6/23/16
He knew it was the hottest time of
the year when he made his reservation, but with a business trip scheduled in
the eastern US, Per from Denmark didn’t have much of a choice! J
But the good news was that it was his first time to the Valley, and
there are always good birds to see
any time of year!
The normal guiding routine is to
leave the Inn at 7:00 am and return at 5:00 pm, but this time of year is too
blasted hot for that schedule, so my modus
operandi is to basically do what I would do if it were just me: plan on being at the target area by sunrise
and quit by noon. Then, since the client
is entitled to ten hours of birding, we work backwards from sunset and use the
remaining hours that way. Today’s target
area for the morning was the La Sal del Rey driving route, as some of his “most
wanted” birds included Roadrunner, Bobwhite, and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
(along with raptors), and all of those are reasonable along this route.
We headed up around 6:00 and
actually got to the starting point before dawn, and quickly added the common “wire
birds” such as Couch’s Kingbird and Brown-crested Flycatcher. Bronzed Cowbirds made an early appearance and
soon became junk birds, and a little down the road we were actually able to
coax an Olive Sparrow and Yellow-billed Cuckoo out in the open, both very tough
birds to actually see sometimes! We didn’t have to wait long for our first
Roadrunners (always a delight), and his first Painted Bunting in horrid light
soon gave way to lots more in perfect light, a knock down gorgeous sight! But what knocked me over was a Verdin that
came right out in the open of its own volition; I can’t tell you the number of
times I tried to pish one out, but to no avail!
A real treat were all the Groove-billed Anis we saw along the course of
the route; they almost became ho-hum! J
Per along Brushline Road at first light
Verdin
Painted Bunting
Arriving at the trailhead to the
salt lake, it was obvious that I hadn’t
been there in awhile as the place was really
grown up from what I remember! We finally
got great looks at a Bewick’s Wren, but unfortunately Per missed the Summer
Tanager that flew right over the trail! L There was nothing at the lake but a pair of
Killdeer, but there was lots of water and it was a pretty sight.
Trail to the lake
Heading on down the road we got
great looks at Caracaras on the posts, and eventually his Scissor-tailed Flycatchers
starting showing up and showing off! We
had been hearing Bobwhite all morning, and finally a pair here and there would
appear by the side of the road and run on ahead of us, their little heads
wobbling back and forth! More
Roadrunners showed up (including one that jumped up when I “messed” with it as
I can’t help doing J), and we had
great views of both White-tailed and Swainson’s Hawks soaring overhead
(unfortunately the only Harris’ we saw was making a beeline over the brush). The Cactus Wrens were uncooperative, but what
was even better was a singing Black-throated Sparrow on north Brushline that
came right in and sat on the wire fence next to us! I didn’t hear any Botteri’s Sparrows (this is
the only spot in Hidalgo County you can get them), but at one spot along this
road we got out to try and spot one of the Green Jays that was making a racket
when we suddenly saw why they were
making a racket – they had a Great Horned Owl!
He gave us great looks before he decided he had had enough and took off…
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Curve-billed Thrasher
The pond at the north end of
Brushline was absolutely dead (except, again, for a couple of Killdeer) but as
we poked ahead to the turnaround point, I heard a Bullock’s Oriole! So we piled out to try and pish it out, and
instead in roared this gorgeous Hooded
Oriole! The Bullock’s never came in, but
thankfully we would see another one on the way out. We had both Black and Turkey Vultures as
well, and plenty of Common Ground Doves along the road. But what really surprised me (and
unfortunately took off before I could get a shot) was a Pheucticus-type grosbeak that landed on the wire fence (in awful
light of course) that had a darkish head and rusty-ish breast with fine
streaks, but that’s all I could make out before it fled. My gut reaction was Black-headed, but neither
are supposed to be here this time of year; it appeared hooded, and the rusty
coloration would better fit Black-headed, but it was so backlit that I couldn’t
rule out a first-year male Rose-breasted, either, so that was the one that got
away…
Hooded Oriole
The most exciting thing along Ken
Baker Road was a male Ladder-backed Woodpecker that came right in to a dead
tree and gave Per some great photo ops!
We also picked up some Lark Sparrows and had a nice Pyrrhuloxia on the
way out. Since it was getting close to
noon, I suggested we take a peek at the ponds at CR20, which had been hosting
some oversummering ducks that might be good for his list, so over we went. We enjoyed tons of Black-bellied Whistling
Ducks (and a few Fulvous) and Black-necked Stilts (and a single Avocet), along
with some Ruddy and Mottled Ducks and a White-faced Ibis, plus a couple of
Gull-billed Terns and some Laughing Gulls.
And we managed to pick up the delinquent Gadwall, Shoveler, and Redhead
pair while we were at it, along with a Long-billed Curlew and an unseen chirping
Horned Lark.
Pyrrhuloxia
We were “all done in” by then, but
Per was very happy with his list, and including the Lesser Nighthawk that was
whinnying at the apartments before we left (and the Lesser Goldfinch I heard
before entering my apartment at the end), the species total was 71 species for
the morning! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Northern Shoveler
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Neotropic Cormorant
Snowy Egret
White-faced Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Laughing Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Groove-billed Ani
Great Horned Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Bewick's Wren
Cactus Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Blue Grosbeak
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
71 SPECIES
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