Pauline
spilled the beans and announced that this was a birthday trip for Ginger J, so
I was hoping we’d see some special birds, and they were happy to enjoy whatever
came our way! The original plan was to
bird around Hidalgo County first and go up to Starr County the next day, but
the girls got wind that a large group was heading up there the next day as
well, so we switched plans and blasted up to Salineño today! J It was a good plan; it was a beautiful sunny
day, starting off cool, so we went straight to the “Seedeater Trail” at the
Salineño boat ramp. The Osprey pair was
there as usual, along with the Spotted Sandpiper and the Ring-necked Duck pod
(with a couple token scaup), but nothing upriver, so we headed up the
trail. The two Cassin’s Sparrows were
still song-battling in the open area to the north, and Olive Sparrows shuffled
unseen to our south; a small bird landed on a small leafless tree in front of
us and got my heart racing, but it turned out to be a Lesser Goldfinch… We got to the end of the trail where there
wasn’t a bird to be seen of any sort, but presently a pair of Mottled Ducks
flew by and Ringed Kingfisher flew overhead and headed north. We decided to take that “dicey” trail into
the ravine in hopes of kicking up the seedeater and wound up on a pretty decent
road (although littered with trash) where the Ringed Kingfisher was perched
beautifully on a dead snag! Rough-winged
Swallows were landing briefly on the path as well, but from there we circled
back on another road, and at one point I actually did hear the seedeater singing, but none of us could find him. We had a female Vermilion Flycatcher show
off, but raptors were more cooperative, with an adult Zone-tailed and an
immature White-tailed Hawk giving nice views in the sky. We eventually came to the steep hill, slip-slided
down, and headed back to the car, spotting a trip of Gadwall on the way.
Lark Sparrows at the ravine
Pauline searches for seedeaters...
Ringed Kingfisher
Ginger and Pauline at the bottom of the hill, overlooking the Rio Grande!
I couldn’t believe how green the feeder area had become since my last visit! As warned earlier in the year, things were quieting down (Merle and Lois told us that the best time is from mid-December through February, and then things really start slowing down in March), but we did get nice looks at Green Jays, Kiskadees, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, titmice, the White-tipped Dove, and the star of the show, the Clay-colored Thrush (Ginger almost missed him because she ran out to see a Gray Hawk Merle had spotted)! The orioles never came in, surprisingly, and even the blackbirds weren’t as numerous as usual (we saw one with some leucism in its wings and pondered whether it could have been “Patch’s” offspring…)! A group of White Pelicans sailed overhead as we relaxed, joined by a Black Vulture! We made one last river watch, adding a Red-shouldered Hawk to the mix, but nothing else (although we heard the Altamira).
White-winged Dove
Black-crested Titmouse
Great Kiskadee, showing the crown ring
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Green Jay claims an orange
Another Green Jay ponders the ground feed...
(Love their expressions!)
Patch Junior??
Lady Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Clay-colored Thrush
Headed
onto the Dump Road from there; the girls had mentioned that it would be really
neat to see a Roadrunner, and Pauline nearly choked on her water when she
spotted one sitting up on a post in perfect light! (When one of them sends me the picture it’ll
go in the blog… J) A
couple of Black-throated Sparrows were singing, and thankfully one of them sat
in the open for great views! My
FOS Ash-throated Flycatcher “police-whistled” from a wire as well.
Pauline's promised Roadrunner shot! (© 2018 Pauline Clark)
We
headed to Falcon State Park, picking up a gorgeous Caracara on the entrance
road (who refused to pose for pictures unfortunately). After checking in we crawled around; the
Huisache was riotously in bloom and provided a golden foreground to the deep
blue of the lake! Eventually both a Verdin
and Pyrrhuloxia gave great views, and on the way to the boat ramp I got a
glimpse of a Bewick’s Wren, but it wouldn’t come back out for my charges.... The young Vermilion Flycatcher was still on
his wire, however! In the primitive
camping area we paused to enjoy some Killdeer when Pauline spotted a drop-down
gorgeous adult male Vermilion
Flycatcher! Eastern Meadowlark and
Cassin’s Sparrow sang there as well, and another Ash-throated showed well on
the wire. Like the last time, the place
was full of revelers, but as we “off-roaded” near the overflow area we at least
added some Least Sandpipers to the list!
Too many people were in the picnic and cabin areas to really bird
anything (no drone this time J); even the
Caracara had abandoned his post (quite literally)! We made a quick stop at the butterfly garden,
finding a lot of Elada Checkerspots and an expired Large Orange Sulphur that
was useful for pointing out field marks, but it was getting rather warm, so we
called it a day after that (adding a couple of Laughing Gulls yelling from the
lake) and headed home (was hoping the parakeets would be back on their wires in
Roma, but I guess it was even too hot for them…).
Falcon Reservoir with blooming Huisache in the foreground
Killdeer
Vermilion Flycatcher
Pyrrhuloxia
Elada Checkerspot
Barrel Cactus
Bird
List:
Gadwall
Mottled Duck Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Plain Chachalaca
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Cattle Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Gray Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Vermilion Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Green Jay
Chihuahuan Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-collared Seedeater
Olive Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
68 SPECIES
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