Gaby
really wanted to experience the Parrot Show at Oliviera Park (and hopefully get
some photos J), so we started a little later in the
morning to accommodate that, adding a singing White-winged Dove to the list
before starting out. The day before I
had given Gaby directions to the Green Parakeets on Bus 83 east of Bentsen Palm
Drive to try on his own before the 9:30 pickup time, and they nailed them –
even got a photo of one in a tree and not on the wire! J
So
the first destination was Dan Jones’ Yard in Progresso Lakes, as we both had
forgotten that Fulvous Whistling Duck was on the want list! Dan hadn’t seen the bird in a while, but he
beckoned us to come and be prepared for mosquitoes! It was pretty foggy heading out, but
thankfully it had lifted enough to see the other side of the resaca and scan
for ducks! (The skeeters were indeed
fierce, but an Off Wipe seemed to do the trick…) While Dan explained to Gaby how a resaca was
formed, we scanned the shoreline, picking up the regulars, when suddenly Gaby
found a lighter-colored duck – it was the Fulvous! Gaby spent quite a while trying to get it to
put its head up (and getting good-naturedly shushed by Tovi J), but what
finally got the bird to cooperate was a bully Black-bellied that drove it into
the water! On the way out we had a nice
White-tailed Hawk in great light (now that the sun was out). As we headed out I warned Gaby that the feral
Muscovy would be on the list (as eBird does
track feral birds)!
Gaby and Dan scour the opposite bank for the elusive Fulvous Whistling Duck
The Fulvous (right) was snoozing peacefully until a bully Black-bellied Whistling Duck drove him into the water (below)!
Monarch that caught Tovi's attention!
Gaby shoots a White-tailed Hawk (below) on the way out
From
there we were going to try for the becard at the Inn at Chachalaca Bend, but I
just got their message machine, so I left a message myself and he headed
towards Harlingen and then south towards SR 100. A second call again got the message machine,
so we assumed they were closed and headed on to Palo Alto Battlefield NHS. The wind had picked up, but we wanted to try
for Cassin’s Sparrow (and the possibility of Aplomado Falcon, as Julie and
Richard had happened upon one there the week before). We didn’t have to go far on the trail to the
overlook before we heard one singing, and despite the wind, with a little
coaxing he came right up for great pictures!
Another lifer in the bag!
Cassin's Sparrow
From
there we headed to Old Port Isabel Road, where crawling along didn’t bag us
much more than Long-billed Curlews and singing Eastern Meadowlarks, as there
wasn’t a falcon to be seen. The road was
in great shape, though (relatively speaking), so we made it all the way to the
north end, with the most exciting bird being a Roseate Spoonbill in the
canal! We continued on to the “Blue
Shack” and scanned from there (nothing), and when I saw that that northbound
dirt road that we sometimes turn into going westbound on 100 (and was always a
muddy mess) was absolutely dry, I decided to explore that road (which turns out
to be the southern extension of Buena Vista Road according to Google Maps), as
folks had also reported falcons along there!
It turned out to be pretty empty except for a couple of Loggerhead
Shrikes (and lots of windmills), but when we got almost to FM 350 the road took
a major turn to the worse, with huge
ruts deep enough to sink an 18-wheeler, and a major wet spot at the very
end! Thankfully we made it through, but
it was definitely an adventure (and we all needed a bathroom break after that…)
Next
destination was Boca Chica Beach in hopes of the Snowy Plover (and another shot
at the falcon), so we headed down there by way of SR 48, where I made a sudden
pull-off after spotting a couple of suspicious-looking raptors on the wire that
turned out to be White-tailed Kites… On
Boca Chica we stopped just past the checkpoint; some blob appeared to be in the
hacking box, but we just couldn’t make it out, so we reluctantly continued on,
deciding to check the flats first then poke down Palmito Hill Road
afterwards. With the wind, all the
little shorebirds were waaay out
there (those close enough to discern looked like Sanderlings), but we did have
a flyover Gull-billed Tern, and at the next place we could stop, we saw lots
and lots of Reddish Egrets of both flavors (Gaby had never seen the white morph
before), plus a feeding frenzy of Red-breasted Mergansers! Heading on down to the beach, birdlife was
scarce save for the three gulls, and a lone Royal Tern and Willet, so we headed
back towards Palmito Hill Road. On the
way I thought I saw something on the flats, and wheeled around to find an
immature Peregrine Falcon sitting on the sand!
Palmito Hills was birdless, so we continued on to Oliviera Park.
Pounding the sand for a Snowy Plover...
Ring-billed Gull
Immature Peregrine Falcon
Getting ready to book...
Ciri
sure sent me on the back roads (and she didn’t even pick up on the accident we
had to crawl around), but we eventually made it, and started crawling until we
heard some parrots. Actually, we saw
some birders (or at least some tourists) congregating in the middle part of the
park, so we parked there as well, chatting with a Winter Texan from
Brownsville; they were so focused on a conversation about Pickleball that Gaby
almost missed the first parrots to come in!
Well, by that I mean they flew over, making several passes, but never
settling down… As we tried to predict
where they were finally gonna land, the Yellow-headed Parrot pair came straight
at us, and unfortunately Gaby had his lens on full power and never got the
shot… L But we did
see some parrots apparently land to the north, so we headed that way, and found
a mob on the wires; a quick survey showed both Red-crowned (the majority of
course) and a couple of Red-lored, but the pictures Gaby got before they all
flew the coop revealed a Lilac-crowned!
Bingo! We lingered a little
longer in hopes that more parrots would land in the park instead of outside it;
we heard the White-fronted Parrots, but never got a visual… We finally gave up at it was apparent that
their roost was somewhere in the surrounding neighborhood, and headed
home.
Chatting with a Winter Texan before the show...
A few of the Red-crowned Parrots gather on the wires before heading off into the neighborhood...
We had a modest 54 species for the
day (unless I forgot something, which you can do when putting it together the
next morning…). Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Muscovy Duck
Northern Shoveler
Red-breasted Merganser
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Reddish Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Sanderling
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Green Parakeet
Red-crowned Parrot
Lilac-crowned Parrot
Red-lored Parrot
Yellow-headed Parrot
White-fronted Parrot
Great Kiskadee
Loggerhead Shrike
Tree Swallow
Bewick’s Wren
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cassin's Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
54 SPECIES
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