Today’s
half day was sort of a “clean-up” day for the girls, but as we discussed
options on Wednesday, they mentioned that they had missed the Tropical Parula
at Santa Ana when they visited on Monday (the fact that it was pouring rain
probably didn’t help L), so since that was close, we chose to go
there first. Almost immediately along
the Chachalaca Trail we heard a Clay-colored Thrush giving its querulous call,
and before long he had displaced a Couch’s Kingbird in a dead tree right over
the trail! In the course of conversation
it was revealed that the Beardless Tyrannulet was another target, and we hadn’t
gone very far beyond the thrush before we heard a distant one, which I didn’t
hold out much hope of finding. But
before long it came closer and closer, until it was right next to us on the
trail! I sent Barbara on ahead (as she
would probably spot the thing before I did J), and she caught
it as it darted out of the tree and across the trail! When it called again distantly I said, “That
was definitely it!” giving her an excuse to do a Happy Dance – that was good
enough for her! J
Clay-colored Thrush
I
pointed out the Olive Sparrows’ bouncy-ball song (similar to their Field
Sparrows in the Hill Country, she observed), and an oriole shot through and
landed, proving himself to be an Altamira, another target! At the first Willow Lake overlook we padded
the list with a few Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal, and dowitchers, plus a single
Great Egret and Harris’ Hawk, then continued on the connector trail to the
Willow Lakes Trail and hung a left, passing by the culvert where we added a
trilling Least Grebe, some Gadwall, a Neotropic Cormorant, and Black-necked
Stilts to the list. We continued on,
planning on backtracking if I hadn’t heard the parula by the time we got to the
wooden deck, but thankfully we heard the buzzy trill in the distance, and
before long Barbara was able to spot the little guy singing his heart out in a
Spanish Moss-laden mesquite! Everyone
got great looks (although this wasn’t a lifer for Barb – she had gotten hers in
Refugio)!
Barb and Joyce track down a thrasher on the Willow Lake Trail
Tropical Parula
At
that point we decided to do the whole loop and make a morning out of it, as it
was overcast and windy (not the greatest butterfly weather, as we were
initially gonna nab the parula and then go straight to the National Butterfly
Center for butters and the Altamira, which we had just gotten anyway), so we
continued on to the deck, where we enjoyed two Little Blue Herons, some fly-in
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a Tropical Kingbird, and a female Orchard
Oriole. I then gave them a choice of
taking South Pintail (to see the Rio Grande) or cut down to North Pintail (to
watch the skies for raptors), and Joyce voted for North Pintail, but in the
meantime Barbara asked about Anzalduas, and I said that if you wanted an easy
way to see the Rio Grande, that was the place to go! The girls were game, as Barbara especially
had heard so much about the place and wanted to see it (and we were all
thinking more about the restroom than anything else at that point), so we
headed straight back to the Visitor’s Center, and while I checked us in Barbara
waited for the Buff-bellied Hummingbird to return to the feeder for a picture
(which he never did L).
Scenic shot from the new Willow Lake observation deck
Close-up of the Little Blue Heron in the above shot
I don't think that's what they had in mind...
We
went the back way to the park, picking up a Pied-billed Grebe in the spillway
on the way in, and while I figured the Sprague’s Pipits were probably gone by
now, it was worth taking a shot, so we did the last Pipit Poke of the season,
scaring up only Savannah Sparrows and hearing only Eastern Meadowlarks. A couple of Coots were the only water birds
(a flyover Bank Swallow was nice), so we returned to the car where we heard a
Hooded Oriole calling from the palms. We
started crawling (in the car), spotting an Osprey on a stump in the river
eating breakfast, and a couple of Laughing Gulls and Forster’s Terns were new
for Barbara’s Hidalgo County list! She
also spotted our resident Black Phoebes on the chain link fence by the boat
ramp, and a Ringed Kingfisher gave a brief view as he shot upriver close to the
bank! Both Couch’s and Tropical
Kingbirds posed for pictures, along with a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on the
back end. We enjoyed the Cliff Swallows
going in and out of their nests on the dam, and Barbara spotted her Lesser
Scaup for the county nearby! Paralleling
the levee, a smaller bird on the wire rope turned out to be a lingering Eastern
Bluebird, and a slow chattering got us out of the car to chase down an
uncooperative Bullock’s Oriole… An odd
raptor turned out to be a Black Vulture dangling his legs, and a Lark Sparrow
not only showed off his pattern but his snorting song as well! Checking out the “middle road” gave us
another great look at the Altamira Oriole as he performed acrobatics to feed!
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Altamira Oriole
We
had a few minutes to spare before we had to head back, so since I had mentioned
the Monk Parakeets in Hidalgo, we swung by there (where Barbara spotted a
Swainson’s Hawk coming off the 115), and I was a little nervous because the one
and only time I took “guidees” there and we didn’t
see them was on a horribly windy day!
But fortunately this time we did
see several working on their nests, and the girls got great looks and pictures!
Monk Parakeet shares his apartment complex with a pair of House Sparrows (female above, male below)
We
called it a day and took the back way to Alamo, surprisingly picking up a pair
of Tricolored Herons flying over the road when we entered town! That made it a respectable 73 species – not
bad for a blustery half day! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
Swainson’s Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Monk Parakeet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Black Phoebe
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Clay-colored Thrush
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Tropical Parula
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
73 SPECIES
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