Katchy and Porter were a dear senior
couple from Boerne who were mainly interested in general Valley birding (he was
born and raised in Harlingen and had seen pretty much everything already, but
she was from Kerrville and a relatively new birder), but before they arrived
Katchy contacted me and said, “Oh, yes – there’s one bird Porter would really like to see: the Green Kingfisher!” So since Estero Llano Grande SP had been
pretty productive the last several times (and we were in for another scorcher
with highs getting into the 90s), we opted to go there first. As usual, we headed towards Pauraque Hall in
the Tropical Zone and enjoyed the feeding frenzy of Chachalacas and
White-tipped Doves, but this time the becard was a no-show. We heard the tyrannulet, but just couldn’t
pin him down. The Buff-bellied
Hummingbird showed well at one of the feeders on the middle road, however, and
a Clay-colored Thrush came in and perched on the tippy top of a dead tree,
giving great views! The Couch’s Kingbird
wasn’t as cooperative …
Morning feeding frenzy of Chachalacas
Porter makes note of the Tyrannulet Trail where we couldn't find its namesake...
Padding the list with ducks on deck, we
then sat at the hummingbird feeders for about 15 minutes, watching the Redwings
run the show (along with a single Curve-billed Thrasher). We then headed out to Alligator Lake where
the Spotted Sandpiper was still glued to his log on Dowitcher Pond, and the
monster Alligator at Grebe Marsh entertained everyone while the Least Grebes
trumpeted at him! Turning the corner,
the trees were full of the “forehead spotlights” of several Yellow-crowned
Night Herons! A single subadult
Blackcrown was across the way as well!
Red-winged Blackbird is king of the feeders!
The Curve-billed Thrasher sneaks in for his cut...
The Purple Martins are back!
Inquisitive Great Kiskadee
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (not quite as sleepy as last time)
Sub-adult Black-crowned Night Heron
The ”camo tree” Pauraque was still in his
place (he’s always under this one branch that has a “camo” pattern), and Porter
took great delight in pointing him out to another couple coming by! While I was enjoying that interchange, another
couple pointed out the second Pauraque right next to me that I never saw, next
to a pale rock with his tail propped up on a branch! Someone else spotted a female Anhinga next to
the Resaca, and at the main overlook a male Anhinga posed! A White-tailed Kite was sitting on a distant
wire in terrible light, but alas, no kingfishers of either type (although I did hear a distant Ringed while at Grebe
Marsh). A good look at a skulky
Long-billed Thrasher was a nice consolation prize, however.
Porter points out the Pauraque (white circle) to another visiting couple
The other one is hiding in plain view!
Having dipped on the Green, I recalled
that they had been pretty reliable at Hugh Ramsey Park in Harlingen, so we headed
out there (with Porter giving running commentary about how things had changed
since the 40s)! We first took a look at
the bird blind and feeders near the parking lot, which was busy with Mourning
Doves (one was missing a big chunk of neck feathers), a Common Ground Dove,
Cardinals, and Green Jays. Heading on to
the little ponds, I indeed heard a
Green Kingfisher, but we never could spot him, so since he sounded like he was
heading down the path, we followed him down when Katchy spotted several Diamond-backed
Water Snakes hauled out on the branches!
Still not able to find the kingfisher, we circled around wondering if
perchance he flew into one of the other ponds, but by the time we got back to
the original resaca, Phil Nelson met us with, “He was just here!” L
I was kicking myself for not simply waiting, but Katchy and Porter were
ready for a break, so we headed back to the Inn with plans to meet at 3:00 for
a trip up to Edinburg Scenic Wetlands for one last crack at the kingfisher!
Cardinal at the blind at Hugh Ramsey
Mourning Dove that evidently had a narrow escape (with a Common Ground Dove in the background)
Diamond-backed Water Snake
Indigo Trail
We headed up at the appointed time, and
enjoyed the wonderful gardens on the way to the Dragonfly Pond. Heard the distinctive tic-tic, and there he was, right at the end of the boardwalk
railing (that elicited a lot of “Praise the Lord”s from all parties J)!
He then flew over into the north pond, where the lighting was gorgeous,
and we padded the list with three kinds of egrets, both cormorants (including a
Double-crested showing his “double crests”), several herons (including a nice
Green), and a Belted Kingfisher flying back and forth (and even hovering for
good measure)! Porter wanted to hang
back for another shot at the Green, so Katchy and I made the circle, not seeing
much else in the heat but lauding what a great place this was for butterflies
and migrants in season! After we picked
up Porter we made a swing through the rest of the city park, picking up a mob
of White Pelicans, a few stilts, a pair of Redheads, several Lesser Scaup, and
a Ruddy Duck in the big pond (along with oodles of domestic Mallards, Pekins,
Muscovies, and geese).
Success! (Female Green Kingfisher)
Katchy and Porter at the North Pond Overlook
White Pelicans in the main city park
Then it was time to head down to Trenton
and 10th in McAllen for the Green Parakeet show! Sunset was around 6:30, so we were shooting
to get there around 6:00, but we ended up arriving there about 5:45 and the
parakeets were already there! So since
we got them so quickly, I asked them if they were interested in seeing if we
could kick up any parrots along Dallas and Cynthia (as Bird’s-Eye had a whole
cluster of EBird reports in that area), and away we went! Our first cruise up Cynthia bagged the
Couch’s Kingbird, and another cruise down Dallas bagged the Tropical Kingbird,
but we finally hit pay dirt when we tried Cynthia again and suddenly saw a few parrots
up the tree! We parked and went back for
better looks, when another birder came up, and we suddenly noticed that, along
with the several Red-crowned, there were two Lilac-crowned, a Red-lored, and a
Yellow-headed amongst them! Suddenly a
huge flock came in, and before we knew it, they had all taken off in a noisy
bunch to parts unknown!
Green Parakeets at 10th and Trenton
Low-light Red-lored Parrot
Lilac-crowned Parrot
Headed home after that with a combined
list of 82 species for the day! Bird
List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Common Pauraque
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Green Parakeet
Red-crowned Parrot
Lilac-crowned Parrot
Red-lored Parrot
Yellow-headed Parrot
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Purple Martin
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
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
82 SPECIES
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