One of the joys of birding in the Valley
is exploring new areas, and especially the back roads that can be very birdy
but where few people go. One of those
roads is Laguna Seca Road in northern Hidalgo County; named after the ranch (a
worthwhile visit if you’re a nature photographer, as that’s their primary
service), the road traverses several miles of typical south Texas brushland,
and side roads include some ag fields that can bag additional birds. The whole route (not counting the
backtracking) is about 18 miles.
I’ve only covered this route in the late
spring and summer seasons so far, but plan on gathering data for the whole
year, as the place looks great for wintering sparrows! I generally start the route off FM 490 and
take northbound Laguna Seca from there; at this point the road is good caliche,
and I almost always pick up a Fuertes’ Red-tailed Hawk, which is considered
unusual in the Valley (you normally find this race in the southwest). The open area is great for Bobwhite and
Cassin’s Sparrow as well, and if you get there early enough, Common Nighthawks
will be “beenting” overhead!
"Fuerte's" Red-tailed Hawk
Shortly paved Laguna Seca goes off to the right,
and I bird this to the freeway; the trees are taller along here, and you’re apt
to pick up more woodland-type birds such as Green Jay, the woodpeckers,
Brown-crested Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Olive Sparrow, and Great Kiskadee. You pass a quarry where I’ve often
had Wild Turkeys, and there’s an ag field just before the freeway which is
always worth checking out for Horned Larks and even Crested Caracaras; on this
trip I heard quite a few Upland Sandpipers flying over.
The paved portion of Laguna Seca Road
Backtracking to the caliche road, I
continue north and follow the main road as it zigs and zags; the first jog to
the left is a good place to stop as there’s a wide pull-off there, and was the
only place I had White-tipped Dove this trip.
At the next “zig” to the right you’ll come across an historic marker for
Laguna Seca Ranch; there’s plenty of room to stop here as well, where we’ve
gotten Blue Grosbeak and Painted Bunting in the past. Much
of this road goes through lovely mesquite savannah and can be good for raptors
and sparrows; on this trip I ran across Common Ground Doves quite regularly in
addition to the ubiquitous Mourning Doves (only had one White-winged, though)! Both Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxias can be
abundant, and it can sometimes be hard to tell them apart by song, but the
Pyrrs have a distinctive quail-like chitter that betrays their presence! While you want to avoid stopping directly in
front of anyone’s home, there’s an old building at one of the corners that had
a Barn Owl fleeing it on one trip!
Verdins and Bewick’s Wrens are all over, and occasionally I’ve picked up
Cactus Wren. Bullock’s is the default
breeding oriole, but now the Orchards are coming through; listen for their nyeh calls. Dickcissels are also flying overhead, picked
out by their obnoxious brat call!
Bewick's Wren
Building from whence a Barn Owl fled!
There’s a huge gate and beautiful ranch on
the left as you continue north; this may be part of the larger “Laguna Seca”,
but the actual photography ranch is on the right. I had a Roadrunner poking around behind the
big gate, and a couple of others rattling at various places along the
route. I scared up one Groove-billed
Ani, but you could potentially run into them anywhere, as this mesquite brush
is the kind of habitat they like.
Roadrunner sneaking by behind the gate
Mesquite savannah behind the fence
After more zigs and zags (the road becomes
FM 3250 at some point), the next right turn you can make will be onto Miller
Road, which also ends at the freeway, at which point you’ll need to
backtrack. This stretch had a mob of
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers along the wires, as there’s a big field on the north
side, but also look for Western Kingbirds this time of year. There are some huge high tension wires that pass through here, on which were two
more Red-tailed Hawks, but since they both had their backs to me I couldn’t
tell if they were more Fuertes’ or the conventional type… And birds aren't the only critters you may see; this last trip a Coachwhip slithered across the road and thankfully stopped long enough for a picture!
Coachwhip - head shot and full shot
Once back on FM 3250, the road is paved
and two-lane with a speed limit of 60, so be careful along this stretch
(although there’s still not much traffic).
It’s very open along here with many homes set way off the road, but
before long you come to Floral Road on the right. There won’t be many places to pull over until
you pass all the homes (where you’re more apt to pick up Inca Doves), but the
ag fields can be interesting; on this trip I had a flyover Long-billed Curlew
and a flock of Laughing Gulls. This road
also stops at the freeway (if you’re reticent to use “the bumper or the
bushes”, the little store across the highway has a bathroom), so you’ll need to
backtrack. But instead of going all the
way back to 3250, turn right on Lazy Palm Road, and this will take you past an
RV park (where I had a Loggerhead Shrike this trip) and into more mesquite
woodland and past a quarry. This road
eventually dumps out on FM 1017, which is the end of my route; turning right
takes you directly to US 281.
For more pictures of the habitat along
this route, go here:
To read the Birder Patrol report of this
route from 2012, go here:
Here’s the EBird list, giving the
pertinent data including time, weather, and totals for the morning:
Hidalgo Co.--Laguna Seca rd.
Aug 5, 20177:06 AM
Traveling
18.30 miles
222 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Start: 83 degrees, mostly cloudy, calm
End: 94 degrees, mix of sun and clouds, breezy Submitted from eBird for iOS, version 1.5.2 Build 140
24 Northern Bobwhite
5 Turkey Vulture2 Red-tailed Hawk -- Not sure if these two were of the Fuentes type as they both had their backs to me.
1 Red-tailed Hawk (fuertesi) -- White underpants, lack of belly band; always here...
1 Killdeer
11 Upland Sandpiper
1 Long-billed Curlew
12 Laughing Gull
5 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 Inca Dove
4 Common Ground-Dove
1 White-tipped Dove
1 White-winged Dove
30 Mourning Dove
1 Groove-billed Ani
3 Greater Roadrunner
4 Common Nighthawk
18 Golden-fronted Woodpecker
5 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
2 Crested Caracara
4 Brown-crested Flycatcher
13 Great Kiskadee
1 Couch's Kingbird
3 Western Kingbird
18 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
1 Loggerhead Shrike
3 White-eyed Vireo
5 Green Jay
6 Barn Swallow
3 Cave Swallow
1 Black-crested Titmouse
17 Verdin
12 Bewick's Wren
1 Cactus Wren
2 Curve-billed Thrasher
1 Long-billed Thrasher
8 Northern Mockingbird
4 European Starling
5 Cassin's Sparrow
4 Olive Sparrow
10 Lark Sparrow
21 Northern Cardinal
26 Pyrrhuloxia
2 Blue Grosbeak
6 Dickcissel
55 Great-tailed Grackle
9 Orchard Oriole
3 Bullock's Oriole
1 Lesser Goldfinch
17 House Sparrow
Number of Taxa: 50
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