6/9/21
Well,
I was greeted with the good news that Hudson had gotten his Aplomado Falcon
along SR 100 the evening before (and the bird was apparently well-camouflaged,
too…), so that was wonderful! This
morning we took off first for Palo Alto Battlefield in hopes of seeing the
Lesser Nighthawks I had seen the last time I was there; no Lessers (although we
heard Commons), but we did find a female Hooded Oriole next to the
building! We scared a pair of huge
Nilgai as we approached the trail, and at least got a better look at a singing
Botteri’s Sparrow and a couple of Lark Sparrows! Hudson picked up the bouncing ball song of
the Olive Sparrow, while a Bewick’s Wren also sang unseen. Circling back around the building an Eastern
Cottontail was very friendly, and while the gang was enjoying his antics a huge
Indigo Snake slithered across the sidewalk!
(Hudson wanted to play with him, but I told him that’s why they’re
endangered: they do make good
pets because they’re so docile!) But
just as one snake disappeared, Paul spotted another one that we all walked
right past and never saw: a coiled up
Western Diamondback Rattler! What was
amazing was the fact that we passed so close and he didn’t bother rattling (he did
look rather full), but that started a conversation about how some rattlesnakes
have quit rattling, and one of the theories was that they’ve learned that (in
some places) rattling only attracts a hoe or a shotgun!
Sunrise at Palo Alto Battlefield
From there we went to Resaca de la Palma State Park to try and get some of the Valley specialties we would have ordinarily gotten at Sabal Palm. The main gate was open, so we parked in the lot and started wandering; right away Hudson spotted his first Green Jay! As usual, birding the lot proved very productive: we also picked up Altamira Oriole, a fluttering Kiskadee, Couch’s Kingbird, another Long-billed Thrasher, and something I hardly believed myself: a Pauraque doing a subsong! We soon heard some jays fussing over by the visitor’s center, so we went over to see if we could find yet another snake J, and saw that the mob included another oriole and a couple of grackles! (The grackles seemed to be part of the mob, not the cause of it…) Our approach broke up the party, and about that time the center opened, so we went on in to check in.
A
little later we ran into my friend Alicia, who was gonna drive the tram that
morning (which was something Karen especially was interested in)! We tried a little of the Ebony Trail where
Karen and Paul pointed out several flowers (including this stunning Passion
Flower), and a nice Brown-crested Flycatcher posed, but we were ultimately driven
back by the mosquitoes L. Heading
around the back of the building one of the rangers called our attention to a
tarantula she was trying to rescue! (It
was actually trying to get in the building…)
It was really putting on a defensive show, and the ranger thought that
maybe it had been traumatized by a Tarantula Hawk Wasp (which we actually had
seen earlier), and described the Alien-like way the wasp would lay her
eggs inside the tarantula, and the babies would then eat their way out
once hatched!
By then it was time for the tram ride, and we actually went by way of the mesquite savannah first; a Blue Grosbeak sang unseen while the gang tried to zero in on some kingbirds. Alicia identified a lot of the trees and plants for us, including a delicate little Salvia flower! A Bronzed Cowbird had the trail claimed, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos were all over, more so than in previous years, Alicia was saying. At one point an interesting bug landed on the tram; our first thought was an assassin bug of some kind, but the guys at BugGuide came to the rescue and ID'd it as Mozena lunata, a leaf-footed bug with thus far no English name! (Shall we make one up?? 😁)
The real treat was going down Hunter’s Lane to the resaca: three Black-bellied Whistling Ducks posed, and Hudson at least spotted both a Yellow-crowned Night and Green Heron! Least Grebes were trumpeting unseen from the grass, and I was surprised to hear a Belted Kingfisher, but apparently a few do hang around all summer! Alicia showed us an Altamira Oriole nest, and interestingly a couple of Tropical Kingbirds fluttered up to that tree and took a strand of material from the oriole nest! White-tipped Doves were calling all over but never showed, along with a distant Common Ground Dove. We had been hearing chorusing Chachalacas all morning, but distant, so we were thrilled to see some on the road way ahead of us (with an ani calling next to us), and actually stay put as we pulled alongside them, the male fanning his tail like a little Turkey!
Karen, Hudson, and Alicia on the Hunter's Trail
Resaca
Looking the other way
After finishing that up
and kissing Alicia goodbye, we paid the gift shop one last visit (Grandma and
Grandpa bought Hudson a stuffed Roadrunner, and all of us an ice cream J) then made our
way back to the car, with one last Green Jay seeing us off!
A
try for the Tamaulipas Crow was next, so we headed over to the Brownsville
Dump, where the line going in was almost enough to discourage us! While we were waiting I heard a Bobwhite and
thought I saw it sitting up on a metal post, but it turned out to be a
meadowlark… L But
we patiently made it through and went up to the fences, parked, and poked
along. Almost right away I spotted a
crow heading away from us over the hill; Paul and Karen got on it before it
dipped out of sight, but unfortunately Hudson wasn’t able to, so I was sorely
bummed! L So we kept scanning; we did see a
couple of Chihuahuan Ravens on a distant fence, which was also a life bird for
Hudson, so that was fun! After several
minutes of searching, it sounded like the folks were ready to throw in the towel
(I think lunch was on their minds J), but Paul
suggested we walk up the hill where the crow had gone, and Karen agreed that
would be our “last-ditch effort”! The
words were hardly out of her mouth when here came the crow! He landed on the fence right on front of us
and “burped” at us, and then his/her mate came wheeling in! After posing on the fence they went down to a
mound of garbage (where the lighting was admittedly better) and gave great
looks before finally taking off! What a
show!
Headed home after that with a modest 56 species for the morning, but included some great birds (along with the other great critters)! Bird list:
Black-bellied
Whistling-Duck
Plain
Chachalaca
Northern
Bobwhite
Least
Grebe
Eurasian
Collared-Dove
Inca
Dove
Common
Ground Dove
White-tipped
Dove
White-winged
Dove
Mourning
Dove
Groove-billed
Ani
Yellow-billed
Cuckoo
Common
Nighthawk
Common
Pauraque
Chimney
Swift
Killdeer
Laughing
Gull
Neotropic
Cormorant
Snowy
Egret
Cattle
Egret
Green
Heron
Yellow-crowned
Night-Heron
Black
Vulture
Turkey
Vulture
Belted
Kingfisher
Golden-fronted
Woodpecker
Ladder-backed
Woodpecker
Brown-crested
Flycatcher
Great
Kiskadee
Tropical
Kingbird
Couch's
Kingbird
Scissor-tailed
Flycatcher
White-eyed
Vireo
Green
Jay
Tamaulipas
Crow
Chihuahuan
Raven
Black-crested
Titmouse
Verdin
Carolina
Wren
Bewick's
Wren
European
Starling
Curve-billed
Thrasher
Long-billed
Thrasher
Northern
Mockingbird
House
Sparrow
Botteri's
Sparrow
Olive
Sparrow
Lark
Sparrow
Eastern
Meadowlark
Hooded
Oriole
Altamira
Oriole
Bronzed
Cowbird
Brown-headed
Cowbird
Great-tailed
Grackle
Northern
Cardinal
Blue
Grosbeak
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