4/8/16
At 5:45 sharp Friday morning we
left the Inn and made it to Bentsen, where even in the parking lot we were
surrounded by Pauraques “wolf whistling” away!
We even were able to catch the eye shine of a couple of birds that were
sitting on the entrance road! A pair of
Eastern Screech Owls trilled next to us, and closer to the resaca we heard the
distant songs of some migrating Chuck-will’s-widows! But the best bird was a chuckling Elf Owl
right next to the road! Unfortunately he
was too buried in the foliage to see, but it was a great “listen!”
That was pretty much it for the
night birds (we were surprised that we never heard a Great Horned Owl), so we
went to the resaca to see in the dawn, scaring up a Striped Skunk in the
process! A nighthawk batted by in the
early light, but we couldn’t see it well enough to tell which type. The reeds were just stuffed with Great-tailed
Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds judging by the cacophony coming from across
the way, and while a Ringed Kingfisher did
give his machine-gun-like rattle, he never showed.
After sunrise we wandered over to the
restrooms where I heard a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet calling further down,
so we headed that direction. We ended up
making the whole Acacia Loop where we finally found the little guy calling from
the top of a dead tree, and a little further down a Brown-crested Flycatcher was
doing the same thing! What I thought was
a big dove perched against the sky at first turned out to be a Gray Hawk, and a
jabbering sound overhead alerted me to a Western Kingbird flying over! Back at the main road I heard an Altamira
Oriole at one of the feeding areas, and we were able to track her down as she
gathered nesting material! That was
another “dream bird” for Christopher, so he was very happy! On the way out, the Cave Swallows were
swooping around the little bridge over the canal, and when Christopher mentioned
he had yet to see a Black Phoebe, said bird dutifully perched on the railing
right behind us! Back at the Visitor’s
Center the local Roadrunner was giving his hound-dog song!
Christopher enjoys his first Northern Beardless Tyrannulet in the dead tree
Curve-billed Thrasher
Anzalduas was next on the roster, so we
took Old Military Highway (OMH) and the Levee Road over, so Christopher got an
elevated view of the Rio Grande! On the way he miraculously spotted a Broad-winged Hawk in a tree! Coming
into the park, I asked him if he wanted to try for Sprague’s Pipit, and he
certainly did, so we parked and hiked across the field, even though I wasn’t sure
the birds would still be there as it was getting close to the time when they
should be heading north. Ironically the
first birds he spotted were not meadowlarks, pipits, or sparrows, but a nice
flock of Upland Sandpipers! I was
beginning to think the pipits were indeed gone until Christopher called me
over, thinking he had one, so we stalked and flushed a little silent guy that
bounced up a couple of times amongst the Savannah Sparrows, and by cracky it
was the Sprague’s! Said bird allowed
ridiculously close approach as we both obtained crippling views and photos!
Broad-winged Hawk
Sprague's Pipit
Things were rather anticlimactic after
that, but we did manage to see a nice kettle of Broad-winged Hawks. I explained to him how the floodway was
designed to divert the Rio Grande in the event of major flooding, which
happened in 2010 when Hurricane Alex dumped so much rain in Mexico that both
Amistad and Falcon had to release water, and the result was that our riverside
parks were all flooded for many months!
It was a small picture of what used to happen naturally many decades ago
in the Valley!
Christopher at the Rio Grande
The last stop was the National Butterfly
Center, so we backtracked along OMH and got ourselves checked in before heading
down to the main gardens. It was
threatening to rain, so we parked ourselves at the feeder area where
White-tipped Doves, Green Jays, Chachalacas, and even a Bobwhite were all
indulging! Even the grackles were
entertaining as they puffed themselves out and tried to outdo each other with
their electrical “songs”! But we didn’t
have to wait long before a gorgeous Altamira Oriole came dashing in to an
orange!
Altamira Oriole
Displaying Great-tailed Grackles
White-winged Dove
Hispid Cotton Rat
Shortly my friend Dan Jones showed up
looking for a rare Banded Patch that had been reported, and after telling us
about some unusual butterflies up front, we decided to head back up (seeing as
we were getting dripped on) and see
what we could find, as Christopher was also interested in butterflies. As the sun intermittently tried to peek out,
the butterfly action increased, and we were treated to great views of Bordered
Patch, Phaon Crescent, Queen, and Christopher’s personal favorite, a Black
Swallowtail! Out back we had a beat-up
Long-tailed Skipper, a Theona Checkerspot, a Brown Longtail, and a
White-striped Longtail that unfortunately got away before Christopher could see
it…
Black Swallowtail
Theona Checkerspot
Beat-up Long-tailed Skipper
We had to get back, but that wasn’t the
end of the adventure: during the morning
I was getting reports of good birds at Frontera, so since Keith was taking
Christopher birding for the “afternoon shift,” I suggested that as a
destination. I was technically off duty
after already birding for close to eight hours, but the temptation proved too
hard to resist, so with Keith’s blessing I met them over there! Once checked in we all headed into the
forest, and stopped at one of the water features to see what would come
in. Shortly a feeding flock happened by
that included the reported Blue-winged Warbler, but also included Nashville and
Black-and-white. We continued on, and it
wasn’t long before Christopher gasped, “What’s that blue bird?!” He had found the Blue Bunting!! Said bird put on a great show, hopping around
and peeping and feeding; we couldn’t believe it! After that we just chilled at the feeder area
the rest of the time, enjoying the Chachalacas, Cardinals, and eventually the
female Black-headed Grosbeak that had been hanging around all winter. Suddenly Christopher announced that he had a
cuckoo, and after much looking we finally spotted a fine Yellow-billed for the
day!
Shy Blue Bunting
Keith and Christopher compare bunting photos...
Female Black-headed Grosbeak
The guys chill out!
The guys had to scoot to make it to
Edinburg for another engagement, so we reluctantly headed back to the parking
lot, but we had logged an incredible 79 species for the day! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Broad-winged Hawk
Gray Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Upland Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Eastern Screech-Owl
Elf Owl
Common Pauraque
Chuck-will's-widow
Chimney Swift
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Green Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Black Phoebe
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Thrush
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Sprague's Pipit
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Altamira Oriole
House Sparrow
79 SPECIES
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