The next morning I could only spare a half
day, so since Mike was still trying to get that perfect titmouse picture (and
Tim was interested in leps), I figured the National Butterfly Center was the
best bet, as they also have bird feeding stations that they stock all year, and
we did have the titmice coming in on
previous visits. Since they didn’t open
till eight, we cruised the Levee Road that connects with Old Military Highway
in search of whatever might pop up; it was a beautiful day (although a Red Flag
Warning was due to go into effect later in the morning), and we enjoyed several
kingbirds, Long-billed Thrashers, and even a sunning Roadrunner! The highlight along this stretch, however,
was a subadult Bullock’s Oriole that showed nicely, and a stop at the canal
bridge gave good looks at Cave and Cliff Swallows (mostly the former).
Subadult Bullock's Oriole
From there we swung into the center and
checked in, where we were warned that about 60 four and five-year-old kids were
coming in later!! They offered to go
ahead and put out the bird food for us now, so we headed straight to the old
garden, stopping to enjoy a young Gray Hawk that had zoomed in, and a bunch of
Turkey and Black Vultures feeding on what looked like a wild boar carcass! Tim needed help IDing the butters, so I
plopped Mike and Sally at the feeders (a nice Clay-colored Thrush popped up
almost immediately) and took Tim around the sunny spots looking for leps; the
first thing we ran into was a worn Horace’s Duskywing (which is somewhat rare
in the Valley), but the other bugs were pretty straightforward: lots of pretty Crimson and Bordered Patches
were about, and we had Ceraunus, Reakirt’s, and Cassius Blues. Phaon, Texan, and Vesta Crescents showed up,
and what I thought was a Rounded Metalmark at first turned out to be a Fatal
after looking at the photos on the computer (there’s a very subtle difference
in the shape of the “metal” median band).
Tawny Emperors were all over (especially on the bait logs), but
thankfully we got multiple views of his most-wanted butter, the iconic Mexican
Bluewing! We also had several Zebra
Heliconians and Giant Swallowtails floating around, along with some cool
spiders (one I had to look up, called a Spiny-backed Orb Weaver)! At one point Mike came running to find
us: a Bobwhite had come in to the
feeders, and he got crippling photos of it!
I even did a little victory dance in his honor! J
Turkey Vultures gather at a carcass
Token Black Vulture
Young Gray Hawk
The gang settles in at the feeders for a photo shoot!
Groove-billed Ani was a nice surprise!
One of the many trails
Beat-up Horace's Duskywing
Fatal Metalmark
Common Buckeye
Bordered Patch (dorsal above, ventral below)
Mexican Bluewing
Spiny-backed Orb Weaver
After a while the three of us decided to
hike the Walking Trail in search of other birds; I didn’t have much hope that
we’d find anything new for their trip, but we did enjoy several Harlequin
Beetles on the bait logs, and Tim found a huge Click Beetle on the way back to
the feeder area. The first group of
kidlets had arrived, but they were very well-behaved, and while they claimed
the shady picnic table we claimed the shady benches at the other end, and
enjoyed more birds coming in, including two Chachalacas that were literally
running circles around all of us! (The
staffer who was lecturing the kids quipped that someone was playing hard to
get… J) We were also distracted by the Altamira
Oriole pair coming into the tree behind us, where they also had a big nest! A pair of Long-billed Thrashers were drinking
water from the “ball fountain” as well!
Long-billed Thrasher pondering the ball fountain
Tim had wandered off, so leaving Mike and
Sally in hopes of a titmouse, I found Tim and pointed out more butters, but in
the process of wandering we heard this commotion, and over by the pavilion a
cottontail was squealing and attacking a huge Indigo Snake! Had I been on the ball I should have gotten a
video of the incident, but I was too focused on trying to identify what the
snake had, and it was indeed a baby rabbit, but so young that it didn’t even
have fur yet! Tim went to fetch Mike and
Sally for that one, and by the time they got there, the snake was still there,
but he had devoured his meal and quickly slithered down his hole!
It's hard to shoot an Indigo Snake when it's making off with its prey!
By that time it was time to head back to
Alamo, so after a stop at the VC for souvenirs (and then a stop at the Stripes
for coffee J) we continued on home. The bird list was rather meager (and the
titmouse proved to be a “heard-only”… L), but the show by
additional critters made for a great morning!
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Harris's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Gray Hawk
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Purple Martin
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Clay-colored Thrush
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Altamira Oriole
House Sparrow
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