Pat
and I met Alicia and Sue at the former’s house bright and early, and after a
fruitless search for Pauraques at the end of Alicia’s road, we headed out to
South Padre Island in order to bird The Flats before the Kite Event started,
enjoying a gorgeous sunrise on the way there!
Our first bird was a Mockingbird at the Stripes in Laguna Vista,
followed by an Osprey (2) along SR 100, a Brown Pelican (3) seen from the
causeway, and Laughing Gull (4), Rock Pigeon (5), and Great Blue Heron (6) on
the way to The Flats. The birds were way
out there, and even though Alicia’s SUV was high-clearance, it wasn’t
four-wheel-drive, so she was understandably hesitant to take the car closer to
the birds! But as we scanned the flocks,
the White Pelicans (7) were the most obvious birds, and we were able to pick
out a Ring-billed Gull (8) amongst the Laughers. There were so many Black Skimmers (9) that
eBird flagged Sue’s count of several hundred!
Caspian Tern (10) was the first of that group, and we were able to spot
some Red-breasted Mergansers (11) out in the surf! As we continued scanning the beach and the
bay, we added Willet (12), Royal Tern (13), Sanderlings (14), Coots (15),
calling Short-billed Dowitchers (16), a fly-by Mottled Duck (17), and several
Dunlin (18, that also thankfully called for good measure as they were awfully
distant). Plovers were tough, but we
managed Semipalmated (19), several Black-bellied (20), and a single Snowy (21)
that thankfully Sue also saw (the rule is that at least two members of the team
have to see or hear the bird).
Sunrise heading to South Padre
Part of the skimmer mob (with a White Pelican)
We
bypassed the Convention Centre in favor of the Birding Center (assuming the
CC’s boardwalks were still closed), picking up Great-tailed Grackle (22) in the
parking lot and their mascot feral Muscovy (23) on the way in! We checked out the garden area first, adding
a calling Kiskadee (24) and a skulky Long-billed Thrasher (25) that we checked
carefully to ensure it wasn’t a lost Brown, as one will periodically show up
here! We added Orange-crowned Warbler
(26), Ruby-crowned Kinglet (27), and a Cardinal (28), and while I heard the
Wilson’s Warbler (29), the girls finally got a brief glimpse of yellow! I heard Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (30) in
the distance, but it wouldn’t be until after the boardwalk loop that we would
actually see them on the retention ponds!
Alicia, Pat, and Sue (three of the Four Chachalacas) heading into the Birding Center
Making
the loop, we quickly added Snowy Egret (31), Green Heron (32), beautiful
Redheads (33) shining in the sun (and I noticed how their heads do indeed look
black until the sun hits them just right), Great Egret (34), the freeloading
Common Gallinules (35), and the wintering Belted Kingfisher (36). Alicia spotted a Tricolored Heron (37) and
White Ibis (38) hiding over in the mangroves, and a Pintail (39) occupied its
own little pond. A Yellow-crowned Night
Heron (40) was also in the mangroves, and out in the bay a couple of American
Wigeons (41) were in with the Redheads.
At one of the Bird Blinds some Long-billed Dowitchers (42) flew by
peeping, and I was thrilled to spot a Common Loon (43) flying by, as they can
be tough to get (I barely got it for the year in 2019)! Somewhere a Long-billed Curlew (44) called,
and a Turkey Vulture (45) rocked overhead, while a Yellowthroat (46) called in
the wetlands and a Cooper’s Hawk (47) blasted through! A Red-winged Blackbird (48) flew overhead
while a Pied-billed Grebe (49) sat placidly and a Little Blue Heron (50)
drifted by. Out in the “East Pond” the
Roseate Spoonbills (51) came through (and we also saw that apparently the CC
boardwalks are now open, as there was a guy on the parallel walkway)! Also in the pond were Black-necked Stilts
(52), Blue-winged Teal (53), both Lesser (54) and Greater Yellowlegs (55), and
a weird-looking Shoveler (56) that we first thought was a hybrid Pintail/Mallard
that had been reported! We picked up an
Eastern Phoebe (57) on the way out, and a Double-crested Cormorant (58) up on a
pole in the parking lot.
Great Blue Heron
Red-breasted Merganser
American Wigeon
Redhead (notice how black the lower one's head looks)
Green Heron
Mottled Ducks
Shoveler in what is apparently a retarded eclipse plumage
We
quickly checked out Sheepshead, logging the Eurotrash Collared Dove (59) and
Starling (60) on the way, along with a not-so-trashy Loggerhead Shrike
(61)! Sheepshead was pretty dead (they
had turned off the back water feature that the waterthrush likes, and had also
cleared away a lot of the thick habitat back there), but we at least added Inca
Dove (62), Tropical Kingbird (63), and House Sparrow (64).
The
Highway 48 Boat Ramp was next, where we added Kestrel (65), Harris’ Hawk (66),
and Caracara (67) on the way. Once there
we added a nice selection of species, including Herring Gull (68), a white
morph Reddish Egret (69), several Ruddy Turnstones (70), the requisite
Oystercatcher (71), several Avocets (72), and both Forster’s (73) and
Gull-billed Terns (74). We found a
Spotted Sandpiper (75) bobbing along, and several Least Sandpipers (76) that blended
in very well with the mud! Continuing
south we added a Harrier (77) hunting over the fields.
Medford
Pond was next, where we added a brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher (78), a
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (79), and both Lesser Scaup (80) and Ruddy Duck (81)
in the pond itself. But the big show
there was the hordes of Laughing Gulls dipping down for a drink and then
settling on the pond! Several Green Jays
(82) bounced around, and managed to add a Curve-billed Thrasher (83) as well.
Kiskadee checking things out
Vermilion Flycatcher
Laughing Gull mob
On
to Sabal Palm Sanctuary, where we added a Red-tailed Hawk (84) on the way. Once there we picked up more “bitty birds”,
such as House Wren (85), Ladder-backed Woodpecker (86), White-eyed Vireo (87),
Black-crested Titmouse (88), Carolina Wren (89), and Yellow-rumped Warbler
(90). We heard a Red-shouldered Hawk
(91), and a pretty adult Gray Hawk (92) showed well on the way in (we had a
nice immature on the way out). Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher (93) was another little guy added to the list, but because I had to
use the restroom, I missed the White-tipped Dove (94, which I saw later) and
the Olive Sparrow (95, which I didn’t L) at the feeder
area. We went straight to the big blind
after that, where thankfully there was some water! We were able to add a Lincoln’s Sparrow (96),
but the big prize was a Swamp Sparrow (97), a lifer for Sue! We also added a whistling Altamira Oriole
(98) and fluffy-butt Least Grebe (99), but the honor of bird #100 went to the
subtle but handsome-in-its-own-way Gadwall.
Adult Gray Hawk on the way in
Cardinal at the feeders
Immature Gray Hawk on the way out
From
there we headed over to the UTRGV campus in Brownsville to try for the Common
Black Hawk, which had been seen earlier by our friends Baceliza and Alan (and a
bunch of ACAS folks I found out later J)! By that time things were very quiet,
but we at least added Neotropic Cormorant (101) and lots more feral
Muscovies! We contacted Baceliza to find
out exactly where they had the hawk (which was nowhere to be seen), but she
also told us about a sapsucker and some other goodies on the way to the other
resaca, so we headed that way behind the building, and sure enough, there was
her Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (102) up in the tree! Continuing on we picked up a
couple of House Finches (103) on the lawn (not flaggable in Cameron County),
and not only the reported Black Phoebe (104) at the other resaca (definitely
flaggable in Cameron County) but a Solitary Sandpiper (105) to boot!
Fuzzy Solitary Sandpiper
Black Phoebe
From
there we inspected Old Port Isabel Road only to the gun club; no Aplomado, and
we only added Mourning Dove (106) and Savannah Sparrow (107) for our efforts (I
think the wind was picking up by then), so we headed up to Hugh Ramsey, picking
up a flock of Green Parakeets (108) on the way!
The target here was a lost Audubon’s Oriole that Alicia had seen
recently, but he never showed, although we were able to add Buff-bellied Hummer
(109), Clay-colored Thrush (110 – I missed that one, too, also due to a
restroom break L), and a Green Kingfisher (111) over by
his regular spot.
Long-billed Thrasher
Altamira Oriole
We
had received a couple of RBA’s on our phones about a Dusky-capped Flycatcher
and Rose-throated Becard seen at Resaca de la Palma State Park, so we stopped
there on the way to Oliveira Park (I heard an Eastern Meadowlark going in, but
since I was the only one to hear it we couldn’t count it for the official list);
we barely made it in before closing (in fact, Alicia had to go move her car and
picked up Chachalaca – 112 – and Turkeys – 113 – in so doing), and a hike down
the Ebony Trail produced no rarities and nothing new. But the good news is that as we pulled out of
the park, the Turkeys were along the road and put on a great show, gobbling to
beat the band whenever Alicia honked the horn! J
Hen Turkey
Tom Turkeys owned the road!
Turkeys' reaction to the car horn... (© Alicia Cavazos)
On
to Oliveira, picking up a White-tailed Hawk (114) on the way. While we waited I heard a Yellow-throated
Warbler (115) chirping, so that was a fun addition, and eventually the parrots
came in in droves, mostly Red-crowned (116), but also the White-fronted (117);
sadly we weren’t able to pick out Red-lored or Lilac-crowned, and the
Yellow-headed, if present, would have been obvious. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset at the
end!
White-fronted Parrots
Sounds like a great day! Miss birding with you all!
ReplyDeleteA very good read. Sounds like a terrific day, my friends.
ReplyDelete