6/24/16
The next day we headed out a little
earlier in order to get to Sabal Palm Sanctuary by opening time. Per reported that his trip to Estero Llano
Grande SP and the Weslaco Parrot Roost was a great success, so we headed out
with great hopes of yet more life birds!
After a little detour (they’re again
working on that stretch of FM 511 between Reuben Torres and Boca Chica) we made
it to the turnoff to Sabal Palm, where we stopped along the entrance road in a
vain attempt to spot a singing Dickcissel (we concluded that he was on the
other side of the border fence). Lots of
Couch’s Kingbirds serenaded us, and after paying our entrance fee, we opted to
sit at the feeders for awhile seeing as they had just filled them. We were surrounded by White-tipped Doves, but
it took them awhile to come in, and before long a raggedy-looking Green Jay
also dove into the pile of feed on the webcam table! A Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Black-crested
Titmouse made a brief appearance, but that was the extent of the feeder
action. We then took the main loop in
hopes of spotting Altamira Oriole (we did come upon a nest) or scaring up a
Green Kingfisher, but nothing cooperated; even the reported Yellow-green Vireos
had apparently moved to the National Butterfly Center… J
We did manage to kick up a young male Hooded Oriole, but the big
disappointment was that there wasn’t a bird to be found in the big resaca, even
with plenty of water! We were hoping to
pick up the Least Grebe here, but except for a whistling duck that flew over
the treetops, it was quite dead.
Feeding area at Sabal Palm Sanctuary
Per waits for his life Green Jay to come in!
Lots of Giant Swallowtails were on the wing.
The upper trail in the morning light
Broad-striped Forcept-tail (best guess)
From there we headed straight to the car
and went the back way to Boca Chica Boulevard, picking up a nice White-tailed
Kite and what looked like a Swainson’s Hawk being chased by something. Once on the main drag we tootled past the
checkpoint and stopped at the appointed pulloff, and thankfully the resident
Aplomado Falcon was resting on the nesting platform, right where he was supposed
to be! J That made up for the Least Grebe, but
amazingly what should Per spot as we rolled past one of the roadside wetlands
but said Least Grebe!! He got a good
enough look to positively ID it before he dove (the grebe, not Per), and just down
the road was a Pied-billed Grebe for good comparison!
Continuing on, we found a beautiful
White-tailed Hawk close to road eating his breakfast of gopher (or whatever it
was – it was pretty big), and turning down the good dirt road that goes into
the open tract of the NWR, a Bobwhite was standing sentry on the parking area
fence and showed no interest in moving!
We both thought maybe he was stuffed until he moved his head a little! J
Down the road we heard more Dickcissels and got a passable view in the
sun (he threw his head back and sang, so that was good enough for Per), and a
Botteri’s Sparrow also gave a distant, heat-wave saturated view as he sat on a
palm spike (thankfully he started singing as well)! Per got a kick out of the Willet that came
over to investigate us and sat on the wire to do so! Cactus Wrens were singing in the cactus
patches, but refused to come out, so that turned out to be Per’s nemesis
bird. A Blue Grosbeak was also singing,
but try as I might, I just couldn’t spot him.
In the wooded area Per spotted an ani that I missed, but we were almost
back to the paved road when Per spotted his Blue Grosbeak on the wire! Yippee!
Harris' Hawk
A magnificent White-tailed Hawk and breakfast...
Northern Bobwhite
Continuing down, we stopped at a couple
of flats with water, and got distant but passable views of Reddish Egrets and a
Snowy Plover. We turned down the road to
the Rio Grande just so Per could say he saw it, and picked up Royal, Sandwich,
and Gull-billed Terns for the day.
Another open area had a bunch of
waders that included a spoonbill, which Per was thrilled to see! At the end of the road the beach was in great
shape, so we headed towards the mouth a little, when a cute little Snowy Plover
showed up right next to the car! Both he
and a Least Tern played leapfrog with us, but what really surprised me was a
flock of Semipalmated Plovers in with some Sanderlings – I didn’t think they
were supposed to be here now! But EBird
liked them, so we’re good… J Also had some Ruddy Turnstones, but because
we didn’t know which way the tide was going, we opted to turn around and head
back.
Per at the Rio Grande
Boca Chica Flats
Snowy Plover
Over-summering Semipalmated Plover
With a Sanderling at right
Per checked on his list while we drove
back, and he was thrilled to report that he broke the 100-species goal for this
trip (and I think he said he had over 40 lifers)! And we still had the evening shift to go! Altamira Oriole was high on his list, so
after consulting Birds-Eye (an app that ties into EBird data), I saw where one
had been recorded in the Santa Ana parking lot, so we headed down there around
6:00. We had the whole place to
ourselves at that point (except for a Border Patrol guy who wandered in to use
the facilities), and while I heard no orioles, we had no less than three Clay-colored Thrushes song-battling
in the picnic area! A Chachalaca posed
nicely on a dead tree, and a Buff-bellied Hummingbird was glued to one of the
feeders in the manner of the Bobwhite we saw earlier J, but since nothing else was
coming in, we decided to head on to Hidalgo, as Per had never seen Monk Parakeets,
and it would be a good time-killer until the Green Parakeet Show.
Plain Chachalaca at his post
Clay-colored Thrush hiding in the woods
As we rolled down Bridge Street and onto
Gardenia, I was pointing out the old pumphouse when suddenly a smallish raptor
flew overhead and seemingly into a tree!
Per got a better look at it than I did, but as I turned the corner
thankfully the thing called – a Gray Hawk!
We couldn’t refind it, but Per was happy with his look, especially after
consulting Sibley! While we were there
we also picked up Tropical Kingbirds for his life list, and a Western Kingbird
for his trip list. Continuing on
Gardenia, it didn’t take long to see the ginormous stick nest on the telephone
pole and a couple of Monk Parakeets attending it! The light was perfect, and we both got some
nice shots! We were also treated to long
lines of Purple Martins staging!
Monk Parakeet attending its stick nest
By then it was time to head up 10th,
so we made a brief stop at Quinta Mazatlan (at least the parking lot, as they
were closed already) and picked up Inca Dove for the day, but nothing
else. The last time we did this exercise
with Don, the parakeets were in the Lowes parking lot off Dove, so I decided to
roll in there just to check. We didn’t
see anything initially, but as I pulled into the drive to turn around, we heard
the characteristic squawk of the parakeets further down the pike, and there was
a pair on the wires, again in perfect light!
They flew over to the top of the building where three or four other
birds were, so mission accomplished! Per
passed on continuing the cruise in hopes of seeing “The Show” (where hundreds
of parakeets stage on the wires), so taking the morning and evening shifts
together, we wrapped up with 86 species for the day!
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Harris's
Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Aplomado Falcon
Monk Parakeet
Green Parakeet
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Cactus Wren
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Olive Sparrow
Botteri's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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