Exploring New Migration Hot Spots Part 2

5/4/16

The next day we met at Frontera Audubon Thicket; this was one of the places I was getting near constant reports from on the Rare Bird Text Messaging group, so I was hoping some of those migrants would hang around!  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I actually beat Mary there by about 15 minutes, so I logged several things from the parking lot, including Green Parakeets and a female Summer Tanager.

Summer Tanager

Once checked in we crept along, picking up a Redstart here and a Tennessee there; we sat for five at the little resaca and had a handsome Yellow-crowned Night Heron pose for us!  A Green Kingfisher gave a very brief view, but in the area we found more Philadelphia Vireos and a Blackburnian Warbler!  While sitting on another bench Mary saw a largish bird with a banded tail fly in, then spotted a good-sized nest; I got a glimpse of a pale bird, but putting two and two together it was undoubtedly the resident Gray Hawk!

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Philadelphia Vireo

The big lake was rather empty, and as we made the big loop around the property there was no shortage of White-tipped Doves; in fact, Mary made the comment as we were passing through the dark and dingy Sabal Palm Grove that one could be creeped out rather easily if you didn’t know what was making that spooky cooing sound! J  But the most action turned out to be around the feeder areas:  we had a female Bay-breasted Warbler, more Nashvilles and Black-and-whites, and what I felt was the bird of the day – a singing Bell’s Vireo!  He wouldn’t let himself be seen, however, except for the briefest of moments…  The feeders themselves were crawling with Chachalacas and doves, and several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks came in as well.  Further down the trail a Blue-headed Vireo was singing, and he finally did allow us a look!  I showed her the area where the Blue Bunting had been hanging out, but all we could kick up was a Catbird and a lovely Chestnut-sided Warbler along the “dead end trail”.  Somewhere in here we happened upon a Black-throated Green Warbler who had caught himself a huge caterpillar and was trying to figure out how to best devour it; it got kinda gooey after awhile!  Near the blind we heard a Yellow-breasted Chat making some interesting noises, then took the boardwalk back, where we spooked a Green Heron, had a couple of White Ibis and a Great Egret feeding, and heard a Groove-billed Ani call.  Almost back at the gate we had a family of Black-crested Titmice making a ruckus while a female Chestnut-sided Warbler ignored them while she foraged…

Female Bay-breasted Warbler

Belly shot (this is often the only look you get at a warbler, so it pays to learn the key field marks from this angle...)

 

Black-throated Green Warbler with lunch

We had to part company by noon, but it was another terrific day of spring migration, with 62 species for the morning!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Green Heron                          
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           
  White Ibis                           
  Gray Hawk                            
  White-winged Dove                    
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Groove-billed Ani                    
  Chimney Swift                        
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker             
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Green Parakeet                       
  Eastern Wood-Pewee                   
  Least Flycatcher                     
  Brown-crested Flycatcher             
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Bell's Vireo                         
  Blue-headed Vireo                    
  Warbling Vireo                       
  Philadelphia Vireo                   
  Green Jay                             
  Purple Martin                        
  Bank Swallow                         
  Barn Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Carolina Wren                        
  Swainson's Thrush                    
  Clay-colored Thrush                  
  Gray Catbird                         
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Ovenbird                             
  Black-and-white Warbler              
  Tennessee Warbler                    
  Nashville Warbler                    
  American Redstart                    
  Magnolia Warbler                      
  Bay-breasted Warbler                 
  Blackburnian Warbler                 
  Chestnut-sided Warbler               
  Black-throated Green Warbler         
  Yellow-breasted Chat                 
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Summer Tanager                       
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak               
  Dickcissel                           
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Baltimore Oriole                     
  Lesser Goldfinch                     
  House Sparrow                        
 
62 SPECIES

Exploring New Migration Hot Spots Part 1

5/3/16

            Mary and her husband live in the Corpus Christi area, so she’s no stranger to Valley birds, but when her husband suggested she come with him to a conference he was speaking at on South Padre Island, she readily agreed and looked me up to go birding!  The timing couldn’t have been better, as a mild cold front came in the day before, and the Convention Centre (CC) was dripping with migrants!  (We would hear throughout the day that the whole Valley was dripping with migrants!) 

But I’m getting ahead of myself:  we first went to the bayside flats north of the CC, and unlike Saturday, the tide was right up to the entrance kiosk, so we didn’t have much in the way of shorebirds and larids except for a couple of Ruddy Turnstones, a Sanderling, a Reddish Egret, and a couple of Royal Terns making more Royal Terns (although a late Red-breasted Merganser was nice)…  So we swung over to the CC, and had barely stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk when we were greeted by several warblers right overhead, the memorable ones being Blackpoll and Blackburnian!  Mary got on a Chestnut-sided that I missed, but I didn’t miss the male Bay-breasted!  Ran into Scarlet Colley at the water feature, and as we talked, some Cedar Waxwings started calling from the tree tops!  Her “Orange Trees” were loaded with mostly Baltimore Orioles and a few Orchards; it was a great opportunity to study the different plumages!  Eastern Wood Pewees were out the yin yang, but nothing was out in the back area this time as the tide was so high.  From the “tucked-away bench” we saw several variations of Indigo Buntings coming in, and Gray-cheeked and Swainson’s Thrushes gave good comparisons.  Even the beginning of the boardwalk was great, as a Black-billed Cuckoo sat briefly and then flew to a tree further out on the boardwalk; this was a lifer for several folks there!  We also were thankfully able to refind the baby Least Bitterns, and on the way back one of the Clapper Rails was vigorously preening itself out in the open!  Coming back to the CC we had a great view of all the Yellow-headed Blackbirds sitting in the tops of the trees!

Black-billed Cuckoo

The "Orange Tree"

Before heading to Sheepshead, we made a circuit around the “circular area” (the area of smaller bushes east of the drive) and saw a few things, best of which was a cute Veery and a stunning Worm-eating Warbler!  Heading over to Sheepshead, we were thankful for the cloud cover as we could spend extended time on both sides of the road, but we first staked out the “shady side” where the ever-present Northern Waterthrush was, plus a Black-throated Green, but not much else.  The “sunny side” was actually more active, with a female Hooded Warbler, more orioles, and a Blue-winged Warbler!  Someone pointed out a snoozing Common Nighthawk, and down at the corner a couple of Philadelphia Vireos came in, along with more pewees.

Mary checks out the "shady side"

Snoozing Common Nighthawk

Female Hooded Warbler

First-year Baltimore Oriole

 

Young male Baltimore pondering the orange...

Eastern Wood Pewee looking cute

Looking normal...

After that we headed back to the CC, where the big show was at the water feature where everyone avian was taking a bath:  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Nashville and Yellow Warblers, Catbirds, and even the female Pyrrhuloxia!  A very friendly Acadian Flycatcher came by to say hello, and several American Redstarts flipped around as well.  Lizzy (Scarlet’s assistant) almost fainted when a Golden-winged Warbler showed up; thankfully Mary got to see that one!  Scarlet told us of a place where she had seen some Mourning Warblers on Atol, so we headed over there, but only got several Magnolias (which are nothing to sniff at, either…).  We returned to Sheepshead where another lady told us that the Birding Center was hopping, so with what little time we had we headed over there, where yet another Black-billed Cuckoo showed up (along with a Yellow-billed), and probably the star of the day, a male Cape May Warbler!

Saucy Magnolia Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Philadelphia vireo

Enjoying watching bathing birds at the water feature

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Baltimore Oriole thinks about taking the plunge...

Very friendly Acadian Flycatcher

Looking cute...

Lizzy restocks the oranges

 

Another Magnolia Warbler over at Atol

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and an Orchard Oriole raid the feeders at the Birding Center!

View from the ramp

Cape May Warbler, somewhat rare on the Texas coast

I had to drop Mary off after that, but it had been an incredible day; the only thing that kept us from breaking 100 was the lack of shorebirds!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Mottled Duck                         
  Blue-winged Teal                     
  Red-breasted Merganser               
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Brown Pelican                         
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Reddish Egret                        
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Osprey                               
  Clapper Rail                          
  Sora                                 
  Common Gallinule                     
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Willet                               
  Ruddy Turnstone                      
  Sanderling                           
  Short-billed Dowitcher               
  Laughing Gull                        
  Franklin's Gull                      
  Least Tern                           
  Caspian Tern                          
  Royal Tern                           
  Sandwich Tern                        
  Rock Pigeon                          
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo                 
  Black-billed Cuckoo                  
  Common Nighthawk                     
  Ruby-throated Hummingbird            
  Eastern Wood-Pewee                   
  Acadian Flycatcher                   
  Least Flycatcher                      
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  Warbling Vireo                       
  Philadelphia Vireo                   
  Red-eyed Vireo                       
  Barn Swallow                         
  Marsh Wren                           
  Veery                                
  Gray-cheeked Thrush                  
  Swainson's Thrush                    
  Gray Catbird                         
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Cedar Waxwing                        
  Ovenbird                             
  Worm-eating Warbler                  
  Northern Waterthrush                 
  Blue-winged Warbler                  
  Black-and-white Warbler              
  Tennessee Warbler                    
  Nashville Warbler                     
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Hooded Warbler                       
  American Redstart                    
  Cape May Warbler                     
  Northern Parula                      
  Magnolia Warbler                     
  Bay-breasted Warbler                 
  Blackburnian Warbler                 
  Yellow Warbler                       
  Blackpoll Warbler                    
  Black-throated Green Warbler         
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Chipping Sparrow                      
  Clay-colored Sparrow                 
  Lark Sparrow                         
  Lincoln's Sparrow                    
  Summer Tanager                       
  Pyrrhuloxia                          
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak               
  Indigo Bunting                       
  Painted Bunting                      
  Dickcissel                           
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Yellow-headed Blackbird              
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Orchard Oriole                       
  Baltimore Oriole                     
  House Sparrow                        
 
93 SPECIES