3/4/22
Lars and Finn were visiting from Denmark with the hopes of bringing a springtime birding group over to Texas! Finn was actually the owner of the tour company that specializes in both birding and hiking (he was the hiker of the two J), so after having just gotten in from scouting the Hill Country and Laredo, they were here to check out Santa Ana before blasting north to Rockport for the Whooping Cranes!
Since they had to get on the road by noon, we opted for a morning-only jaunt, and of course left a little early to see if “Batty” was on his favorite pole outside the refuge! He certainly was, so I pulled over and dropped off the guys while I went to park the car, and thankfully he was still there when I returned, bowing to his admiring audience like a little ham! He even darted out a couple of times to catch a bug! We wondered if he was gonna get itchy to go back “home” soon, seeing as spring was coming and he’s been here almost three months!
In the parking lot I heard Inca Doves, and a couple of Spoonbills flew by (but went behind the trees before Finn could see them L). Since walking out to Cattail Lakes (where the Bat Falcon usually hangs out after leaving his podium) was off the table, we did the normal three mile loop, taking the Chachalaca Trail first to Willow Lakes. Kiskadees were with us the whole time, and Long-billed Thrasher sang unseen. A Gray Hawk called in the distance; thankfully they had seen that one at Salineno! Plenty of Olive Sparrows either sang heartily in the distance or tipped quietly next to the trail, and thankfully Lars was able to spot one! (Ah, the eyes of youth! J)
At both the first overlook and the blind at Willow Lake we were able to add both Great and Snowy Egrets, both Least and Pied-billed Grebes, White-faced Ibis, Blue-winged Teal, Shovelers, and a Harris’ Hawk across the way. Soras called from the reeds, along with a Least Bittern, which I don’t think I had ever heard there before! Both Marsh Wrens and Yellowthroats called (Lars was able to glimpse the latter), and White-tipped Doves sang their “coke bottle” songs across the way. We heard both Belted and Green Kingfishers there, and I was hoping for the Ringed to show up, when suddenly Lars spotted a Cooper’s Hawk practically at our feet that had captured something so large he thought it was a night heron at first! Turned out to be a kingfisher, and while the video was inconclusive, I thought I glimpsed some substantial rufous as the hawk bounced around with his prize, so the morbid joke the rest of the morning was, “Well, there’s your Ringed Kingfisher!” L Later we ran into some folks who said there was a pair, so maybe the mate was in mourning, as we didn’t hear any either there or at Pintail. Somewhere in here I heard a Long-billed Curlew in the distance, and somewhere along the trail Lars spotted a Caracara powering by.
Heading out to said Pintail Lakes we had an Eastern
Phoebe meet us where the cutoff trail T’d with the main Pintail Lake Trail, but
the wetlands were pretty sparse; I did hear a Least Sandpiper go by, and Lars nailed a Spotted Sandpiper
(which he had seen in Denmark, interestingly, along with a slew of other
American vagrants), but the biggest show was two female Green Kingfishers
having a spat over the single male (Lars likened it to dog-fighting where they
pit two females against each other L)! Some
White Pelicans loafed on the far side of the lake (Finn’s favorite bird J), and a Neotropic
Cormorant flew over, along with a honking White Ibis. A couple of Tree Swallows flew around, and we
were able to coax a Savannah Sparrow into view.
After a rest we continued on the trail, where some splashing alerted
Lars to a large fish flopping around the reeds close to shore!
Finn at Pintail Lakes
Eastern Phoebe
Female Green Kingfisher
White Pelicans
Overlooking the Rio Grande was a real treat for the guys (where Finn found another Green Kingfisher), but the trail was rather quiet; we tried calling out White-eyed Vireos without success. Orange-crowned Warblers were a bit more cooperative, however, and a little Ruby-crowned Kinglet and some titmice joined the flock. Some “gurgle-rattling” alerted us to a Cave Swallow flying overhead, and Lars was able to spot a silent Chachalaca sneaking away in the brush! Carolina Wrens and Altamira Orioles sang here and there, and the closest we got to seeing a Green Jay was a yellow tail feather one of the guys found along the trail! We commented on the beauty of the Cardinal’s song, and how we as easterners needed to be careful about treating them as “ho-hum”, as we have a lot of guests for whom this is a target bird!
When we got to the hawk tower the guys couldn’t resist, so I took my time following them up there, where Jim Danzenbaker and his friend JoJo were already scoping out the area! Finn didn’t stay up there very long (he wanted to try out the Canopy Walk), but it wasn’t long before Jim found “Batty” on a snag waaay over towards Mexico (we were using a “darker” and “lighter” gray building to try and pinpoint him)! Looking at the map we figured he was probably over by the Jaguarundi and Oriole trails, which was one of his favorite hangouts (that and Cattail Lakes). There were a couple of Harris’ Hawks up there, too, and a large flock of Long-billed Dowitchers went wheeling past (Jim had spotted a Stilt Sandpiper in with them), but the real star (for me) was the Zone-tailed Hawk that soared overhead! Lars was happy to add the brightly-chirping Verdin to his list, too, even as a heard-only!
We continued on the Willow Lake Trail after that,
not seeing much at the big deck, but added several Green-winged Teal to the
list when we got closer to the culvert. Sure
enough, that’s where the dowitchers had landed, but we couldn’t pull out a Stilt. The guys wanted to check the wetlands on the
Chachalaca Trail one last time, but there was nothing new to add, so since they
were anxious to get going to Rockport we called it a morning and headed back to
the car, adding a male Northern Harrier (the “gray ghost”) to the list.
Green-winged Teal
We ended up with 60 species – not bad for a
morning! Bird list:
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Mourning Dove
Sora
American Coot
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelican
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Gray Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Bat Falcon
Eastern Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Tree Swallow
Cave Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
European Starling
Long-billed Thrasher
Olive Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
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