“Manny and Danny” (names changed to protect identity) were two brothers,
both from Texas originally, who had been to the Valley many times, but Manny’s nemesis
bird was the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, and Danny wanted to get a “countable”
view of an Aplomado Falcon, so those were our two main targets for the
day. Both of them were an absolute hoot
– the bantering never seemed to stop, and we had just a great day!
I was planning on taking them to
Anzalduas, seeing as Greater Pewee had also been a target bird, but they had
beaten me to it the day before, where they both got the pewee but Manny missed
the tyrannulet, so Plan B was Santa Ana NWR, seeing as that was right down the
street. That was fine with them, as Danny
commented that this was one of his very favorite places! We beat the gatekeeper, and even before
hitting the trail we saw Chachalacas darting across the picnic area and
shooting over the fence to the feeding area!
An Inca Dove rattled its wings in takeoff as we walked by, and on the
way to the “roundabout” several things chattered including Ruby-crowned
Kinglet, Black-crested Titmouse, Hermit Thrush, and Olive Sparrow, the latter
being characteristically elusive. We
happened to be talking about Estero’s cooperative Pauraques when one suddenly
flushed and swooped across the trail in front of us! We heard what I suspected was a Green Jay
mimicking a Gray Hawk, and when we got to the overlook and started checking out
the ducks, poor Manny had just sat down when I heard the dear-dear-dear of a tyrannulet!
We followed the call down the Willow Lake Trail connector, but it never
called again; what did vocalize on
the way back, however, was a Least Flycatcher doing his little whit call!
Danny checks his photos along the Willow Trail connector
Checking out the birdies at Willow Lake
Back at the overlook, we checked out all
the waterfowl and looked in vain for the Jacana, then made the rest of the loop
around Chachalaca Trail where miraculously a couple of Olive Sparrows popped
right out into the open, apparently having a bit of a territorial dispute as
they both were facing off with beaks open and tails flipping! We ran into David Wolf leading a VENT tour,
and after exchanging reports we mentioned we were looking for the tyrannulet,
whereupon he jokingly said, “Good luck!”
Well. Upon entering the
“roundabout” I heard a WheeeK! right
over our heads, and there was the tyrannulet, just putting on a great
show! That was certainly the best look I’ve ever gotten!
Ultra-cooperative Northern Beardless Tyrannulet
We figured there wasn’t much that
could beat that, but since the falcon was our next target, we headed straight
out to Old Port Isabel Road, and the guys were very glad they didn’t try this
excursion on their own, because (as I warned them) the directions to get there
are very confusing, and the road can be dicey!
Once on the dirt portion of the south end, it was overcast enough to get
a decent view of Loma Alta Lake, which had White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills,
and distant cormorants, egrets, coots, and ducks. The fields past the railroad tracks had
Long-billed Curlews, but we could spot no falcons around the usual hangout
places. Not only that, but we had only
gone about a mile when the road became absolutely impassable with a large lake
in the middle (along with a bunch of glass bottles lined up that apparently someone
had been shooting at; the guys rightly figured there would be broken glass at
the bottom of the “lake”), so we turned around at that point. The consolation prize (for me anyway), was
the huge marsh there where Soras were calling up a storm, but also what sounded
like several King Rails were sounding off!
It was at that point we were trying to convince Manny that he needed to
start counting heard-only birds… J
The next best spot was Boca Chica
Boulevard, so we headed there next, but could find no falcons; we just gawked
at all the Turkey Vultures and gulls swarming around the landfill, and joked
about the fact that we were seeing practically every raptor but the Aplomado: several Harris’ and White-tailed Hawks posed
nicely, and we had both male and female Northern Harriers, and of course tons
of Kestrels. A White-tailed Kite even
made an appearance. After looking and
scanning as far as the overlook, we decided to head up to Port Isabel and
lunch, where we all had a terrific grilled snapper plate at Pirate’s Landing!
White-tailed Hawk
Manny and Danny at the overlook
EBird had reported the falcons along
SR 100 a couple of days ago, so we headed out that way, stopping at a few
promising places (including the traditional stop across from the blue
shack). Not a thing (besides Ospreys and
more of the regulars), so after trying out the north end of Old Port Isabel
Road (which was even more of a disaster) and being mesmerized by the workers
hanging from a helicopter line while working on the high tension wires, we
headed back to Buena Vista Road for a last ditch effort. Proud Caracaras and pretty White-tailed Kites
were the highlights along here, and I can’t tell you how sorely tempted I was
to head down General Brandt Road as there wasn’t a truck in sight (and hasn’t
been for the last several months, according to several folks I spoke to), but I
didn’t want to risk getting dinged by law enforcement, so we headed back to 100
and headed home from there. We ended the day with 77 species!
Bird List:
Snow Goose Chen caerulescens
Gadwall Anas strepera
Mottled Duck Anas fulvigula
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Northern Pintail Anas acuta
Green-winged Teal Anas crecca
Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
Plain Chachalaca Ortalis vetula
Least Grebe Tachybaptus
dominicus
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
White Ibis Eudocimus albus
Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Osprey Pandion
haliaetus
White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
Harris's Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
King Rail Rallus elegans
Sora Porzana
carolina
Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata
American Coot Fulica americana
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
Killdeer Charadrius
vociferus
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
Wilson's Snipe Gallinago delicata
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Inca Dove Columbina inca
White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi
Common Pauraque Nyctidromus albicollis
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
American Kestrel Falco sparverius
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet Camptostoma imberbe
Least Flycatcher Empidonax minimus
Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas
Black-crested Titmouse Baeolophus atricristatus
Verdin Auriparus
flaviceps
House Wren Troglodytes aedon
Marsh Wren Cistothorus
palustris
Carolina Wren Thryothorus
ludovicianus
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus
Long-billed Thrasher Toxostoma longirostre
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia
Orange-crowned Warbler Oreothlypis celata
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata
Olive Sparrow Arremonops rufivirgatus
Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern
Meadowlark Sturnella
magna
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
77
SPECIES
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