Susan
and Terry had been to South Texas previously on tour, but there were a few
“dream birds” that were missed that trip that she was hoping they could nab
this time around, namely the Aplomado Falcon and White-collared Seedeater! Seeing as both of those are on opposite sides
of the Valley, they agreed to book two separate days, and today’s adventure was
to be a Falcon Hunt.
We
actually left Alamo at 6:00 am in order to get to Boca Chica Boulevard by
sunrise, and we made good time getting there.
We almost ran down some Bobwhites just past the checkpoint, and lots of
stuff was singing (primarily Eastern Meadowlarks), but once we stopped at
Yolanda Road (and tried not to get run over by all the big trucks turning down
said road), Susan spotted a suspicious bird right away, and it was the
falcon! Unfortunately he clandestinely
escaped while I was getting the scope, but thankfully we found him again on his
nesting platform! I was very glad to get
that target nailed down right away! But
on the way out we were chatting with the Border Patrol guys when I heard a
Sedge Wren singing across the road! So
we pulled over in their little parking area and crossed the street;
unfortunately we couldn’t pull him out (and Susan couldn’t hear him – the
traffic noise didn’t help), so I was hopeful we might be able to get one along
Old Port Isabel (OPIR).
An Aplomado Falcon preens on his nesting platform
Happy campers Terry and Susan
Susan
couldn’t recall if she had seen Tamaulipas Crow in the US or not (their tour
included El Cielo in Mexico, where they saw them on the way down), so since The
Dump was right there, we wheeled in and gave it a shot. She wasn’t keen on spending a lot of time
looking for it, but like last time, we certainly ended up spending more time
there than we had originally planned, and truth be told, Susan’s favorite
experience there was the hordes of Laughing Gulls in beautiful breeding plumage
(and “laughing”, of course)! We did have
a handful of Franklin’s Gulls fly over, and there were all ages of both
Ring-billed and Herring Gulls there, but I couldn’t pick out anything unusual
in a quick scan. On the way out we did see several corvids that got our
hearts racing, but they turned out to be Chihuahuan Ravens, which were still
fun. Two other birders saw me get my
camera out and came over, but were rather crestfallen that they weren’t the
coveted crows!
A Chihuahuan Raven picks through the garbage at the Brownsville Dump
Since
there was always the chance of a closer falcon along OPIR, we headed that way,
and indeed there was another Aplomado on that
nesting platform, but also territorial Willets displaying, a Lesser Yellowlegs
that came wheeling in, and a distant Long-billed Curlew! Before we got out into the open area Susan
spotted an Indigo Bunting, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo went tearing through as
well! Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were
very cooperative for photos, and Lark Sparrows were less so… We picked up both woodpeckers on that leg,
along with a whupping Brown-crested
Flycatcher. Out in the flatlands a young
White-tailed Hawk sailed around while a second bird landed on a yucca for scope
views! We also had a couple of Caracaras
sit and fly for us, and again, lots of meadowlarks were around, along with
distant Cassin’s Sparrows (one sang pretty close to the road, but we could
never find him; the wind was whipping up pretty good by that point). Unfortunately, the “Sedge Wren Spot” produced
no Sedge Wrens, so we continued on, checking the canal and padding the list
with some egrets and cormorants. Near
the end of the road several Cattle Egrets in fine breeding plumage were
attending several cows, so that was fun!
Eastern Meadowlark
OPIR's Aplomado is also on his platform!
Detail of the falcon
Pretty Lark Sparrow
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Breeding-plumaged Cattle Egrets
We
got to talking about Indigo Buntings, which led to Susan mentioning that she
wouldn’t mind seeing some migrants, so since we had gotten her main target, we
headed on in to South Padre, even though I was pretty sure the “show” was over,
now that the winds were whipping out the south and most probably blowing
migrants right over. But there were a
few things at the Convention Centre:
Hooded Warblers continued to delight, and Susan was particularly charmed by this one female that had a bit of a black
lining around her face! I ran into a
bunch of friends there (Tamie was particularly nonplussed when I said, “You
shoulda been here yesterday…” J), and it was
probably akin to the old adage that there were more birders than birds, but we
still enjoyed Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Tennessee, Black-and-white, and
Yellow Warblers, Northern Parulas, Warbling and White-eyed Vireos, Summer
Tanagers, Catbirds, and yes, Indigo Buntings! J We had a single Black-throated Green Warbler
come in, and a Yellow-headed Blackbird was drawing a lot of attention out back
where the whistling ducks, pigeons, and grackles were feeding! The White Ibis was still hanging around, as
were both the Lincoln’s and Savannah Sparrows (the former giving a good
performance of the “Towhee Shuffle”). Terry
(a butterfly enthusiast) was a little disheartened that one of the Hoodies was
gobbling down a Red Admiral! We went out
back just to pad the list with water birds (Terry admitted he drew the line at
shorebirds J), and had another cuckoo whiz by!
Yellow Warbler
Enchanted by a female Hooded Warbler (below)!
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
White Ibis that always seems to be there...
In a little more artistic pose!
Lincoln's Sparrow
Doing the "Towhee Shuffle" (need a video to appreciate it...)
Young male Hooded Oriole
After
that we decided to check out Sheepshead (it gave us time to eat our sandwiches
on the way J), and the moment we arrived a local
family was waving us over where a Painted Bunting was bathing in one of the
water features! But it took work to find
other birds: Ruby-throated Hummers were
buzzing around, and one group of birders was on an Eastern Wood Pewee, but many
of yesterday’s “show stoppers” had apparently left. There was a bit more action on the “dark”
(south) side where the Northern Waterthrush came back to the back water
feature, along with another Hoodie and a couple of Indigos. The Parulas were again hanging out right overhead,
but after awhile we decided to head back to the Convention Centre with what
little time we had.
Warbling Vireo
Common Yellowthroat
By
now there were far fewer people, so we were able to sit on various benches for
five just to see what would come in. We
stood watch at the water feature and added the Wilson’s Warbler, then
wandered a bit (this one male Hooded Warbler was along the
back and seemed to be putting on a show on the white rope just for the
tourists J) and eventually settled on the “double-backed” bench in the southwest
corner. That’s where we hit pay dirt
when Susan thought she had a Worm-eating Warbler! It flew over towards the water feature, so we
followed it over there, spotting a lost Sora behind the wall (!) on the way,
and sure enough, eventually the Wormeater came out and took a bath, just
putting on a great show! That was
definitely the icing on the cake!
Hooded Warblers incessantly flash their white tail patches, as this male is doing!
"The Performer" is at it again on the white rope!
Tennessee Warbler
Warbling Vireo
While
we didn’t come close to yesterday’s whopping total, we had a respectable 82
species for the day. Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck Northern Bobwhite
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sora
Black-necked Stilt
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Least Tern
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Aplomado Falcon
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Chihuahuan Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Verdin
Sedge Wren
Bewick's Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Worm-eating Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Cassin's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow
82 SPECIES
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