Today
we were hopefully going to bag some more of the Valley specialties and vagrants
by birding Hidalgo County, and I was thrilled to hear that my charges had
scored on the Tropical Parula at Santa Ana the evening before! (They said it helped that another couple was
already on it… J)
So that was one less stop we had to worry about, which was good, as it
turned out that we didn’t even have time to do Wallace Road!
We
started per usual at Estero Llano Grande, and it was a lovely morning – but we
were shocked that so many cars were already in the lot at that hour (about
7:30)! We got fleeting glimpses of an
Orange-crowned Warbler, and after enjoying the Long-billed Thrasher that had
taken up residence on the power line (plus a close pair of Curve-billed
Thrashers), we headed on in to the Tropical Zone, but not before hearing the
“tic-tic” of a Green Kingfisher in the canal!
We were incongruous as the sound was coming from the side with no water,
but sure enough, Tam spotted his white neck, and after some moving around and
describing of the branches, we all finally spotted him! On the way to the Kingbird Trail I heard the
distinctive “ringing” of some Clay-colored Thrushes (which we found sitting
directly overhead), but then I thought for sure I was also hearing waxwings,
and after voicing that Tam said, “Oh, I see them!” They had been sitting right under the
thrushes the whole time and blended right in with the trees! We then headed to the Kingbird Trail Hummer
Feeder, and the female Rufous Hummer showed almost immediately, followed by the
male Ruby-throated and then the Buff-bellied who sat and gave great looks!
Clay-colored Thrush
Cedar Waxwings
Peek-a-boo White-winged Dove
Buff-bellied Hummingbird (©2018 James Hayden)
Circling
around we had wonderful views of a Harris’ Hawk, and then gave the new blind a
few minutes, but despite all the food and water nothing came in, so we headed
on to the “old” feeder area where a couple of Chachalacas and a Cardinal came
in, while White-tipped Doves cooed on different pitches in the background. Nothing came in to the drip, either, so we
headed on to the VC, hearing a Killdeer and Sora calling from the nearby
wetlands. We stopped at the Sniders’
place hoping for the Broad-tailed Hummer, but about that time we noticed the
school bus roll in, so we decided to hightail it out to Alligator Lake for the
Pauraque!
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (©2018 James Hayden)
Tam enjoys the bougainvillea on the way out!
And
that answered the question about the early vehicles: Ranger Javier was on the deck with his
volunteers (he greeted me with, “Did you bring any crows with you?” J), so we quickly
got checked in, checked out some dowitchers from the deck, and after hearing,
“We’re on our way!” coming over the radio, we made a beeline for Dowitcher
Pond! There, after getting the sun
behind us, we spotted another lifer for Jamie:
two Fulvous Whistling Ducks! I
had heard a Least Grebe, but couldn’t spot him; however, the pond was full of
the usual Shovelers, Coots, teal, and Mottled Ducks. Continuing over the bridge we quickly checked
out Grebe Marsh with nothing but some Blue-winged Teal, then hoofed it over to
Alligator Lake, where Jamie spotted a subadult Yellow-crowned Night Heron, but
Tam was looking at a full adult!
First view of the Fulvous Whistling Duck
Checking out Grebe Marsh
Then
came the search, and despite careful looking in all the usual spots, we just
could not conjure up a Pauraque… L (I figured they probably retreated into the
underbrush in order to raise their babies…)
By that time one of the kidlet groups had caught up with us, and Jamie
and Tam got a kick out of the ranger explaining to them how the Anhinga dries
its wings, and no, we don’t climb on the railing, and we have to be quiet
because these people are looking for a bird! J By that time I don’t think it mattered… But on the back side Tam was entertained by a
group of Green Jays that came right overhead, while Jamie and I tried
unsuccessfully to call out a Wilson’s Warbler…
So
we dragged ourselves out of there, but one last peek at Grebe Marsh got us our
Least Grebe (Jamie thinks there were two – either that, or the one was swimming
awfully fast under water!), and since Jamie wanted to try and get a better
photo of the Fulvous Whistlers, we circled around Dowitcher Pond and got some
nice views, along with some Cinnamon Teal, a gallinule, and another Least Grebe
(plus a Pied-billed). A Snowy Egret was
in Curlew Pond, and the guys saw a spoonbill fly over that I missed. Back at the deck a quick look around added
Least Sandpipers, a distant White Pelican, and a snoozing Pintail to the list, and
on the way to the parking lot a Beardless Tyrannulet called about five feet
away, but as per usual wouldn’t show himself…
Headed on to Quinta Mazatlan, picking up a Swainson’s Hawk flying over
the freeway on the way!
Fulvous Whistling Ducks (©2018 James Hayden)
Green-winged Teal (©2018 James Hayden)
Male Blue-winged Teal with a female Green-winged
The whistling ducks were snoozing by the time we got to the boardwalk...
Northern Shovelers
Jamie and Tam on the boardwalk (©2018 Tamara Hayden)
School field trips are a regular sight at Estero!
Upon
arriving we headed straight to the VC to check in, then headed over to the
amphitheater in hopes that the Blue Bunting was still around. We gave it an hour, and eventually enjoyed
Chachalacas challenging each other, Kiskadees attacking the PB mixture, another
Buff-bellied Hummer visiting the feeder, and Jamie finally got great looks at
the titmice! Tam was getting a kick out
of the antics of the Fox Squirrels, and the blackbirds were inundating the
place (we actually got excited over a female Brown-headed Cowbird L), but alas, the
bunting never showed.
Jamie shoots an Inca Dove (below) at Quinta Mazatlán
(©2018 James Hayden)
A Long-billed Thrasher skulks towards the back of the feeder area...
...while the Chachalacas come right out in the open!
(©2018 James Hayden)
Black-crested Titmouse
Great Kiskadee (©2018 James Hayden)
Kiowa Dancer (token ode)
I
had been hearing Lesser Goldfinches, so we went traipsing all over the Ebony
Grove trying to track them down, but to no avail (excitement was caused by a
Sharp-shinned Hawk that went blasting through).
After checking out the rest of the trails I mentioned that sometimes a
Pauraque was along the entrance road (although I had yet to find one there
myself), so we checked every gap in the bougainvillea hedge, not finding a
Pauraque, but Tam did manage to find a brilliant male Hooded Warbler! We ran into John Brush and explained our
plight, and after looking for the Pauraque in its regular spot there (it
wasn’t), he said he could take us right to one that was reliable! Well!
He was certainly not happy with the bird when we got to “the spot” and
it wasn’t there! L I
quipped that “someone” must not want Jamie to see a Pauraque J and John quipped
that it was “balance” for getting all those Tamaulipas Crows yesterday! J
Checkered White
Jamie and Tam in the Ebony Grove
John Brush tries to help us find
Inchworm, which will turn into some kind of geometrid moth...
After
that I found out they had never seen Monk Parakeets, so we swung by Hidalgo to
see them, and unlike last time, they were all over the place! Lighting conditions weren’t great, but
several were sticking their heads out of their nests, looking very cute! We were going to hit the National Butterfly
Center but realized we wouldn’t have time to do it justice, so just decided to
finish up the day at Bentsen, where we enjoyed more Chachalacas, Green Jays,
and blackbirds at the feeders!
We discover several Monk Parakeets gathering nesting material on the ground...
...which they then take to their massive stick nests!
Jamie shooting the nest
"She's taking our picture again!!"
Inca Dove portraits
Chachalacas
Flighty Green Jay
More Green Jay shots
Oh, and on a happy note, Jamie and Tam returned to Estero with Justin LeClaire, and this time they found the Pauraques! (Justin reported that they were uncharacteristically very flighty and easily spooking, so there's a good chance they had been spooked already by the time we had gotten there earlier...)
You can tell this Pauraque is on high alert! (©2018 James Hayden)
Bird
List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Monk Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Purple Martin
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
79 SPECIES
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