Ever
since Barbara had cottoned me onto the fact that you could use eBird to figure
out what you still needed for the year, the thought of doing a “clean up chase
day” on my last birding day of the year sounded like fun! It also sounded fun to Sue and Billy, so
between Christmas and Saturday Sue and I came up with a target list and I
plotted a course that hopefully would bag us most of our birds!
We
knew another cold front was coming through, but we didn’t count on it being
quite so cold and windy! L We
made a quick stop at Bentsen (it wasn’t even sunrise yet) and picked up the
Black Phoebe pair for the day along with a rattling Buff-bellied Hummingbird,
then headed over to the famous levee near the Butterfly Center where the
Hook-billed Kites were being fairly regular!
Several others were there, including a FWS guy from Maine and a young
visiting teen whose non-birder mom was acting as chauffeur to help him get his
Valley specialties! We all shot the
breeze for the longest time, adding a handful of vocalizing birds (including
our only Long-billed Thrashers of the day), when the “birding mom”, who was
several yards to our east, said, “What’s that dark bird down there? Is that it?”
Everyone scrambled to her position, and sure enough, the dark morph Hook-billed
Kite was out in the open but down in
a tree (and totally blocked from where the rest of us were)! Cameras went bonkers, and before long he flew
up into the “traditional” tree along with another bird, giving everyone
wonderful looks! Unfortunately it was
still rather gloomy, so the pictures left a lot to be desired…
Waiting for the show...
The Hook-billed Kite shows up down in the brush! (Video grab)
Another bird up in the "regular" tree
Since
we were close we made a quick stop at the pond on Inspiration Drive, which was
quite productive: we added the only
Ring-necked Ducks and Common Gallinules of the day, along with Pied-billed
Grebes, Great Blue Herons, and several other ducks. From there we headed to Anzalduas, where the
day before a young Ferruginous Hawk was reported (by the same visiting kid) in
the field north of the park! So we
rolled over and found tons of Red-tailed and White-tailed Hawks, along with
Caracaras, but sure enough, one very pale bird turned out to be the
Ferrugie! One Caracara got a little too
close and the Ferrugie lunged at him, showing off the diagnostic pale
pitagials!
Caracara checking out this strange visitor...
These video grabs show the plain patagials (area on the leading edge of the wing), which separate the juvenile Ferruginous Hawk from the pale "Krider's" Hawk
And if you use your imagination, you can see the feathered tarsus on this bird, which also separates it Krider's (also a video grab)
We
headed up onto the levee to go into the park, only to discover it was closed
(and it wasn’t even New Year’s yet)!! L So since that shot our best chance at
Sprague’s Pipit (Pine Siskin was a longshot, as it hadn’t been reported in
almost a month), we continued to Granjeño, where Billy and Sue took me up the
back road where they and Bill Clark had caught and banded a Harlan’s Hawk! (Bill, who literally wrote the book on North
American raptors, had been studying them for over 20 years and was making a
strong case for them to be split off again from Red-tailed…) But first we were distracted by an adult
Swainson’s Hawk in the field along with several more Whitetails and Caracaras,
plus a distant Peregrine perched near the Anzalduas Bridge! Shortly we noticed an all-dark raptor on a
pole, and while we didn’t notice it at the time, the pictures revealed that he
was indeed banded – we had our bird!
Fuzzy Swainson's Hawk (a few usually spend the winter)
Juvenile Harlan's Hawk (look carefully for the band on his right leg!)
From
there we drove up onto the levee for another longshot (the reported Short-eared
Owl), but we at least got a pair of distant White-tailed Kites, plus the
wintering Burrowing Owl thanks to Billy’s sharp eyes! On the way to Santa Ana we added a few White
Pelicans circling over Military Highway, and then made a quick run through
Hidalgo to pick up the Monk Parakeets, also picking up the day’s only Caspian
Tern overhead (and I think this is also where they got their Curve-billed
Thrasher that I missed). Once at the
refuge we took the Chachalaca Trail to Willow Lakes, where we ran into another
couple who pointed out a feeding flock that included American Goldfinches and a
Verdin, but also the coveted Golden-crowned Kinglet (a lifer for Billy and a
year bird for Sue), so that was very exciting!
The lakes themselves had a good collection of ducks, including three
Cinnamon Teal, but alas, not the Wood Duck.
Billy thought he had a Say’s Phoebe that morphed into a female Vermilion
Flycatcher (that happens a lot J), and a little
pod of Least Grebes poured on the cuteness!
Sue and I kept track of the Soras and Yellowthroats while Billy chewed
the fat with the gentleman (also named Bill)!
After parting company we enjoyed a pair of Solitary Sandpipers at the
last deck, and several Greater Yellowlegs and a Spotted Sandpiper further along
the Tower Trail.
Sue checking the spillway
Meanwhile Billy spots the Burrowing Owl!
Monk Parakeets
Least Grebe
Solitary Sandpiper
We
finally headed out to Pintail Lakes, enjoying a friendly pair of Ladder-backed
Woodpeckers on the cutover trail, but the wind was fierce; we braved the trail
out to the closest lake, hoping against hope to flush a Sprague’s Pipit or
Vesper Sparrow (we did get several
American Pipits to pop up), but it wasn’t to be; even the lake was rather
uninspiring. So rather than hike all the
way out to the last lake we headed back along the tour road, adding a
White-tipped Dove beating feet, a calling Carolina Wren, and a family group of
Chachalacas making like Roadrunners as they dashed across the road!
Billy and Sue checking out Pintail Lake
We
were getting hungry so we decided to go to Nana’s in Weslaco for lunch (which
was wonderful – real Mexican
according to Billy J), picking up our only Inca Doves of the
day. Several targets had been reported
at Estero, but it was just too cold and blustery to do any more hiking, so we
opted to head up to Sugarhouse Pond for a hopeful Eared Grebe.
Well. The water was high and there was not one bird in the pond (except a distant
Great Egret)! So we opted to check out
the “1015 Pond” behind Delta Lake, only a huge flock of Long-billed Curlews
made us grind to a halt at the “Tri-County Pond” (an intersection literally at
the corners of Cameron, Willacy, and Hidalgo Counties)! There were also several more White-tailed
Hawks in the fields (I think today definitely broke a personal record)!
Trio of White-tailed Hawks
Crested Caracara
Somehow
I got turned around, but we eventually made it to FM 1015 and up to the pond,
only we couldn’t believe it: the pond
was being “used” by a huge group of ATVers who were actually getting themselves
stuck in the water (whether on purpose or not we had no idea) and being watched
by an even bigger crowd of spectactors!
This was all on the opposite side of where we were (thankfully), but I
didn’t even think that back area was accessible – obviously it is! But so much for logging any special birds…
ATVs playing in the water (with a slew of onlookers)
So
from there we headed to Rio Beef Road in hopes of at least a Ross’ Goose for
Sue (and I think she said Brewer’s Blackbird was a year bird, too) where we
picked up a scolding Bewick’s Wren and Couch’s Kingbird, then checked out the
“barren field pond” on Ken Baker Road, which only had Pintail and a couple of
Mottled Ducks. We couldn’t find any
Brewer’s outside the Rio Beef gate, but heading back onto the main road we had
several females on the wires! We had
heard Snow Geese while at the gate, and once on the main road someone spotted a
distant flock, which miraculously came at us and circled around! Even better was the fact that there were two
obviously smaller geese in with them – the Ross’! That happened to be a lifer for Billy as
well! The little wet spot there held
Black-necked Stilts and a few Avocets; Billy caught sight of some distant
cranes, but I missed those…
Female Brewer's Blackbirds
We
had to scoot after that, but not before picking up several Harris’ Hawks on the
way down Brushline! Between the three of
us we logged 91 species for the day!!
Bird list:
Snow
Goose
Ross's
Goose Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Northern Pintail
Ring-necked Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Sandhill Crane
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Caspian Tern
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Hook-billed Kite
Northern Harrier
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
“Harlan’s” Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Burrowing Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Monk Parakeet
Green Parakeet
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
American Goldfinch
Olive Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow
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