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Steve Romo

@thatbirdguyromo

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Wetland Biologist
As seen on eBird
Crappy phone scope verification pics are my aesthetic 🦜

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The Cattle Tyrant is a flycatcher from South and Central America. They can be found in savannah and pastureland where they trail behind grazing animals to catch insects. We are not sure how this bird made it to Texas, but a popular theory is that it got stranded on a boat down south and couldn't get off until the boat came to port in Corpus Christi.

During thanksgiving break I had 1 day to chase the famous bird. I showed up to the site 1 hour after the bird was last seen on that day and walked almost 4 miles in circles through the downtown area where the bird is consistently seen. The weather was overcast and windy so after two and a half hours searching in the drizzle I left to try to find other birds before it got dark. Frustratingly, on the way home the bird alerts came saying that the bird was seen an hour after I left the site.

I told myself that if the bird survives until Christmas I'll chase it again during my vacation. Today was the day. I began my hunt at 8:40 am in downtown Corpus Christi after an early morning drive south from Schertz Tx. I met fellow chasers downtown and we all exchanged numbers and formed a network. The bird was nowhere to be seen. Birders have been finding the Tyrant foraging for flies and cockroaches in the dumpsters behind the small downtown restaurants. After hours of walking around and watching dumpsters I was about to take a mid-day break to watch shorebirds so I could make something out of the trip in case the Tyrant didn't show up again.

Just as I was about to get in the car, one of the birders sent a text on our newly formed group chat saying the bird was found. It was amazing. A full morning of House Sparrows and Great-tailed Grackles at dumpsters and now suddenly a South American Flycatcher jumped down from a roof and began running around on the ground at our feet to chase insects on the sidewalk. At the same time other birds seemed to pop up out of nowhere such as: a Yellow-throated Warbler, a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, an orange-crowned Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Maybe it just needed to warm up enough for the bugs to start moving so this inner-city insectivore guild could get to work. Long live the Tyrant! by @thatbirdguyromo

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3 years ago

For my non-birder friends who may not have been aware: this has been a hot pink flamingo summer ever since hurricane Idalia picked up a whole bunch of Flamingos from the Yucatan peninsula and spread them across the Eastern U.S. as far north as Wisconsin. Today I got in on the action and now I'll never forget my lifer American Flamingo ✅ from Kansas! I found out that other birders have looked through each other's photos and have confirmed that this bird was one of the individuals seen in Ohio earlier this month and it was also the same bird seen in Smithville lake north of Kansas City, Missouri a few days ago. I missed seeing the bird there, but I'm so glad I had the chance to see it in Kansas. I love traveling through the Flint Hills in eastern Kansas any time I get a chance. You would never guess there would ever be a big pink tropical bird anywhere near those vast rolling prairies. But this bird found a small oasis in the form of a man-made reservoir and was chilling with Canada Geese and Killdeer. At one point a kestrel flew by and scared up the large flock of killer foraging on the shoreline next to the #flamingo and the flamingo almost jumped up and flew away due to its startled neighbors. I think this bird is definitely missing it's small flamingo flock from Ohio, but at least it still seemed pretty sharp and reactive. Maybe it will make it back to the Gulf Coast before colder fall weather... I'm rooting for you bird 🦩 Happy #birding everyone! by @thatbirdguyromo

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3 years ago

This bird gave me three days of chasing but I'm so glad I was able to see it. On the Thursday before last I took time off from work to chase this bird. I took a trip up to Lamoni Iowa with one of my retired birder friends. Lamoni is a small town with a small university, Amish buggies, and a subway sandwich shop that didn't have ingredients or a working soda machine. On that Thursday we followed the mass of birders following the goose. We searched all day and crouched down in corn stubble until we had a view of the pond where the bird was said to have landed. Unfortunately it flew off before we could see it standing on the ice. I did see it flying off, and because other birders had pictures to confirm it was there, I chose to go ahead and count it. But I was not satisfied with my very brief sighting. Additionally, a day standing in freezing temperatures with a wind chill trying find a very nervous goose gave me a pretty gross cold that took me about a week to recover from. But we still went back up again the following Saturday. Despite multiple cars full of birders scouting the area that day, the bird could not be located. Frustratingly, it was found again repeatedly throughout this week when I could not leave work again to chase. My friend was able to go up one more time for his own sighting and photos. Today I took another chance at Lamoni and it finally paid off. Me and another one of my birder friends searched the area that morning and I exchanged numbers with birders from other vehicles looking for it. Finally a text came in saying the bird flew in to the pond near the university where it is consistently, yet somewhat randomly, seen. We made a u turn stopping to shout to other birder groups along the way that it was back at Big G pond. Soon a caravan was behind us as we had to cautiously pass Amish buggies on the highway and drive through Lamoni's 25 mph limit in town, which was excruciating. We all made it to the pond in time to see the goose for about 20 minutes before it got nervous and flew away alone. You never know where #birding will take you! #beangoose by @thatbirdguyromo

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4 years ago

13 hours, 55 minutes in a 17-foot diameter circle with my friends to see as many birds as possible
Happy World Migratory #Bird Day by @thatbirdguyromo

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6 days ago

Amanda's first chase that SHE requested: Kansas Brown Pelican. While driving home to Texas, I took a detour out to this same spot in Manhattan Kansas back in 2024 to get this bird. I didn't realize it was being reported there again but Amanda mentioned the new rare bird alert to me because she loves Pelicans. I knew we shouldn't pass up the chance to get a Brown Pelican on her Kansas State List. We started our Saturday morning birding for warblers in Missouri - the trees were dripping with birds - but they were mostly Golden-crowned Kinglets, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Continuing on our drive west we randomly found Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, Kansas. We both started geeking out about the chance to see the place so we made a U-turn to check it out. Next we continued westward through the always beautiful Flint Hills. Just before reaching the Pelican spot we stopped at an overlook to view part of the Konza Prairie nature preserve. Thankfully the Brown Pelican was exactly where it was reported when we arrived at the spot. The bird did decide to take a flight when the single White Pelican there got up off the beach and flew over. The brown pelican reappeared on the snag within 30 minutes. Once back in Missouri we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner to celebrate. Thanks Amanda for another fun Saturday 🪶 taken in Manhattan, Kansas by @thatbirdguyromo

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11 days ago

Another Missouri #birding Society meeting down. This was my second time attending a meeting held in Columbia Missouri. I chose to tent camp at Finger Lakes State Park as I had done the last time there was a meeting in Columbia. The meeting was a blur packed with field trips, presentations, and dinners. When I got home for a nap all I could picture were green warblers bopping around with auditory hallucinations of birders attempting to describe where the birds were in the canopy. I finally got Nelson's Sparrow checked off my life list... embarrassed to admit I've dodged that bird every migration. Because I bird every day, regularly in solitude, it's nice to reconvene with the birding community for a few weekends a year to find and appreciate

the #birds taken in Columbia, Missouri by @thatbirdguyromo

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19 days ago

Happy 21st of September Chimney Swifts! taken in Chillicothe, Missouri by @thatbirdguyromo

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a month ago

Spotted Sandpiper
#birdingsongs taken in Chillicothe, Missouri by @thatbirdguyromo

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a month ago

✨☀️🌧️✨ by @thatbirdguyromo

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a month ago

Happy international play music on the porch day
#playmusicontheporchday #dollyparton taken in Jamesport, Missouri by @thatbirdguyromo

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2 months ago

Last photo dump from vacation. After San Antonio we all jumped in Mom's car to go down to Corpus Christi. I had an awesome afternoon birding with Amanda at Leonabelle and I'm happy to have gotten her a bucket load of lifers. That evening we had a great family dinner at a seafood restaurant with an upper story deck. Our Airbnb was a beautiful beach house with a private dock which made for an amazing sunrise birding checklist. The next day we all went to the Texas State Aquarium and unfortunately my phone was out of storage so my few pictures don't do it justice. We had to scramble at 6 am to drive north early on our the last day to make our return flight. One afternoon I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico with my brother and watching Magnificent Frigatebirds at the home of Selena, the next afternoon I was back in the home of sliced bread. Can't wait to go back. taken in Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center by @thatbirdguyromo

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2 months ago

First half of the photos from our vacation: started our trip with a flight to San Antonio where we got amazing Mexican food with my Mom and Brother. That evening we drove to Old Tunnel State Park to watch the bat emergence followed by a stop in Luckenbach Texas for a beer and a dance. The next day we battled the heat to see all of San Antonio Zoo including the new Congo Falls, the largest gorilla enclosure I've ever seen. We finished the first two days with Italian food on the Riverwalk. More photos to come. taken in San Antonio, Texas by @thatbirdguyromo

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2 months ago