Picking Up the Crumbs, Part 1

12/14/21 

Chuck, a retired chemistry teacher from Indiana and a return visitor (this time without his friend David), wanted to clean up his year list, so enlisting Michael Marsden for his first two days, they cleaned up the easy stuff (plus the bonus Fork-tailed Flycatcher J), while his two days with me were going to be spent “cleaning up the crumbs” as he put it!  That sure turned out to be the case this first day:  several of his targets could be had at Salineno, but the ones he needed were the ones that were miracles to bag!  But we’d give it a shot, anyway!

After parking at the “boat ramp” we headed up the trail, discovering a close Osprey next to what I thought was a Merlin at the time, but turned out to be a young Sharp-shinned Hawk!  (Believe it or not, they can be easy to confuse…)  The Ringed Kingfisher “cracked” and flew overhead, and once we got to the cul-de-sac, a Green Kingfisher was ticking and making a big fuss!  We gave it an hour, during which time we logged lots of Blue-winged Teals, both Mexican and Mottled Ducks, a bouncy Vermilion Flycatcher (good for Chuck’s Mexican list J), a Spotted Sandpiper floating downriver on some flotsam, and the little flock of Least Sandpipers coming in to the sandbar.  An Anhinga circled low overhead, and had lots of both flavors of cormorants fly by.  Two Great Egrets and a Great Blue Heron croaked and bounced around, and finally was able to spot a Black Phoebe up the culvert!  Black and Turkey Vultures were soaring, but the prize was a nice Zone-tailed Hawk that circled overhead!  (Chuck didn’t need that one, but I was excited… J)  Suddenly Chuck caught sight of a little brown ball that shot out of the cane and into a bush on the other side of the culvert that he was positive must have been the seedeater!  (I never saw it at all, but sounds like it acted just like the two I had the previous week, so I wouldn’t have been surprised…) 

Chuck hopes that the coveted seedeater will be at the boat ramp like last time!

Osprey

This young Sharp-shinned Hawk had me fooled into thinking it was a Merlin at first!

 

At the end of "Seedeater Trail"

Mexican Duck (with some Mallard genes due to the whitish tail)

Zone-tailed Hawk

Fluffy Great Egret

Chuck was bummed that I didn’t get on the seedeater because he wanted to be absolutely sure (reminded me of Hooper’s line in Jaws where he said to Chief Brody, referring to the Tiger Shark that was just caught, “It probably is, Martin, but I want to be sure!”), but he finally reneged and counted it for his year list!  We spotted a lone White Pelican in the river on the way back (wondered where all his buddies from the previous week went), checked for any missed species at the boat ramp (one year Chuck had shooed his friends down the trail for the seedeater while he stayed in the car due to a bum knee, and the bird came to him right there in the cane!), then headed up to the feeders.  I was a little concerned that I hadn’t even heard an Audubon’s Oriole yet, and indeed, none came in during the hour we kept watch (an Altamira barely gave a flash of orange), but we still enjoyed lots of Green Jays, Kiskadees, puffed-up Chachalacas, a nice Long-billed Thrasher, a lady Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and titmice before a Sharp-shinned Hawk came in and crashed the party!  That happened twice, and unlike previous times, the hawk stuck around and just sat pretty much in the open, which concerned Merle because they had never been that bold before, and that could really keep the birds away.   

Female Anhinga on the river

Feeding area (note the in-flight Kiskadee)

Lady Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Green Jay

Puffed-up Chachalaca

Lady House Sparrow

Long-billed Thrasher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Red-winged Blackbird

Kiskadee

Young Sharp-shinned Hawk that broke up the party...

We figured that was the end of the show (oh, the ants were still carting corn kernels and had an additional train going through the middle of the seating area J), so headed over to the Dump Road in hopes of a Scaled Quail.  That was even more quiet with only a Pyrrhuloxia and Verdin to show for it, but when I mentioned the Mountain Plovers that had shown up, Chuck indicated that he did need that for the year (wasn’t on his list – guess he figured it was too remote), so we made the decision to head up to Jara Chinas Road and save the Hidalgo County stuff for the next day, seeing as we had to stick close to the airport.

It was nice taking the back road north from Rio Grande City to FM 490 and then east, then heading south on Jara Chinas.  We got to the “spot” and scoured the fields, but Chuck thought they looked too “plowed” for the plovers.  A friendly oil worker named Sonny stopped to see if we were okay, and when we told him we were birding, he really seemed interested, so I showed him the picture of the Mountain Plover (any normal person would understandably be incredulous that any bird would favor those barren fields J)!  Chuck asked him about the field and he told us they were indeed plowed earlier that week, which led to a conversation about “winter plowing” and irrigation.  Continuing on, all we found were several Horned Larks, so after perusing several of the county roads with no plovers to be had L, we headed down to the intersection with Mile 14 where we had a little more action:  the Vesper Sparrows were still there, along with a couple of Savannahs, and a largish sparrow that I couldn’t get an ID on until I looked at the picture (turned out to be White-crowned).  There were tons of Pyrrs here as well, along with a Common Ground Dove that Chuck spotted, but the icing for me was a gorgeous White-tailed Hawk!

Tackling the barren fields along north Jara Chinas Road

Vesper Sparrow

White-tailed Hawk

Kestrel 

Called it a day after that with 56 species tallied.  Bird list: 

Blue-winged Teal

Mexican Duck

Mottled Duck

Plain Chachalaca

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Common Ground Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Least Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Anhinga

Double-crested Cormorant

Neotropic Cormorant

American White Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Harris's Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Ringed Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Black Phoebe

Vermilion Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

White-eyed Vireo

Green Jay

Black-crested Titmouse

Verdin

Horned Lark

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

House Wren

Marsh Wren

Bewick's Wren

Long-billed Thrasher

House Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Western Meadowlark

Altamira Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Orange-crowned Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Pyrrhuloxia