While
checking Gary and Linda from Boerne, TX, into the Inca Dove Cottage, I learned
that on the way down they were discussing that it might be fun to hire a guide
for a morning, so we booked right then and there! J They both had “bridge” cameras: Gary had a Nikon Coolpix (which was much more
fancy than any Coolpix I had ever
seen, with the equivalent of a 2000 mm lens!!), and Linda had a Canon Powershot
SX 60, and confessed that she was still learning how to use it! But they both got lots of practice today!
I
had forgotten that with the advent of DST we would be heading out in the pitch L, but I figured
that if the parakeets were still staging at Bus. 83 and Breyfogle, we would at
least hear them. We didn’t, so we headed
on to Bentsen with the idea of perhaps going back to that intersection later in
the morning. It was light enough to see
by then, and we had a nice little feeding flock just across the street from the
parking area: a Black-crested Titmouse
was singing his little heart out, and a little pishing brought in a
gnatcatcher, an Orange-crowned Warbler, and a nice Black-throated Green
Warbler! But I was really trying to
locate the Couch’s Kingbird that was breer!ing
in a close tree, and the pishing interested him enough to come right out on the
wire!
We
meandered towards the Gatehouse Feeders, stopping at the canal to enjoy the
pair of Black Phoebes. My friend Anne
Mayfield rolled by all dolled up in her biking outfit (didn’t even recognize
her at first J) and said she was on the way to the Hawk
Watch! An Osprey drifted overhead while
we were there at the canal, and as we continued towards the gate a Caracara
powered overhead. We had arrived before
the visitor center opened, so we were sent back to get our bands by the
volunteer L, and by that time not only did we bag a
pretty Buff-bellied Hummingbird at the feeder, but the tram was just about
ready to roll as well, so we decided to skip trying for the parakeets and took
the tram to Kingfisher Overlook, where a pair of cavorting Hook-billed Kites
had been photographed the previous week!
Shooting the Black Phoebe on the pipe
Peek-a-boo Buff-bellied Hummingbird
We
spent about 15 minutes there, where the only kite we saw was a distant
White-tailed, but there were tons of Turkey Vultures lifting off over the
horizon, and eventually three Shovelers and a flock of Ring-necked Ducks buzzed
by. Way
down the Resaca were a handful of Snowy Egrets and a couple of Neotropic
Cormorants, but nothing else came by.
After the volunteers filled the feeders behind the “wall”, we peeked in
for about five minutes, but while the Redwings made a lot of noise, no one
partook, so we decided to head down to the Green Jay Blind.
Ring-necked Ducks way out in the Resaca
That’s where all the
action was! A Green Jay was already
there attacking the peanut butter mixture, and as we took our places along with
another couple who was also photographing, it wasn’t long before we logged Kiskadees,
Chachalacas, White-tipped Doves, Cardinals, adult and immature Altamira
Orioles, a Lincoln’s Sparrow, a couple of Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, and even
a pair of Hooded Orioles! A Long-billed
Thrasher made a very brief appearance, and both an Orange-crowned and
Yellow-rumped Warbler remained hidden to the side along with a Ladder-backed
Woodpecker, but the regulars put on a great show! After we left I was disappointed that an Olive
Sparrow never showed, but on the way to the Old Military Highway (OMH) route,
Gary showed me a “What’s this bird?” picture he had taken at Santa Ana the day
before, and it turned out to be the Olive Sparrow! J Just before we left the park a White-eyed
Vireo singing in our faces got a bunch of us down by the old dragonfly pond,
but he remained stubbornly sequestered in his tree, only giving glimpses of
movement.
Chachalaca readying to raid the seed feeder...
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Male Cardinal
Female Cardinal
Kiskadee showing his crown circle as he drinks
Green Jay
Immature Altamira Oriole
Adult Altamira - note that he's actually in mid-air in this shot!
On the feeder
Male Hooded Oriole - note the larger area of black around the face and the lack of an orange shoulder bar!
OMH
was rather dead (except for a Chipping Sparrow that popped up at the very end),
so we scooted over to Anzalduas, where we had a nice Red-tailed Hawk along the
entrance road. A cold front had blown
through the night before, and the wind was picking up again, so we didn’t see
many songbirds except for a couple of Loggerhead Shrikes. The scaup mob had been whittled down to three
birds (at least what we could see), but Coots were still plentiful. A Forster’s Tern batted and dove into the Rio
Grande, but we couldn’t even kick up an Osprey this time! A Cooper’s Hawk made a brief run over the
river by the dam, and swallows were swooping around as well; the only ones I
could make out for sure were Tree and Northern Rough-winged. A flock of Western Meadowlarks fed in the
grass, then flew around and landed in some dead trees as we circled the area.
Loggerhead Shrike (singing below)
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Black Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
54 SPECIES
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