Escaping the Michigan Winter

3/29/17

Melanie and Jim, two birders from my home state of Michigan, just wanted a half day of guiding, which was actually nice as it had been unseasonably hot this week!  They were easy-going birders who just wanted to see the local stuff, so rather than spend all morning hiking around one park, I opted to make short stops at a line of hotspots and wind up with a stroll around the Chachalaca Trail at Santa Ana, close to home.

We started at Bentsen right around dawn, but because it was gloriously overcast (my car’s thermometer was already at 78) you really couldn’t tell!  A Kiskadee was the Official Greeter in the parking lot, and as we made our way to the restrooms, a nice Clay-colored Thrush sat out in the open in the butterfly garden area.  On the main road, lots of Couch’s Kingbirds serenaded us, and a Golden-fronted Woodpecker sat up pretty.  As we crossed the canal a harsh crack alerted us to a Ringed Kingfisher flying by, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow in a brush pile was very cooperative, along with a little Orange-crowned Warbler!  We ran into Hawk Watch John who showed us where the Elf Owl had made a home in past years in the telephone pole (looked like a pair of Goldenfronts had taken over).  Up at the Nature Center, the Chachalacas were already at the feeders, and the Green Jays came in to give great looks; even a Ruby-throated Hummer showed off in the Mexican Olive!  On the way back the Cave Swallows were swarming (they even flew under the bridge to give great looks), and both an Altamira and Hooded Oriole called from the tram area; the Altamira was a challenge to see well, but the Hooded came right out for a great comparison view!

From there we crawled down Old Military Highway (including the levee), where a Long-billed Thrasher sat up on the top of a tree, singing away!  A lovely White-tailed Kite sat in a field along the entrance road to Anzalduas, then flew overhead, and coming up to the levee, a Black Phoebe sang from the fence line!  Both species of grebe showed in the little wetland along the entrance road, along with a flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that showed off their white wing patches very nicely.  After parking past the entrance shack a Gray Hawk flew right in front of us, giving great views, and once out of the car, I heard a hoarse Chop-chop-chop and sighted a Red-crowned Parrot coming in!  He posed briefly on top of a distant tree, but not long enough for me to get the scope on him before he took off for the “back part”…  Jim and I made a fruitless hike across the field for Sprague’s Pipit, although we did have both species of meadowlark; with everything seemingly migrating early, I couldn’t help wonder if the pipits were gone already.  L

The river was much more productive, with lots of Coots, a couple of Gadwall, some Mottled Ducks, and good comparative view of both flavors of cormorant (the Double-crested even had his double crests)!  Forster’s Terns called in the background, and a Tropical Kingbird tittered on a light post, while a singing Loggerhead Shrike perched on top of a tree.  We stopped at the dam to look at the Cliff Swallow nests and enjoy a Spotted Sandpiper up on the concrete pillar, plus more cormorants behind the dam, along with an Osprey with a big fish! 

Crawling down the center road, I thought I heard a buzzy trill, and turning off the car, sure enough – a parula was singing!  Trouble is, around here at this time of year, it could be either species, so we tracked it down, and it finally came out and gave us enough of a view to see the dark breast band of a Northern Parula, ruling out Tropical!  (Melanie and Jim were ready to give up, saying, “Oh, we’ll see them soon back home!)  A lady Ladder-backed Woodpecker gave us a great view at this stop as well.  We made a quick stop at Granjeño to see if we could find any Burrowing Owls; now that you’re not allowed to drive into the floodway, spotting them in the rocks is a lot more difficult, and we certainly didn’t see any this time, so we headed to the Stripes for some refreshment and then headed on to Santa Ana.

Melanie and Jim check out a kingbird at Anzalduas County Park

It was warming up by then, but things were still singing, even though they weren’t visible: their Beardless Tyrannulet called in the distance, and titmice were all over, but nothing wanted to come in and investigate the pishing.  Padded the list with ducks at Willow Lake, along with some Black-necked Stilts and a Greater Yellowlegs that a lady pointed out to us.  A little guy skulking along the ground that Melanie and Jim saw but that I missed sounded like an Olive Sparrow from their description, and sure enough, one tsipped from the stuff!  Coming back around, the Carolina Wren actually showed himself while he sang, and at the feeder area a White-winged Dove flipped his wings while he sang – that was quite the show!  Melanie admitted she was interested in butterflies, so while they weren’t as active as they were in Starr County two days ago, I was able to point out a few things such as White Peacock, Phaon Crescent, and Laviana White Skipper.  The lizards were active as well, with Rose-bellied and Texan Spotted Whiptails being the main showoffs.

Great Kiskadee

Gang of ducks includes (L-R) Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, and Gadwall

We were done for the morning, but for a half day managed to rack up an impressive 75 species!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Gadwall                              
  Mottled Duck                         
  Blue-winged Teal                     
  Northern Shoveler                    
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Least Grebe                          
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Tricolored Heron                      
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  White-tailed Kite                    
  Cooper's Hawk                        
  Gray Hawk                            
  Common Gallinule                      
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  Killdeer                             
  Spotted Sandpiper                    
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Forster's Tern                       
  Rock Pigeon                          
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  Ruby-throated Hummingbird            
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Ringed Kingfisher                    
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  American Kestrel                     
  Red-crowned Parrot                   
  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        
  Black Phoebe                          
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Tropical Kingbird                    
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                      
  Green Jay                            
  Horned Lark                          
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        
  Tree Swallow                         
  Cliff Swallow                        
  Cave Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  House Wren                           
  Carolina Wren                        
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Clay-colored Thrush                  
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Orange-crowned Warbler               
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Northern Parula                      
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Savannah Sparrow                      
  Lincoln's Sparrow                    
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Western Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                  
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Hooded Oriole                        
  Altamira Oriole                      
  Lesser Goldfinch                     
  House Sparrow                         

75 SPECIES

Lessons Learned

3/28/17

This day was a little more challenging, only because I was feeling like it was becoming “one of those days…” L  Derek and Helen wanted to go somewhere local, and there was the potential of a handful of specialties they still needed, so we headed to Estero Llano Grande bright and early.  It was so early in fact, that we briefly tossed around the option of cruising the neighborhood for early-rising parrots, but then nixed that idea in favor of getting the early morning “bush birds” as Derek called them, so we headed on in.  Couch’s Kingbirds greeted up first off, along with a cooperative Ladder-backed Woodpecker on a dead tree.  An Inca Dove sang, and we finally got a look as he moved to a wire!  We eventually made it down to the feeders where Doug had just replenished them, so I had virtually guaranteed that they’d get their White-tipped Dove there!  We flushed them when we approached (Lesson #1: try to get that first look before approaching the feeder), but I wasn’t too worried because they “always come back.”  Well.  After 15 minutes of waiting, they were cooing all around us but never came back to the feeders!  (The Chachalacas were pretty friendly, though…)

Okay.  The Beardless Tyrannulet was calling, so we decided to chase that.  The memory of that thing leading David and Chuck and I around and around and around the Tropical Zone by the nose was still fresh in my mind, so I tackled this task with apprehension, but thankfully the little guy actually showed himself!  Unfortunately Derek and Helen couldn’t get on him before he fled, but he gave us a second chance down the road when he perched and called right out in the open near the top of a spindly tree!  I was trying to point him out to the guys and wasn’t succeeding, so trying to get the scope on ‘im, that’s when my tripod decided to malfunction and I couldn’t get the thing to line up properly!  Of course the bird flew, and I was ready to cry!  (Lesson #2 – sometimes you need to forget the scope and just keep trying to get the people on the bird!)  But we had a nice consolation prize in the form of a pair of Red-crowned Parrots that sat nicely in the sun and then flew off, giving their diagnostic Cleo-chop-chop calls!

We finally gave up on that and headed out to the deck, where we at least had some nice comparative studies of Stilt Sandpipers and dowitchers!  The dark ibis hanging there was of the expected White-faced variety, and by getting on the boardwalk we got marvelous looks at the pretty ducks and a Least Grebe.  Heading out to the Pauraque spot, we enjoyed the turtles at Dowitcher Pond and several more Least Grebes at Grebe Marsh, along with a Belted Kingfisher that came rattling in and almost landed on a dead tree in the middle of the pond until he saw us and veered off!  (Boy, those things are skittish…)  At the turnoff, I was thankful I had learned my lesson about not virtually guaranteeing anything, because the night heron mob had all but disappeared!  We were able to pull out an adult Black-crowned and a subadult Yellow-crowned, but the rest were youngsters (although it was kinda cool to have three kinds of egrets in the same tree)!  One of the night herons actually morphed into a pretty Green Heron!

Adult Roseate Spoonbill

A younger bird:  notice the lack of red on the wings and the white head.

White-faced Ibis shows his pink face and red eye.

  

Thankfully the Pauraque was still in his preferred spot (and he even rocked a little to prove he wasn’t stuffed J), but the Screech Owl was a no-show, and the overlook was pretty empty except for Big Mama Alligator.  Derek was curious about the shorebirds at the far end of Dowitcher Pond, so we headed over there and took the boardwalk, picking up some pretty Avocets, a few Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Sora by doing so.  On the way through the grasslands a Caracara flew overhead, and using the cutoff trail to the TZ bagged us a Swainson’s Hawk!

Pauraque at his post

Big Mama Alligator

Avocet in breeding plumage

Both non-breeding (left) and breeding plumages

Non-breeding plumage in front

The White-tipped Doves never came back, and the tyrannulet led us on another merry chase (along with the Green Jays that again just gave fleeting views), so we were pretty shot by the time we left Estero (we were even too tired to try and pin down the calling Summer Tanager on the way out)!  But I was hopeful that the feeders at Frontera Audubon would have the doves, and thankfully they came through for us in spades!  But that was the extent of the feeder birds (aside from Chachalacas and a single White-winged Dove); a friendly Fox Squirrel came up to say hello, and a White-eyed Vireo sang unseen.  Another couple wanted desperately to see a Clay-colored Thrush, and as providence would have it, we happened to hear (but not see) one on the way out, and happened to run into the same couple in time to tell them!

Derek was interested in checking out the Progresso Sod Farms for shorebirds seeing as it was close, so we headed over, and actually saw more American Golden Plovers there than we had seen Saturday on the Birder Patrol trip!  The Long-billed Curlew was there, and further down a smaller shorebird was in with the plovers, but it was too far away to ID.  Randy (a volunteer at Santa Ana) rolled up behind us (mainly to assuage our fears that this big ol’ truck might be full of bad guys J) and reported that he had had Pectoral and Baird’s Sandpipers there before, but just not today…

Headed over to Santa Ana after that, where after a picnic lunch at the Entrance Pond (and an outstanding look at an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron), we pulled up to find Randy back on the job with the tram just about to leave!  Helen was very interested in that, so we encouraged her to hop on (Randy’s wife Lorna was driving it) while Derek and I made the trek out to Pintail Lake for shorebirds.  Little did we know that the water level was actually higher than it was the last time he was there!  We had nice looks at the regular ducks and waders (especially spoonbills and ibis), and a pod of Pied-billed Grebes was new for the day, but it was pretty daggum hot out there, so we headed on back before too long (Lesson #3:  hike in the morning, and road-bird in the afternoon!)  I heard a very distant Gray Hawk at the levee, and we enjoyed the breeze at the canal, then ran into Huck at the VC guiding a couple of folks; they had just gotten back from Starr County and did have the pigeons!!  I was glad they were still around but bummed that we missed them yesterday!  (Derek said he’d drive back out there for a Roadrunner, but not a pigeon… J)

Lunch break at the entrance pond

We talk Helen into taking the tram tour!

A panting Tricolored Heron hides in the deadwood

Helen and the gang arrived shortly after that and raved about the tram tour, as they talk about the history of the place as well, not just the wildlife, so I think she talked Derek into taking it on one of their days (as they have three more to go – and the report of a Bobcat on the early tram got his attention, I think J)!  But we were really shot after that, so called it a day, logging ten more than yesterday at 81!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Mottled Duck                          
  Blue-winged Teal                     
  Cinnamon Teal                        
  Northern Shoveler                    
  Green-winged Teal                    
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Least Grebe                          
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Tricolored Heron                     
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           
  White Ibis                           
  White-faced Ibis                      
  Roseate Spoonbill                    
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Gray Hawk                            
  Swainson's Hawk                      
  Sora                                 
  Common Gallinule                      
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  American Avocet                      
  American Golden-Plover               
  Killdeer                             
  Spotted Sandpiper                     
  Lesser Yellowlegs                    
  Long-billed Curlew                   
  Stilt Sandpiper                      
  Least Sandpiper                      
  Long-billed Dowitcher                
  Rock Pigeon                          
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Common Pauraque                      
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Belted Kingfisher                    
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  Red-crowned Parrot                   
  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Tropical Kingbird                    
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Green Jay                             
  Purple Martin                        
  Bank Swallow                         
  Cave Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  House Wren                           
  Carolina Wren                         
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Clay-colored Thrush                  
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Orange-crowned Warbler               
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Savannah Sparrow                     
  Summer Tanager                       
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Lesser Goldfinch                     
  House Sparrow                        

81 SPECIES

Beep Beep!

3/27/17

Derek and Helen had just come in from a five-day blitz on the Central Coast and the Hill Country with Jon McIntyre, so I was relieved that he had already bagged some of the more difficult Valley specialties for me! J  However, just because the bird was on the list didn’t mean that they didn’t have a few “BVDs” (birder lingo for “Better View Desired”), so their desire was to get good looks at our local birds, plus get some help with the vocalizations.  We had already talked about going up to Salineño to get some of the upriver specialties (thankfully they logged Audubon’s Oriole at Choke Canyon), and after an introductory trip to Santa Ana on their own, they already had a handful of our local specialties (like Chachalaca), so this was going to be a laid-back sorta day up in Starr County to see what we could see.

The first stop was Falcon (Starr) County Park in hopes that the Red-billed Pigeons would be feeding on the coma berries, but I guess that gang of eleven cleaned them all out two weeks ago, as there wasn’t a pigeon to be seen!  It was a beautiful day, though, and the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were back in force, which delighted these two Brits to no end!  The other hit was the Vermilion Flycatcher pair; even the female had her subtle beauty!  At the same stop we finally got scope views of a singing Bewick’s Wren, and a Lark Sparrow teed up on a tree for looks.  Making the circle we added the Ash-throated Flycatcher by the office, and closer to the south fence a Caracara flew over.  Hugging the “center island” I was thrilled to hear a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher giving his pish-like scold, and after some coaxing he finally sat up and showed off, black cap and all!

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Lark Sparrow (above and below)

Giving up on the pigeons, Derek and Helen really wanted to see a Roadrunner again (they had seen one with Jon, but it was distant), so we wheeled into Falcon State Park right next door.  The entrance road actually turned out to be quite birdy:  a pair of House Finches sat on a wire first (which are considered “accidental” in the Valley), and then a thrasher was singing really close, so we parked and got out to investigate.  While we were searching a Verdin came right out and perched in the top of a dead tree!  Before long we spotted the singer: a nice Long-billed Thrasher who was partially hidden at first, until a Pyrrhuloxia came blasting into the Verdin’s tree as if to say, “Why are you looking at him?!  Lookit me!!”  About that time the thrasher decided to sit up as well, so we got great looks at three special birds!

House Finch, considered "accidental" in the Valley

Long-billed Thrasher (above and below)

After checking in and making the right turn as is my habit, we didn’t have to wait long before we spotted a Roadrunner next to the road (of course)!  A camper scared him into the campground entrance road, but as we crawled up he stayed put and we got stunning views!  We saw another one down the road doing his cooing song, but as we crawled up he walked into the brush.  I demonstrated my compulsion to “mess with Roadrunners” (their song is very easy to mimic), and suddenly he appeared in the middle of the mesquite, looking all around and cooing back to me!  What a show!  We saw yet a third Roadrunner before hitting the primitive camping area!

Roadrunner

I think my Brits woulda been happy if they saw nothing else at that point J, but turning right at the road to the primitive camping area gave us a great look at a preening Curve-billed Thrasher on a wire!  I was telling them that this was a good area for Cactus Wren (and they were admiring yet another Scissor-tailed Flycatcher) when suddenly something even better started singing:  a Bell’s Vireo (also considered accidental in the Valley)!  Unfortunately he was being drowned out by a Mockingbird, so the recording wasn’t the best, and the trash picker-upper was coming by in his noisy little vehicle, so we bagged the idea of trying to pull the vireo out and headed on.  I heard a Cassin’s Sparrow and we are actually able to spot it doing its parachuting display song, but every time he landed he quickly moved to another spot, only to rise and parachute down again! 

Curve-billed Thrasher

Down at the boat ramp, my passengers agreed to some four-wheeling in the hopes of pulling up something new near the water’s edge; a Greater Yellowlegs was nice, but what we did kick up was an unexpected but pleasant surprise:  a pair of Bobwhite (and the female sat on the track for a good long time, giving us great views)!  Bouncing back up to the pavement we headed over to the picnic area, where we actually had a picnic J while I took the scope down the path to check out the pile of larids on the spit; it was tough judging them in the heat waves, but we ended up with a Caspian Tern, a couple of Ring-billed Gulls, and a mob of Laughing Gulls (plus the odd Great Egret).

We cruised around the cabin area not picking up anything new (it was getting to be that time of day), then swung around the county park one last time (same story) before heading out to Salineño via the Dump Road.  Unbelievably we scared up yet another Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, and also got fleeting looks at Black-throated Sparrows, but again the Cactus Wrens refused to cooperate, even though they were singing and calling fairly close.  The butters were just going nuts:  mainly Lyside Sulphurs attacking these white-flowered bushes, but I was able to point out a Reakirt’s Blue to Derek and Helen.

Derek and Helen along the Dump Road

Down at the boat ramp we parked and decided to hike the trail first, and almost immediately I heard the seedeater singing!  So down we went, and we got pretty close to him (close enough to get a decent recording for documentation), and by going down the little side trail that had been blazed last year during the seedeater “invasion”, we were able to get brief views as the male sat right up on a dead stalk!  Not for long, unfortunately, but what was either the female or a young male followed him, as I thought I heard that one singing as well.  But he was going up and down along the whole length of that trail, just like last year, as we heard him both at the cul-de-sac and then again at the trailhead (no sign of the nice black-and-white one David and I had seen). 

White-collared Seedeater Singing

A watch at the river for almost an hour yielded no specialties except a Green Kingfisher that shot across and then headed down towards the island.  The Chachalacas were tuning up, and we had at least four pairs spreading the afternoon news from behind us to Mexico to the island upriver!  The “resident” Ospreys were there, of course, and the Spotted Sandpiper finally showed up (along with a Killdeer who enjoyed taking a bath at the foot of the boat ramp).  Here, too, the butters were nuts, reminding me of that huge mudding party along the shores of the Sarapiqui River in Costa Rica, only our species diversity was lower:  again, mainly Lyside Sulphurs, with a few Snouts and Large Orange Sulphurs in the mix.

Killdeer watches the sky as he cools off!

Mudding party!

Mostly Lyside Sulphurs with one Large Orange Sulphur

A closer look at the Lysides

We were talking about stopping at Hidalgo for the Monk Parakeets on the way back, but everyone was pretty bushed, so we decided to call it a day with a surprising 71 species for the day, which is tough when the feeders are closed!  Bird List:

  Gadwall                              

  Mottled Duck                          
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Northern Bobwhite                    
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  Sharp-shinned Hawk                   
  Harris's Hawk                        
  Killdeer                              
  Spotted Sandpiper                    
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Laughing Gull                        
  Ring-billed Gull                     
  Caspian Tern                         
  Rock Pigeon                           
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Greater Roadrunner                    
  Green Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Ash-throated Flycatcher              
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Tropical Kingbird                    
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Bell's Vireo                          
  Green Jay                            
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        
  Purple Martin                        
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Verdin                               
  House Wren                            
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Cactus Wren                          
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Black-tailed Gnatcatcher             
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  Curve-billed Thrasher                 
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Yellow-rumped Warbler                
  White-collared Seedeater             
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Lark Sparrow                         
  Black-throated Sparrow               
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Pyrrhuloxia                          
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  House Finch                          
  House Sparrow                         

71 SPECIES