Seasonal Hotspots

8/25/18 

Pat Heirs joined me Saturday morning in an exploration of the Hargill area:  there were several eBird hotspots in the vicinity, and I wanted to see if I could create a road-birding route that covered them.  This route included the famous 1015 Pond, a couple of seasonal ponds on CR 2500, Delta Lake County Park, Nittler Road, and Israel Cavazos Road in Hargill (which basically covers the Hargill Playa and a couple of wetlands north of the road). It was a beautiful day with a good variety, and we ended up with 76 species for the morning!

We bagged a Caracara on the way up that didn’t get included in any of the hotspots, but after totally zipping by the 1015 Pond (which is easy to do), we made a U-ie and enjoyed several water birds (as the pond doesn’t always have water in it, and with the drought we were concerned):  seven species of herons (including a cackling Least Bittern), Pied-billed Grebes, Mottled Ducks, Common Gallinules, and Black-necked Stilts made up the water birds, while the first of many migrating Yellow Warblers chirped in the mesquites.  

Pat checks out the 1015 Pond (below)

Then, heading north to FM 490, we hung a left (where a Common Nighthawk batted across the road) and then another left on FM 88, and then turned right on CR 2500; the wetland here was dry, but the habitat was great, so we bumped along this two-track road with a forest growing in the median, enjoying a couple groups of Bobwhite running ahead of us, some Lark Sparrows, a flopping Least Flycatcher, a Cardinal, and a really funny-looking young grackle!  We turned north at an intersection (the road was a tad better) which according to Google Maps is CR 30, and hit the jackpot along here with great looks at a Groove-billed Ani, a young Bullock’s Oriole, a female Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and a Couch’s Kingbird that perched overhead!  I also noticed an interesting thing about the updated mobile eBird app:  apparently if a bird’s never been recorded at that hotspot, it gives you a red dot – we added several that day!  Another symbol is “infrequent”, which I assume means that it’s been reported in the hotspot, but not very often…

Female/young Great-tailed Grackle that had us doing a double-take!

Bobwhite family

CR 2500

Several shots of the young Bullock's Oriole (note the flanges on the mouth)

Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Couch's Kingbird

Shy Groove-billed Ani (listen hard for his "pit-tweek!" calls)

We backtracked to 88 and checked the west side of Delta Lake, which was high, but picked up a Snowy Egret and Laughing Gull, along with a couple of Black Vultures.  Across the street two Least Bitterns called to each other, and a Great Egret stood ignoring the fishermen and their big Husky dog!  In the park we practically had the whole place to ourselves, but the swarms of cowbirds were incredible!  There were also great numbers of swallows (particularly Purple Martins), but a pair of early Tree Swallows got flagged.  While shooting the swallows a large flock of White Ibis flew over, and later a smaller flock of White-faced Ibis went by in the distance.  Pat spotted a Lesser Nighthawk on a branch, and more Yellow Warblers chirped from the trees.  A pair of Black-necked Stilts was in the little north side pond, and Cave Swallows came within touching distance on the bridge to the back area!  It was pretty quiet back there, so we came back out and crawled around the picnic area where a flock of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flew over, but no hoped-for Black Phoebe.  Pat thought she had a low-flying Turkey Vulture, but it had a fat head, so I jumped out in time to get my bins on it as it flew over the car and showed off a stunning banded tail:  Zone-tailed Hawk!  Too bad it disappeared before we could properly document it!

Lesser Nighthawk

Early Tree Swallows (top and bottom) hanging out with Bank and Rough-winged Swallows

Close-up of the two birds

The "back area"

Pat chose to chill in the car while I quickly checked out the little walkway to the spit; a White-tailed Kite flew overhead and a Coot was in the marsh, but that was about it.  An Upland Sandpiper flew over, and after using the restrooms (the only ones on the whole route, just so you know…) we headed down to Nittler Road.  Any signs of past wetlands were long gone, but in the thornscrub we had nice looks at a Brown-crested Flycatcher, Orchard Oriole, Long-billed Thrasher, and Olive Sparrow, while a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher buzzed unseen.  An Olive-sided Flycatcher landed on a wire, and we also found an Osprey sitting in a field!

Marsh from the bridge leading to the spit trail (below)

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Up to Hargill we went, adding a Swainson’s Hawk on the way, where the heat waves were just too strong to make out many shorebirds in the playa; about the only thing I could ID were a handful of Wilson’s Phalaropes and Stilt Sandpipers, but there were gobs of peeps across the way.  A large flock of Laughing Gulls had two Caspian Terns in with them, and while you could barely see into the playa from Israel Cavazos, the berm was still overgrown, so you really couldn’t get any height.  The wetlands further down the road were dry, of course, but more cowbirds and grackles got added to the list.  The next hotspot north on 490 and CR2500 was dry as a bone, so since it was past 11:00 we didn’t even bother making an eBird entry for that one and decided to head on home.

Hargill Playa

Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Mottled Duck                         
  Northern Bobwhite                    
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Tricolored Heron                     
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  White Ibis                            
  White-faced Ibis                     
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  White-tailed Kite                    
  Swainson's Hawk                      
  Zone-tailed Hawk                     
  Common Gallinule                     
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  Killdeer                             
  Upland Sandpiper                     
  Stilt Sandpiper                      
  Wilson's Phalarope                   
  Laughing Gull                        
  Caspian Tern                         
  Rock Pigeon                          
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  Common Ground-Dove                   
  Groove-billed Ani                    
  Lesser Nighthawk                      
  Common Nighthawk                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  Olive-sided Flycatcher               
  Least Flycatcher                     
  Brown-crested Flycatcher             
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Tropical Kingbird                    
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        
  Purple Martin                        
  Tree Swallow                         
  Bank Swallow                         
  Barn Swallow                         
  Cave Swallow                         
  Verdin                               
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Yellow Warbler                       
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Lark Sparrow                         
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Dickcissel                            
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Orchard Oriole                       
  Bullock's Oriole                     
  House Sparrow                        

76 SPECIES

North By Northwest

8/21/18 

“The Lot” fell on the Puerto Rico Route Tuesday morning, which is in the far northwestern corner of Hidalgo County (at least the accessible part); this includes FM 1017 heading west from I-69C, then finishes on a dirt loop around the little hamlet of Puerto Rico, right on the Starr County line.  Although picking up some nice birds along the 1017 stretch (Great Horned Owl first thing, plus singing Least and Alder Flycatchers at various stops along the road), I decided that the traffic had gotten way too heavy to properly survey this road in the future (even though the thornscrub savannah habitat is great), so I planned on snooping around some other roads once I got done with the Puerto Rico portion in hopes of planning a new route.  Harris’ Hawks and Crested Caracaras showed nicely throughout the route, and added a chirping Yellow Warbler at one stop.  Was able to add Cassin’s Sparrow during a relatively quiet moment…

Harris' Hawk

Scene along FM 1017

Mr. Caracara checks me out before flying over to join his wife (below)!

Another scene along the road

Eurasian Collared Doves hung around the habitations

Migrants like this Yellow-billed Cuckoo were on the move!

Turkey Vultures chilling on top of a cell tower

I love dirt roads, as it’s “peace and quiet” for the most part, so even though it was getting warm, I was able to hear things much better:  lots of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers around, singing Bobwhites, White-eyed Vireos, and both Cardinals and Pyrrhuloxias were in evidence.  Olive Sparrows, Verdins, and even the occasional Blue-gray Gnatcatcher called, and plenty of Dickcissels were passing through.  I’d hear an occasional Upland Sandpiper whiddily-doo overhead, but I was thrilled to actually spot a flock of 21 birds going over!  At the gate to one of the many oil/gas wells, some kind of flowering vine was attracting several Queens trying to feed against the wind!  Dozens of Common Green Darners were apparently migrating through (they were all bee-lining south), and a couple of Red Saddlebags posed for pics.  And speaking of bees, a huge swarm went roaring overhead; I was glad they kept going! L

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scene within the Puerto Rico circle

Yet another pair of Caracaras

Queen feeding on a flowering vine

Ventral view 

A couple of Red Saddlebags

Puerto Rico Road loops around and turns into Reforma Road before joining 1017 again, and as I was checking Texmaps looking for promising dirt roads, the owner of the house on the corner rolled up in his cart (probably to see what I was up to J), and we got to talking birds; he said the two most amazing things he had ever seen were two Bobwhite fighting like roosters right at his feet, and a Roadrunner killing a huge rattlesnake!  Yep, they do that! J

I continued west on 1017 and shortly turned left on Delmita Road, which eventually dumped out on FM 2294.  This looked like a promising addition (I definitely wanted to keep that dirt PR loop), although you need to be careful not to stop in front of peoples’ homes!  At 2294 I turned south for a short stint, and when it veered to the right I continued straight on La Guajolota Road, which was fabulous!  It went through more thornscrub and some ag fields, which honestly looked like they’d be good for Sandhill Cranes (or even Mountain Plover??) in the winter!  A brilliant Bullock’s Oriole flashed by along here, and a Roadrunner rattled but wouldn’t come out to my coo…  Puerto Rico, Delmita, and Guajolota Roads made a nice 21 mile route, so I can’t wait to try this again during a different time of year!  (Potential Birder Patrol trip??)

The bird list wasn’t impressive considering the limited habitat and dry conditions, but it was nice seeing some special birds (and other critters)!  Bird list:

  Northern Bobwhite                    

  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Harris's Hawk                        
  Killdeer                             
  Upland Sandpiper                     
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  Common Ground-Dove                   
  White-tipped Dove
  Great Horned Owl                    
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo                 
  Greater Roadrunner                   
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  Alder Flycatcher                     
  Least Flycatcher                     
  Brown-crested Flycatcher             
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Green Jay                            
  Barn Swallow                         
  Verdin                               
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Yellow Warbler                       
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Pyrrhuloxia                          
  Dickcissel                           
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Orchard Oriole                       
  Bullock's Oriole                     
  Lesser Goldfinch                     
  House Sparrow                        

47 SPECIES

The Resurrection of a Road

8/11/18 

I had been antsy to get out to Laguna Atascosa and do a BBS-style survey since they finished resurfacing General Brant Road, so finally got the opportunity today!  Not sure if the Rio Hondo Bridge was open yet, I went by way of San Benito and cut up to General Brant from FM 510 via FM 803.  Having found out from their website that the Bayside Drive is still not open L, I started surveying just past the residential area that’s east of FM 1847, as it’s almost all good thornscrub and prairie habitat with only a few scattered houses.  My first pre-dawn stop hit pay dirt with a Botteri’s Sparrow singing right next to the car, and while I waited for sunrise I logged a nice selection of things including both Olive and Cassin’s Sparrows, Blue Grosbeak, Dickcissel, Common Nighthawks, and Bobwhites.  (I think this first stop is very close to Cactus Creek Ranch, as that was actually the first hotspot that came up on eBird…)

Botteri's Sparrow

Continuing on, another stop had a nice pair of White-tailed Hawks in an open area, along with a Harris’ on another pole.  Some distant whistling ducks flew by that lacked the tell-tale white wing patches, making them Fulvous (had plenty of the Black-bellied as well).  I happened to stop at a couple of the “wildlife corridors” that they built to encourage animals to travel under the road and not across it; here a Roadrunner sang (the only one of the day, surprisingly), and a Bordered Patch fluttered in and posed for pictures.  Shortly after that is the must-stop-at wetland that feeds into Laguna Atascosa (there’s also a paved parking area for the Prairie Trail on the right):  the place was alive with Least Bitterns, Common Gallinules, White Ibis, Black-necked Stilts, a single Solitary Sandpiper and Gull-billed Tern, and even a Green Kingfisher came in to say hello!  The wires were lined with tons of Cave Swallows (plus a few Purple Martins), and several other herons either flew over or called from the reeds.  Down the road apiece you cross a Resaca which often is lifeless but today had oodles of stuff:  Willets, both flavors of yellowlegs, three Spotted Sandpipers, a couple of Black-bellied Plovers, another Gull-billed Tern, and even a couple of Wilson’s Phalaropes twirling around in the distance!

White-tailed Hawk

Bordered Patch

  

General Brant no longer “T’s” like it used to at Buena Vista, but rather the latter swings to the right, while you deliberately make a left turn towards the refuge headquarters.  By the ag fields an Upland Sandpiper flew overhead, and an Olive Sparrow came right out for pictures!  The day’s only Starling showed up on a wire, along with the Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves, and even a Collared Dove!  After getting my pass (where I found out that they’re hoping the Bayside Drive will be open to vehicles by this time next year) I headed out to Osprey Overlook, where a guy had his ham radio equipment set up!  So I listened in on these conversations while scanning Laguna Atascosa; picked up a single Little Blue Heron, several Black and Forster’s Terns out over the water, and a couple of Pied-billed Grebes on the water!  A quick look down the “dead end” road didn’t add anything new, but had several Scissor-tailed Flycatchers flopping around.

A few Olive Sparrow shots along the entrance road

Bronzed Cowbird on the road to Osprey Overlook

 Wandered around the headquarters area before checking out Buena Vista:  scruffy-looking Green Jays were coming to the open feeders along with a White-tipped Dove and Bronzed Cowbirds, and a couple of Long-billed Thrashers visited the drip at the blind (one was pristine and one was pretty scruffy).  Nothing was blooming so there wasn’t much butter action except for a Lyside Sulphur trying to hide, but on the way to the Kiskadee Trail a mom Chachalaca was feeding her three adorable babies behind the building!  

  

Scruffy Green Jays

Pristine Long-billed Thrasher

Not-so-pristine Long-billed Thrasher

Plain Chachalaca family

The trail itself was rather quiet except for a couple of anis, but a big surprise was flushing the Pauraque near the amphitheater!  The garden trail across the parking lot had several Snouts, and a little time at the gazebo water feature produced a bathing Olive Sparrow and drinking thrashers and cardinals.  A Myiarchus flycatcher came in that sure struck me as a Great Crested:  it seemed to have a marked contrast between the bright yellow belly and darkish gray throat, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a bead on it while it faced me to get a photo; by the time I found it in the viewfinder (my one real beef with the Powershot) it had turned sideways, and the resulting shots were inconclusive to my mind (the “dark gray” throat could easily be seen as an artifact of the light, and the diagnostic pale base to the lower mandible was not visible, although the tertial edgings looked pretty bright). After examining the photos Mary G. concluded that it was indeed a Brown-crested (the tail feathers growing in made it suspect to me as well...).

One of many Snouts

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Cardinal with flying water...

A pretty good storm was brewing, so I wrapped that up and headed for Buena Vista, as I saw cars going that direction and was wondering how much of the road was open.  Thankfully, the stretch of road that goes through refuge land is open, and was able to bag a Long-billed Curlew along here, but the monsoon hit as well, so about all I could do was scout the road!  It was closed again shortly before Laguna Vista, so I just turned around and headed back by way of General Brant, stopping at the Prairie Trail parking area to eat lunch and enjoy The Storm Part 2 that was rapidly headed my way!  Finished just before it hit, so continued on in to Rio Hondo in hopes that their bridge was finally open after years of work, and it was!!  (It’s a straighter shot from Alamo to go north on US 77 to Combes and head directly east…)

Incoming monsoon

Ended up with a respectable 82 species for the morning!  Bird list:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Fulvous Whistling-Duck               
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Northern Bobwhite                    
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Tricolored Heron                     
  Green Heron                           
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           
  White Ibis                           
  White-faced Ibis                     
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Harris's Hawk                        
  White-tailed Hawk                    
  Swainson's Hawk                      
  Common Gallinule                     
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  Black-bellied Plover                 
  Killdeer                             
  Spotted Sandpiper                    
  Solitary Sandpiper                   
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Willet                               
  Lesser Yellowlegs                     
  Upland Sandpiper                     
  Long-billed Curlew                   
  Least Sandpiper                      
  Wilson's Phalarope                   
  Laughing Gull                        
  Gull-billed Tern                      
  Black Tern                           
  Forster's Tern                       
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  Common Ground-Dove                   
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo                 
  Greater Roadrunner                   
  Groove-billed Ani                    
  Common Nighthawk                     
  Common Pauraque                      
  Chimney Swift                        
  Green Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Great Crested Flycatcher             
  Brown-crested Flycatcher             
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Green Jay                             
  Purple Martin                        
  Cave Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Verdin                               
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Cactus Wren                           
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Botteri's Sparrow                    
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Blue Grosbeak                        
  Dickcissel                           
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Bullock's Oriole                     

82 SPECIES