Joe and Mary Go West

1/20/2016

            The next two days were supposed to be nice and sunny, but we were sweating a little as we started out for Starr County in the fog and mist!  Because of that, I decided to do Falcon State Park first, as we could at least stay in the car until the mist let up!  The road in gave us the first of many Pyrrhuloxias and a flock of Chipping Sparrows, and just past the entrance gate a flock of Cedar Waxwings posed in a dead tree!  Joe and Mary’s life Curve-billed Thrasher made an appearance shortly after that, but things really didn’t start hopping until we poked around the boat ramp overflow area (they got a taste of “4-wheeling”… J), where a Cassin’s Sparrow showed nicely and an “Audubon’s” Warbler came in to pishing.  The park no longer stocks the feeders, so I didn’t hold out much hope around the Rec Hall, but one of the park hosts did have a feeder going where a Long-billed Thrasher bullied a Pyrr off the crossbar!  I did hear a Black-throated Sparrow sing as I approached the old blind, so we walked down the road and took the part of the nature trail that wound back to the rec hall, but saw virtually nothing.  After a quick stop at the hall to use the facilities and swipe some cookies and coffee J we made a fruitless search of the picnic area (try as we might, we just could not turn any of the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers into Black-tailed), but hit pay dirt in the cabin area where a big covey of Bobwhite was feeding!  The big miss there (besides the sparrow) was Roadrunner, as they really wanted to see one of those (and with good reason)!  I was about as bummed as they were!

 

 

Cedar Waxwing

 

 

Great Egret hiding in the swamp

 

Pyrrhuloxia (above) that was bullied off the feeder by a Long-billed Thrasher (below)

 

 

Osprey

 

 

Bobwhites

            By that time the mist had pretty much let up, so we decided to head straight to the feeders at Salineño, and that was the show of the day!  Merle was there to greet us, and we pretty much had the place to ourselves and a few Winter Texans who showed up about 30 minutes after we did armed with nothing but their IPhones, but they asked a lot of questions which allowed Merle to relate a lot of info about the birds, what they eat, the history of the area, and even the border security issue!  While we were there no fewer than four Audubon’s Orioles (the real target species here, along with their wintering Hooded Oriole) came in constantly, along with many Altamira Orioles, Kiskadees, Cardinals, Green Jays, both flavors of woodpecker (including a lady Ladder-backed that had a very faint “bracket” on her face), and of course tons of Red-winged Blackbirds and House Sparrows with the odd Brown-headed Cowbird and Great-tailed Grackle thrown in.  I was thrilled that an Olive Sparrow came out in the open, and as both Joe and I were focused on the sparrow, Mary saw this big, long-tailed stripy thing in another part of the feeder area, but no one seemed to get excited, so she let things be until someone announced a little later that a Roadrunner was in the back corner!  I was so happy that they finally got to see one!!  When we left to go down to the river the same guy came tearing out onto the road and gave a great look!

 

 

Merle puts out the food, and the show begins!

 

 

Male (above) and female Audubon's Orioles

 

 

 

Hooded Oriole, rare in the winter

 

 

"The Mad Oriole"  (Altamira)

 

 

Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker

 

 

Another female Ladderback with a very pale "bracket"

 

 

Kiskadee with an attitude...

 

Northern Cardinal

 

Orange-crowned Warbler

 

 

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

            We set up vigil for another hour at the boat ramp, and while still overcast, the fog had lifted, so we had a great view both up and down river.  A Spotted Sandpiper came wheeling in as if on cue, and kept us company the whole time we were there!  While the two “most wanted” river birds never showed (Muscovy Duck and Red-billed Pigeon, both of which are rare anyway), we got great views of two different Ringed Kingfishers, a classic Red-shouldered Hawk, another Black Phoebe, and three different Gray Hawks!  Ospreys were all over, and a male Bufflehead was down by the island.  We walked the westbound trail where the White-collared Seedeater had been reported, but we bagged nothing but Yellowthroats and the aforementioned second kingfisher.  All three wintering swallows were swooping around, and on the hike back to the car a Vesper Sparrow popped up but was rather uncooperative for decent pictures. 

 

 

Joe scans the Rio Grande while a Spotted Sandpiper wheels in (can you spot him in the above picture?)

 

Mr. Spotty then proceeds to strut and admire himself!

 

Before long it was time to head back, but as we approached McAllen I suggested maybe cruising up 10^th Street in hopes of bagging some Green Parakeets, seeing as it was nearing the time that they should have been staging.  Alas, we searched well past Trenton with no sign of the beasties, so we headed back to Alamo with 72 species under the belt for the day.

 

Bird List:

 

       Greater White-fronted Goose 

       Bufflehead                           

  Plain Chachalaca                     

  Northern Bobwhite                    

  Pied-billed Grebe                    

  Neotropic Cormorant                   

  Double-crested Cormorant             

  Anhinga                              

  American White Pelican               

  Great Blue Heron                      

  Great Egret                          

  Snowy Egret                          

  Turkey Vulture                       

  Osprey                               

  Harris's Hawk                        

  Red-shouldered Hawk                  

  Gray Hawk                            

  American Coot                        

  Killdeer                              

  Spotted Sandpiper                    

  Greater Yellowlegs                   

  Least Sandpiper                      

  Rock Pigeon                          

  Eurasian Collared-Dove               

  White-winged Dove                    

  Inca Dove                            

  White-tipped Dove                    

  Greater Roadrunner                   

  Ringed Kingfisher                    

  Belted Kingfisher                    

  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

  Crested Caracara                     

  American Kestrel                     

  Black Phoebe                         

  Eastern Phoebe                        

  Great Kiskadee                       

  Tropical Kingbird                    

  Loggerhead Shrike                    

  Green Jay                            

  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        

  Tree Swallow                         

  Cave Swallow                         

  Black-crested Titmouse               

  House Wren                           

  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                

  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 

  Hermit Thrush                        

  Curve-billed Thrasher                

  Long-billed Thrasher                 

  Northern Mockingbird                 

  European Starling                    

  American Pipit                        

  Cedar Waxwing                        

  Orange-crowned Warbler               

  Common Yellowthroat                  

  Yellow-rumped Warbler (incl. Audubon’s)

  Olive Sparrow                        

  Cassin's Sparrow                     

  Chipping Sparrow                     

  Vesper Sparrow                       

  Savannah Sparrow                     

  Northern Cardinal                    

  Pyrrhuloxia                          

  Red-winged Blackbird                 

  Western Meadowlark                   

  Great-tailed Grackle                 

  Brown-headed Cowbird                 

  Hooded Oriole                        

  Altamira Oriole                       

  Audubon's Oriole                     

  House Sparrow                        

72 SPECIES