Unintentioned Storm-Chasing

6/4/2016

             The plan was to check out Orphanage Ponds (as I had never been there before, but they had hosted nesting Masked Ducks in the past and I figured it would be a good spot to start surveying), Monte Meta Cemetery, and Adolph Thomae County Park.  Due to a miscalculation on my part I got to Orphanage Road well before sunrise, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the ponds were (unless they were down that horrendous dirt road that I wasn’t gonna touch)!  But I know I had seen them from the freeway, so the next plot was to head north on the frontage road and turn south at the first opportunity and see if I could see anything.  But what I saw was a tremendous thunderstorm coming my way from the west, so the storm-chasing part of me went into gear and pulled over to take video and watch the storm!

            When it started spitting, I continued north and got to the “causeway” in Sebastian right about the time the skies opened up, so I found my turnaround and decided to wait out the storm in the sheltered area.  Sounded like a good idea until I started pondering maybe why they made this section of the freeway a “causeway” – could it be prone to flash floods??  Suddenly I didn’t feel so comfortable under there, and to top it off, the low tire indicator suddenly popped on!  Thankfully I had one of those little plug-in generators that pumps air, but no way was I gonna attempt that with lightning shooting off left and right and forward and back!

            When it finally let up I risked getting zapped and got the tire up to a reasonable level, then limped back to Harlingen to the Sears auto shop (what did we ever do before IPhones that can tell us where the nearest tire shop is?? J), where I ended up having to replace the tire, but at least the morning was still young and the storm had passed to the south, so I gave up on trying to find the ponds and just headed on to Monte Meta Cemetery, which is northeast of San Benito.  Looking south on the freeway you could see the storm I had just sat through, and the updraft was being fed by a tremendous tail cloud coming in from the west; it was wicked!  But I got off on Sam Houston well north of the storm and headed northeast through the cute little town of San Benito towards the cemetery.  This spot is best in migration with its forest of ebony trees, but the purpose of a survey is to see what’s there all times of year, and the rains had certainly energized the birds!  The place was a cacophony of mockingbirds, White-winged Doves, and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, and even Chachalacas!  There’s a nice area of thornscrub habitat that under drier conditions you can actually drive into, but I didn’t dare attempt it today, although I did hear a White-tipped Dove moaning from the area.

View of the storm heading south on US 77 (that's the updraft, not a rain shaft; you can just make out the feeder cloud on the bottom right)

Monte Meta Cemetery

            Sam Houston takes you right into Rio Hondo, and from there you can take FM 2925 north and east into Arroyo City.  It also takes you right by the Arroyo Colorado Unit of the Las Palomas WMA, and while it’s closed to the public, you can still bird the little entrance road and get some nice things right by the parking lot, so I decided to swing in and jump out to photograph yet another big storm coming east!  It was fun taking video and having the likes of Common Nighthawk, Lark Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, and Bobwhite singing next to the rolling thunder while a Swainson’s Hawk sat unconcernedly on a pole!  In the parking lot I watched a Turkey making tracks down the main trail and towards the woods as the storm made its way relentlessly in my direction, all the while adding goodies like Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Ground Dove, Painted Bunting, and a family of Groove-billed Anis!  A Long-billed Thrasher sang out in the open on a wire with a Verdin as company (it always amazes me that I knock myself silly to get a Verdin to come out for a client – and they rarely do – and invariably the silly thing will sit right out in the open when I’m by myself…)!

Camera-shy Swainson's Hawk

Turkey fleeing down the trail

            Was time to skedaddle and try to stay ahead of this thing, so I blasted up and over to Arroyo City, where it looked like the leading edge of the storm was south of me (and the poor folks doing the run at South Padre were getting clobbered, I found out later); the structure was just tremendous, and it looked as though the whole front end could have been rotating, as it had that classic “barber pole” striated look!  The spot where I stopped to shoot the storm happened to have a nice little wetland with a Great and Snowy Egret, some Black-necked Stilts, and another group of Turkeys!  I happened to notice an oncoming car slowing and expected him to stop and ask what I was doing, but then saw that he was slowing for yet another group of Turkeys in the road!  Arroyo City is traditionally a good spot to find them, although never guaranteed by any means.

Storm south of Arroyo City

Wild Turkeys

Another view of the storm, showing striations on the left side

            Continued on to Adolph Thomae County Park, which has a steep entrance fee but is a delightful little place to bird!  I was surprised at the number of campers there on this lousy weekend, but was even more surprised that, with thunder and lightning clapping all around, people were still out in their boats and fishing on the shoreline!  By the time I got down to the end of the road (I usually go there first and work my way back, as all the pullouts are on the westbound side), the skies once again opened up, and a few brave souls were scurrying to get their boats out of the water!  It was quite the madhouse for awhile, but I found a place to park and wait it out, after which the weekend warriors got their boats back in the water (even though it was still spitting lightning) and the birds started to get energized again!  A pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were going after what I thought was a grackle at first, but turned out to be an ani!  (Not sure if anis actually go after nestlings, or if it was simply a case of mistaken identity…)  Nighthawks were out the yin yang, and I was pleased to hear a Cactus Wren singing across the river.  A couple of “House Sparrows” foraging next to the dumpster turned out to be Olive Sparrows, and a Curve-billed Thrasher gave a nice look.

            That took me right up to noon, so headed home after that with 53 species; not a whole lot, but not bad considering the weather!  Bird list: 

   Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

   Mottled Duck                         

   Plain Chachalaca                    

   Northern Bobwhite                    

   Wild Turkey                          

   Great Blue Heron                  

   Great Egret                           

   Snowy Egret                        

   Green Heron                        

   Black Vulture                      

   Turkey Vulture                    

   Swainson's Hawk                

   Black-necked Stilt                   

   Laughing Gull                        

   Royal Tern                           

   Rock Pigeon                          

   Eurasian Collared-Dove               

   White-winged Dove                    

   Mourning Dove                        

   Common Ground-Dove                   

   White-tipped Dove                    

   Yellow-billed Cuckoo                 

   Groove-billed Ani                    

   Common Nighthawk                      

   Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

   Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

   Brown-crested Flycatcher             

   Great Kiskadee                        

   Tropical Kingbird                    

   Couch's Kingbird                     

   Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            

   Loggerhead Shrike                    

   White-eyed Vireo                     

   Purple Martin                        

   Black-crested Titmouse               

   Verdin                                

   Bewick's Wren                        

   Cactus Wren                          

   Curve-billed Thrasher                

   Long-billed Thrasher                 

   Northern Mockingbird                 

   European Starling                    

   Olive Sparrow                        

   Lark Sparrow                         

   Northern Cardinal                    

   Painted Bunting                      

   Red-winged Blackbird                 

   Eastern Meadowlark                   

   Great-tailed Grackle                 

   Bronzed Cowbird                      

   Brown-headed Cowbird                 

   Lesser Goldfinch                      

   House Sparrow                        

Target Birds for a Baritone

5/20/2016

Don from Massachusetts was a member of the “700 Club”, wanting to come down and clean up a few missing South Texas specialties, so he scheduled a day of birding with me before his trip to the King Ranch.  This time of year, I generally split up a full ten-hour guiding day in order to avoid the hottest time of the day, so I had the time perfectly laid out between an early-morning jaunt to Salineño et al, then an evening cruise down 10^th for the Green Parakeet show.

Well, long story short, he was delayed in getting here from Houston, so actually ended up getting to the Valley the morning we were scheduled to go to Starr County!  This time of year that is one place you really have to get to by sunrise to avoid melting, so after a quick freshen up we went to Quinta Mazatlan instead in hopes of getting him his parakeets, as they were nesting there.  It was a lovely day, and a Curve-billed Thrasher greeted us just as we pulled into the parking lot!  It was also the first time I’ve had to use the overflow, as it looked as though they were getting ready to have a wedding (or something) on the grounds and the parking lot was stuffed!  It turned out fine, however, as there were very few people on the trails.  Don is a cancer survivor and was just getting his “sea legs” back, so we went slowly and had a gorgeous male Ladder-backed Woodpecker even before getting through the gate, a pair of flyover Red-crowned Parrots, some Chimney Swifts flying over for his trip list, and enjoyed the tame Chachalacas escorting us to the visitor’s center!  After paying the entrance fee we poked along the trails, sat for awhile and listened to the White-winged Doves drowning out everything else J, then headed for the Ebony Grove.

A group at Quinta Mazatlan enjoys the "official greeter" (Plain Chachalaca)!

Only, horror of horrors, it was closed off!!  We could hear the parakeets, but just couldn’t get enough of a window to see them.  I left Don to keep watch and went back to the VC to find out if we could get special permission to go back there, explaining that I had a friend who came all this way just to see the parakeets!  I ended up talking to the supervisor, and she explained that even the staff isn’t allowed to go back there due to construction going on!  Perfectly understandable, so I thanked her and went to find Don with the disappointing news, hoping one would at least fly over (which they did, but it was such a brief look that it really wasn’t “countable”). 

After the rough trip down from Houston, Don was pretty beat, so we headed home after that, sharing stories of leading tours, as he’s also organized some small groups (including chartering a helicopter to see the Himalayan Snowcocks in Utah), and about his career as a operatically-trained bass/baritone!  After a good long rest he was ready to hit 10^th Street that night for the Parakeet Show, and thankfully we heard them near Dove on our return leg from Trenton (they can show up anywhere along 10^th between there and Nolana)!  We ended up pulling into the Lowes’ parking lot (that in itself was amazing to Don – that these little guys favored such urban settings), and he was in hog heaven as a large group of them settled on the wires and proceeded to cuddle and preen each other, and make all sorts of racket!  Don was thrilled!

Cuddly Green Parakeets

"Hey, watch it!!"

His King Ranch tour was the next day, so we made plans to head up to Salineño the day after that.  He successfully bagged three targets there (Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Groove-billed Ani, and Tropical Parula), but the next morning I was the one with health issues and had to back out!  He was happy to drive out to Salineño on his own as he had been there previously for the seedeaters and knew exactly where to go to try for Red-billed Pigeon and Muscovy Duck.  He sent the live play-by-play via text J and got to see Audubon’s Oriole, Olive Sparrow, and Pyrrhuloxia, but not the targets, unfortunately (which which can be tough, anyway).  After that he headed straight to Houston for the flight home, hopefully a happy camper (he sounded pretty happy at the boat ramp, anyway J)!

 Bird List from Quinta Mazatlan:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Plain Chachalaca                     

  White-winged Dove                    

  Inca Dove                            

  Chimney Swift                        

  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

  Green Parakeet                       

  Red-crowned Parrot                   

  Brown-crested Flycatcher              

  Great Kiskadee                       

  Couch's Kingbird                     

  Curve-billed Thrasher                

  Northern Mockingbird                 

  European Starling                    

  Yellow Warbler                       

  Olive Sparrow                        

  Northern Cardinal                    

  Great-tailed Grackle                 

  Brown-headed Cowbird                 

  House Sparrow 

                       

21 SPECIES

Exploring New Migration Hot Spots Part 2

5/4/16

The next day we met at Frontera Audubon Thicket; this was one of the places I was getting near constant reports from on the Rare Bird Text Messaging group, so I was hoping some of those migrants would hang around!  It was a beautiful sunny day, and I actually beat Mary there by about 15 minutes, so I logged several things from the parking lot, including Green Parakeets and a female Summer Tanager.

Summer Tanager

Once checked in we crept along, picking up a Redstart here and a Tennessee there; we sat for five at the little resaca and had a handsome Yellow-crowned Night Heron pose for us!  A Green Kingfisher gave a very brief view, but in the area we found more Philadelphia Vireos and a Blackburnian Warbler!  While sitting on another bench Mary saw a largish bird with a banded tail fly in, then spotted a good-sized nest; I got a glimpse of a pale bird, but putting two and two together it was undoubtedly the resident Gray Hawk!

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Philadelphia Vireo

The big lake was rather empty, and as we made the big loop around the property there was no shortage of White-tipped Doves; in fact, Mary made the comment as we were passing through the dark and dingy Sabal Palm Grove that one could be creeped out rather easily if you didn’t know what was making that spooky cooing sound! J  But the most action turned out to be around the feeder areas:  we had a female Bay-breasted Warbler, more Nashvilles and Black-and-whites, and what I felt was the bird of the day – a singing Bell’s Vireo!  He wouldn’t let himself be seen, however, except for the briefest of moments…  The feeders themselves were crawling with Chachalacas and doves, and several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks came in as well.  Further down the trail a Blue-headed Vireo was singing, and he finally did allow us a look!  I showed her the area where the Blue Bunting had been hanging out, but all we could kick up was a Catbird and a lovely Chestnut-sided Warbler along the “dead end trail”.  Somewhere in here we happened upon a Black-throated Green Warbler who had caught himself a huge caterpillar and was trying to figure out how to best devour it; it got kinda gooey after awhile!  Near the blind we heard a Yellow-breasted Chat making some interesting noises, then took the boardwalk back, where we spooked a Green Heron, had a couple of White Ibis and a Great Egret feeding, and heard a Groove-billed Ani call.  Almost back at the gate we had a family of Black-crested Titmice making a ruckus while a female Chestnut-sided Warbler ignored them while she foraged…

Female Bay-breasted Warbler

Belly shot (this is often the only look you get at a warbler, so it pays to learn the key field marks from this angle...)

 

Black-throated Green Warbler with lunch

We had to part company by noon, but it was another terrific day of spring migration, with 62 species for the morning!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Green Heron                          
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           
  White Ibis                           
  Gray Hawk                            
  White-winged Dove                    
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Groove-billed Ani                    
  Chimney Swift                        
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker             
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Green Parakeet                       
  Eastern Wood-Pewee                   
  Least Flycatcher                     
  Brown-crested Flycatcher             
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Bell's Vireo                         
  Blue-headed Vireo                    
  Warbling Vireo                       
  Philadelphia Vireo                   
  Green Jay                             
  Purple Martin                        
  Bank Swallow                         
  Barn Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Carolina Wren                        
  Swainson's Thrush                    
  Clay-colored Thrush                  
  Gray Catbird                         
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Ovenbird                             
  Black-and-white Warbler              
  Tennessee Warbler                    
  Nashville Warbler                    
  American Redstart                    
  Magnolia Warbler                      
  Bay-breasted Warbler                 
  Blackburnian Warbler                 
  Chestnut-sided Warbler               
  Black-throated Green Warbler         
  Yellow-breasted Chat                 
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Summer Tanager                       
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak               
  Dickcissel                           
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Baltimore Oriole                     
  Lesser Goldfinch                     
  House Sparrow                        
 
62 SPECIES

Exploring New Migration Hot Spots Part 1

5/3/16

            Mary and her husband live in the Corpus Christi area, so she’s no stranger to Valley birds, but when her husband suggested she come with him to a conference he was speaking at on South Padre Island, she readily agreed and looked me up to go birding!  The timing couldn’t have been better, as a mild cold front came in the day before, and the Convention Centre (CC) was dripping with migrants!  (We would hear throughout the day that the whole Valley was dripping with migrants!) 

But I’m getting ahead of myself:  we first went to the bayside flats north of the CC, and unlike Saturday, the tide was right up to the entrance kiosk, so we didn’t have much in the way of shorebirds and larids except for a couple of Ruddy Turnstones, a Sanderling, a Reddish Egret, and a couple of Royal Terns making more Royal Terns (although a late Red-breasted Merganser was nice)…  So we swung over to the CC, and had barely stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk when we were greeted by several warblers right overhead, the memorable ones being Blackpoll and Blackburnian!  Mary got on a Chestnut-sided that I missed, but I didn’t miss the male Bay-breasted!  Ran into Scarlet Colley at the water feature, and as we talked, some Cedar Waxwings started calling from the tree tops!  Her “Orange Trees” were loaded with mostly Baltimore Orioles and a few Orchards; it was a great opportunity to study the different plumages!  Eastern Wood Pewees were out the yin yang, but nothing was out in the back area this time as the tide was so high.  From the “tucked-away bench” we saw several variations of Indigo Buntings coming in, and Gray-cheeked and Swainson’s Thrushes gave good comparisons.  Even the beginning of the boardwalk was great, as a Black-billed Cuckoo sat briefly and then flew to a tree further out on the boardwalk; this was a lifer for several folks there!  We also were thankfully able to refind the baby Least Bitterns, and on the way back one of the Clapper Rails was vigorously preening itself out in the open!  Coming back to the CC we had a great view of all the Yellow-headed Blackbirds sitting in the tops of the trees!

Black-billed Cuckoo

The "Orange Tree"

Before heading to Sheepshead, we made a circuit around the “circular area” (the area of smaller bushes east of the drive) and saw a few things, best of which was a cute Veery and a stunning Worm-eating Warbler!  Heading over to Sheepshead, we were thankful for the cloud cover as we could spend extended time on both sides of the road, but we first staked out the “shady side” where the ever-present Northern Waterthrush was, plus a Black-throated Green, but not much else.  The “sunny side” was actually more active, with a female Hooded Warbler, more orioles, and a Blue-winged Warbler!  Someone pointed out a snoozing Common Nighthawk, and down at the corner a couple of Philadelphia Vireos came in, along with more pewees.

Mary checks out the "shady side"

Snoozing Common Nighthawk

Female Hooded Warbler

First-year Baltimore Oriole

 

Young male Baltimore pondering the orange...

Eastern Wood Pewee looking cute

Looking normal...

After that we headed back to the CC, where the big show was at the water feature where everyone avian was taking a bath:  Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Nashville and Yellow Warblers, Catbirds, and even the female Pyrrhuloxia!  A very friendly Acadian Flycatcher came by to say hello, and several American Redstarts flipped around as well.  Lizzy (Scarlet’s assistant) almost fainted when a Golden-winged Warbler showed up; thankfully Mary got to see that one!  Scarlet told us of a place where she had seen some Mourning Warblers on Atol, so we headed over there, but only got several Magnolias (which are nothing to sniff at, either…).  We returned to Sheepshead where another lady told us that the Birding Center was hopping, so with what little time we had we headed over there, where yet another Black-billed Cuckoo showed up (along with a Yellow-billed), and probably the star of the day, a male Cape May Warbler!

Saucy Magnolia Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Philadelphia vireo

Enjoying watching bathing birds at the water feature

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Baltimore Oriole thinks about taking the plunge...

Very friendly Acadian Flycatcher

Looking cute...

Lizzy restocks the oranges

 

Another Magnolia Warbler over at Atol

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and an Orchard Oriole raid the feeders at the Birding Center!

View from the ramp

Cape May Warbler, somewhat rare on the Texas coast

I had to drop Mary off after that, but it had been an incredible day; the only thing that kept us from breaking 100 was the lack of shorebirds!  Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Mottled Duck                         
  Blue-winged Teal                     
  Red-breasted Merganser               
  Neotropic Cormorant                  
  Brown Pelican                         
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Reddish Egret                        
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Osprey                               
  Clapper Rail                          
  Sora                                 
  Common Gallinule                     
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Willet                               
  Ruddy Turnstone                      
  Sanderling                           
  Short-billed Dowitcher               
  Laughing Gull                        
  Franklin's Gull                      
  Least Tern                           
  Caspian Tern                          
  Royal Tern                           
  Sandwich Tern                        
  Rock Pigeon                          
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo                 
  Black-billed Cuckoo                  
  Common Nighthawk                     
  Ruby-throated Hummingbird            
  Eastern Wood-Pewee                   
  Acadian Flycatcher                   
  Least Flycatcher                      
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  Warbling Vireo                       
  Philadelphia Vireo                   
  Red-eyed Vireo                       
  Barn Swallow                         
  Marsh Wren                           
  Veery                                
  Gray-cheeked Thrush                  
  Swainson's Thrush                    
  Gray Catbird                         
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Cedar Waxwing                        
  Ovenbird                             
  Worm-eating Warbler                  
  Northern Waterthrush                 
  Blue-winged Warbler                  
  Black-and-white Warbler              
  Tennessee Warbler                    
  Nashville Warbler                     
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Hooded Warbler                       
  American Redstart                    
  Cape May Warbler                     
  Northern Parula                      
  Magnolia Warbler                     
  Bay-breasted Warbler                 
  Blackburnian Warbler                 
  Yellow Warbler                       
  Blackpoll Warbler                    
  Black-throated Green Warbler         
  Olive Sparrow                        
  Chipping Sparrow                      
  Clay-colored Sparrow                 
  Lark Sparrow                         
  Lincoln's Sparrow                    
  Summer Tanager                       
  Pyrrhuloxia                          
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak               
  Indigo Bunting                       
  Painted Bunting                      
  Dickcissel                           
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Yellow-headed Blackbird              
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  Orchard Oriole                       
  Baltimore Oriole                     
  House Sparrow                        
 
93 SPECIES