WD from Corpus had a big “friends and
family” outing planned, but due to some cancellations it wound up being just
him and me for a day of general birding!
Since he had already seen pretty much everything during the course of
his birding career (the original goal was to show some new birds to the other
folks), his goals for the day were, “Whatever you wanna do!” Although he didn’t “need” it, the biggest
rarity draw at the moment was the continuing Rose-throated Becard, so we opted
to go to Estero Llano Grande first.
We left the Inn earlier than normal as the
temps were predicted to get into the 90s again, and the walk through the
Tropical Zone was just lovely. I heard
the tyrannulet, which was a bird he did
want to get a look at, so we headed up the middle road (the so-called "Tyrannulet Trail"), going in circles as we
tried to pin down the bugger! We never
could find him, so we continued on to the feeders after a fruitless peek at the
Screech Owl Stump. We enjoyed the
Chachalacas and White-tipped Doves jostling over the seed feeders, along with a
Long-billed Thrasher just singing his little heart out! I heard some gurgling overhead and looked up
to see dozens of Tree Swallows circling above us!
WD watching the Long-billed Thrasher (below) serenade us!
Chesty White-tipped Dove
A 15 minute wait at the drip didn’t
produce anything new, so we headed back.
Just past the last intersection before the Park Host area, we saw a
group of birders with one pointing his lens into the trees and asked what they
had. It was the becard! He flew off just as one of the participants
pointed him out, but thankfully he didn’t go far, and on top of that he decided
to pose right out in the open! What a
little ham! What put the icing on the
cake was hearing the tyrannulet again as we headed towards the parking lot, and
this time he showed himself, giving
WD a brief but identifiable look!
This time the becard is being a little show-off!
After once again padding the list with
Ducks on Deck, we were waylaid at the feeders by a female Cardinal and
Curve-billed Thrasher chowing down! The
Spotted Sandpiper was still stuck on his log, and Least Grebes were still
trumpeting at Grebe Marsh. Both flavors
of night herons graced us again, along with both Pauraques that were in the exact
same spots as the day before! (I had to
convince him that they weren’t stuffed, as I had seen one of them “adjust”
himself a little the previous day…) We
rested at the overlook where only a Neotropic Cormorant showed (along with the
requisite Alligator).
Lady Cardinal at her grapefruit
The return of the Curve-billed Thrasher...
WD was up for cruising the farm roads
north of Santa Ana in search of the reported Prairie Falcon, so we made the
loop, dipping on the Burrowing Owls but picking up American Pipit and Horned
Larks for the day. We finally circled
back on Anaya Road, and flushed a large light brown falcon who was sitting in
one of the cultivated rows! We got
enough of a look to confirm it as the Prairie Falcon, but with the wind the way
it was, he dropped right back down into the field, and after checking every
row, we simply couldn’t refind him. But
the crops themselves had us puzzled; we guessed broccoli, but we have the
pictures on Facebook for input… J
Once again my Facebook friends come through, and identify this mystery crop as Kale!
After that we took a stroll around
Chachalaca Trail at Santa Ana, the highlight being a Red-shouldered Hawk harassing
the Harris’ Hawk pair! From there we
went to Hidalgo to tick the Monk Parakeets, then on to Anzalduas, picking up a Black Phoebe in the canal on the way in! We passed on the Pipit Prance since he didn’t
need it J and had a nice
group of Eastern Bluebirds near the first intersection. It was getting warm by then, so things were
quieting down, but we did see a flock
of birds that we didn’t get a good look at, but suspected were waxwings. Unfortunately WD got the impression they
escaped to Mexico… J
Rose-bellied Lizard in the Santa Ana parking lot
Monk Parakeet working on her nest
We headed home after that for the mid-day
break, then headed out again around five for the parrot chase in south
McAllen! We were a little early, so I
just cruised the neighborhood, picking up a pick-a-chooing
Summer Tanager in the process! We ran
into the same British tour group that had shown us the becard, and when they
heard that yesterday we had gotten the Trenton parakeets first, then came down here, we think they all packed up and headed
up there, because on the next loop around the neighborhood they were gone! We did see another guy we had also seen at
Anzalduas, and he had simply parked on Cynthia and was patiently waiting! At one intersection WD spotted three Lesser
Goldfinches, with two brilliant males in beautiful afternoon sun! Finally I spotted about six parrots flying
overhead and we went into “storm-chasing” mode, tearing down the alley to get
to the next street over, and there they were:
three Redcrowns, two Red-lored, and at least one Lilac-crowned! The guy from Anzalduas had apparently heard
them and just walked over, and we all got scope views of these beauties!
Red-lored (above) and Lilac-crowned Parrots chumming around
Red-lored Parrot doing the splits...
It was time to go home after that, but not
before a celebratory swing through the DQ for a Blizzard! J
Bird List:
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
American Avocet
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Red-crowned Parrot
Lilac-crowned Parrot
Red-lored Parrot
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Black Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Rose-throated Becard
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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