1/3/17
As
a birthday present, Griffin from Connecticut was given his choice of a birding destination,
and he chose south Texas! J So on this first day of his adventure, I met
him and his mom Diane outside the Inn and headed in the fog to Bentsen State
Park. They had made a quick visit to
Santa Ana the evening before and bagged the easy specialties (and a couple of
not-so-easy ones, including the Fulvous Whistling Duck), but still had several
on his wish, including Buff-bellied Hummingbird. So we checked out the garden feeders at the
visitor center upon arrival, but instead, what should come to the feeder near
the tram stop but a nice male Black-chinned Hummingbird, which was also a life
bird for him! We stopped at the canal to
scan, and what should come rowing towards us head-on but a gorgeous male Ringed
Kingfisher! Walking up to the Gatehouse
feeders a mob of Chachalacas gathered to await breakfast, and amongst them was
a pair of White-tipped Doves! Quickly a
Clay-colored Thrush whizzed in and gave great views, and three Altamira Orioles
landed on top of one of the telephone poles on the way out! Although not a target, a pair of Black
Phoebes at the canal was nice for the day list, and Griffin spotted a pair of
Olive Sparrows in the bushes near the tram stop; they both agreed that for a
“killing time till Anzalduas opens” spot, it was pretty productive! J
A Chachalaca stares us down at Bentsen
The mob waits for breakfast...
Clay-colored Thrush
As
the spoiler stated, Anzalduas was the next stop, where we parked and got our
feet soaking wet tromping across the field in search of Sprague’s Pipits! We flushed several, and Griffin was able to
get some “belly shots” as a couple of birds bounced overhead, but alas, we couldn’t
corner the one bird that decided to land amongst the Western Meadowlarks. We searched in vain for Zone-tailed Hawk, but
a nice Red-shouldered Hawk posed instead.
Another target bird, a pair of Mottled Ducks, showed well, along with
Griffin’s life Crested Caracara perched across the way. Nice “non-targets” included a huge flock of
Lesser Scaup, a Vermilion Flycatcher, and both species of cormorant.
The
next stop was Quinta Mazatlan for Tropical Kingbird and an off chance at
parrots and parakeets, but not before spotting a young White-tailed Hawk along
Shary Road that we almost passed off as a Redtail as it had the classic white
chest/belly band pattern! A Tropical
Parula had been reported, so when we ran into a good feeding flock with a
suspicious bird, the adrenalin started flowing, but when the bird decided to
give us a non-backlit view we discovered it to be a classic male Northern
Parula (still good for this time of year).
The flock itself was quite varied, with Blue-headed Vireo and Black-throated
Green and Black-and-white Warblers in addition to the normal winter birds. More Chachalacas sat inches from us along the
trail, and we finally got great looks at the Buff-bellied Hummingbird around a
large cactus that was in bloom. As is so
often the case, the Tropical Kingbird showed up “back at the car”, along with a
Curve-billed Thrasher (another “bank bird” in case they decide to split our bird
off from the Arizona race).
Young White-tailed Hawk
Curve-billed Thrasher
Tropical Kingbird
Griffin tries recording the kingbird (circled in white)
We
decided to make a return visit to Santa Ana for the tyrannulet, and indeed, we
heard it shortly after hitting the Chachalaca Trail! However, the tree it was in was right in the
sun, so we continued on hoping the one closer to the tour road would sound off. It didn’t, so back we trucked, and this time
the bird called and came down low near the blind area, giving great looks! We padded the day list with ducks and grebes
in Willow Lake, and Griffin spotted a lovely adult White-tailed Hawk through
the trees!
Aside
from the obstinate Tropical Parula (several had been reported at various
places) and members of the parrot tribe (which you almost have to plan a sunset
roost trip to see), we had pretty much cleaned up on Griffin’s targets, so we
headed To Estero Llano Grande for the Pauraque and McCall’s Screech Owl! On the way Griffin thought he had a flock of
Snow Geese flying in the distance, so I pulled over to check it out, and it
turned out to be a White Pelican Ballet!
Once at Estero we enjoyed more ducks and grebes off the deck (including
the Cinnamon Teal), picked up their lifer Couch’s Kingbird along the trail, and
chuckled at Diane’s reaction to the huge Alligator in Grebe Marsh! J
The Softshell Turtle was on his same rock at Alligator Lake (along with
the night herons), and as we took up our positions behind the Pauraque’s barrier,
I almost didn’t see the one bird that had settled so close to said barrier that
I was practically within touching distance (and he saw me long before I saw
him, as his eye was on me)! Diane
spotted a second bird that was actually shuffling a little bit; they were both
surprisingly sitting in the direct sunlight, and we got to wondering if they
were thinking about shifting to a more shady spot… Unfortunately the owl was down inside his
box, and both the other stakeouts were not at home, either. L
Couch's Kingbird
Lazing Alligator
Waterfowl Club
Great Kiskadee
Pauraque
We
headed back to the Tropical Zone as that’s where Estero’s parula had been
hanging, and we ran into Huck Hutchins, May and Rick Snider, Mary Gustafson,
and Ben Basham all lined up on the benches patiently watching the water
puddle! Huck had indeed seen the parula
earlier, but it turned out that’s not what they were waiting for: an Ovenbird had shown up that morning! (Diane ruefully said, “We’ll mail you one…” J)
After a few minutes Griffin and I made the loop (as that’s apparently
what the parula had been doing) and managed to pick up a Nashville Warbler in
with the Orange-crowns, but not much else.
We put in a valiant watch for a good long time (during which we heard
Sandhill Cranes in the distance), but then decided to head on home when a
visiting birder from Tennessee (whom Griffin and Diane had met at Santa Ana the
day before and we had run into again that morning) offered to show us the
long-lived Guatemalan Cracker that was still hanging around! (The Blomfeld’s Beauty was seen that morning
but was gone by the time we walked by…)
While looking at that Griffin noticed a raptor coming at us and then
circled overhead, which turned out to be a Peregrine!
Griffin checks out a feeding flock in the Tropical Zone
An Orange-crowned Warbler pondering the grapefruit
Long-lived Guatemalan Cracker
We
actually got back to Alamo a little early, so I offered to take them on a short
walk down to Fannin Street in hopes of maybe at least hearing some fly-by
parakeets and show them where I had found yet another Tropical Parula the day
before (but as we all agreed, these feeding flocks move around and your chances
of finding them again are slim). All we
got out of that jaunt was a White-winged Dove, barking dogs, and more exercise J, so we called it a day.
Griffin
had caught sight of Eurasian Collared Dove and White-tailed Kite while I was
watching traffic, so his two additions made it a “centennial” day! J
Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Muscovy Duck (two feral birds at Anzalduas)Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
[White-tailed Kite]
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Laughing Gull
Caspian Tern
Rock Pigeon
[Eurasian Collared Dove]
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Common Pauraque
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Green Jay
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Sprague's Pipit
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
98 SPECIES (100 with Griffin’s extra two)
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