4/27/22
What many of us felt was probably the last big storm system to come through (based on the upcoming forecasts) provided what many of us felt was the last chance of anything resembling a fallout this spring migration! It had been pretty dismal thus far with strong, consistent south winds (great for the birds, not so much for the birders L), so today I headed out to South Padre Island with Bob and Ann (originally from Texas but now living in Oregon nearer to family)! On the way we stopped at the Aplomado Viewing Area along SR 100, and sure enough, someone was on the nest on the distant platform (but Ann and Bob had to go on faith that it really was an Aplomado as all you saw was a silhouette)! They mentioned that Chihuahuan Raven would be a life bird for both of them, and when I saw two black birds on the power poles across the highway (one with white basal feathers blowing in the wind), I was thrilled to be able to point them out – until a scope view revealed them to be Turkey Vultures… L Keeps you humble, but am I glad I took that second look! A few Ospreys were around, a flock of Cattle Egrets took off, Eastern Meadowlarks were singing, and Ann spotted a Roseate Spoonbill that I missed, but thankfully we saw more from the car as we headed towards Port Isabel, along with a few Scissor-tailed Flycatchers!
After a Stripes stop we headed on over to the
Island and went first to the Convention Centre, where I parked at the top of
the “circular area” and we began to work our way to the actual center. Both Black-bellied Whistling and Mottled
Ducks were on the grass entertaining some folks, and you almost had to kick the
Catbirds out of the way! But right away
Bob found us a brilliant Blackburnian Warbler, and Ann found a female Magnolia! We stumbled upon a skulky thrush that I would
have loved to have called a Gray-cheeked (certainly looked that way on the face
and back), but it didn’t seem to have much spotting on the breast, and I felt
the look I got couldn’t rule out a dull-looking Veery in the shadows. Indigo Buntings and Northern Waterthrushes
played behind one of the benches, and a couple of male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
showed off in the mesquites. We rounded
a corner and spotted a Bronzed Cowbird in the top of a tree, which was new for
both of them!
Working the "circular area"
We spent about 15 minutes at the water feature which proved pretty productive: another waterthrush came in, along with a Tennessee Warbler at point blank, and a female Yellowthroat down in the water. But what stole the show was a Kentucky Warbler that came in and took a quick bath! There was a herd of people out back locked onto the “magic tree”, where a Yellow Warbler, a Black-and-white Warbler, a pewee, and another Indigo Bunting were hanging out. Most of us were zeroed in on that Yellow when Bob had another warbler that none of us saw before it shot north, and from his initial description I thought it was a Chestnut-sided (which we later saw), but when he scrolled through his app he found a picture and declared, “This is what I saw!” – a Golden-winged Warbler!! We never refound the thing, of course, so that was definitely the one that got away! We went and sat on a bench for a few minutes to see if he’d come back, and got a nice look at both a male and female Indigo Bunting out in the open, plus a female Northern Parula. Barn Swallows were swooping all over along with Purple Martins, and at one point both Ann and I spotted a “different” swallow gliding overhead and simultaneously announced, “Cave Swallow!”
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We ended up wandering into the back overlook, where
we added Neotropic Cormorants, a Great Blue Heron, a knockout breeding
Black-bellied Plover, and the male Greater Scaup! This was the best look I had ever had of him,
and he showed off very well, allowing for some nice documentation photos. Back in the "back yard", the bottlebrush tree that had been so attractive the week
before was pretty shot, so we sat on the “corner bench” for awhile to see if
anything would come in (birding buddy Mary Volz reported only a White-eyed Vireo). Said vireo popped between us and a photographer, which was entertaining, but the best bird was a
Philadelphia Vireo right over our heads!
Over by the blooming bottlebrush plant someone was avidly shooting
something (that always gets your attention J) which turned out to be a very active Black
Swallowtail!
Greater Scaups are somewhat rare in the Valley anyway, but even so, this guy should have been long gone!
From there we took the boardwalk that went out into
the mangroves; the Mangrove Warbler wasn’t even singing this time, so that was
a bust, but we at least added a Tricolored Heron, a couple more non-breeding Black-bellied
Plovers running back and forth, a Great Egret, and a couple of Pied-billed
Grebes out in the bay to the list; interestingly the scaup had also made his
way out there! Lots of skimmers were
flying around (and probably skimming in the pond by the other boardwalk), along
with Willets chasing each other over our heads and several species of
terns. I heard an Oystercatcher in the
distance, and Ann had a cuckoo fly overhead, but he was too fast for the rest
of us… L Ran into birding buddy Brad McKinney coming onto the boardwalk
while we were leaving as he was determined to get that scaup (I had put it out
on the RBA group)! As we were headed
back to the car Father Tom Pincelli got us on a thrush, which promptly flew to
a tree and landed briefly before taking off again; the quick shot I got off
proved it to be a Swainson’s.
On the boardwalk
Black-bellied Plovers still in non-breeding plumage, with a photo-bombing Great Southern White
From there we headed to the Birding and Nature
Center; I dropped them off while I ran to the Stripes to get a taco, then came
back to join them, only the door was locked!
Turned out someone somewhere ruptured a pipe and the city had to shut
the water off, so technically they had to close! But since my “clients” were already in there
he let me in, and I met them (and a bunch of other people) overlooking Songbird
Alley from the deck! It was really quite active: a female Summer Tanager had caught herself a
wasp and was working it with her beak, perhaps trying to dislodge the
stinger! A Northern Waterthrush came in
to the drip (I had to be reminded that it wasn’t running because the water was
shut off - duh L), and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo came in briefly. But the star of the show was a little male
American Redstart who came in and hopped all over the place, fanning his little
tail! He was a cutie!
Birders watching the migrant show at the Birding & Nature Center!
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Rather than do the boardwalk the guys wanted to go to Sheepshead (Bob admitted he preferred the dickey birds J). Going out we ran into Javi Gonzales, the staff naturalist, who pointed out a whole gang of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks clamoring on the seed tray! While we were enjoying them a Green Heron came blasting in to our feet as if to say, “Hey!! Lookit me!!” A drip had been cordoned off for a group, evidently (which was long gone), where a tired male Scarlet Tanager let everyone get great shots (when he wasn’t hiding behind leaves)! But as we were all watching the drip waiting for other things to come in, suddenly a Black-billed Cuckoo (as Javi put it) appeared out of nowhere and perched cooperatively near the fence! That made everybody’s day!
There was a lot of action at Sheepshead as well: we pulled into the last parking spot in the little east end square, and had a nice Golden-fronted Woodpecker and Summer Tanager before we even got out of the car! We slowly worked the north (“sunny”) side and enjoyed both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles (including a female Baltimore that had a Bullock’s-like “beard”), and a Collared Dove that nearly exploded in my face because I didn’t see it eating the seed right there on the barrier! On the south (“dark”) side another point-blank Tennessee came in, but the star was the lingering female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that came bouncing in and latched onto a tree (and the video showed that she had made several of her famous “sap holes”)! We checked the vegetation on the west end of the street and found a male Summer Tanager, but back at the viewing area and Eastern Kingbird flew by, and Bob spotted a little bird bouncing around just on the other side of the barrier - it was the Palm Warbler! That excited a lot of people, and a bunch of us (including birding buddy Betty Mannon who had followed us over from the Birding Center on her bike) followed him as he led us on a merry chase eastward along Sheepshead! I kept hearing a Dickcissel, which would have been a new bird for Bob, but just couldn’t spot the thing; he waved it off, sure that they would eventually see one during their stay here!
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The activity was slowing down (and it was getting warm to boot), so since they wanted to be shown where the Laguna Vista Nature Trail was, we headed over there. A Ladder-backed Woodpecker greeted us in the parking lot, and as we made our way to Blind #1, we were thrilled to spot a male Bay-breasted Warbler! (Not to be outshined, a Tennessee photobombed us…) A male Yellowthroat popped up just short of the blind, and a Common Nighthawk beented somewhere in the distance (and we saw a real one on the way home in case we were being fooled by a Mockingbird J)! In the blind itself a Long-billed Thrasher hopped around and took a bath, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow poked around. But the Buff-bellied Hummingbird stole the show as he came in and perched, with the light shining through his beak and feathers and in general glowing gloriously! Nice way to end the day! (And in addition to confirming the nighthawk we added Harris’ Hawk on the way home…)
We finished up with 86 species, which isn’t bad as we avoided the Flats and wetland habitats this time around! Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Greater Scaup
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Least Sandpiper
Willet
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Neotropic Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Aplomado Falcon
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Cave Swallow
Marsh Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Swainson's Thrush
House Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Waterthrush
Golden-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Palm Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
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