Jim and Sue from Washington State had
already spent a few days at the Island (and gotten a ton of lifers – in fact, according
to their report, it’s very possible that we were all together during Lizzy’s
Bell’s Vireo experience and didn’t know it J), so they wanted
to go someplace close, as their desire was to see as many different places in
the Valley as they could. So with an
early morning thunderstorm rolling through, I opted to take them to Frontera
with hopes that the system would down some migrants, and as it turned out the
rain was long over by the time we set out!
We got there before the gate was open, so
we walked in “the back way” just as a Red-crowned Parrot called and zipped by
in the distance (which they would do all morning). We sat at the water feature for a bit, but it
was surprisingly quiet (a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was squeaking and things were
seeping, but not showing themselves). When
Chris showed up and opened the gate, I went ahead and parked in the lot, and by
the time I caught up with Jim and Sue they had seen three thrushes and
something else I can’t recall, but things were starting to move!
We headed on in to the woods, and both Jim
and Sue were great spotters: right away
they found a little guy that turned out to be a Canada Warbler, and as we
approached the Payne Pond a Clay-colored Thrush serenaded us and shot back and
forth across the trail enticingly! A
Black-and-white Warbler showed up about then, and at the little Resaca before
the Big Pond a female Green Kingfisher sat way at the other end! As we approached the Big Pond a pair of
Brown-crested Flycatchers sat in soft light, along with the male Green
Kingfisher (before a Kiskadee ran him off)!
A subadult male Baltimore Oriole showed, and as we circled the pond
three Orchard Orioles took off over our heads.
At the little bog before the boardwalk Jim spotted a Northern
Waterthrush and a Common Yellowthroat, and possibly a Yellow Warbler, but I
didn’t get a good enough look. We took
the back trail and at the fence at the Even Bigger Pond we spotted a young
Black-crowned Night Heron that was being bugged by a grackle! At one point I was trying to pish in some
birds and a young Gray Hawk came tearing in; that was a show! At another point I realized we had lost Jim,
and he had held back to photograph a sunning Giant Swallowtail! He also found a very cooperative Olive
Sparrow!
Snowy Egret
Jim and Sue spotting skulky birds
Giant Swallowtail
After making the circle we went to the
feeders, where Frontera’s guide Ernesto (I found out later) was focusing in on
a bird that I never got onto, but there was a lot of activity at that spot; we
three snuck in and took our seats, and enjoyed an Eastern Wood Pewee sallying
out for bugs, an overhead Chestnut-sided Warbler, and lots of doves fighting it
out at the feeders. At the next set of
feeders (the “old station”) we had a female Bay-breasted Warbler come in, along
with a family of titmice and a strutting Ovenbird. Chachalacas were chorusing all over the
place, and the Beardless Tyrannulet called consistently all over the park! At one point I heard a peep! that reminded me of a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, but the bird
never came out… L On
the Dead End Trail a Swainson’s Thrush was softly singing, and a Carolina Wren
came out to pishing. Continuing towards
the Visitor’s Center we ran into Ernesto and his charge again, where he had
another Chestnut-sided Warbler but also a Red-eyed Vireo! (He also showed us a photograph of a
Ruby-spotted Swallowtail they had seen back at the feeders, but he said it came
in, fed long enough for a photo, and then was gone… L) Later on we had a Warbling Vireo singing kind
of a whisper song, and further on a Philadelphia came down to say hello. On the way out a gentleman pointed out a
Chachalaca nest right over the sidewalk!
White-tipped Dove
Olive Sparrow
Ovenbird
Chachalaca nest (that sadly got blown down in a subsequent wind storm)
A conversation about Dickcissels inspired
me to ask them if they were interested in seeing “grasspipers”, and they
certainly were, so we headed off to the Weaver Road Sod Farms next, by way of
Cannon Road. We picked up the requisite
Tropical Kingbirds, and as we swung into the sorghum fields we got some great
looks at the Dickcissels singing away!
We headed up and over to Weaver Road where we had a few Horned Larks,
and where the road curves left at the north end of the sod farms, a large flock
of large peeps turned out to be Whiterumps!
While enjoying them a larger Pectoral came in and joined them. Turning the corner we spied an American
Golden Plover, and a little further down we did
manage to pull out a few Buff-breasted Sandpipers, but the heat waves were getting
pretty bad by then. At the south end of
the fields were several Cattle Egrets, but again, no Hudsonian Godwits.
Daddy Horned Lark...
...and baby!
American Golden Plover
After consulting the handy dandy Texmaps
Book to figure out how best to get to Old Port Isabel Road (OPIR), we headed
out on Jimenez, stopping for the Cliff and Cave Swallow show on the canal
bridge. We also checked the “Rangerville
Resaca” which was full of Wilson’s Phalaropes, and at the south end of that pond we had a nice selection of
shorebirds, adding stilts, dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, another Whiterump, and
a few Semipalmated Sandpipers.
We headed south to US 281 and took that
all the way over to FM 1732, taking that to the freeway and then to FM 511 to
OPIR. There wasn’t much activity due to
the time of day, plus the hacking platform was empty, so we were hoping that
wasn’t a bad omen! We heard several
things, including Verdin and Bewick’s Wren, and a Curve-billed Thrasher sat up
at one point. The Harris’ Hawk pair gave
us a look, and near the shooting range we were looking at a Gull-billed Tern
when Sue spotted a pair of distant White-tailed Hawks! But the icing came when she spotted a small
raptor on a post, which promptly took off, but thankfully used the wind to
settle on a telephone wire nearby: a gorgeous Aplomado Falcon! What looks!
Juvie Aplomado Falcon
Everything was gravy after that, but they
still needed Cassin’s Sparrow, so we crawled along until a cooperative bird sat
up on a wire for us. Lots of
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers posed for us, and Sue spotted a little guy in the
bush that turned out to be a bunting, but what looked like strong wing bars and
a smooth cinnamon breast made me wonder if we had a female Lazuli! Alas, Jim’s photos actually showed a nice
clean white throat and streaky breast, so she was indeed an Indigo. We spotted a dark raptor that turned out to
be a young White-tailed Hawk, but as we were enjoying him Sue spotted another
raptor about three poles down, that turned out to be yet another Aplomado! We couldn’t believe it!
Young White-tailed Hawk
Yet another juvie Aplomado (unless it was the same one that decided to fly a mile or so up the road...)
Cassin's Sparrow
Female Indigo Buntings can sometimes show wingbars (like this bird), but the streaky breast and contrasting white throat set them apart from Lazuli.
We had to start back about that time
anyway, so we continued north to SR 100 and back to the freeway and home,
finishing up with a hearty 96 species for the day! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Black-necked Stilt
American Golden-Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Stilt Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Laughing Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Chimney Swift
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Aplomado Falcon
Red-crowned Parrot
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Swainson's Thrush
Clay-colored Thrush
Gray Catbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Bay-breasted Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Canada Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
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