Headed out before dawn on Friday to the
chorus of awakening Tropical Kingbirds (which John thankfully got the day
before on his laid-back rest day)! We
headed over to Estero Llano Grande under heavily cloudy skies, and as
Providence would have it, a state trooper had pulled over a car and both were
“using” the park entrance road, effectively blocking our entrance, so we used that excuse to continue south and see
perchance if the gate to the actual Estero Llano Grande was open! Thankfully it was, and as we pulled in,
Dickcissels were singing out the yin yang in the field next to us, but
unfortunately were laying low due to the wind!
After a long time scanning I was thrilled to hear John say he saw one
fly in, land briefly, then dive down into the stuff, but he described it
perfectly, so that was great (lifer)!
Several Snowy Egrets and a couple of Great Egrets and Tricolored Herons
fed in the river, but that was about it, and not wanting to take the risk of
getting gated in, we decided to turn around and head back to the park.
By that time both law-breaker and
law-enforcer had cleared the entrance road, so we headed in and poked into the
Tropical Zone first. The place was
packed with White-winged Doves, and we managed wire looks at Couch’s Kingbirds. We saw the tyrannulet nest (with no
tyrannulet), and the screech owl was a no-show, so we went to sit at the drip
in hopes that some migrants might come in.
A White-tipped Dove pranced by right out in the open, and a Curve-billed
Thrasher flew and posed nicely, but we weren’t there very long before we heard
Green Parakeets screeching by! They
sounded like they had landed, so that got us out of our seats and to the back
road (enjoying a nice Ladder-backed Woodpecker along the east fence), where we
finally found one perched closer to the entrance! John’s life Purple Martins flew overhead, and
a female even perched for scope views! A
group of Lesser Goldfinches also were entertaining as they chased each other,
and Chachalacas posed right out in the open.
We heard Clay-colored Thrushes all over, but never could get on one (and
thankfully that wasn’t one John “needed”).
Headed up the brick walk next, where a
Long-billed Thrasher ran across the road and then gave great looks right along
the bank! At the deck the VC wasn’t
quite open yet (and found out they were preparing for a group of kidlets), so
we checked out things there, said hi to Rangers Jose and John, then sat for 15
waiting for a Buff-bellied Hummingbird to come in to the feeders, which he did eventually,
along with a fleeting Green Jay! When we
heard the kidlets were arriving soon we headed straight for Alligator Lake!
White-winged Dove at the feeders
We made a brief stop at Dowitcher Pond where we had a Gull-billed Tern keeping company with Killdeer and Stilts, and at Grebe Marsh John spotted a female Green Kingfisher! At the turnoff he announced he thought he had an alligator peeking out of the water, and then I saw what he was looking at: a Soft-shelled Turtle just peeking its eyes and nose out of the water! An adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron across the way was nice (we had an immature earlier), but hard as we tried, we just couldn’t find the Pauraque (thankfully that wasn’t a life bird, either, but it’s kind of requisite that all visitors see Estero’s “tame” Pauraques J), and the screech owl wasn’t in his hole, so that was disappointing. But at least there was the iconic Alligator hauled out on the bank at the overlook!
Female Green Kingfisher
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Futile search for the Pauraque...
We found John’s life Stilt Sandpiper in
Dowitcher Pond on the way back (we took the loop), but that was about it
bird-wise, especially with the wind. We
arrived at the VC to see that the kidlets had arrived in force, and they were
having a big time at each “station” along the brick walkway that described the
adventures a migratory bird goes through (or at least that’s what I gathered
from reading them J)!
It was still on and off overcast and
breezy, so it was still tolerable; therefore we headed over to Frontera in
hopes of catching some migrants. We ran
into Simon K. who reported a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Beardless Tyrannulet
(I was surprised we didn’t even hear that at Estero), so we were hopeful! Actually, things were pretty quiet initially
as we made the loop, but we spotted a male Green Kingfisher from the overlook
at the Big Pond, and swinging around the back side we scared up a Northern
Waterthrush – I was so thrilled to get at least one migrant!!
We made it to the cemetery area where
Simon had his flycatcher, and an empid did indeed pop up, but unfortunately not
his Yellowbelly – this guy was a “Traill’s” Flycatcher for sure, with barely an
eyering and pale underparts, but unfortunately he didn’t say a word, and he was
most uncooperative for pictures. A
little further on we did hear the
incessant peeping of what I felt comfortable calling a Yellow-bellied, but we
never could get him to come out; titmice popped in and out, and a fledgling
Olive Sparrow actually popped up (at least I hope it wasn’t actually a cowbird;
“Mummy” was nearby, but that baby looked awfully bulky and dark for a sparrow
to me…)! So we decided to sit at the
feeders; the first set was rather quiet except for Fox Squirrels and White-winged
Doves, but the second set (the “old” feeders) hit pay dirt with a whole
titmouse family that came in! Simon’s
tyrannulet called in the distance, so we decided to go after him, and we hadn’t
hardly left the area when a real
Olive Sparrow family popped up at point blank, and suddenly the tyrannulet was
right behind us! He finally came out
with a little coaxing, showing that puffy little head! A Carolina Wren came in to investigate, and
even the Traill’s came back for an encore!
We were amazed at how suddenly everything came together!
Mystery empid - best guess is a "Traill's"... Feedback welcome!
We called it a morning after that, ready
to take a siesta to be rested for the afternoon shift! I was a little concerned with the heat
advisory, but with the breeze it was actually quite pleasant! Our first stop was an unintended one along FM
493 where a flooded field had a nice flock of White-faced Ibis, at least one
actually showing the white face! Both
whistling ducks sat side by side, which was nice as well. I chose to go over to CR 20 in case that
wetland was still intact (which it wasn’t), but birding the dicey roads was
wonderfully productive: Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers posed left and right, and right away a flock of Pyrrhuloxias
chattered and showed themselves! A Cactus
Wren finally came in at the same stop, Lark Sparrows gave good views
eventually, and Ground Doves were all over the place. A Verdin drove us nuts by continually flying
back and forth over the road but never allowing a look… I heard something funny at the dried wetland,
and when I got out of the car discovered it was an Ash-throated Flycatcher,
with a Brown-crested calling nearby for good comparison!
White-faced Ibis along FM 493
The actual "white face" shows only for a short time during breeding season.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
John watching the flycatcher along CR20 in the La Sal Viejas Tract
When we made the turn onto the dicey part
of Ken Baker Road, we were treated to lovely views of the mesquite savannah to
the north (from which Cassin’s Sparrows were singing), a Common Nighthawk
batting around, and a couple of Bobwhite hightailing it down the track! (I also narrowly escaped running over a big
coil of barbed wire… L)
What I thought was another empid morphed into an Eastern Wood Pewee, and
a Caracara flew over and rattled from a tree.
The road dead ends at CR 30, so we took that south, passing over dry La
Sal Viejas (and some iffy parts of the road as well), with an Eastern Kingbird perched
on one of the dead trees! A Yellow-billed
Cuckoo sang from a hiding place, and an Ani perched in plain sight on the left
side of the road! But the real treat of
this leg was a gorgeous Black-throated Sparrow hopping along the fence! We heard Painted Buntings at several places,
but they were too distant to try and see.
Eastern Wood Pewee
We finally made it down to SR 186 and
blasted south for a chance at catching the Red-crowned Parrots on Houston and
McColl, but never heard any, either there or at Dallas and Cynthia. So we called it a day and headed home, very
happy with the two days’ list! We topped
it off with the whinnying Lesser Nighthawks back at the apartments! Today’s list (no pun intended) stood at 78
species, if you count the “Traill’s” Flycatcher as a “species”… Scroll down to the bottom for a bonus picture! Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Stilt Sandpiper
Gull-billed Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Green Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
“Traill’s” Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Cactus Wren
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Northern Waterthrush
Olive Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
John and Ian chilling out on the next day's Birder Patrol trip (which I didn't attend)!
