Barbara
and her sister-in-law Joyce were from the Hill Country, and this was to be
Joyce’s “introductory” birding trip, so Barbara wanted to focus on lots of
exciting birds! We had to shuffle the
schedule a couple of times due to the weather, but since a front was due to
come through Tuesday, we decided to head to South Padre Island on Wednesday for
the migrant show! I actually headed out
the day of the front as it was my day off (and we only got dripped on out there
whereas they got a whopper of a storm inland), and was encouraged by the
variety of migrants, so since Wednesday was to be a sunnier day with winds
still out of the north to start with, we had high hopes!
On
the way out there we stopped at the traditional Aplomado Falcon places along SR
100; while no falcons graced us, we did
bag the nesting Chihuahuan Ravens, a couple of Caracaras, a Bobwhite on the
dirt road going into the refuge area (that Joyce spotted – she was very proud
of herself J), and a couple of Caracaras! Cassin’s Sparrows were singing, so when a
little guy jumped up on the fence I assumed that’s what it was, but a scope
look revealed it to be a Grasshopper Sparrow!
Long-billed Curlews were in the fields, and a couple of Gull-billed
Terns batted by, which was a life bird for Barbara!
Barbara and Joyce scan for falcons at the official observation area
Since
this was to be a “rounded” birding experience, I suggested stopping at The
Flats first for the water birds, but having passed a couple of school busses on
the causeway (and remembering the school field trips that were there the day
before), we made a command decision to beat the kidlets to the Convention
Centre, so we went there first, and the place was jumping! Hooded Warblers were out the yin yang, as
were the Orchard Orioles, and as we spent several minutes at the water feature
we enjoyed side-by-side views of a Red-eyed Vireo and a Tennessee Warblers
taking baths, and a Yellow-breasted Chat walking back and forth on the railing
at the other end!
Black-and-white Warbler
Immature male Hooded Oriole
Two superficially similar migrants: Tennessee Warbler (left) and Red-eyed Vireo (right)
Hooded Warbler
From
there we went out to the back area, where we had a brief look at the Bullock’s
Oriole that had been hanging around, but the Baltimores were more cooperative
for pictures. Northern Parulas paid us
no mind, and a Kentucky Warbler popped up and actually stayed put for
pictures! Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
were all over, and Savannah and Lincoln’s Sparrows fed amongst the ducks and
grackles! We took a look off the back deck
towards the Flats and had a knockout Roseate Spoonbill in with the Black-necked
Stilts, and a couple of Semipalmated Plovers in with the rest of the usual
shorebirds (we thought we had a Wilson’s, but he was just too far away to tell…). Unfortunately the flocks of Franklin’s Gulls
I had had the day before were nowhere to be seen but as I scanned the flats a
little bird fumbled around in a bush next to the shore, which turned out to be
a Blue-winged Warbler! Alas, he took off
before I could get the girls on him…
Roseate Spoonbill
Summer Tanager
Black-throated Green Warbler
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Kentucky Warbler
An
alert over the RBA about a Swainson’s Warbler at the Birding and Nature Center
next door drove us back to the car, but not before nailing down a pewee that
was flopping around in the “circular area”!
Over at the Center we ran into my friends Baceliza and Alan, who had
also gotten the alert (along with a mess of other birders)! We logged both a Solitary Sandpiper and a
Lesser Yellowlegs in the little pond in the parking lot, and after checking in
we tootled down to the tiny little butterfly garden where the bird was seen;
someone spotted a Kentucky Warbler, and we had a very cooperative
Black-and-white say hello, but the Swainson’s was hiding. In the meantime we scanned the flats from that vantage point and added a couple of
breeding-plumaged Cattle Egrets and a Reddish sitting together, along with a
bunch of Great Blues. We sat for awhile
where the bird was last seen, and Barbara thought she caught sight of a
waterthrush, but after about 15 minutes we decided to hit the boardwalk, where
we enjoyed the gallinules and coots and a big ol’ alligator that was roaring (and
then shut up the minute I turned on the recorder L)! Thankfully we hadn’t gotten far when Baceliza
texted me and said she was looking at the Swainson’s, so we double-timed it
back, and this time we saw him
(albeit briefly)!
Waiting for the Swainson's Warbler to show
Eastern Kingbird
Common Gallinule
Baceliza
then asked us if we needed Blue-winged and Worm-eating Warblers (the girls
certainly needed the former having missed the one at the CC), so she took us to
this “dead end” boardwalk (which I admittedly had never explored as it ended at
the building), which turned out to be very active; while we sat we had more
Parulas and Hoodies, but the stars had left…
Since a worker had opened the gate there and was surprised by four women
sitting on the concrete looking up into the shrubbery J, we continued on
the boardwalk (Baceliza had long gone to find her hubby). It was rather uneventful until we got out on
the pier, where scattered Pied-billed Grebes were good for the day, but what
should suddenly glide overhead but a Magnificent Frigatebird! We were all jazzed, and since it was a
“flaggable” bird in eBird (they normally don’t start showing up until May
according to John Arvin’s checklist, so he was a bit early), I went ahead and
sent out my own RBA alert, not sure if it would do any good as he circled
around and then apparently went out to “sea” over the Laguna Madre… We caught up with Baceliza and Alan and
enjoyed lots of Pectoral Sandpipers, fighting gallinules, and another big ol’
gator, and while I was looking at him through my bins I discovered a Least
Bittern standing in front of him! That
was a show stopper! Further down the
boardwalk we had a cooperative Semipalmated Sandpiper, and thankfully a Least
flew in to give good comparative views!
The “east pond” was dry as a bone for the first time in my memory, so we didn’t see much else as
we headed back to the parking lot.
A male Magnificent Frigatebird makes a surprise appearance!
Pectoral Sandpiper
Least Bittern
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Mom "Muddy Duck" zealously guards her ducklings!
(Mary G. coined the term "Muddy Duck" as "mom's" field marks indicate some other "duck genes" in her bloodline...)
That
was a good long walk, so we headed to the Flats so we could sit for awhile! J We saw lots of Royal Terns, Black Skimmers,
and Laughing Gulls, but no Franklin’s L. After sorting through the shorebirds (one
Dunlin was in his pretty breeding plumage), we headed to Sheepshead, parked the
car, and immediately had the Palm Warbler that a group had gotten on! (I was particularly happy as I had missed it
the day before…) The Palm was hopping
around (along with Butterbutts) in the grassy area just west of the “dark side”
of the Valley Land Fund lots, and while scanning the area Barbara also spotted her
Worm-eating Warbler! Another Northern
Waterthrush visited the water feature in the Dark Side, confirming to Barbara
that that’s what she initially saw at the Birding Center, but the real action
was on the newly “renovated” Sunny Side, where tireless volunteers had cleared
out the non-native stuff and planted native stuff (along with a couple more
water features)! A lovely Rose-breasted
Grosbeak feasted on an orange, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew in and upstaged
the grosbeak! The beat-up Yellow-throated
Vireo that Lizee and I were pouring over the day before was still around (he
was later dubbed “Scruffy” by some other birders), knocking the snot out of a
caterpillar, and actually looked a little better having dried out some! (He was so worn that he had no wing bars, and
he held his tail up in a way that I had only seen Bell’s do in the past, so we
were wondering…) We had great looks at Blue
Grosbeaks and Indigo Buntings together, and an early Acadian Flycatcher that
Dan Jones and I had seen the day before showed up again, giving us more photo
ops. We were getting ready to leave when
Barbara spotted something and had us jump out of the car for her life Warbling
Vireo!
The perpetual flock of Black Skimmers, including some "dead" individuals...
Royal Tern trying to impress the ladies
Vagrant Palm Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
"Scruffy the Vireo" has found himself a big, juicy caterpillar!
("Scruffy" is actually a very worn Yellow-throated Vireo...)
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
A lady Northern Parula checks out an orange and then indulges!
Another female Northern Parula
Early Acadian Flycatcher: note the long primary projection and greenish cast to the upperparts.
We
decided to spend the rest of the day back at the CC, and it was even crazier
than that morning: another Worm-eating
Warbler came in to the water feature, and the wintering Brown Thrasher made a
brief “tail-end” appearance! We were
heading out to the back when a gal came after us and announced that a
Yellow-throated Vireo was eating a lizard at the foot of the water
feature! (Another guy taking photos
later posted them on the RGV Birding Facebook page, and someone quipped about
the vireo, “They’d eat us if they
were big enough!” J)
Merle (from Salineño feeder fame) asked me to flag down his wife Lois if
I saw her, as this was apparently a life bird for her, too, but as we headed on
to the “back yard” where a couple was sitting on a bench facing the Laguna, we
suddenly noticed a Blue-winged Warbler right over their heads! About that time I noticed Chamois (Lois’
canine “assistant feeder filler” J) over by the
other bench, and then noticed Lois sitting
there, so I sent her to the vireo and we enjoyed the warbler (the couple got up
and said, “The birds’ll come right to you!”), then continued wandering; a
female Western Tanager popped up briefly in the thrasher’s old hideout, while
there were plenty of Summer Tanagers around.
Closer to the Centre’s big concrete deck we enjoyed a Lincoln’s Sparrow
doing the “Towhee Shuffle,” and a last look at the water feature on the way out
produced a Bronzed Cowbird and a Yellow-headed Blackbird!
Worm-eating Warbler
Male Northern Parula (looking rather indignant below)
A Yellow-throated Vireo in better shape than Scruffy dismembers a lizard!
A Blue-winged Warbler performs acrobatics right before our eyes...
...while a friendly Hooded Warbler entertains the birders on the white rope!
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Another Blue-winged Warbler comes in to the water feature!
Little
would we know the final tally would be a whopping 119 species!! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Bobwhite
Pied-billed Grebe
Magnificent Frigatebird
Neotropic Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Chihuahuan Raven
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Marsh Wren
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Worm-eating Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Swainson's Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Cassin's Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow
119 SPECIES
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