It
was predicted to be a miserable day today, so I ditched the idea of hiking
around Estero Llano Grande and planned on road-birding Wallace Road with David and Lydia instead. However, while eating
breakfast, Lydia requested we make another try for the Hook-billed Kites (on the
off chance they might decide to perch for us), so we headed over in the wet,
but thankfully it was barely spitting by the time we got to the now-famous
levee. I also noticed that the dirt
track going in was quite slick, so we parked past the bridge on the flat part
and hiked back, picking up the cooperative Black Phoebe for the day. Another trio of folks also happened to be
there that turned out to be Mary G. and a couple of clients, but unlike
yesterday, they (thankfully) didn’t greet us with, “You just missed it!” J Lydia agreed to give it 15 minutes, so we
schmoozed and listened to the “bitty birds” that stayed hunkered in the
vegetation, when a distant “machine gun” revealed the presence of the Ringed
Kingfisher! After awhile Mary spotted
him down the canal, but he just as abruptly upped and headed our way, giving us
all a great view as he shot down the canal!
A small falcon darted over that I called a Kestrel due to its snappy
wingbeats, but Mary called it a Merlin (apparently there was one hanging
around), but since I couldn’t get any detail on it I left it up to my charges
whether they wanted to count it or not!
(We would see tons of bona fide Kestrels later…)
My
timer went off, so we went our separate ways, and since that road was really slick going out, I was rethinking
going down Wallace Road (it can be just as dicey when wet), so we decided to
road-bird Anzalduas Park, as the roads are paved! We went via the “Old Military Highway Levee”,
or at least most of it: the dirt levee
turnoff was blocked by a dump truck and several big rigs were down in the
spillway working on something, so we continued to Conway and picked up the
levee again at Chimney Park, enjoying two very wet Red-tailed Hawks on the
way! As Lydia and Dave enjoyed the views
of the Rio Grande it was a good opportunity to share about the 2010 floods from
Hurricane Alex, and how the areas next to the river flooded, but also how
they had to divert the water into the spillway, and how all these now dry areas
between the levees were filled to the brim!
The best bird along this stretch was a beautiful adult Gray Hawk sitting
pretty, plus a stately Great Blue Heron!
Gray Hawk
Great Blue Heron
We
couldn’t find any hawks in the fields (Mary gave us a head’s up that the
Ferruginous was still around), so we headed on in to Anzalduas, and since it
wasn’t actually raining (yet), my charges agreed to try and scare up a
Sprague’s Pipit in the big field (plus it would automatically clean the mud off
our shoes)! Thankfully we didn’t have to
go far before one exploded in front of us, but true to form, he didn’t land,
and it started spitting right about then, so everyone said, “Let’s go back!”
and we made it back to the car before it got any worse!
Actually,
it never really got any worse during
the time we were there, so we could occasionally pop out of the car to get
better looks at stuff: a tittering
Tropical Kingbird was a hit, and we had our first Vermilion Flycatchers sitting
on one of the tall solar panels! Western
Meadowlarks flocked, and closer to the river we got good looks at the Lesser
Scaup flock and attending coots. Sadly
there was a dead Anhinga hanging in one of the trees (we were analyzing what
could have caused its demise, and fishing line seemed to be a logical
conclusion), but we saw live Neotropic Cormorants and Mottled Ducks out in the
river. Another Osprey sat somewhat
hidden in the “island” (always a favorite for Lydia as that’s the bird she
pointed out to David when they met J), and both a
Cattle and Snowy Egret were across the way.
A couple of Spotted Sandpipers went tearing by, and a Greater Yellowlegs
called from somewhere unseen.
As
we swung around closer to the dam more Vermilion Flycatchers popped up, along
with several Rough-winged Swallows batting around (Lydia was duly impressed
with the presently empty Cliff Swallow nests under the dam ledges)! More Cattle Egrets were parading around the
grass, and closer to the wooded area the local House Finches were feeding on
the ground along with a few Lark Sparrows!
At the restrooms a mob of American Goldfinches landed in a tree, and closer
to the entrance a flock of American Pipits mixed with the meadowlarks (I was
happy to see those as Lydia indicated that she had never seen either pipit)! A run through the middle
section produced more House Finches, a happy-sounding but invisible Altamira
Oriole, and what I initially thought was another flyover Osprey but morphed
into a White-tailed Hawk! More Green
Jays and Kiskadees delighted, and another swing by the river produced one of the
park’s feral Muscovies, plus a distant Ringed Kingfisher that refused to be
seen… On the way out we added a pair of
Pied-billed Grebes in the spillway.
Anzalduas is a stronghold for House Finches!
American Pipit strutting along...
Face-on view
Tropical Kingbird
Young male Vermilion Flycatcher
Lydia
was very interested in seeing the nearby Burrowing Owl, so we headed that
direction but got waylaid by a pair of White-tailed Kites! About that time the rain started coming down
in earnest, so admitting that it was too wet even for her, they agreed to call
it a day, ending up with a modest 53 species for the morning.
White-tailed Kite
Bird list:
Muscovy
Duck (Domestic type)
Mottled
Duck Lesser Scaup
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Black Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Sprague's Pipit
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Altamira Oriole
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow
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