Rio Grande birds

If you were a bird, and you were traveling from Canada south towards Cancun (doesn't everyone go to Cancun in the spring?), for most of your trip your companions will be familiar characters: cardinals, bluejays, and red-tailed hawks. But once you cross the Texas border and drop beyond a certain latitude, everything changes. You will meet locals called kiskadee, caracara, and chachalaca. Jays will be neon green, and flycatchers bright scarlet. And doves will looks like they've gone through a washing machine.

But of course the first exotic that you will meet will be the famous Roadrunner:


These birds below are Crested Caracaras. A caracara is vulture falcon: it comes from the falcon family, but feeds mainly on carrion:




Check out the orange neck bulge on this caracara. I am not sure, but I think it's a mating display:


The next strangeness is a sort of a Mexican chicken called Plain Chachalaca. (And yes, if you are wondering, there are other, non-plain chachalacas out there.)




A Kiskadee is a big yellow flycatcher, a southern version of a kingbird:






This is an Altamira Oriole:




These two are Inca Doves. Check out their scaled feathers:


We've seen this chicken before! This is a Common Moorhen:


An Orange-Crowned warbler contemplating its lunch:


And this scraggy creature is a Reddish Egret: