3/10/22
Met Mary and Terry at Estero Llano Grande this morning (they were actually staying next door in the Llano Grande RV Park), and it just so happened to be her birthday J, so we were hoping for some good birds! They had actually birded here before, so most of the Valley specialties weren’t life birds, but it was just fun to see old friends!
A foot injury kept her from walking any long distances, so she arranged to get a wheelchair there at Estero, only it was like one I had never seen: it actually had bicycle chains in the wheels that made it very easy to push! (Terry was the chauffeur… J) I actually beat them to the park, and upon arrival at the deck I saw a very dirty hummingbird at the feeder with a darker vertical mark on the throat, and before my brain could say, “Is that an Anna’s?!” and get the camera on it, she was gone! Meanwhile Ibis Pond was stuffed with Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (and it sounded like water was pounding the underside of the deck, like a boat in shallow water, until I discovered that the sound was caused by a crowd of ducks up on the metal roof J), with a handful of Shovelers, a pair of Mottled Ducks, and both species of grebe. When Mary and Terry showed up we just enjoyed the pond until the office opened (Purple Martins and some Common Gallinules joining the whistlers got added to the list), at which time they procured the wheelchair for her, and we were off!
We first spent about five minutes at the “restroom
feeders” as the Chachalacas and White-winged Doves were just posing, and just
before we left a couple of Kiskadees and a young Altamira Oriole came to the
spindly tree. At Avocet Pond we looked
for the Fulvous Whistling Duck and the hybrid; neither materialized, but we did spot a pretty
Blue-winged Teal, and a Cinnamon made a brief appearance before floating into
the reeds. While at that spot I saw that
our mystery hummer had come back to the deck feeder, so I rushed back, but of
course it was gone L, but decided to put the possibility out there on our LRGV What’s App
group just to make other birders who happened to be there aware of it.
Back at the base of the boardwalk we heard Soras whinnying, and had more ducks on the way to Alligator Lake. An Osprey flew by while on the trail, Grebe Marsh was devoid of birds, but Alligator Lake came through with the night herons in spades, with great looks at both species in all age groups, and on our side of the lake to boot! J The other side of the lake was taken up by a male Green Kingfisher that took a while to pin down (helped when he flew), and we looked in vain for the Pauraque, but the little overlook had some nice things: a sharp Yellow-throated Warbler chirped over our heads, and Mary got good looks at some Neotropic Cormorants. A Rough-winged Swallow buzzed unseen, but the biggest surprise was four Red-crowned Parrots flying high overhead and calling (heading towards the golf course no doubt J)!
The big overlook had more night herons and
cormorants, but also a pretty male Anhinga!
A lineup of swallows on the wire over the levee proved to be Trees (the
zoom on that little Powershot is better than a scope sometimes)! A photographer and his companion mentioned we
had just missed a Cooper’s Hawk on a tree, and on the way out (where a Great
Egret was hiding in the little wetland) we ran into three guys who were also
staying at Llano Grande, but had a couple of loveable “Goldendoodles” with
them! They mentioned they had actually
seen the Alligator, but he was gone by the time we got back there…
By that time a report had come over the What’s App that someone had seen and photographed the mystery hummer, so we headed back to the deck to wait it out for a while. While Mary and Terry enjoyed the spoonbill that had shown up in Ibis Pond, Sharon (the gal who photographed the hummer) came by, and I mentioned that the structure looked more like an Archilochus but it sure was dirty looking! After about 15 minutes we got ready to head for the Tropical Zone when the bird showed up!! I was able to get some shots and video, and the more I looked at it, the more it really did look like a beat-up Archilochus as the “dirty” effect seemed to be disheveled and/or missing feathers on the breast, and the throat feathers had a streaky, worn look to them.
On to the Tropical Zone, where “Pam the Screech Owl” wasn’t in her box, so we headed back to the “Picnic Table Feeders”. Even though the food was long gone, the Chachalacas weren’t, so they entertained us while the White-tipped Doves strutted around in the back, and Green Jays chattered next to us. Both Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers gave fleeting views, and what looked like a fruiting cumquat tree was loaded with Altamira Orioles (mostly youngsters)! Just as we were ready to leave, that’s when all the action started as a Clay-colored Thrush (lifer), Orange-crowned Warbler, Cardinal (both male and female), and Olive Sparrow (lifer) all came out to the “stage” at once! That was pretty neat!
“Burney the Pauraque” showed well (I’m amazed I
even found him), so after enjoying him we continued to the Indigo Blind. The food was gone there, too, so I wasn’t
surprised there wasn’t much activity (except for a ton of White-tipped Doves –
where were they the day my client reeely wanted to see one and everything but showed up?!) A female Archilochus came in with
an incredibly blobby outer primary, so I felt safe calling her a
Black-chinned. Again, just as we were
getting to leave, the Buff-bellied Hummer came rattling in, and flashed his
green gorget several times, thrilling Mary to no end!
"Burney" the Pauraque
They were game to see the Great Horned Owls, so
down we went to the southmost road and incredibly I was able to find the baby
fairly easily! The one I could see was
almost full-grown with a typical Great Horned face, and as we headed down the
road to leave, another guy showed us where the adult was roosting in the palm
tree! That was pretty cool!
Terry and Mary in the TZ
It was starting to mist so we called it a day at
that point, with 52 species for the morning!
Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Mottled Duck
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Common Pauraque
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Anhinga
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Great Horned Owl
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Red-crowned Parrot
Great Kiskadee
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
Long-billed Thrasher
Clay-colored Thrush
House Sparrow
Olive Sparrow
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Northern Cardinal
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