What
a day! Given our destinations, I wasn’t
anticipating a huge species list, but we managed to top 100! We started by birding the Old Military
Highway levee, which was quite productive:
we stopped for a Chachalaca chorusing from the top of a tree, and in the
meantime an Ani squeaked from behind us, giving great looks! A young male Bullock’s Oriole gave brief
looks, and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron flew overhead and then landed in the
canal. Patty spotted a Gray Hawk making
a hasty retreat over the trees, and a Mississippi Kite sailed over Chimney
Park! A little further down we stopped
for a “bush break”, and had we not done that we would have missed the
White-tailed Kite pair out in the field!
A House Finch sang and preened from a wire, and just before the dirt
levee joined the paved levee, an Altamira Oriole flew into a tree ahead of
us! A stop at the bridge gave great
comparative views of both Cave and Cliff Swallows as they swirled around under
the overpass, and closer to the Butterfly Center the Eastern Bluebird was still
hanging around!
Silhouetted Groove-billed Ani
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
House Finch
Patty trying to chase something down on the levee
White-tailed Kite
Murray takes a snapshot of the girls next to a sunflower field!
Curve-billed Thrasher near Bentsen SP
From
there we headed back to Anzalduas, but not before swinging around to check out
a hawk on a pole along FM 494, which turned out to be a juvenile
Swainson’s. But he wasn’t the only one –
suddenly Swainie after Swainie started rising from the adjacent field, and
before long about 30 birds were swirling around, including a dark morph
adult! What a show!
Juvenile Swainson's Hawk
Patty was able to get this shot of most of the group! (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Closer look at two more juvies
We
headed into the park after that, picking up a pair of Gadwall in the spillway
on the way in, and while the gang was in the restroom by the levee a flock of
Cedar Waxwings flew over! It was really
kind of quiet in the park; we took a look behind the dam and only had a few
Neotropic Cormorants and a single Snowy Egret, but the nesting Cliff Swallows
were a hit! A fully spotted Spotted
Sandpiper was in the river along with several Coots, and as we swung around the
boat ramp we spotted the Black Phoebe!
Linda wanted to try for a better picture, so we parked next to the ramp
and took a walk along the river while Linda waited for the phoebe to come back
(which it never did). We didn’t find
much of anything, either (was hoping for kingfishers), so we headed on to
Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, picking up Pied-billed Grebe, Blue-winged Teal, and
Mottled Duck in the spillway on the way out.
Black Phoebe
Waiting for the phoebe to come back...
Altamira Oriole (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Stepping
out of the car I couldn’t believe my eyes:
someone had flushed a Pauraque across the street! The gang was duly impressed with the garden,
and it was much more lush than the last time I was there! White-eyed Vireos sang all over but wouldn’t
show themselves, and we actually had a few warblers: Tennessee, Orange-crowned, and Northern
Parula (plus a pinking Northern
Waterthrush near the pond)! Said pond
had a good selection of egrets and cormorants, but no kingfishers… L Buff-bellied Hummingbirds buzzed all around
us and gave good views but no photo ops.
Peeking into the canal Patty spotted a Painted Bunting, but I heard a
Green Kingfisher and spotted the thing hightailing it across the pond! Linda only got a glimpse, so that was the one
that got away… L A
pretty pair of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks was the consolation prize… Poking down the canal trail we flushed a
Chuck-will’s-widow (they thought it was a hawk at first – common
misperception!), and a Long-billed Thrasher pair was uncharacteristically
friendly! Murray spotted a Clay-colored
Thrush before we headed across the street to check the south pond, but the
overlook was still closed, so the only thing we saw there was a pair of
Curve-billed Thrashers and a cooperative Green Heron. We headed back to use the facilities and
check the dragonfly pond, hearing a Catbird on the way. Nothing was at the pond, but we decided to
check the overlook one last time where a Forster’s Tern was batting around, and
suddenly the Green Kingfisher shot across!
I think only Linda and I saw that one, so when Murray and Patty arrived
I offered to go down and see if I could flush him their way, but he came over
on his own volition! J
What a look!
Patty snapped this group shot at the entrance! (©2018 by Patty Sein)
She also captured this nice portrait of an ultra-friendly Long-billed Thrasher! (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Checking out the North Pond
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks
Inca Dove catching some rays
Neotropic Cormorant
Green Heron
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Great Kiskadee (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Theona Checkerspot - ventral view
Dorsal view
Texan Crescent (©2018 by Patty Sein)
Argiope Spider; note the tiny male above the female! (©2018 by Patty Sein)
From
there we headed to Wallace Road just to see what we could pick up; early on
Patty spotted a distant White-tailed Hawk, and a lovely male Lesser Goldfinch
would have given Linda a great photo op had there not been traffic coming from
the opposite direction that spooked it! L In fact, we were all amazed at the amount of
traffic on that dirt road for a Saturday, and some of those vehicles were going
at warp speed! But the wetlands were the
definite highlight: Patty spotted a
drake Cinnamon Teal hiding in the dried reeds, and further down we added a
hiding Little Blue Heron and Shoveler! The
main wetland was a treasure trove of shorebirds practically at our feet, with
breeding-plumaged Long-billed Dowitchers, both yellowlegs, and Stilt, Pectoral,
Semipalmated, and Least Sandpipers, in addition to some gorgeous female
Wilson’s Phalaropes! The icing on the
cake was in an ag field further along where two male Dickcissels were chasing
each other around and around in a circle, giving us all great looks at their
field marks with each pass! One of the
males finally landed on the fence next to us and sang away, giving great photo
ops! I was ready to get a video, but we
had to wait for about five vehicles to pass, hoping that the bird wouldn’t book
with each pass, and he hung in there until I slowly opened the door, then booked! We all had a good laugh about that…
Wilson's Phalaropes
Stilt Sandpipers
Semipalmated Sandpipers
Pectoral Sandpipers
Dickcissel
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Mississippi Kite
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Stilt Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Laughing Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Groove-billed Ani
Common Pauraque
Chuck-will's-widow
Chimney Swift
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Black Phoebe
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cave Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
House Wren
Eastern Bluebird
Clay-colored Thrush
Gray Catbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Waterthrush
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Olive Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole
Altamira Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
101 SPECIES
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