Carol, Mary, and Deb had a good head start
as they had had a marvelous day out with Michael Marsden on Sunday the 3rd
birding the coast, and again the next day scouring Sabal Palm and Laguna
Atascosa on their own, getting crippling views of the Aplomado Falcon! I wasn’t sure what else was left to see J, but they assured me that what
they really wanted was help with sorting out the shorebirds, raptors, and
sparrows, so all agreed that my original itinerary sounded like the best one.
With all the construction on US 281, we
bypassed the Progresso Sod Farms and went straight to Estero Llano Grande,
where we were greeted by a hungry Curve-billed Thrasher and two Inca Doves at
the corner feeder! Ibis Pond was full of
birds, of course, but the star was a little Sora right off the deck and in
plain view! I suggested we get on the
boardwalk to get the sun at a better angle, but not before enjoying a brilliant
Buff-bellied Hummingbird at the feeders!
An Olive Sparrow was singing, but of course wasn’t cooperative for
viewing purposes…
Sora off the Estero deck
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
The Purple Martins had arrived in force,
but they were virtually ignored in favor of brilliant Blue-winged and Cinnamon
Teals, White-faced Ibis, Snowy Egrets and a Little Blue Heron, and tons of
side-by-side Stilt Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers for good
comparison! A Solitary Sandpiper showed
off for good measure, and a yellowlegs came in that was a good candidate for
“sp.”, as the bill seemed rather short, but it was also thickish at the base
with a pale area on the lower mandible. Lincoln’s Sparrows gave good views over by the
bushes, and a knock-down dead-gorgeous Roseate Spoonbill flew over, checking
out the joint! Closer to the gazebo we
had lots of Least Sandpipers, but then two much larger Baird’s Sandpipers came
wheeling in! A nice male Gadwall had
been feeding earlier, and when a beat-up female showed up where the Least Sands
were, I made the gals key it out themselves until they arrived at the correct
ID on their own (it was almost like a game of, “You’re getting warmer!” J)
We started getting some soaring raptors at that point, the first being a
young Swainson’s Hawk that didn’t quite have the fully dark flight feathers
yet, but as the girls poured over the fine points in their books, suddenly a
classic Broad-winged Hawk flew in low and circled right over our heads! They all agreed that that was the way to see a hawk! J
Ibis Pons from the boardwalk
Curlew Pond gave us a good study of a
washed out Least Grebe, and Dowitcher Pond gave us more Stilts (of both types)
and dowitchers, plus Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and Fulvous Whistling Ducks. Over at Alligator Lake, Mary found a young
night heron that we concluded was Yellow-crowned, but unfortunately the
Pauraque and Screech Owls were no-shows; we had a Green Heron on the nest as a
consolation prize, however.
"The Girls" enjoying Dowitcher Pond
Fulvous Whistling Ducks
Food was calling about that time, so we
headed back to the cars, trying to pull out an uncooperative Carolina Wren in
the process. No such luck, so we pulled
out our stash, and headed on to the Weaver Road Sod Farms (I guess the official
name is Superior Turf) via Cannon Road, where
the songbirds were quieting down (except for the Couch’s and Tropical
Kingbirds), and what was calling
(like Verdins and more Carolina Wrens) just didn’t want to show
themselves. The Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers were just the opposite, posing on the wire fences as we pulled
right up to them, and a pair of Harris’ Hawks gave great looks. At the sod farms, my heart sank at the fact
that the big flocks that were in the first field on my own trip over there on Saturday
were way back there, and the heat
waves kept us from making any kind of a decent ID. So we rolled on, hoping that maybe something would show up further down,
when suddenly the girls spotted a bunch of sandpipers in the ditch right next
to us: about eight Baird’s
Sandpipers! What looks! Then a little further on the star of the show
was an Upland Sandpiper right next to the road in wonderful light, just showing
off every field mark! Behind him was a
large flock of American Golden Plovers, so everyone got great looks at some of
our star grasspipers! I was taking a
video of the Uppy when it suddenly started crouching and looking overhead, and
Mary exclaimed that a hawk was passing through!
The hawk turned out to be a young Peregrine that spooked the plovers,
but the Uppy stayed put! After we jumped
out to try to refind the falcon, a little buffy bird bounced past us going Pike! Pike! Sprague’s Pipit!! There were, of course, many more Horned Larks
that were very cooperative…
Harris' Hawk along Jimenez Road
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Baird's Sandpiper along Weaver Road (also below)
Upland Sandpiper (also below), same place
Horned Lark
From there we headed to Sugarhouse Pond,
where I warned the gals that it could be fantastic or dead, depending on the
water level, and this time it was pretty dead.
The little “1015 Pond” was pretty dead as well, and Delta Lake was anticlimactic, too, at least until a couple of Black Vultures dropped in just as we were
leaving, a life bird for Carol!
Things were definitely slowing down once
we got to Brushline Road; we had a couple more Swainson’s Hawks and added Ruddy
Duck at one of the wetlands, but no sign of any Purple Gallinules. Just before reaching the highway a nice Lark
Sparrow posed, and continuing north a van coming from the opposite direction
scared up a Nilgai, which we only got a brief glimpse of. Many more cooperative Scissortails greeted us
along Ken Baker Road, and at one point a Turkey exploded from the side of the
road! While studying another Swainie
some of us caught sight of a very distant White-tailed Hawk – even then, that
tail is like a beacon!
Young Swainson's Hawk along Brushline Road
Yet another Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Ended up with 89 species for the day! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Wild Turkey
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
American Golden-Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Peregrine Falcon
Red-crowned Parrot
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Sprague's Pipit
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
89 SPECIES
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