A New Valley Record

4/20/22  

I met Steve and Tom, birding buddies from Orange County, California, at the Inn early enough to log our nesting Lesser Nighthawks (who happened to be chasing each other and whinnying J)!  Tom also had a Subaru Forrester and invited me to do the driving (since I tend to be a Control Freak when it comes to that anyway), so we headed on over to Estero Llano Grande to begin with for the Valley specialties and hoped-for migrants that had been reported the day before.  Although it was dark and dismal (a storm system was fixing to hit us), we hit pay dirt right away with a Long-billed Thrasher singing on the wire, then a pair along the brick walkway gathering nesting material!  We checked “Pam’s” box (the McCall’s Screech Owl), but she wasn’t home, or at least not showing.  Since Chuck-will’s-widow was on their wish list, we hiked the Green Jay Trail in hopes of flushing one, but just got spider webs (I told them that’s why I sent them on ahead J).  

Steve shoots his life Long-billed Thrasher on the wire (below)

From there we went to the deck and logged our Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and a couple of Long-billed Dowitchers, then checked out Avocet Pond where we thankfully found a pair of Fulvous Whistling Ducks amongst the Blackbellies, along with a Little Blue Heron.  We had some sleeping grebes in Dowitcher Pond that I suspected were Pied-billed, but I really couldn’t tell.  Steve was elated at discovering a wing-drying female Anhinga at Grebe Marsh, and we providentially ran into some people who told us exactly where the Pauraque was hanging out (this time of year they can be unpredictable)!  After a brief scan at Alligator Lake for Green Kingfishers, we went straight to the spot just before the Big Overlook (this was known as our “backup Pauraque”), and there he was!  (As an aside, the lighting was awful all morning, so Tom gave me some great pointers about adjusting ISO and shutter speeds in those conditions!)  The singing Altamira Oriole overhead was almost anticlimactic!  We quickly checked the overlook as it was starting to drip; no kingfishers, but there were several Yellow-crowned Night Herons there.  We ran back to the deck and decided to check the sod farms since the rain was on its way. 

Long-billed Dowitcher

Avocet Pond

Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Female Anhinga

Pauraque

The La Feria Sod Farms were back in business after a hiatus of growing other crops for several years, so we went slowly along FM 3067 and spotted two target Upland Sandpipers on the far side of the field, plus a young Swainson’s Hawk on a post (Tom had a laser pointer that actually reached across the field – unbelievable!)  Steve wanted a closer view, so we headed to Hanka Sod (aka the Weaver Road Sod Farms) in hopes of getting good looks of not only the Uppie but other grasspipers as well.  Unfortunately the rain started coming down in earnest, so the only bird we added was the continuing “Blue” Goose that didn’t go north with its friends.  But about that time an alert came over the LRGV Rare Bird Alert What’s App group that Alex Lamareaux had found a Kelp Gull at the Brownsville Dump!  Steve made the command decision to go chase it (“Megas trump everything,” he said J), so we headed over, praying they wouldn’t close the place due to muddy conditions! 

Young Swainson's Hawk at the La Feria Sod Farms

Blue morph Snow Goose that decided to stick around

Thankfully they didn’t, and the road up the hill was quite solid!  The guys in the check-in booth apparently were ready for us as he waved us on through (we ran into Alex and his group who were on their way out and he reported that the gull was right there)!  We parked up at the top (they ask you to avoid the “active area”, but sometimes the “active area” moves over to where you happen to be, which was the case this day) and scanned the flock, but unfortunately the bird appeared to be either gone or in hiding.  Fellow birders Susan Strasevicz and Tiffany Kersten (plus a few others I didn’t know) scoured the area (even behind the stick barriers); besides the Laughing Gulls (Tom mentioned that now he knows why they call them that J) there were several pink-breasted Franklin’s Gulls, in addition to a few Ringbills and Herrings of all ages, but the guys were pleased to see the Chihuahuan Raven, especially since it’s the only raven to occur here (no chance at confusion)!  Besides the ubiquitous Turkey Vultures, the normal raptors seemed to be absent, other than a lone flyby Caracara.  So since a Glaucous Gull had been reported from the impoundment visible just down the hill, we decided to check that, as “you never know”!  Passed the illustrious trio of Brad McKinney, Dan Jones, and Father Tom Pincelli on the way, and after some good-natured bantering I promised to let them know if we found anything! 

Typical scene at the Brownsville Landfill

Birders searching for the Kelp Gull

A face-on Herring Gull had us going...

Sleepy Franklin's Gulls

Scruffy-looking Chihuahuan Raven

The wind was ferocious, so we opted to stay in the car and scan the impoundments from there.  Since the gulls were so far away the guys didn’t hold much hope of finding it, but before long I spotted a black-backed gull that stood out like a sore thumb – we got the Kelp!  I sent out the alert on the What’s App, took a bunch of pics and video (as did the guys – the bird even spread his wing for me to show off his diagnostic pattern), and also found a big white blob that proved to be the reported Glaucous Gull, in addition to another dark-backed gull that one of the guys spotted that was undoubtedly a more-expected Lesser Black-backed!  Presently the Three Amigos (plus Susan) came running down the hill and got on the Kelp, and before long the guys were traipsing down the [steep] hillside and across the ditch to get better views and pictures!  (We stayed in the car, thank you very much…)  But later their efforts would lead to a detailed discussion of that white gull on the birding pages, and now the consensus is that it was actually an Iceland-type, perhaps even a ”Kumlein’s” (which is considered accidental in Texas) as opposed to the still rare but more expected “Thayer’s”!

News of the Kelp Gull's new location bring several birders scrambling!

Distant Kelp Gull conveniently spreads his wing (below) to show the diagnostic single white apical spot!

The reported Glaucous Gull is now thought to be an Iceland 

Lesser Black-backed Gull; note the paler shade of the mantle.

The guys gallop down the hill to get better shots of the Kelp Gull (arrow marks the approximate location of the bird on the land bridge - and that hill is steeper than it looks!)

After stopping at the bottom of the hill to check out a pond that had more Franklin’s Gulls, a better look at the guys’ life Mottled Ducks, a couple of Avocets, and a mob of Cattle Egrets, we headed to Burger King for lunch, then headed back to Estero in hopes of the leftover migrants that had been reported the day before.  No banana there, and “Pam” still wasn’t showing, but we did get good looks at a Clay-colored Thrush, plus lots of White-tipped Doves and a Chachalaca at the “picnic table” feeders.  Steve finally got his life Chimney Swift flying over, and somewhere in here a female Summer Tanager popped up.  Nothing at all came in to either drip, so we started for the Indigo Blind but ran into Park Host Huck Hutchins, who knew where was yet another staked out McCall’s Screech Owl back by the old tennis court (or maybe it was shuffleboard court…)!  It took some doing to get everyone on him, as he was way back in the woods (and some of us were just too short L) but how he found that thing in the first place was beyond me!

Multi-bird pond with Laughing, Franklin's, Ring-billed, and Herring Gulls; Avocets; and Black-necked Stilt

Steve at the "picnic table feeders" 

White-tipped Dove

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Clay-colored Thrush

We finally made it to the blind where Huck put out some food and we enjoyed the show:  Green Jays, Kiskadees, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Black-crested Titmice, White-winged Doves, both Ruby-throated and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, and even a pair of whistling ducks came in to indulge!   After about an hour Huck returned and asked if we were interested in seeing a Chuck-will’s-widow (the looks of shock and leaps from the benches said it all J), so he led us back to the spot, and again, how he found that thing is beyond me (although he did admit he had seen them there before, so he just happened to check)!  We got great looks (and some pics) before he decided he didn’t like all the attention…  

Huck puts out the food at the Indigo Blind

A Black-bellied Whistling Duck at the feeder is a first!

Green Jay

Shy Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Square-headed Kiskadee

Chuck-will's-widow

It was actually time to head back about then, so Tom agreed to drive me back to the Inn while Steve stayed to bird some more, and Tom would return and join him.  On the way to the parking lot we ran into Jesse Huth and his group who had a couple of Brown-crested Flycatchers, and Tom got his Tropical Kingbird and Inca Dove in the lot before we headed back.  

Inca Dove

Tropical Kingbird

We ended up with a modest 68 species, which wasn’t bad considering the weather, but the quality couldn’t be beat, especially with a first Valley record in the Kelp Gull (which reportedly went back up to the top of the hill after we left L)!  Bird list:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Snow Goose

Blue-winged Teal

Northern Shoveler

Mottled Duck

Plain Chachalaca

Rock Pigeon

Inca Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Lesser Nighthawk

Common Pauraque

Chuck-will's-widow

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Sora

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Upland Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Laughing Gull

Franklin's Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Iceland Gull

Kelp Gull

Anhinga

Neotropic Cormorant

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Cattle Egret

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Swainson's Hawk

Eastern Screech-Owl

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Green Jay

Chihuahuan Raven

Black-crested Titmouse

Purple Martin

Barn Swallow

Carolina Wren

European Starling

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Clay-colored Thrush

House Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Altamira Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Common Yellowthroat

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal