Had
a delightful morning with Cynthia and Boyd from Colorado, visiting the Valley
for the first time when most everything was new! Like many couples I know, they had a “rule”
where they couldn’t count a bird unless both had seen it (at the same time;
they related the story where individually they saw Sandhill Cranes flying over
their house when the other spouse was absent, so it’s not on either’s list L), but Cynthia
especially had a love and appreciation for creation that lent an air of
excitement to everything we saw! I had
looked at their “wish list”, and since we were only doing a half day I
presented several possibilities based on that list, and they chose Estero Llano
Grande SP, a great place to spend a morning!
It
started off cool, but the rain from the day before had abated (they said they
got caught in that at Santa Ana). One of
the best birds was seen along International Blvd. on the way to the park: a mob
of Green Parakeets on the wires (in fact, Cynthia spotted them)! After pulling in the parking area we had a
kingbird on the wire that was probably a Tropical, but since it didn’t say
anything, I felt it best to leave it unidentified. We had the same issue at the hummer feeder
off the deck: two female Archilochus
came in (Ruby-throated would have been new), but she just didn’t show all the field marks to help in narrowing
it down to one or the other (and eBird didn’t like putting in more than one
Blackchin), so we had to let that one go as well. But I decided to take them into the main part
of the park first this time, then hit
the Tropical Zone, as I didn’t seem to be having much success in bagging the Hammond’s
Flycatcher and Tropical Parula by hitting it first, so I reasoned that later in
the morning maybe there’d be more bugs to catch! Just before the VC several Inca Doves were
feeding on the tray feeder; while most of them exploded into the bush at our
approach, a couple brave souls stayed put and allowed great looks!
Long-billed Thrasher in the parking lot
Being
overcast, we had great looks at the ducks off the deck (including several
Cinnamon Teal), and Huck and company looked dutifully for the Common Grackle amongst the mob of Redwings,
but he seemed to have disappeared. The
funky Least Grebe was feeding amongst the Mottled Ducks (which were new for my
charges – the ducks, that is), and an Eastern Phoebe wagged his tail from a
snag. We hurried on towards Alligator
Lake to give the bird walk people some space, picking up a nice male
Yellowthroat at the edge of the water. While
the Swamp Sparrow didn’t even peep, I was thrilled to see the Grasshopper Sparrow
pop up along with his Lincoln’s friends, who all gave very nice scope
views! Dowitcher Pond actually had a
lone Long-billed Dowitcher flying around, and a couple of Snipe exploded from
the shore, but the Spotted Sandpiper that’s always on the log there was
actually starting to get some spots!
Lincoln's Sparrow
Green- and Blue-winged Teal (the male Bluewing is one of those oddities that has some white on the back of the head)
Green-winged Teal
We
headed over the bridge; no kingfisher, but several Snowy Egrets had taken his
place along the canal! Grebe Marsh only
had a few Shovelers, but as we walked along I stopped them short – Red-crowned
Parrots were calling in the distance!
(Which doesn’t help much if you want to actually see the bird…L) We
continued on to Alligator Lake, where six Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flew
overhead, and Cynthia and Boyd were appropriately blown away by all the night
herons (of both flavors)! The one
fearless Yellowcrown posed for IPhone shots (others weren’t as friendly), and I
showed them the difference between the adult and subadult Blackcrowns. Even a Tricolored Heron showed up. But suddenly Cynthia spotted the Green
Kingfisher across the way (I heard him ticking, but took me a while to find him
in the scope)! Great looks!
Yellow-crowned Night Herons
Photo op (heron is circled)
We
then quickly found “Pancake the Pauraque” (I’m not gonna let Allison live that
one down J),
but the Screech Owl wasn’t in his hole, so we continued to the overlook where
the Anhinga pair showed nicely (another new bird). A Neotropic Cormorant was actively drying his
wings, flapping them ever so slightly to hurry up the process, while a Great
Egret fed across the way (too cold yet for the Alligators, I guess). On the way out I heard the Beardless
Tyrannulet call, so since the owl was absent I didn’t feel guilty about hoofing
it over there and trying to find it, and he actually showed himself (and even
more miraculously, both Cynthia and Boyd got on it)! The bird walk had caught up with us by then,
so, not wanting to lose the tyrannulet, I asked if one of them would be willing
to tell the group that we had the
tyrannulet, so Cynthia went to fetch them, but in the process missed the Wilson’s
Warbler that came in! L
(So that was another one Boyd couldn’t count…) But the tyrannulet perched right overhead,
and I’m not even sure any of the group got on it before it took off for the netherlands… We did
all get on an uncharacteristically cooperative White-eyed Vireo, however (and
the gnatcatchers were being particularly cute J).
Pauraque
Anhinga
Black-crowned Night Heron
Neotropic Cormorant
I
had heard a Bewick’s Wren while all that was going on, so seeing as that would
have been new, I decided to take them back on the Camino de Aves Trail, before
which we picked up a cooperative Common Ground Dove! We had to loop around quite a bit before
tracking the bugger down (and he never did
pop up), but what was even better was an Indigo Bunting, also on their “want
list” (although not nearly as pretty this time of year)!
Common Ground Dove
We
headed back to the VC and then on to the Tropical Zone after that, greeting park
host Rick Snider on the way (being from Colorado, my charges didn’t need the
Broad-tailed Hummer, which prompted a story from a passing birder about a
friend who would drive for hours just to add what was normally a backyard bird
to another county list). He told us where the flycatcher and parula
had been seen (actually, they didn’t need the Hammond’s, either), but both
birds again eluded us. The place was
lousy with Clay-colored Thrushes, however (and not surprisingly, with all the
anacua berries), and lo and behold the Screech Owl I had been told about that
likes to sit on the totem pole was actually there! They had gotten their life bird the day
before, but this one was a better view, they said, and I of course explained to
them about the potential split of McCall’s (our
Screech Owl) from the nominate race!
Cynthia spotted a thrasher thrashing, which was indeed the Long-billed,
but as I circled around to hopefully get them a scope view, I noticed a
Curve-billed Thrasher with him in the same binocular view! They really didn’t need the scope at that
point (I also advised them to put our Curvebill in the bank, as they had seen
the bird in Arizona, and that might be split down the road as well)! We sat at the drip for a few minutes, only
getting an Orange-crowned Warbler to come in, but a Cooper’s Hawk was calling
quite regularly from beyond the old shuffleboard courts, so we weren’t
surprised that not much was coming in (except a bold Green Jay)…
"McCall's" Screech Owl
Cynthia points the owl out to a passing birder...
It
was time to head back to Alamo after that, but not before running into Rick's wife May and two of our Winter Texan residents at the Inn - Cathy and Bill - who again tried to tempt us with the Broad-tailed Hummer! We still ended up with a modest 66 species for the
morning! Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Cooper's Hawk
American Coot
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Rock Pigeon
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Common Pauraque
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Archilochus hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Green Parakeet
Red-crowned Parrot
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Tropical/Couch’s Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Tree Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Grasshopper Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Lesser Goldfinch
66 SPECIES, 2 unknowns…
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