Then there are some uncommon birds in the South.

Like this guy.
From the road we thought he has a large Texas cow bird.

But when we got a little closer,

we realized that he was big…and his face was not a thing of beauty.

Who would have thought that under all those white feathers, there'd be black with hints of green?

You know, for some reason, birds are starting to interest me.

And then we came upon this guy, staring at us form a tree.

His piercing yellow eyes remind us much of Kodiak's bald eagles, our national bird.

But the moment he turns his read, 
it is easy to see that's not what he is.

Nope. He is an Osprey.
Lots of them were nesting on the north side of St. Mark's Wildlife Reserve.
But not one to be seen near our San Antonio home.

This is what Wikipedia says about him:

"The osprey (Pandion haliaetus), sometimes known as the sea hawk, fish eagle, river hawk or fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts.

The osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica, although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.

As its other common name suggests, the osprey's diet consists almost exclusively of fish. It possesses specialised physical characteristics and exhibits unique behaviour to assist in hunting and catching prey. As a result of these unique characteristics, it has been given its own taxonomic genus, Pandion andfamily, Pandionidae. Four subspecies are usually recognized, one of which has recently been given full species status (see below). Despite its propensity to nest near water, the osprey is not classed as a sea-eagle."