Chuck and David were two birding buddies
from Indiana – Chuck was a member of the Birding “700 Club”, but David was
still working on his list, and this was his first trip to Texas, so it’s always
fun showing people their first birds!
Chuck was not opposed to the possibility
of adding a few birds to his Texas list, either, so we started at Estero Llano
Grande SP to try for the Rose-throated Becard.
We were able to log Clay-colored Thrush early on, but as with what
happened with Porter and Katchy, the silly little Beardless Tyrannulet decided
to sound off, so we must have spent at least an hour letting him lead us all
over the Tropical Zone trying to pin him down!
In the meantime we did get
great looks at both Buff-bellied and Black-chinned Hummers, and titmice and
kinglets came in to pishing instead of the tyrannulet. We finally gave up and headed to the feeders
so that David could “tick” Chachalacas and White-tipped Doves (Chuck insisted
he had to say, “Yee-haw!” with each
lifer since we were in Texas, but David settled for “Cha-ching!” J). A Curve-billed Thrasher met us at the bench,
but nothing else exciting.
Curve-billed Thrasher
David's life White-tipped Dove
David's life Chachalacas waiting for breakfast...
After
awhile we circled around Ben Basham’s place, where David spotted his life
Altamira Oriole (albeit a young bird)! Once
out on the main road in a dead tree, what should pop up but the becard! He gave great looks, and several other folks
were able to get on him as well before he flew south to the next batch of
trees. Huck showed up about then, and
identified the big tree the guys had a question about as a Banyan Tree. We once again took up the Wild Tyrannulet
Chase as he led us around the TZ for another hour, but we finally gave up (Chuck
got a glimpse of the thing taking off) and headed for the main part of the
park.
The Rose-throated Becard showing his back side...
...and finally his front side!
L-R: Chuck, David, two Unknown Birders, and Huck
After
checking in and checking Ibis Pond (where a Vermilion Flycatcher showed off
across the way), we headed straight out to Alligator Lake. Some gorgeous Cinnamon Teal were in Dowitcher
Pond, and Grebe Marsh still had the Least Grebes along with one of the big
Alligators. One lady told us they had a
Green Kingfisher at Alligator Lake, and sure enough, when we got there, Chuck
was able to find him fairly quickly on the opposite bank! (“Cha-ching!” J) The night herons were virtually ignored as we
then tried to zero in on a singing Long-billed Thrasher that was visible but
silhouetted. An Anhinga flew by over the
horizon, which was always nice to see.
Cinnamon Teal
The guys at Grebe Marsh
Next
order of business was the Pauraque, but neither bird were in their regular
spot! Some of the stick barrier
suspiciously looked as though it had been pressed down, and several of us
worried that someone had tried to get too close to the birds and had spooked
them deeper into the undergrowth. We
scoured that whole “circle” (and even some of the area closer to the overlook),
but couldn’t locate one; Huck even caught up with us again and vainly tried to
locate a bird that had been hanging in that area. But a big consolation prize was the
“McCall’s” Screech Owl that finally decided to sit in his hole in his box!
"McCall's" Screech Owl giving us a dirty look...
Headed
on back to the parking lot and decided to try for the Burrowing Owl and Prairie
Falcon in the fields north of Santa Ana NWR (but not before making a McDonald’s
stop J), but first we swung by the Progresso Silos when David
revealed that Bronzed Cowbird would be a life bird! The cowbird was tough (actually, Brown-headed
was a lifer, too, and that was a tad easier), but we finally found a bird
huddled next to one of the silos. What
was really cool, though, were all the
dapper Yellow-headed Blackbirds in with the Redwings! They really showed well! A young Harris’ Hawk had us confused for a
minute as it was showing pale wing panels, but the white tail base gave it
away.
Yellow-headed Blackbirds can sometimes be tough to get in the Valley, but the Progresso Silos are always a good place to look!
Heading
on to the fields, we dipped on both the owl and the falcon (except for a couple
of Kestrels), but picked up Loggerhead Shrike and Horned Lark for the day at
least. We were headed to Hidalgo for the
Monk Parakeets when David admitted he wasn’t feeling very well, so after a stop
at the truck stop near the Pharr bridge we made a quick run over to log the
parakeets, and then headed home. After
dropping David off, Chuck and I zipped over to Donna Reservoir, but with the
wind kicking up the way it was, we didn’t expect much, but did have a big raft of Lesser Scaup and several nice looks at
Neotropic Cormorants, along with a distant Osprey.
Small part of the large Lesser Scaup raft
Neotropic Cormorant (above and below)
We
called it a day after that, but still managed 70 species! Bird list:
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Monk Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
No comments:
Post a Comment