Brushline with Brad

Over the Christmas weekend a visiting birder named Brad Krimmel e-mailed me and asked if I knew of any guided bird walks taking place on Monday!  I offered to take him around, and the rest is history, as they say - he had been up in Laredo doing some work for his business (Preservation Texas: http://preservationtexas.com/ ) and just wanted to spend some time in relaxed birding!  Since he had been to tropical America several times, he really didn't have any targets but mentioned that he could always use help with sparrows, so I figured a trip up to Brushline Road was in order!

We met at the Alamo Inn, and although it was a gorgeous, sunny day, the atrocious winds from the last two days hadn't abated much, so it wasn't as productive as I felt it could have been, but even so we had some nice things.  On the way up to Brushline I careened onto Nittler Road (which had produced Sprague's Pipit a couple of weeks earlier), which was now passable and allowed for some views of several duck species in a flooded field.  While we dipped on the Sprague's, several American Pipits flew over, but the best event involved two flocks of "white geese" that flew right overhead, with one line close enough to easily pick out a Ross' Goose in the mix, which was a life bird for Brad!  Three White-tailed Kites also put on a nice show.

On to Brushline (after getting turned around at Hargill), where right as we hit the road from FM 490, a group of Pyrrhuloxias, three Clay-colored Sparrows, and a Verdin all sat right out in the sun for us!  (I was scolding the Verdin for not doing that when I had other people with me in the past who so desperately wanted to see one... ;-) )  The seasonal wetlands were very productive with more pretty ducks (including a nice Cinnamon Teal), both Least and Pied-billed Grebes, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs together for good comparison, and the occasional Harris' Hawk by the roadside.  We hit the jackpot once again at a little spot that happened to have some reeds in it, where both an immature White-crowned Sparrow (which can be tough to get in Hidalgo County) and a Swamp Sparrow popped up!  (It was also marshy enough to house a couple of Soras!)  Approaching SR 186 the flock of Sandhill Cranes didn't disappoint, as there's usually a group hanging out right around there.

 

Clay-colored Sparrow

 

Female Pyrrhuloxia

 

Crossing the highway, we continued north, but the wind was kicking up and things were generally quieting down.  Savannah Sparrows were out the yin yang, and we did have a couple of very confiding Loggerhead Shrikes!  Another wetland (that had the road completely blocked a few weeks ago) had a stunning male Redhead along with the more expected ducks, and at one point a Roadrunner went darting across the road, along with a couple of covey of Bobwhite!  We had some friendly Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers, but no unusual songbirds; even the usual flock of Brewer's Blackbirds at the Rio Beef Feedyard let us down.  Coming down Rio Beef Road we had one Green Jay, and made a brief stop at the "South End Marsh" to troll for Virginia Rail, but nothing responded.

 

 

Two of the friendly shrikes along the way

 

Brad searching for that elusive Lincoln's Sparrow...

 

We decided to make a quick stop at Delta Lakes for necessities and check the overlook for anything of interest.  The water level was down so there was some shorebird habitat, but the light was at a bad angle, so besides a couple of Stilt Sandpipers that were easy to ID, the others had to be let go as "peeps" (although we did have Least Sandpipers earlier).  Best bird here was an Eared Grebe, but we also managed to add Laughing Gull, Caspian Tern, both cormorants, Black Vulture, and White Pelican to the list.  On the way out of the park proper we had Mr. and Mrs. Belted Kingfisher on separate wires plunging away!

 

Headed home after that, where near a sugar cane burn we found a young White-tailed Hawk dutifully looking for Crispy Critters! :-)  Bird List (84 species):

 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Greater White-fronted Goose

Snow Goose

Ross' Goose

Gadwall

American Wigeon

Mottled Duck

Blue-winged Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Ruddy Duck

Northern Bobwhite

Least Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe

Eared Grebe

American White Pelican

Neotropic Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Cattle Egret

White-faced Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

White-tailed Kite

Northern Harrier

Accipiter sp. (I suspect we had both, but I can't be sure...)

Harris' Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Sora

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Sandhill Crane

Killdeer

Black-necked Stilt

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper

Laughing Gull

Caspian Tern

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Greater Roadrunner

Belted Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Vermilion Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Loggerhead Shrike

White-eyed Vireo

Green Jay

Horned Lark

Tree Swallow

Verdin

House Wren

Marsh Wren

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Northern Mockingbird

Long-billed Thrasher

European Starling

American Pipit

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Clay-colored Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Red-winged Blackbird

Western Meadowlark

Great-tailed Grackle