12/6/21
Sue and her sister Mary Lou had been planning a trip to the Valley for years, but between COVID travel restrictions and other delays, they had to keep putting it off until now, so they were thrilled to be here! (Mary Lou had been here a long time ago, so it was like seeing everything for the first time, but all was new for Sue!) Headed to Estero Llano Grande State Park first, where we ran into Jim Danzenbaker, a fellow guide from RGV Festival days, but this was a relaxed trip with friends, he said! So while they headed into the Tropical Zone we girls headed for the deck – until I realized I had left my bins in the car (easy to do when you’re distracted L), so I planted them along the brick walkway with the scope while I went trudging back to the car… Upon returning, however, they had had a great view of the Altamira Oriole in a tree above them!
After a quick perusal of Ibis Pond (which still had the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks as well as more winter ducks), we spent 15 minutes at the “restroom” feeders in hope that a Black-chinned Hummingbird might come in. We didn’t even get a Buffbelly in that time, but did log the Chachalacas (which led to a discussion of the correct pronunciation of the name J), and enjoyed the oriole pair as they sat up top with the Kiskadees and tried to come in to the orange feeder periodically!
No
Blackchin, so we headed out to Alligator Lake in hopes of bagging the
Pauraque. Heard lots of Soras on the way
out there, and a quick scan of Dowitcher Pond added Coots, Common Gallinules,
and Pied-billed Grebes to the list (we heard the Least, but they were way back
in the reeds). The only bird at Grebe
Marsh was a Neotropic Cormorant, but Alligator Lake itself had the promised
night herons of both flavors, plus the Anhinga!
Was surprised to hear a Peregrine Falcon screeching away, but we could
never spot him, even though it sounded like he was flying low overhead.
I
briefed the girls on what to look for before we slowly started scrutinizing the
Pauraque area, but we hadn’t gone far before one actually flushed and flew back
into the central area! We saw where he
landed, and Mary Lou was actually able to spot him within a very small window
(literally) between a forked trunk of a tree!
Apparently there was a second one back there as well, but I was really
surprised when the bird initially flushed when we weren’t anywhere near it, as
previous generations were so used to people that you’d almost step on
them!
We had heard a distant Ringed Kingfisher during all this, so I suggested going to the big overlook to look for him. We could still hear him machine-gunning but just couldn’t spot him, until Mary Lou (I think it was) spotted him on a wire over the levee! (I was blocked by a tree…) So we got the scope on him, and even though he had his back to us you could tell what he was by that honker of a bill! On the way out the Peregrine actually flew overhead, then ran into Jim and his crew (we ran into him, not the falcon J) who reported a hybrid duck plus two Fulvous Whistlers back at Avocet Pond! So we trucked back and found his ducks right away: his guess on the “funny duck” was a Gadwall/Pintail mix (and he was hanging with a Pintail), but the two Fulvous with them were just lovely. Behind us a White Ibis had landed appropriately in his namesake pond!
Ran
into Ranger Javier on the deck and chatted about the Pauraque and the hybrid
duck, then went to try and find either Pam in the Palm or Fred in the Shed,
their two staked out McCall’s Screech Owls!
My group had dipped on both last week, so I didn’t have high hopes, but
after coming to Pam’s palm we all scoured that trunk pretty well from all
angles, until I finally spotted her stripes!
Getting the girls on her was a hoot (and forget getting the scope on her
– I tried… L), but everyone finally found her and got
pictures!
From
there we went straight to the Indigo Blind to try for White-tipped Dove; another
lady named Sandy was already there, and while we waited for stuff to come in
she pointed out a Wilson’s Warbler playing in a tree next to the blind (not a
lifer, but a bird they don’t often get in Wisconsin and Connecticut)! He eventually came in to bathe, so that was a
real treat! Titmice rushed in to grab a
seed and then rush out, and had the usual Green Jays and Kiskadees, but the
star was an Olive Sparrow that came in to the seed in a log! I heard a Buff-bellied Hummer rattling
somewhere, but neither that nor a Blackchin came in to the hummer feeder. After stepping out of the blind a
Ladder-backed Woodpecker called, and since that was another potential lifer we
went after it, but we never could pin it down.
So since the White-tipped Doves never came in to the blind, we sat at
the “picnic table feeders” for a while, watching the Orange-crowned Warblers
come in to the water feature and the PB mixture, and before long the doves came
out from hiding in the back, even showing off their rufous wing coverts! Headed back to the car after that, enjoying
good comparisons of the three Monarch-like butters (Monarch, Queen, and
Soldier) feeding in the parking lot!
From
there we made a stop at the Stripes then headed over to Cannon Road to do that
loop. It was deathly quiet, but as I was
to quip several times during our outings, you can’t be everywhere first thing
in the morning! White-eyed Vireos,
another potential lifer, refused to come out, but we did hear a distant
Red-shouldered Hawk, and logged Tree Swallows overhead. Our attempt to get up to Adams Garden Reservoir
was foiled by an impassable road, so we turned around and headed down Jimenez
Road to Weaver Road; even though it’s not the season for grasspipers, I was
hoping there’d be something in the sod, but not even a grackle or Horned
Lark showed itself. The saving grace
along that stretch was a pair of Caracaras on the road as we made the
turn! I briefly heard an American Pipit out
the window, which prompted me to play the call of the Sprague’s Pipit to
familiarize the girls with it (as, if we were to flush one, that would be the
main ID point). It was right after that
I thought I actually did hear one, so we all piled out, but I never
heard it again, so that was the one that got away…
The
girls were game to try to access the reservoir from the north, so up to FM 800
we went, made a left, and then another left at the flashing light. The first large body of water the road
crosses had a Snowy Egret and Great Blue Heron, and we enjoyed a Gray Ghost (aka
male Northern Harrier) along the road!
When we finally got to the access point (we noticed that people had been
skeet shooting there based on all the casings and broken clay pigeons), we
hiked up the path but weren’t prepared for the tons of mosquitoes!! Some Off wipes took care of that, but the
sound of them was incredible! Up at the
top we were looking into the sun, but we still found tons of White Pelicans and
cormorants, plus hiding Lincoln’s Sparrows in the grasses.
From
there we backtracked to Weaver Road as I wanted to check that other tract of NWR
land. Just past the homestead there’s a
little marsh where Sue spotted some Least Grebes close to the road! They stayed put so long as we stayed in the
car, but when we pulled over and parked to get pictures, they all migrated to
the inaccessible part of the swamp, but still gave us a cute little concert of
trumpets!
Checking the fields going back down Weaver added a couple of Savannah Sparrows, but we soon discovered that the lower part of Weaver was also impassable, so that shot our chance at Common Ground Dove, I figured. So we headed towards the Ebony Unit of Las Palomas WMA via Jimenez, where Mary Lou yelled to stop when we passed a grassy path – she thought she saw a Coyote, but when we backed up and looked, I actually thought it was a feral cat at first because it was so dark, but it had a short tail! It was a Bobcat!! We couldn’t believe it – everyone was shushing each other and giggling, we were so excited! And he just stood there watching these crazy ladies until he finally decided to calmly walk into the brush, giving us one last look before disappearing!
Continuing
on, we spotted a “Krider’s” Red-tailed Hawk on a post (almost anticlimactic
after that Bobcat J), along with a Belted Kingfisher rattling
near the canal. Over at Ebony Grove we had
lots more Least Grebes, along with several Lesser Scaup, a few Ruddy Ducks, and
more coots and gallinules, but the star of that show was a female Hooded
Merganser! (They don’t get flagged on
eBird, but they are considered rare…)
Rangerville Resaca was unviewable, so we just headed south to go home by
way of US 281. We took our lives in our
hands by checking out El Zacatal (we were well off the road but the semis
roaring by at 60 mph were kinda scary), adding Ring-necked Ducks and a Double-crested
Cormorant in with the Neos and Anhingas.
The girls had previously stopped here, along with the old Progresso Sod
Farm area in search of the reported Say’s Phoebe (which they dipped on), but
they did find the Burrowing Owl in his pipe, which we also added to the
day list as we spotted his little head sticking up on the fly!
After
another Stripes stop we headed home with 76 species for the day. Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous
Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged
Teal
Northern
Shoveler
Mottled
Duck
Northern
Pintail
Green-winged
Teal
Ring-necked
Duck
Lesser
Scaup
Hooded
Merganser
Ruddy
Duck
Plain
Chachalaca
Least
Grebe
Pied-billed
Grebe
Rock
Pigeon
Eurasian
Collared-Dove
White-tipped
Dove
White-winged
Dove
Mourning
Dove
Common
Pauraque
Buff-bellied
Hummingbird
Sora
Common
Gallinule
American
Coot
Anhinga
Double-crested
Cormorant
Neotropic
Cormorant
American
White Pelican
Great
Blue Heron
Great
Egret
Snowy
Egret
Little
Blue Heron
Black-crowned
Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned
Night-Heron
White
Ibis
Turkey
Vulture
Northern
Harrier
Cooper's
Hawk
Red-shouldered
Hawk
Red-tailed
Hawk
Eastern
Screech-Owl
Burrowing
Owl
Ringed
Kingfisher
Belted
Kingfisher
Golden-fronted
Woodpecker
Ladder-backed
Woodpecker
Crested
Caracara
American
Kestrel
Peregrine
Falcon
Eastern
Phoebe
Great
Kiskadee
White-eyed
Vireo
Green
Jay
Black-crested
Titmouse
Northern
Rough-winged Swallow
Tree
Swallow
Ruby-crowned
Kinglet
Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher
House
Wren
Carolina
Wren
European
Starling
Long-billed
Thrasher
Northern
Mockingbird
House
Sparrow
American
Pipit
Olive
Sparrow
Savannah
Sparrow
Lincoln's
Sparrow
Western
Meadowlark
Altamira
Oriole
Red-winged
Blackbird
Great-tailed
Grackle
Orange-crowned
Warbler
Common
Yellowthroat
Wilson's
Warbler
Northern
Cardinal
No comments:
Post a Comment