2/17/22
Kay was back for her second go at the Social Flycatcher, with a side run to Laguna Atascosa for the Black-throated Blue Warbler and Tropical Parula (although the latter hadn’t been reported in a while). I met her at the Inn and she drove us down to UTRGV in Brownsville, where we pulled into the bookstore parking lot and fed the meter (there had been conflicting information about whether birders could park there, and when I checked with the university parking folks, they confirmed that the lot is open to all), then headed down the new bike path, as the last report I had seen of the bird mentioned that it had been at the foot of the resaca bridge (and indeed, that bird has been making the rounds all over that area).
It was a beautiful, sunny day (and the wind hadn’t kicked up yet), so we paused on the bridge enjoying a male Anhinga, a distant Ringed Kingfisher that Kay spotted, several egrets of both sizes, and the “established feral” Muscovies. I thought I heard one of the wintering Yellow Warblers, so we went back to look for him but couldn’t find him. Back on the bridge, we ran into another birder from Seattle (also looking for the flycatcher but shooting the Ringed when we walked up), and while we were chatting about where to find parrots, a female Green Kingfisher started ticking and sat right out in the open for us!
We were circling around towards the Land Bridge
when my timer went off (the meters are limited to 30 minutes), so I blasted
over said Land Bridge (LB), quickly checked the whistling duck flock in the
other resaca, fed the meter, added a chirping Yellow-throated Warbler to the
list, and headed back to meet Kay at the LB where a Red-crowned Parrot flew
overhead. Green Jays rattled, Carolina
Wrens sang unseen, and a Cardinal said hello.
Kay had seen something yellow that sounded like a Lesser Goldfinch from
her description (did hear one later) but we later narrowed it down to a Wilson’s
Warbler we saw flitting through the trees.
People had also seen the Social on the other side of the habitat next to
University, so after coming out of the LB we circled around that habitat with
not much action. My timer went off again,
so I reversed course and hightailed it back to the lot, running into the young
man from Seattle who sadly hadn’t seen the flyover parrot(s)… L
Caught up with Kay again (logging a flyover Caspian Tern on the way) as we headed back to the LB (where several other birders had materialized); one lady had found a Ringed Kingfisher in the swampy side, and we actually saw a Social Suspect sitting across the way, but a blowup of the photo showed a big bill and too much rufous. A Least Grebe and Common Gallinule showed well while an Osprey flew overhead, and we at least heard Gray and Red-shouldered Hawks. Another “time up” sent me back over to Ringgold but not before shooting one of the brilliant red “Mexican” House Finches, plus a Snowy Egret in the resaca west of Ringgold.
Returning to the LB Kay and the other birding couple (Bill and Judy, who were also staying with us at the Inn) reported that they had gotten an adrenaline rush when what turned out to be a Tropical Kingbird flew up on a tree! A nice Great Blue Heron posed and several cormorants of both flavors flew over, and Kay’s potential life House Wren briefly landed on the ground close to a thick band of trees, but never showed again. While circling back towards Ringgold again a Couch’s Kingbird called (and then posed) closer to the road.
After the next 20 minutes had gone by Kay’s patience had run out J, so we decided to head up to Laguna Atascosa, and return if the flycatcher showed up (and my friend Madeleine and her friend Judy were there looking for a parking spot, so the timing was perfect J). Before leaving the campus Kay showed me a couple of mystery shadow birds she had photographed; the one looked good for a Clay-colored Thrush, and the other that I thought might have been a sapsucker from her description turned out to be a Ladder-backed Woodpecker.
Siri sent us a back way to Laguna Atascosa that was new to me, so that was fun as we counted off Harris’ Hawks and Caracaras. Once on the entrance road, a nice Long-billed Thrasher sat up as he sang, and plenty of White-eyed Vireos sang unseen. Tons of Red-winged Blackbirds were calling as we pulled into the parking lot, but except for a lone Orange-crowned Warbler the feeding area was empty (and the blackbirds had fled), so we headed straight back to Kiskadee Trail.
The overlook was the area I had seen the warbler
previously, so we spent about 15 minutes just standing and waiting. It was actually quite birdy: an Olive Sparrow came to the little water
puddle below us, and another Wilson’s Warbler bounced around across the way,
getting our juices going. A Pied-billed
Grebe hooted from an unseen wetland, a Golden-fronted Woodpecker showed well,
delighting a couple of visitors next to us, and Green Jays rattled unseen while
another House Wren actually gave Kay a countable look!
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
After giving up on the Black-throated Blue we
continued on, enjoying a Southern Dogface instead. While resting for five on the bench a report
from Madeleine came through on the LRGV Rare Bird Whats App Group that the
Social Flycatcher had shown up! (I told
her to tie it down… J) Kay was dubious that it would
still be around after a 50 minute drive back down there (plus we were both
pretty beat after all that walking), but we decided to give it a go, especially
after sharing stories about how God had brought by special birds at the last
minute! On the way out we logged at
least one flyover White-tailed Hawk.
So after making the right onto Ringgold and
discussing parking strategy, there was a mob of birders to our right, all
looking across the street towards the other resaca! I saw fellow guide Tiffany Kersten and asked
her if they had the bird, and everyone responded in the positive – it was in
the dead tree right there! So we pulled past the group
(so we wouldn’t block their view) and got stunning looks in wonderful light,
right from the car!
With that, Kay was happy to go pack her bags and
head back to San Antonio, so we headed back to Alamo with some celebratory
sweets J with a
modest but high-quality 54 species for the day!
Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Common Gallinule
Caspian Tern
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Red-crowned Parrot
Eastern Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
European Starling
Clay-colored Thrush
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
House Sparrow
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
Olive Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow-throated Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Northern Cardinal
No comments:
Post a Comment