Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Beep Beep!

3/27/17

Derek and Helen had just come in from a five-day blitz on the Central Coast and the Hill Country with Jon McIntyre, so I was relieved that he had already bagged some of the more difficult Valley specialties for me! J  However, just because the bird was on the list didn’t mean that they didn’t have a few “BVDs” (birder lingo for “Better View Desired”), so their desire was to get good looks at our local birds, plus get some help with the vocalizations.  We had already talked about going up to Salineño to get some of the upriver specialties (thankfully they logged Audubon’s Oriole at Choke Canyon), and after an introductory trip to Santa Ana on their own, they already had a handful of our local specialties (like Chachalaca), so this was going to be a laid-back sorta day up in Starr County to see what we could see.

The first stop was Falcon (Starr) County Park in hopes that the Red-billed Pigeons would be feeding on the coma berries, but I guess that gang of eleven cleaned them all out two weeks ago, as there wasn’t a pigeon to be seen!  It was a beautiful day, though, and the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were back in force, which delighted these two Brits to no end!  The other hit was the Vermilion Flycatcher pair; even the female had her subtle beauty!  At the same stop we finally got scope views of a singing Bewick’s Wren, and a Lark Sparrow teed up on a tree for looks.  Making the circle we added the Ash-throated Flycatcher by the office, and closer to the south fence a Caracara flew over.  Hugging the “center island” I was thrilled to hear a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher giving his pish-like scold, and after some coaxing he finally sat up and showed off, black cap and all!

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Lark Sparrow (above and below)


Giving up on the pigeons, Derek and Helen really wanted to see a Roadrunner again (they had seen one with Jon, but it was distant), so we wheeled into Falcon State Park right next door.  The entrance road actually turned out to be quite birdy:  a pair of House Finches sat on a wire first (which are considered “accidental” in the Valley), and then a thrasher was singing really close, so we parked and got out to investigate.  While we were searching a Verdin came right out and perched in the top of a dead tree!  Before long we spotted the singer: a nice Long-billed Thrasher who was partially hidden at first, until a Pyrrhuloxia came blasting into the Verdin’s tree as if to say, “Why are you looking at him?!  Lookit me!!  About that time the thrasher decided to sit up as well, so we got great looks at three special birds!

House Finch, considered "accidental" in the Valley

Long-billed Thrasher (above and below)


After checking in and making the right turn as is my habit, we didn’t have to wait long before we spotted a Roadrunner next to the road (of course)!  A camper scared him into the campground entrance road, but as we crawled up he stayed put and we got stunning views!  We saw another one down the road doing his cooing song, but as we crawled up he walked into the brush.  I demonstrated my compulsion to “mess with Roadrunners” (their song is very easy to mimic), and suddenly he appeared in the middle of the mesquite, looking all around and cooing back to me!  What a show!  We saw yet a third Roadrunner before hitting the primitive camping area!

Roadrunner

I think my Brits woulda been happy if they saw nothing else at that point J, but turning right at the road to the primitive camping area gave us a great look at a preening Curve-billed Thrasher on a wire!  I was telling them that this was a good area for Cactus Wren (and they were admiring yet another Scissor-tailed Flycatcher) when suddenly something even better started singing:  a Bell’s Vireo (also considered accidental in the Valley)!  Unfortunately he was being drowned out by a Mockingbird, so the recording wasn’t the best, and the trash picker-upper was coming by in his noisy little vehicle, so we bagged the idea of trying to pull the vireo out and headed on.  I heard a Cassin’s Sparrow and we are actually able to spot it doing its parachuting display song, but every time he landed he quickly moved to another spot, only to rise and parachute down again! 

Curve-billed Thrasher

Down at the boat ramp, my passengers agreed to some four-wheeling in the hopes of pulling up something new near the water’s edge; a Greater Yellowlegs was nice, but what we did kick up was an unexpected but pleasant surprise:  a pair of Bobwhite (and the female sat on the track for a good long time, giving us great views)!  Bouncing back up to the pavement we headed over to the picnic area, where we actually had a picnic J while I took the scope down the path to check out the pile of larids on the spit; it was tough judging them in the heat waves, but we ended up with a Caspian Tern, a couple of Ring-billed Gulls, and a mob of Laughing Gulls (plus the odd Great Egret).

We cruised around the cabin area not picking up anything new (it was getting to be that time of day), then swung around the county park one last time (same story) before heading out to Salineño via the Dump Road.  Unbelievably we scared up yet another Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, and also got fleeting looks at Black-throated Sparrows, but again the Cactus Wrens refused to cooperate, even though they were singing and calling fairly close.  The butters were just going nuts:  mainly Lyside Sulphurs attacking these white-flowered bushes, but I was able to point out a Reakirt’s Blue to Derek and Helen.

Derek and Helen along the Dump Road

Down at the boat ramp we parked and decided to hike the trail first, and almost immediately I heard the seedeater singing!  So down we went, and we got pretty close to him (close enough to get a decent recording for documentation), and by going down the little side trail that had been blazed last year during the seedeater “invasion”, we were able to get brief views as the male sat right up on a dead stalk!  Not for long, unfortunately, but what was either the female or a young male followed him, as I thought I heard that one singing as well.  But he was going up and down along the whole length of that trail, just like last year, as we heard him both at the cul-de-sac and then again at the trailhead (no sign of the nice black-and-white one David and I had seen). 


A watch at the river for almost an hour yielded no specialties except a Green Kingfisher that shot across and then headed down towards the island.  The Chachalacas were tuning up, and we had at least four pairs spreading the afternoon news from behind us to Mexico to the island upriver!  The “resident” Ospreys were there, of course, and the Spotted Sandpiper finally showed up (along with a Killdeer who enjoyed taking a bath at the foot of the boat ramp).  Here, too, the butters were nuts, reminding me of that huge mudding party along the shores of the Sarapiqui River in Costa Rica, only our species diversity was lower:  again, mainly Lyside Sulphurs, with a few Snouts and Large Orange Sulphurs in the mix.

Killdeer watches the sky as he cools off!


Mudding party!

Mostly Lyside Sulphurs with one Large Orange Sulphur

A closer look at the Lysides


We were talking about stopping at Hidalgo for the Monk Parakeets on the way back, but everyone was pretty bushed, so we decided to call it a day with a surprising 71 species for the day, which is tough when the feeders are closed!  Bird List:

  Gadwall                              
  Mottled Duck                          
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Northern Bobwhite                    
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  Sharp-shinned Hawk                   
  Harris's Hawk                        
  Killdeer                              
  Spotted Sandpiper                    
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Laughing Gull                        
  Ring-billed Gull                     
  Caspian Tern                         
  Rock Pigeon                           
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Greater Roadrunner                    
  Green Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Ash-throated Flycatcher              
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Tropical Kingbird                    
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Bell's Vireo                          
  Green Jay                            
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        
  Purple Martin                        
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Verdin                               
  House Wren                            
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Cactus Wren                          
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Black-tailed Gnatcatcher             
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  Curve-billed Thrasher                 
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Yellow-rumped Warbler                
  White-collared Seedeater             
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Lark Sparrow                         
  Black-throated Sparrow               
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Pyrrhuloxia                          
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  House Finch                          
  House Sparrow                         

71 SPECIES

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