The Scouts from Denmark

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!

"Batty" is on his pole!

Lars enjoying the falcon

Bat Falcon 

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)  

Finn along the trail

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. 

Finn at the blind

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Egret

White-faced Ibis

Cooper's Hawk with kingfisher for breakfast

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 

Lars at the south side of Pintail

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! 

The Rio Grande

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!

Lars, Jim, and JoJo up on the Hawk Tower

Young Zone-tailed Hawk

Distant Bat Falcon

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 

Finn and Lars back at the blind

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

Northern Cardinal

From Bust to Blessing

2/28/22 

By the time fellow guides Tiffany Kersten and Jim Danzenbaker got done guiding Rafael and Letecia, I was trying to figure out a “clean-up” route for their last three targets:  Groove-billed Ani, Verdin, and Beardless Tyrannulet!  A little more communication revealed that they had their hearts set on my original itinerary to South Padre Island, as they really wanted help identifying shorebirds!  So we planned on that, and added some places to the itinerary that might bag the others targets (and it turned out that they had more potential life birds than just those three)!

Since they still needed Aplomado Falcon we decided to go by way of SR 100, stopping first at the Blue Shack.  No falcons, but Rafael did spot a distant Chihuahuan Raven (also a lifer) that eventually made its way across the highway and landed on a wire, along with its mate!  At the “official” observation site we hit pay dirt as the Aplomado pair was at the nesting platform (not the best view into the sun, but we could easily make out the white chest and dark cumburbund)!

Letecia and Rafael enjoying the Aplomado Falcon pair (below; the arrow above points out the platform they're on...)

 

After a pit stop at the Stripes we continued to The Flats, where right at the entrance was a disheveled immature Reddish Egret poking along who happened to be banded!  But the only pod of shorebirds was waaay out there, so Rafael (who was driving a rental) was not squeamish about bouncing over to them! While we had great looks at close-up Sanderlings, the other birds needed scope views, and it was tough to isolate individual species.  But we did have Black-bellied, Semipalmated, and Piping Plovers, Dunlin and Western Sandpipers, and a yelling Greater Yellowlegs.  Further out were the requisite skimmers, Laughing Gulls, Royal and Forster’s Terns, Redheads (another lifer), and very distant Red-breasted Mergansers. An Eastern Meadowlark serenaded us the whole time, and what we thought was a swooping blackbird at first morphed into our FOS Purple Martin! 

Banded Reddish Egret 

The Flats

We then swung over to the back parking lot at the Convention Centre to take a look at The Flats from that perspective.  Rafael and Letetia had brought along a container of those rotisserie leg quarters, so Rafael grabbed one for “breakfast” while we walked down to the water’s edge, and it didn’t take long for the Laughing Gulls to discover a potential handout! J  We were hoping Rafael wouldn’t get “decorated” as the whole mob just hovered motionless over his head!  

What happens when you take your lunch out of the car...

Here, another pod of birds was a bit closer:  a beautiful adult white morph Reddish Egret posed along with a Great Blue Heron, and we had better looks at the terns.  On the way out Rafael spotted a beautiful female Harrier wafting over the open area!

White morph Reddish Egret

Great Blue Heron 

Over at the Birding and Nature Center, the sandbar immediately outside the visitor center had a nice Brown Pelican sail in, plus several snoozing Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.  Rafael quipped that the little boy who was checking in ahead of us was going to enjoy himself when he saw all the Alligators sprawled over each other!  (I pointed out “Big Padre” in an enclosure by himself…)  Other big hits (for us) included several Tricolored Herons (which led to a discussion on what the “three colors” actually were), a swaying Green Heron, and a snoozing Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  Out on the pier we added a couple of Pintail, an American Wigeon, Coots, more Sanderlings, several Black-necked Stilts, and what I felt comfortable calling a Lesser Yellowlegs due to the shorter, thinner bill.  

Brown Pelicans (breeding adult in front, immature in back)

Alligators

Tricolored Heron

Green Heron

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Sanderling

Black-necked Stilts

Turning the corner, the freshwater wetland seemed to be devoid of birds until we spotted the same banded Reddish Egret doing his “dance” in the pond, scaring up a couple of Common Gallinules in the process!  Our resident “yellow-billed” Snowy Egret showed up, just as fluffy as he could be, while a Great Egret worked on downing a very agitated fish he had just caught!  Rafael spotted what looked good for a retreating Merlin, plus a pair of Blue-winged Teal in the reeds.  A group of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks entertained several people by playing “King of the Mountain” on a little grassy knoll, while the canal next to the parallel boardwalk had a pretty pair of Mottled Ducks showing off their purple speculums.  A Pied-billed Grebe went motoring by like a little mechanical boat, but about the only bird we could spot in the East Pond was a gorgeous male Green-winged Teal.  Back at the car a Yellow-rumped Warbler showed up, and another warbler showed briefly in a spindly tree, shot towards us and chirped, then landed in the palm; based on Rafael’s description (he had a much better look) and the chirp and palm tree destination, I was 99.9% sure we had a Yellow-throated Warbler! 

Fish struggling defiantly against his captor (Great Egret)

The pied-billed Snowy Egret is getting fluffy!

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks 

Mottled Duck

We added a couple of Harris’ Hawks and two Ospreys on poles (each with a big fish) on the way to Laguna Vista Nature Trail, and in retrospect we probably should have stopped here first while the coveted Verdin would have (probably) been vocalizing at least L, as it was quite dead as we made the loop.  A Mockingbird with a wounded eye dominated the drip at Blind #3 while a Long-billed Thrasher called, but besides the three White Pelicans that circled overhead, that was it for the birdlife (I think it was here we startled a little Rosebelly Lizard on a mesquite…)!  So we headed on up to Laguna Atascosa, and there we did hear a Verdin along Buena Vista Road!  But as usual, he was stubborn and didn’t wanna come out…  Something that was singing way too brightly for a Cardinal (so I thought) did turn out to be a Cardinal (as opposed to a Pyrrhuloxia, another coveted lifer), so we continued on to the refuge proper, logging a flock of White-faced Ibis on the way. 

Mockingbird with bum eye at one of the blinds

I really didn’t expect any Verdins or Pyrrhuloxias at the Visitor’s Center, so we went straight to Osprey Overlook, hoping to hear something in the thornscrub.  Zilch, zero, nada.  Laguna Atascosa proper was pretty empty itself save for a few rafts of Redhead and (presumed) Lesser Scaup that were way out there (my charges found it hard to believe that in drought years this big lake can be bone dry)!  On the way out Rafael spotted a group of feral hogs, and back at Headquarters, the Kiskadee Trail was also dead except for Green Jays, Red-winged Blackbirds, and a stubborn titmouse.  The Black-throated Blue Warbler had apparently se fue’d the joint, so I offered the option of hiking the Mesquite Trail in hopes of kicking up a Verdin and/or Bewick’s Wren (another forgotten lifer J), but seeing as time was getting on the guys were leaning towards San Benito Wetlands for a shot at the Groove-billed Anis.  So off we went, picking up a pair of gorgeous White-tailed Hawks overhead on the way out, Caracaras shooting by, and a Black Vulture on a pole.  

Osprey Overlook

Letecia checking out the field

White-tailed Hawk

But as we were musing later, just when you feel discouraged that things turned out a bust, God has a way of surprising you:  Heading out General Brandt Road we suddenly encountered a huge flock of Snow Geese right next to the road!  We careened to the shoulder, and thankfully right in front there was one Ross’, picture perfect!  After a while they all lifted up and headed deeper into the field (at which point we all agreed that, had we shown up five minutes later, we never would have been able to pick out a Ross’ from that distance), and as we followed them in our bins Rafael spotted a group of Sandhill Cranes back where they were landing!  What a treat! 

Mob of Snow Geese

Ross' Goose

On to the Wetlands, where we pulled in and started the hike to the back section, where I had had the anis on a previous trip.  A Tropical Kingbird tittered in a nearby tree, and while Rafael went to waylay another birder across the way and ask if he had seen the anis, Letecia and I continued on, adding a “highlighter red”  Vermilion Flycatcher (her term J), Horned Larks calling in a plowed field, and a Loggerhead Shrike.  We looked back and saw where the other birder had brought Rafael back to the middle section, and they were both looking towards a stand of bamboo with his scope, so we decided to hoof it back and see what they had – turns out they did briefly have the anis!!  So we circled around to the area where the guy (John) said they headed, and before long, one popped up and squeaked, but unfortunately took off before Letecia could see him! L  So she and I continued down the trail where the thing had dropped to the edge, and before long two anis popped up and landed in some cane across the way, and Letecia was finally able to get a look at the bill!  So after chatting with John and thanking him profusely J we headed back to the car, spotting the dark morph Red-tailed Hawk that had been hanging around all winter, and Rafael mentioned in passing that he had logged Savannah Sparrows in the roadside bushes.  

Trail at San Benito Wetlands

Dark morph Red-tailed Hawk

John helps Rafael and Letecia see the Groove-billed Ani (below)

(...who refused to show his diagnostic nose for the photographer before fleeing...)

Tropical Kingbird

We headed home after that, and for a day I thought was gonna be a bust in some ways, we ended up with 88 species!  What a blessing!  Bird list:

 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Snow Goose

Ross's Goose

Blue-winged Teal

American Wigeon

Mottled Duck

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Redhead

Lesser Scaup

Red-breasted Merganser

Pied-billed Grebe

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Groove-billed Ani

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Sandhill Crane

Black-necked Stilt

Black-bellied Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Piping Plover

Killdeer

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Dunlin

Western Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Spotted Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Forster's Tern

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Tricolored Heron

Reddish Egret

Green Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

White-faced Ibis

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Northern Harrier

Harris's Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Merlin

Aplomado Falcon

Vermilion Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

White-eyed Vireo

Loggerhead Shrike

Green Jay

Chihuahuan Raven

Black-crested Titmouse

Verdin

Horned Lark

Purple Martin

House Wren

Marsh Wren

European Starling

Curve-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Savannah Sparrow

Eastern Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Orange-crowned Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-throated Warbler

Northern Cardinal