Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Second Time's the Charm...

12/29/17 

Robert and Denise were return visitors, with rarities being the main targets.  The last time they were here we had gone on a Wild Plover Chase near Rio Hondo, and when I announced that they had shown up again and that we bagged them the day before, he was still dubious, but agreed to give it a shot.  He opted to drive (they also had a rented Forrester), and when we arrived at the spot, we saw another birder there (a guy I had met before named Mark) just waiting for the birds to show up!  The weather was a little more tolerable than the day before, so we pulled out the scopes and started scanning, and it didn’t take long for Robert to find one!  Unfortunately they were waaay across the field, and would ethereally fade in and out of sight as they moved amongst the clumps, so unfortunately Denise wasn’t able to get a good view.  The Gull-billed Terns flew by at least, and Denise spotted some Sandhill Cranes flying overhead while a small group of Snow Geese sailed in.  By the time another birder showed up we were ready to finally move on.

Robert and Denise finally bag the Mountain Plover!

They were game to try for the falcon (even though I warned them that we dipped yesterday), so we hit the south end of Old Port Isabel Road next, where the biggest show was a huge flock of Long-billed Curlews!  A pretty little Vermilion Flycatcher made a showing as well, but alas, no falcon.  We turned around at the same spot (the security guy didn’t even bother getting out this time), but just as we got to the end of the road a Roseate Spoonbill flew overhead! 

We headed down to the Dump, again warning them that the crow was a no show, but since this was Robert’s main target, we decided to give it a shot.  Since it wasn’t as wet as the day before, we decided to hike the ridge that Josh and I had done previously, and there in the mass of gulls in the ponds was a bona fide Lesser Black-backed Gull!  That was a great look!  Denise got a kick out of the fact that every post down below had its own Turkey Vulture, plus a couple of White-tailed Hawks to boot!  Robert found a Red-tailed Hawk “hidden in plain sight,” as he was sitting on a stump with his back to us, making him look like an extension of the stump!  Again, no raven, but on the way back to the car the gulls suddenly all lifted up in a huge mass, and Robert found the Peregrine who was undoubtedly the culprit!  Denise thought she heard a Sandhill Crane, and we finally spotted it way up in the sky!

One of several Cattle Egrets not afraid to get their immaculate plumage dirty at the Dump...

Boca Chica was a bust regarding the falcon (we only went as far as the hacking station), but Robert deigned to take a quick detour to the Highway 48 Boat Ramp, although it wasn’t as quick as planned as I told him to go “straight” thinking that we were already on 511 (I was doing the eBird entry), only we were still on Boca Chica, and I didn’t realize things were amiss until we passed the airport! L  But we were able to scoot north and get on 48 quickly enough, picking up a nice White-tailed Kite on the way.  There was a nice collection of birds at the ramp (skimmers, oystercatchers, and plovers), but not his coveted Sandwich Tern.  Sadly, a sea turtle of some kind was dead on the shore; from our angle it looked like part of the shell was damaged, but I have no idea if he was a victim of foul play or if he died naturally.  (At least that's what I thought until I heard from Justin LeClaire that in this cold weather, many of the sea turtles were suffering from "cold shock" that caused them to float and beach themselves in various places!  So hopefully he recovered...)

Green Sea Turtle probably suffering from "cold shock"

Black Skimmer (flock with token Laughing Gull below)


Muddy-legged Great Egret


Robert really wanted to try for the Sprague’s Pipit at Anzalduas, so we headed straight over there, picking up some lovely White Pelicans along 48.  Before getting there we made a brief stop at Granjeño, seeing as Burrowing Owl would have been a life bird for Denise, and miraculously Robert found one down in the rocks!  That was to be the highlight of that area, however, as we were shocked to discover that Anzalduas was closed (and it wasn’t even New Year’s Eve)!!  I found out later that they opt to close the park if they deem that "activity" on the other side of the river is a threat to public safety...  On the way out we had a nice young Harrier that was perched, so it wasn’t all for naught…

Burrowing Owl

Not an owl, but the facial disk of the Northern Harrier makes it look like one!


Monk Parakeets were new, so we swung by Hidalgo to check them off the list, only I was starting to sweat that, too:  we checked every nest and there were no parakeets!  After making the full rounds we decided to go back down Gardenia again, and suddenly there they were on the wire when they weren’t there literally minutes before!  Great looks!  Robert razzed me when I jumped out of the car to photograph a House Finch because I knew eBird was gonna flag it… J
Female House Finch (considered "accidental" in the Valley, but becoming somewhat reliable in certain areas)
 
Sleepy Monk Parakeet
  
They were curious about Quinta Mazatlan, so since that was on the way (and would provide some shelter from the weather), we headed there, and it was a great decision:  we had lots of feeding flocks including several Black-throated Green and Wilson’s Warblers, and in the Ebony Grove we had Chipping Sparrows and both “Myrtle” and “Audubon’s” Warblers, along with a Curve-billed Thrasher with a hurt foot at the feeders.  I showed them where the famous Mango had been hanging out, and along the back trail Robert spotted a feral Muscovy Duck out on the golf course!  As we dumped out on the entrance road, another feeding flock came overhead that included a Black-throated Gray Warbler!  That was even a lifer for Robert!

Robert and Denise get ready for Quinta Mazatlán!

Banded Curve-billed Thrasher

Blue-headed Vireo

Strolling the trails

Fuzzy female Black-throated Gray Warbler

Despite the weather we ended up with a respectable 84 species for the day!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling Duck
  Snow Goose                           
  Muscovy Duck                         
  Gadwall                              
  Mottled Duck                         
  Plain Chachalaca                      
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  American White Pelican               
  Brown Pelican                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Reddish Egret                        
  Cattle Egret                         
  Roseate Spoonbill                    
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  White-tailed Kite                    
  Northern Harrier                     
  Harris's Hawk                        
  White-tailed Hawk                    
  Red-tailed Hawk                      
  Sandhill Crane                       
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  American Oystercatcher               
  Semipalmated Plover                  
  Killdeer                             
  Mountain Plover                      
  Willet                               
  Long-billed Curlew                    
  Ruddy Turnstone                      
  Sanderling                           
  Laughing Gull                        
  Ring-billed Gull                     
  Herring Gull                         
  Lesser Black-backed Gull             
  Gull-billed Tern                     
  Caspian Tern                         
  Royal Tern                           
  Black Skimmer                        
  Rock Pigeon                          
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  Burrowing Owl                        
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker              
  Crested Caracara                     
  American Kestrel                     
  Peregrine Falcon                     
  Monk Parakeet                        
  Eastern Phoebe                       
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  Blue-headed Vireo                    
  Green Jay                            
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  House Wren                           
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  Clay-colored Thrush                  
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Black-and-white Warbler              
  Orange-crowned Warbler               
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Yellow-rumped Warbler                
  Black-throated Gray Warbler          
  Black-throated Green Warbler         
  Wilson's Warbler                     
  Chipping Sparrow                     
  Savannah Sparrow                     
  Summer Tanager                       
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  House Finch                          
  House Sparrow                        

84 SPECIES

No comments:

Post a Comment