Once again joined by Tim, we headed down to Santa Ana first thing to hike the Pintail Lake Trail while it was still relatively cool, first picking up a Curve-billed Thrasher at the Coffee Time drive-thru! J I was hoping a White-tailed Kite might show up along Alamo Road, but he was a no-show.
Pulling into the parking lot, the
Chachalacas were spreading the morning news already, and one pair was visible
in a tall tree! Unfortunately the only Inca
Dove we encountered was a deceased one outside the Visitor Center (and that the
ants had already found), but Tim’s attention was soon redirected to all the
cool moths on the wall outside the restrooms! Continuing on, a Carolina Wren was singing
“right there” just before the bridge over the canal, and upon closer
inspection, we suspected he had a nest in the portable generator parked there
(which may have explained why they had cones all around it J)!
After crossing the levee a nice Kiskadee
posed for us, and a Gray Hawk called in the distance. Arriving at the “roundabout”, we headed on
the Pintail Lake Trail, where we hadn’t gone too far before the Beardless
Tyrannulet started calling! He was distant
at first, but as we continued on the trail he sounded closer, until finally
someone (probably Tim – he was Mr. Eagle Eyes for us today J) spotted him
doing acrobatics in a tree, and thankfully everyone got a great look! There was also a Verdin nearby that actually
came out in the open! A distant Great
Crested Flycatcher giving his loud Wheeep!
was nice to hear, too, and Tim spotted a Common Ground Dove in a tree.
Great Kiskadee in the early morning light
Rose-bellied Lizard
The gang zeroes in on a Verdin along the Pintail Lakes Trail
As we turned into the open area, a quick
scan of the lakes (seeing as we were looking into the sun) produced ibis,
spoonbills, stilts, dowitchers, and ducks, and further down the trail a
Long-billed Thrasher sat up in a tree in plain view as he sang! We had a great liftoff of Broad-winged Hawks
of all ages, and at one point a Sharp-shinned joined them! Finally getting to a point to where we could
view the water in decent light, we checked the shallow marshy pond and had
another Sora out in the open! When what
I thought was another Sora went running across to the back of the pond, I was shocked
to see that it was actually a Snipe!
Thankfully Tim was able to find him hidden deep in the reeds, and
eventually he came out allowing everyone great looks – I expected these guys to
be long gone by now! Another Pectoral
Sandpiper came in along with a Spotted and tons of Least Sandpipers, and the
Long-billed Dowitchers called nicely.
Tim thought he might have glimpsed an Anhinga, but it disappeared before
he could get a good look. Three
Neotropic Cormorants gave us good looks at the shape of their gular patch as
well.
Tim tries to point something out to Sally in the big Pintail Lake
Couch's Kingbird
Yet another show-off Sora!
Even more surprising was this late Wilson's Snipe!
It was getting warm so we trudged back
with no kite, but we did see some nice butterflies: a Giant Swallowtail appropriately impressed
everyone, and a mess of White-striped Longtails was bouncing around as well! A Julia’s Skipper was being bullied by a
Clouded, and the “other” Julia (the heliconian) showed well, along with a Zebra
Heliconian! We also saw several lizards,
including the abundant Texas Spotted Whiptail and Rosebelly Lizard. On the Willow Lake Trail I heard a Lesser
Goldfinch, and Tim was able to spot it and show everyone (a beautiful
black-backed male), and on the Chachalaca Trail a titmouse started calling, and
we finally drew it out so that Mike could get a picture! J
Julia's Skipper (above and below)
Another Rose-bellied Lizard
After buying some souvenirs (and some Coke
J)
we headed to Subway to pick up lunch and then headed out to the north end of
Sparrow Road. Just before we pulled in
we had great views of a couple of Swainson’s Hawks, and Horned Larks and Lark
Sparrows were abundant on the first leg.
An immature White-tailed Hawk circled in front of us, and later the gang
saw an adult! Passing some rows of corn
Tim spotted some Bobwhite hiding in them, but they flushed before anyone else
could get a look… L When
we finally reached the sorghum fields, the Dickcissels were out the yin yang,
and Mike was finally able to get his picture! J We went down 14 Mile a little in hopes of
finding Turkeys, but found plenty of turkey feathers instead! J Once again, Tim spotted some Bobwhite by the
road, but they took off before anyone else could get a look; since they sounded
like they were still close we all piled out and tried to call them out, but
they just called back to us from the brush and stayed put. We did
have a nice look at a Cassin’s Sparrow on the wire, however, and a Pyrrhuloxia
posed on a dead tree. I heard a
Black-throated Sparrow that didn’t wanna come out, while Painted Buntings were
plentiful (but wanting to hide in the trees in this heat)!
Dickcissel
Looking for Bobwhite along 14 Mile
Continuing down Jara Chinas, the best bird
was a Roadrunner that I enticed to come out after he ran across the road and
hid himself, and he hopped right up on the branch and wagged his tail like
crazy! Further down the road his cousin,
the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, flushed out of a tree and headed for parts
unknown… We had unsatisfying views of a
female Bullock’s Oriole that was chattering, and at the grasslands we did
indeed hear a Grasshopper Sparrow, just he just didn’t wanna come out; we did see a distant Savannah Sparrow sitting
up, however!
From there we made the right onto 7 Mile,
and it was really getting hot by then
– about the only bird of note we saw was a posing Caracara! Cutting down County Line Road, we did flush a pair of Bobwhite that gave a
brief view, but they were long gone by the time we got out and didn’t have any
plans of coming out for us!
Panting Caracara on an oil/gas well
We had to head back about then, so we
continued on in to Sullivan City, grabbed some gas and ice cream at the Stripes
(it was over 100 out there), and headed home with 89 species for the day. Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Gray Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Sora
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Stilt Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Gull-billed Tern
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Great Crested Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Barn Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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