Well,
if yesterday was a Day of Disappointments, today was definitely a Day of
Delights, as we had a list of specific target birds and we managed to find all
of them! J Since the becard was still being seen at
Estero first thing in the morning, we decided to head there first and work
backwards. We headed straight in to the
Tropical Zone once we got there, hearing Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in the
distance and stopping briefly to enjoy a Kiskadee family at the top of a dead
tree, only to discover that a pair of Clay-colored Thrushes was also playing
tag amongst them! First target out of the way!
Clay-colored Thrush
Steve and Marion scour the Tropical Zone for the Rose-throated Becard
A beautiful Altamira Oriole shows off!
I couldn’t find the Pauraque that had been on the corner when I had Gary and sons with me last November, so we headed to Alligator Lake, dutifully padding the list with the ducks in Ibis Pond. Dowitcher Pond was in terrible light, so about the only thing we added passing that was a bobbing Spotted Sandpiper. A brief going-over of Grebe Marsh added a herd of Least Grebes and more ducks to the list (no toothy alligator this time), and turning the corner we added a ton of Yellow-crowned Night Herons with a token Black-crowned. A White-tailed Kite hovering overhead was an added bonus! Thankfully the Pauraque pair was right where we left them, and Steve and Marion got great looks at this cryptic bird!
Obligatory Pauraque photo...
Sleepy Yellow-crowned Night Heron
On
the way back we exchanged pleasantries with the morning bird walk, then spent a
few minutes at the VC feeders to see if a White-tipped Dove would come back
(Marion had seen one there earlier), and thankfully one made a brief appearance
back in the bush, while Chachalacas raided the oranges, a pair of Curve-billed
Thrashers chased each other, and a Buff-bellied Hummer put on a great show for
a lot of happy folks!
Chachalaca raiding the oranges
Since
we had bagged the thrush and dove already, we opted to head straight to McAllen Nature Center for the
Audubon’s Oriole. After parking a Pyrrhuloxia popped up, which was a nice bird
for an urban area! On the way to the
check-in station I heard Green Parakeets first on one side of the road and then
the other, but we never spotted them. After
checking in we headed straight for the feeder area where the oriole had been
showing up (and where a Birdathon was taking place, joined a little later by fellow butterflier
Ken) and took our spots on the picnic table.
One of the first birds to come in was the famous leucistic female
Cardinal (first clue was that she was lacking the sooty face), followed by a Long-billed
Thrasher that hung out near the drip, while Green Jays made repeated appearances. Once again, just before my timer went off,
the Audubon’s Oriole came tearing in, and eventually made his way over to the
seed (!) feeder and proceeded to stuff his face! What a beauty! A nice White-tipped Dove decided to come out
into the open just before we left as well!
Leucistic female Cardinal
Audubon's Oriole stuffing his face
A more dignified pose...
Next
stop was Anzalduas for the Sprague’s Pipit, and on the way we happened to see a
White-tailed Hawk with what looked like snake in his talons circling
overhead! Once at the park I played the Sprague’s
call note for them, and warned them that the birds were flushing nicely but not
landing where you could see them, and that was the case today; we thought we
had one surrounded, and I was convinced he had actually crawled off somewhere,
when he suddenly burst from the grasses!
Marion got a great look at the tail pattern of a bird that popped up in
front of her, but that’s about the best look we could promise at that point. After using the restrooms (and picking up the
obligatory Black Phoebe) we circled around and found a “Mexican” Duck that
definitely had a bit of “Northern” Mallard in him, as he had a white tail and a
green gloss to the top of the head!
"Sprague's Pipit Field" at Anzalduas Park
After
pretty much bagging everything they really needed, we opted to get lunch at
Stripes and then head to Bentsen to chill at the feeders! Marion was interested in having the butters
pointed out, so at the VC we found several White Peacocks (I never really
realized they had blue bodies until she pointed that out!) and a Common Mestra
fluttering around, but after I sent them to the Gatehouse Feeders while I used
the restroom, after coming out I stumbled across this little orange and black
butterfly that looked kind of like an Elf, a very rare butterfly from
Mexico! I managed a shot of the ventral
and left a message with Mike Rickard, one of our local butterfly experts, and
then went to find my charges. We were
hoping an Olive Sparrow would come in to the drip, but one never came, and we
just enjoyed more Green Jays and the ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbirds.
White Peacock
Mystery lep whose identity will be revealed later (don't wanna spoil the punchline...)
After
a while we decided to walk to Kiskadee Blind (hitched a ride with the tram part
of the way), where there was a little more action: Altamira Orioles, more jays,
and even a “Myrtle” Warbler came in, along with a brilliant Mexican Bluewing! When things slowed down we decided to walk
over to the Green Jay Blind, and on the way over I was telling them about our
vagrant Red-naped Sapsucker that had visited for several winters in a row, when
suddenly a sapsucker popped up! She
turned out to be a female Yellow-bellied (which was nicer to see for a pair of
Californians J)! At the Resaca the dock at the island was
lined with Neotropic Cormorants, and Steve spotted a Tricolored Heron over
there as well. Like the Kiskadee Blind,
the Green Jay Blind was pretty active when we got there with lots of jays and
an immature Altamira, but then it quieted down, so we started back, planning on
hitching another ride with the tram should we run into it. We did
see a tram, and it happened to be Ranger Roy leading the afternoon tram tour
(consisting of two people), so we hopped on and joined them for a bit. He swung up to Kingfisher Overlook where we
did indeed find a Green Kingfisher, but I then noticed Mike himself over at the
butterfly gardens with his wife Ginny and fellow butterflier Jan Dauphin, so I
rushed over to show him my picture. He
confirmed what I was afraid of – that it was actually a day-flying moth of some
kind, so I determined to do a little research once I got home. When I got back to the group and told Roy
about it, he said, “Oh, yeah, that orange thing’s been fluttering around there
for a while!” :-/
Male Cardinal blends in with the bird feeder!
Curious Yellow-rumped Warbler
Here you can see where they got their nickname "Butterbutt"!
Immature Altamira Oriole
Green Jay
Joining the bird walk at Kingfisher Overlook
I
needed to get Steve and Marion to the airport so they could pick up their
rental car, so we headed back to the parking lot and eventually back to
McAllen, where we kissed goodbye (after plotting the map to the parakeet
staging areas on 10th) and went our separate ways. And the little moth turned out to be an
Orange Satyr Moth – quite a beauty!
Bird
List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
“Mexican” Duck Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Cooper's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Common Pauraque
Archilochus Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Green Parakeet
Black Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Rose-throated Becard
Green Jay
Tree Swallow
Cave 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
American Pipit
Sprague's Pipit
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
House Sparrow
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