ruff last week, but did not take my camera with me. Did you also see the Says Phoebe, Green-tailed Towhee or any of the other "good" birds that have been hanging around the park?

Scott

[houtex01]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Nice find Ron. You can get updates on sightings like this here....

http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Texas_Birds

Thanks for the link Bruce...I've added it to my favorites list...

Ron

[houtex01]

Originally Posted by sandboa

Cool. I heard about this bird through the Texbirds listserve and really wanted to make the trip to see it, but haven't been able to do so. Neat that you stumbled into it!

You should consider sending in a report with your photos to the Texas Bird Records Committee. It isn't a formal review species, but it is a very rare bird for Texas (since it is an old world species!) and any formal documentation is good to have ((TBRC Report Form) . Even though hundreds of people have seen and photographed this bird, few have probably submitted reports.

Thanks Chris for viewing and your comments...I checked and appears no one has submitted any report for the Ruff...actually I have been a co-author of an article submitted to the Texas Ornithological Society (TOS) which was accepted and published in a recent TOS Bulletin...the subject of the article was the Vermillon Flycatcher and it included one of my photos...my first photo to be published...these bulletins are only available to members of TOS and are not online...I'm not a member but received a courtesy copy...I've tried to scan the article and post here on the forum but cannot get the forum to accept the PDF file...PDF file too large...cannot figure out how to reduce size of PDF file...if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know...

Ron

[houtex01]

Originally Posted by lhdvies

Great find Ron, must have been exciting!!

Thanks Leon for viewing and your comments...

Originally Posted by scottbuckel

I went out to see the Ruff last week, but did not take my camera with me. Did you also see the Says Phoebe, Green-tailed Towhee or any of the other "good" birds that have been hanging around the park?

Scott

Thanks Scott for viewing and your comments...no I have not spotted either the Phoebe or Towhee so far...

[Tim T]

Very cool Ron. Congrat's.

[houtex01]

Originally Posted by Tim T

Very cool Ron. Congrat's.

Thanks Tim...

[houtex01]

Visited El Franco Lee Park a few days back and was able to get some better photos of the Ruff...he was much closer this time...

Ron

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by houtex01

Visited El Franco Lee Park a few days back and was able to get some better photos of the Ruff...he was much closer this time...

Ron

Lucky you! I went twice and didn't find it. Third time got rained out...

[Jim Victory]

Nice find and great shots Ron. It is always nice to be able to capture a rare bird.

[David Alaniz]

Way to go Ron, pretty cool to see and get.

[iCe]

Nice work Ron!