Craig
and Sandy from Tennessee were spending extended time in South Texas and had
never had a private guiding experience, so they contacted me and we planned a
day together! They had visited the area
about ten years ago during a Texas Ornithological Society (TOS) meeting, but
wanted to revisit the birds; since the only target I could weasel out of them
was a Pauraque, the first stop was definitely Estero Llano Grande!
We
headed over in pea soup fog, but at least it was calm! We headed into the Tropical Zone, getting the
common wintering stuff right away, and an Altamira Oriole choiped and whistled from the top of a tree. We got scope looks at a Ladder-backed
Woodpecker, then we eventually made our way down to the feeders where the
White-tipped Doves and the Green Jays were already hogging the place! We sat and watched for about 15 minutes,
enjoying a titmouse and an Orange-crowned Warbler, but I heard an odd call that
I couldn’t place, so I went to try and track that down. I did
manage to spot a Black-and-white Warbler, but while I was gone a Long-billed
Thrasher showed itself to my charges, along with a Chachalaca!
Sandy (at the scope) and Craig enjoying a Golden-fronted Woodpecker in the Tropical Zone
Enjoying a White-tipped Dove (below) at the feeders
A
sit at the drip didn’t bring in anything, so we headed to the Indigo Blind,
where a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, a Mockingbird, and a Green Jay were all
facing off at the tray feeder! What
struck me as a Black-chinned Hummingbird was visiting the back hummer feeder,
but what also visited was both members of the wintering Hooded Oriole pair! After the Redwings invaded we looped around
enjoying the exotic blooming cactus, and back out the entrance road, where I
thought I heard the wee-see-wee-see-wee-see
of the Black-and-white Warbler, but when the culprit showed himself it was just
another titmouse! L
Northern Cardinal
Shy female Hooded Oriole
A Mockingbird claims the feeding tray...
...along with a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds!
The female Redwing joins the Mocker...
A male Golden-fronted Woodpecker shows off his lovely tri-colored head pattern!
It
was hard hitting either the restroom or the visitor’s center to check in, as we
were enjoying all the ducks in the fog:
Shovelers, Green- and Blue-winged Teal, and several Black-necked Stilts
entertained! A guy with a monster camera
spotted two male Cinnamon Teal and pointed them out to us, but we looked in
vain for the rails. L We
thankfully had both Tropical and Couch’s Kingbirds calling along the trail, but
Dowitcher Pond was pretty quiet as well (except for a Blue-headed Vireo in a
nearby tree). Grebe Marsh had all the
action as a female Green Kingfisher whizzed in and landed on a snag for scope
views! A Least Grebe was pretty close as
well, but the Hooded Merganser had se
fued the joint. Swallows were all
over, including the returning Purple Martins and the chortling Cave
Swallows.
Foggy Ibis Pond
The morning dew reveals a spider's artistic handiwork!
Northern Shovelers
Craig shoots some Cinnamon Teal (below)
Couch's Kingbird
Enjoying a Least Grebe (below) at Grebe Marsh
Down
at Alligator Lake, the night heron mob was a hit, especially the long-legged
immature Yellow-crowned! A couple of
male Anhingas was quite spiffy, and as I noticed that a big group had found the
Pauraque, I left my charges with the herons and tootled down to locate the bird. Turns out the group was being led by my
friend Michael Marsden, and he pointed the thing right out for me (and it was
in a different position than normal, so I’m glad they found it)! So after they went on we three went up and
also got scope views of the snoozing caprimulgid!
Snoozing Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Listen very carefully for the quiet grunting noises this Great Blue Heron is making!
The famous Pauraque is stealthfully keeping an eye on us!
We
headed straight back after that, but not before trying unsuccessfully to draw
out a singing Olive Sparrow and getting brief views of a Common Ground Dove
along the trail. A gentleman we had seen
in the blind told us that he had both the Virginia Rail and Sora back near the
boardwalk, along with the anis, so on we went, picking up some White Ibis on
the way. We checked out the area, but no
rails or anis were to be found (Sandy thought she saw a little rail-sized bird
scoot into the reeds, never to be seen again). So we took one more quick look at the ducks and
chatted with park host Laura Paulson on the deck, who showed us where the anis
sometimes showed up (“way over there”), but we were too beat to take another
hike out there (for a “maybe” bird, Craig said). In the meantime a White-tailed Kite went
after a Harrier, so that was exciting!
Craig
had a modest SLR camera with him, so I gave them a choice of going somewhere
with more feeders birds, or road-birding for raptors and sparrows. They chose the latter, so we headed up to
Brushline Road! It was rather quiet to
start, but we did manage a female Pyrrhuloxia on a fence, several Savannah
Sparrows also on a fence, a big mob of Lark Sparrows in the plowed field, and a
whole slew of regal Sandhill Cranes near the rapidly-drying pond! A Merlin shot overhead just before SR 186,
and on the north side we had a cooperative Bewick’s Wren, and an odd noise and
scuffling in a dead tree next to us turned out to be a sapsucker when the thing
darted away and started saying something more recognizable! J Turkey and Black Vultures were all over, but
a different-looking pair of raptors turned out to be their life White-tailed
Hawks! We also had lots of Redtails
(including one that looked like a “Fuertes’”), and a big commotion next to the
road turned out to be a youngster that had just procured lunch! A Roadrunner finally cooperated, and
Caracaras and Harris’ Hawks gave nice views.
The mammalian highlights included several Nilgai!
Craig checks out something along Brushline Road
Loggerhead Shrike
The
farm pond was quite productive this time, with lots of ducks and three Roseate
Spoonbills being the highlights, along with what I think Craig said was an Audad
(a type of exotic sheep) with two cute babies (and the Emu, of course J)! While scoping the ducks I found an American
Pipit strutting along the shoreline! Ken
Baker Road had lots of shrikes and a flyby Long-billed Curlew, as well as a
brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher and a not-so-brilliant Eastern Phoebe. A Horned Lizard ran across the road that
unfortunately Craig didn’t get to see before it disappeared down a hole… L A quick visit to the Rio Beef Feedyard bagged
my charges’ life Bronzed Cowbird and Brewer’s Blackbirds, but getting back out
was an adventure, as the office staff had left and closed the gate, so I had to
call someone to figure out how to get out!
Audad family
Horned Lizard
Vermilion Flycatcher
We
called it quits after that, with 94 species for the day! Bird list:
Blue-winged
Teal
Cinnamon
Teal Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Common Pauraque
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Greater Yellowlegs
Anhinga
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Green Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Merlin
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Green Jay
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Western Meadowlark
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
House Sparrow
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