Barbara
from the Hill Country was making a last-minute run to the Valley to bag some
needed targets for the year, so she contacted me with her eBird “need” list, I
whipped up an itinerary, and away we went!
Her “wants” technically covered the whole Valley from east to west, so
we prioritized what she really wanted; although she had tried for the Roadside
Hawk and dipped, she did bag the
Green Parakeets on 10th, but a good number of her potentials were
actually out in Cameron County, so she requested to head that direction first.
Tiocano
Lake was right on the way, so seeing as King Rail was one of her targets (and
heard-only was fine), we wheeled up there first. It was a beautiful day, and while trying to
avoid being run over by morning commuters, we heard the rail right away, along
with a Least Bittern! A flock of
White-fronted Geese took off behind us, and we quickly added the expected
marshy birds which included several ducks, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-crowned
Night Heron, and both cormorant species.
Barbara gets her eBird list going...
White Pelicans sailing off into the sunrise...
From
there we headed over to Justin LeClaire’s house for a chance at the returning
Allen’s Hummingbird; since we were chasing several things, we agreed to give it
15 minutes max, but in that time we picked up a lot of nice suburban birds such
as Black-crested Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Green Jays, and a
Yellow-throated Warbler that Barbara got on!
Just before we left a Buff-bellied Hummer came in, but no Allen’s, so we
let “Ciri” lead us to the next stop, which was Share 27 Road northeast of Los
Fresnos.
Well. She definitely took us the back way and we
ended up on a dead end road out in the boonies (turns out she led us to the north end of Share 27 Road), but it was
not for naught as Barbara spotted a small group of Groove-billed Anis, along
with an uncharacteristically friendly Olive Sparrow! As we headed south towards where the
Fork-tailed Flycatcher had been reported, we crossed a resaca that had several
ducks and a Spotted Sandpiper, but also a lone Ross’ Goose! That was special, as my usual view around
here is trying to pick out the smaller bird in a flock of Snow Geese flying
overhead! J A
little further down at another resaca, a Ringed Kingfisher sat on a wire, and
an American Robin was in a tree in someone’s yard! We both agreed this was a pretty birdy road!
Groove-billed Ani
Here you can actually see the grooves!
Shy Olive Sparrow
Not-so-shy Ross' Goose
Ringed Kingfisher
Continuing
south, we finally got to the intersection where the flycatcher had been hanging
out, and while the habitat looked perfect (exactly where I would expect to see
one in Belize), we could find nothing but shrikes, starlings, and grackles (oh,
we did spot a couple of Inca Doves in
someone’s driveway…). So from there we
headed east on SR 100, stopping at both the Blue Shack and the official
Aplomado Viewing Area, enjoying lovely White-tailed Hawks and a distant White-tailed
Kite, but no falcon…
So
we headed straight to the Island from there (a report of a Tamaulipas Crow
flying over SR 48 came through about then, but we figured that was a real long shot) and went to The Flats
as, although none had been reported, Common Tern and Red Knot were also
targets, so we risked taking a look. We
had great looks at the usual suspects (the beach was in great shape for
driving), including my FOS Red-breasted Mergansers out in the bay and a Greater
Yellowlegs poking around, but nothing out of the ordinary (we did spot the
oddball Reddish Egret with the few white flight feathers).
White and Brown Pelicans together
White Pelicans (one starting to go for an itch)
Sanderling
Dunlins
American
Bittern was also on her hit list, and since one had been reported over at the Birding Center the previous week,
that was the next stop, but I talked Barbara into checking the Convention
Centre first, as historically we’ve spotted more there. Well, again!
Pulling up into the first open spot along the “circular area”, what
should be feeding in the grass next to us but an adult male Black-headed
Grosbeak!! Barbara didn’t need it for
the year, but that was the bird of the day as far as I was concerned! J A Catbird also fed in the grass, which was
fun.
Vagrant Black-headed Grosbeak
We
hit the boardwalk after that, not nailing a bittern but enjoying Barbara’s
favorite duck, the Northern Pintail! A
nice Yellow-crowned Night Heron was at the end of the “marshy” boardwalk (where
the friendly gallinule is usually hanging out), and a Swamp Sparrow called from
the reeds on the “Birding Center” side, but about that time she got a text from
another couple of guys (who also happened to be staying at the Inn) that they
had just spotted two Aplomado Falcons right where we had just been (at the
viewing area along 100), so off we went!
The barrier in the middle of the highway kept us from turning into the
parking area, but we pulled off the road across from the hacking station, and
saw a falcon-shaped blob on the left side of the thing; even through the scope
I couldn’t get any detail, but that was good enough for Barbara, so it was off
to Anzalduas for the Sprague’s Pipit!
Barbara on the boardwalk
Northern Pintail
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Barbara
was a little more anxious to get this one as it would have been a life bird for
her, so I was pretty confident we’d kick one up, but for the first time in my
experience (this time of year, anyway), we criss-crossed that field several
times and not one pipit!! (Lots of Western Meadowlarks, though, along
with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker calling in the background…) Over at the river we flushed some Least
Sandpipers and a couple of Snipes, Ospreys were about, and the scaup flock was
back, but not even any kingfishers showed this time. Disappointed but not discouraged, we made the
rounds and spotted a group of birders looking at something near the maintenance
area, where I heard a Beardless Tyrannulet call! We headed over there, spotting a Vermilion
Flycatcher in the process, and it turned out to be a group from Vermont that
Barbara had run into the previous day at the Roadside Hawk spot! They were indeed trying to track down the
tyrannulet, but we also heard American Goldfinches, and Barbara spotted one of
the resident House Finches! When one of
the ladies mentioned that someone had seen the Hook-billed Kites on the levee
for a good long time that morning, Barbara said, “Let’s go!” and we were off
again!
Looking for that elusive Sprague's Pipit
Western Meadowlark
Vermilion Flycatcher
Barbara
had also seen a report of the Roadside Hawk along the levee well east of the butterfly garden, so we got
up there east of the Riverside Club and headed down (being warned to be careful
by another friendly Border Patrol guy as they were chasing down some drug
runners at the moment), but no hawk. We did catch sight of a flock of about 50
Green Parakeets near the church, which was really great! We headed down the road west of the Butterfly
Center and took the canal road down to where we saw another car parked; turned
out to be my friend Rick, who had initially gotten such great shots of the
kites! He was shooting the family group
of anis that had been hanging around for at least a week, so we told him of the
kite report and headed west down the levee.
Nothing but a Harris’ Hawk and a friendly Ladder-backed Woodpecker, but
we at least got some exercise… By the
time we got back to Rick the gang from Vermont had shown up, but the ladies
were down closer to the Center and reported that “the hawk” just flew into the Center! So we blasted over there, threw our money at
Luciano J
and headed down to the old garden, scaring up a White-tipped Dove in the
process. No hawk (and Grays had been
reported, so we weren’t sure exactly what
had been seen), but we at least added the cute little Screech Owl to the list,
an Altamira Oriole sitting in the doorway of the old Visitor Center building,
and Barbara got a glimpse of the Clay-colored Thrush at the feeder area that
Rick pointed out!
The levee south of the BP Corrals
Groove-billed Ani
Harris' Hawk
"McCall's" Screech Owl
Since
they were getting ready to close up, we decided to head home after that, shooting
a very cooperative Cooper’s Hawk on the pole (at least until Barbara tried to
get her own picture L), but on the way home I asked Barbara if she wanted to at least try for the
Yellow-headed and Lilac-crowned Parrots, seeing as we were passing the area in
McAllen where they had been reported in the past, so we swung off on McColl and
headed up to Cynthia. Unfortunately that
proved to be a bust as well except for the tittering Tropical Kingbird…
Cooper's Hawk
We
headed home for real after that, but wound up with a grand total of 115 species! Bird List:
Black-bellied
Whistling-Duck
Ross's
Goose Greater White-fronted Goose
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Groove-billed Ani
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
King Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Anhinga
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Eastern Screech-Owl
Ringed Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Aplomado Falcon
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Olive Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Black-headed Grosbeak
House Sparrow
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