The next day’s focus was grasspipers (the
report of Hudsonian Godwits – aka “Hudwits” – at the Weaver Road Sod Farms was
timely), but we first stopped at Tiocano Lake in hopes of bagging King Rail and
Fulvous Whistling Duck. Heard plenty of
the former, but didn’t see any (not that I expected to, but you never know),
but what did come right out in the
open was a Least Bittern! Bird numbers
in general were down, but had plenty of Black-necked Stilts (including some
mating and nesting), plus a target bird for Mike and Sally: several White-faced Ibis! Both night herons flew overhead, and Sally
caught sight of a Green Heron. A pair of
Gull-billed Terns was flying around and yelling, and some snoozing shorebirds
with rusty underparts got my juices going, but they turned out to be
dowitchers…
Mike and Sally look for goodies at Tiocano Lake
Bonding Gull-billed Terns
Long-billed Dowitchers
White-faced Ibis
From there we went to the turf farms,
entering from the north, where Mike finally got a decent look (and photo) of a
Horned Lark! Continuing down the road we
hit the jackpot: lots of Pectoral and
Buff-breasted Sandpipers were very close to the road, along with several
American Golden Plovers! Some Baird’s
Sandpipers were further out, along with some more dowitchers we were trying
hard to turn into Hudwits… J Ran into Mike Delasantro and his friend, plus
another carload of birders, so word had gotten out, but no Hudwits were to be
found… We headed straight on the dirt
road to US 281, picking up a few woodland birds going through the NWR tract, the
best one being a Groove-billed Ani that showed well! We tried valiantly to get our sights on a
vocalizing Lesser Goldfinch, but to no avail…
But in the plowed field before the highway eagle-eyed Sally spotted
several Upland Sandpipers, which meant we bagged all the expected
“grasspipers”! (Technically, the
Hudwits, along with the White-rumped Sandpipers, aren’t supposed to arrive
until May…)
Horned Lark (watching the skies below)
Several Buff-breasted Sandpiper shots
Looking cute...
With a Lesser Yellowlegs
With a Killdeer
With an American Golden Plover
Golden Plover by itself
A few Pectoral Sandpiper shots, showing the sharp demarcation between the chest and belly
This odd dragonfly that got trapped in the car turned out to be a young Band-winged Dragonlet, of which there were tons of adults buzzing around!
From there we swung up to the “Rangerville
Resaca” where there were more dowitchers and Stilt Sandpipers, but Sally
spotted some “lovely waders” she didn’t recognize – they were the coveted Wilson’s
Phalaropes! And what views, and fairly
close to the road at that! A brilliant
male Hooded Oriole came shooting into a palm tree, and in the Ebony Resaca we
picked up Ruddy Duck and Least Grebes for the day. On the way out we had three more Uppies right
by the road!
The "lovely" Wilson's Phalarope!
Resaca at the Ebony Unit of the Las Palomas WMA
We hit the Subway again, then headed for
Boca Chica, where we planned to go straight to the beach but were waylaid by a
couple of white morph Reddish Egrets in the lagoon, along with tons of other
shorebirds, including Avocet, Dunlin, and Semipalmated Sandpiper for the
day. On the beach Mike got great photo
ops of turnstones, Sanderlings, and Least Terns, but the real prize was a
“smart” (as the Brits would say J) Piping
Plover! On the way out we had a nice
Black-bellied as well, and heading back towards the highway an Osprey showed up
where the Reddish Egrets had been; the white ones were way out there, but a
young dark morph pranced around for us.
At Boca Chica you can actually drive on the beach, making it easy to approach the birds!
Look hard for the Laughing Gull that Mike and Sally are shooting!
(In case you can't see him in the above picture...)
Ruddy Turnstone still in non-breeding plumage
Most of them are coming into nice breeding plumage, however!
Piping Plover
Doing the two-step...
Least Tern
Called it quits after that, with 89
species for the day. Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Green Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
King Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
American Golden-Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Stilt Sandpiper
Sanderling
Dunlin
Baird's Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Groove-billed Ani
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Western Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Marsh Wren
Bewick's Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
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