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
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