There was a big blob of red on the weather
radar this morning, so I was glad we decided to head up to Salineño today where
it was supposed to be dry! By the time
we got up there it had cleared up nicely, and the temperature was just perfect
with a cool breeze! Apparently a whole
lotta other folks were on the same wavelength, as the place was packed with two
vans of tour groups along with several lone ranger birders! One group (that turned out to be an Eagle Eye
Tours group) was already at the boat ramp and had a Red-billed Pigeon in their
sights, but it’s a good thing that Ken and Keith had gotten fabulous looks last
Thursday, because this bird was well hidden in the tree! (I was happy to get it for the year, anyway…) So while the tour river-watched, Ken and I
decided to hike the trail first, and we hadn’t gone five steps it seems before
his target Audubon’s Oriole teed up on a tree right in front of us! I got him in the scope for Ken, then went
back to tell the group (as this bird doesn’t always cooperate at the
feeders)! The group made a beeline, but
the bird had evidently been chased away by a blackbird the minute I left! L
Interestingly, upon processing the pictures, there turned out to be two birds up there – didn’t even see the
second one we were so focused on the one!
Audubon's Oriole - we didn't even notice the second bird below at first!
So the gang decided to continue on the
trail while Ken and I went back to the boat ramp and set up watch. More people trickled in here and there, and
by that time the pigeon had slunk away inside the tree. A Pied-billed Grebe was hauled out on a rock,
interestingly, and was eventually joined by a Green Kingfisher! (The grebe seemed okay as he occasionally got
in the water to bathe and dive, then got back on the rock…) The Ospreys were about along with the
ever-present Spotted Sandpiper and both cormorant species, and a flock of
Gadwall floated along as well. The only
other raptors we had were both flavors of vulture and a couple of Caracaras,
and we did see a distant kingfisher
rowing over the island’s horizon before going the wrong direction, but couldn’t
get a definitive look. Before long Mary
Gustafson emerged from the trail with a couple of clients; she did report a Ringed Kingfisher they
flushed off a snag (which made me think that was probably the same bird), but
they couldn’t find any seedeaters. Skye
(the guy leading the tour) came back and reported the same thing, but we waited
it out the whole hour before heading up the trail ourselves.
Pied-billed Grebe uncharacteristically hauled out on a rock (you can see how far back on his body his legs are attached)!
He doesn't seem to mind sharing his rock with a Green Kingfisher, however!
It was pretty quiet going in, with most of
the action being at the cul-de-sac: a
male Vermilion Flycatcher was pretty tame, and a Kiskadee came out to
investigate, but that was pretty much it.
On the way back, however, I heard a crac….crac…
and stopped Ken in his steps – the Ringed Kingfisher was flying by! He saw enough to tell it was a large
kingfisher and could tell the flight call was different from a Belted, so that
was good enough for him!
Vermilion Flycatcher
Not needing to sit at the feeders for the
oriole (he figured it was probably gonna be a tight fit in there today anyway),
we headed down Dump Road in hopes of sparrows.
The wind was starting up, so things were low (got a chattering
Pyrrhuloxia, but that was about it), therefore we continued on to Falcon State
Park to check the butterfly garden. Ken
was anxious to learn new butterflies, so we saw several expected species
including Black and Giant Swallowtails, Empress Leilia, both Vesta and Phaon
Crescents (along with a little Elada Checkerspot), Funereal Duskywing, Southern
Dogface, and several Queens and sulphurs.
Empress Leilia
Funereal Duskywing
Phaon Crescent (above and below)
Elada Checkerspot (above and below)
The similar Vesta Crescent (above and below)
Beat-up Southern Dogface
By that time we both agreed that wandering
the back roads in search of sparrows probably wouldn’t be very productive, so
Ken readily agreed to head over to the National Butterfly Center for more
butter-hunting! Even though it was
breezy, the temperature was just perfect, and the place was alive with
stuff: in the Sunken Gardens we had both
Zilpa and White-striped Longtails, several Black and Giant Swallowtails,
Dusky-blue Groundstreak, Silver-banded Hairstreak, and Checkered Whites. Luciano had suggested we cut over to the
Walking Trail at the halfway point, and along there we had lots of Red Admirals
and a single South Texas Satyr on a bait log.
Dusky-blue Groundstreak
Silver-banded Hairstreak
Zilpa Longtail
White-striped Longtail
Red Admiral
Once down in the old main garden we sat at
the feeder area for a while, enjoying the common birds, then hit the gardens
again, being overwhelmed by the butter action:
Ken’s coveted Zebra Heliconian finally came by and gave us a show, along
with a Julia and Gulf Fritillaries. A rare
Double-dotted Skipper was uncooperative for photos, but a male Chestnut Crescent
made up for it! It was hard pointing out
the little guys, but we had plenty of Clouded and Fiery Skippers along with the
occasional Whirlabout and Sachem.
Bordered and Crimson Patches were a hit, and finally the Mexican
Bluewing showed off as we started back, along with a beat-up Band-celled
Sister! I told Ken that one has to see the Valley’s signature
butterfly, especially since it’s painted on the Mission water tower! J
Chachalaca (above and below)
Green Jay grabbing the nail...
Chestnut Crescent
Zebra Heliconian (above and below)
Fuzzy Mexican Bluewing
Beat-up Band-celled Sister
Mexican Fritillary
Headed home with a meager bird list, but
the quality of both birds and bugs couldn’t be beat (birds beat out the bugs by
only two species)!
Bird list:
Gadwall
Plain Chachalaca
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Red-billed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Butter List:
Pipevine Swallowtail
Black SwallowtailGiant Swallowtail
Checkered White
Southern Dogface
Cloudless Sulphur
Large Orange Sulphur
Little Yellow
Sleepy Orange
Silver-banded Hairstreak
Mallow Scrub Hairstreak
Dusky-blue Groundstreak
Reakirt’s Blue
Fatal Metalmark
American Snout
Gulf Fritillary
Julia Heliconian
Zebra Heliconian
Mexican Fritillary
Bordered Patch
Crimson Patch
Elada Checkerspot
Texan Crescent
Chestnut Crescent
Vesta Crescent
Phaon Crescent
Red Admiral
White Peacock
Common Mestra
Band-celled Sister
Mexican Bluewing
Tropical Leafwing
Empress Leilia
South Texas Satyr
Monarch
Queen
White-striped Longtail
Zilpa Longtail
Brown Longtail
Sickle-winged Skipper
Funereal Duskywing
White Checkered Skipper
Tropical Checkered Skipper
Laviana White Skipper
Turk’s Cap White Skipper
Clouded Skipper
Double-dotted Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Whirlabout
Sachem
No comments:
Post a Comment