Joakim
from Sweden had come to the States on business, so being an avid birder and
photographer he would always take some time to go someplace new, so this time
he chose South Texas! Many of our
specialties would have been new for him, but he was especially keen on
kingfishers, so since my friend Dan Jones had seen them recently from his back
yard in Progresso Lakes, we decided to spend the early morning there!
It
was an absolutely gorgeous day: clear, calm, and with glorious cumulus clouds
reflecting the sunrise over on the coast!
We started off with a bang when Joakim’s life Clay-colored Thrush landed
in Dan’s front yard even before we got out of the car! We quickly set up shop in the back yard,
which overlooks Moon Lake, and started scanning (although Joakim was
immediately distracted by the hummingbirds – both Buff-bellied and
Ruby-throated – feeding in the bottlebrush):
Barn and Cave Swallows lined the wires across the way, and a Black
Phoebe sang and flopped around. Shrikes
and Mockingbirds gave comparative views, and twice a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew
across the resaca and landed overhead, but never giving a better view… Green and Black-crowned Night Herons showed,
and the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks only flew overhead instead of carpeting
the lawns across the way like they usually did!
At one point a raptor flew by that turned out to be a strongly-marked
juvenile Mississippi Kite, while the fly-by Caspian Terns weren’t nearly as
exciting! Both Hooded and Altamira
Orioles called but remained hidden (we saw a couple of possible Orchard Orioles
zip by), and we were entertained by a family of Groove-billed Anis that flew
right past us! An Eastern Kingbird
perched on the wire across the way, and at long last I heard a Green Kingfisher
splat; thankfully Joakim spotted him as he darted down the resaca! A feral Muscovy was good for the eBird list,
and a calling Mourning Warbler that refused to come out of hiding in Dan’s
butterfly garden was good for my year list!
Dawn at Dan's
Juvenile Mississippi Kite (© 2019 Joakim Ed)
After
an hour we were ready to move on, and since Ringed Kingfishers had been
reported at Estero Llano Grande State Park, we headed up there next. Lo and behold, as we crossed the actual
estero on FM 1015 Joakim spotted one on the wire, so I made a Uie and pulled
over at the spot, although it was a horrible look against the sun (but he was
still amazed at how big it was). I
decided to pull in the farm road next to the estero to see if we could see it
from a better angle (which we couldn’t), but the estero itself was stuffed with
stuff in perfect light: lots of
Black-bellied Whistling and Mottled Ducks (and even a couple of female-type
Blue-winged Teal), Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, and
lots of Long-billed Dowitchers and Stilt Sandpipers! There was a handful of Least Sandpipers as
well, plus a bigger peep that “felt” like a Western to me, and after
scrutinizing my pictures later I felt comfortable calling it that, with the
longer, more droopy bill that was hard to see while the thing was poking around
so actively. We also had both
yellowlegs, a pair of Caracaras, and what was almost assuredly a Harris’ Hawk
making off with a prey item (all Joakim saw was a “black” hawk with a white
tail base shoot behind the hedge). A
Bank Swallow was a nice addition as well.
Roseate Spoonbill
Little Blue Heron
Western Sandpiper (also below)
The
kingfisher was gone by the time we returned to the bridge, but Joakim was game
to try for the Pauraque and Screech Owl, so we wheeled into the parking lot,
and once headed towards the visitor’s center I was shocked to see water in Ibis
Pond, as I had called earlier in the week and was told that everything was dry
(except for Alligator Lake, which always has water)! That was a very pleasant surprise, as the
migrating shorebirds would certainly like that!
Despite the water about the only thing using it was a pair of whistling
ducks, so we headed straight to Alligator Lake, pausing briefly at Dowitcher
Pond long enough to log a Spotted Sandpiper.
Even
Grebe Marsh had water, so we lingered to photograph some Yellow-crowned Night
Herons and Least Grebes (plus this black-and-yellow barred thing gliding
through the water that I finally figured was a Red-eared Slider…), and a pair
of whistling ducks with a brood of adorable babies! We then turned the corner to try for the
Pauraques and ran into a couple of guys who knew exactly where they were, and
they kindly took us right to the spot at the foot of the ramp to the deck where
two of them were hanging close to the trail (I told Joakim that these
were the “backup” birds in case the ones in the usual spot weren’t visible… J) Needless to say Joakim got some marvelous
pictures and was very pleased! So since
there was nothing on deck (except a flyover Avocet) we headed back, but not
before checking the screech owl box, and miracle of miracles, there he was in
the hole! (Even though he had seen
Eastern Screech Owl before, I advised him to put this one, the “McCall’s”
Screech Owl, in the “bank” as they may split it down the road…)
Yellow-crowned Night Herons - adult (also below)
Immature (also below)
Reflective Least Grebe
Pauraque
Joachim gets his shot!
"McCall's" Screech Owl
Heading
back we added a juvie Brown-crested Flycatcher to the list, and took the long
way around Dowitcher Pond as we did see some stuff way down there… There were tons of whistling ducks of all
ages (no Fulvous, alas), plus some close-by Least Sandpipers and a couple of
Lesser Yellowlegs, but another couple we ran into spotted a Sora down along the
edge! He actually came out in the open
at one point; my pictures were halfway decent, so Joakim’s were probably
stunning! We continued to the boardwalk
on the Spoonbill Trail and spooked both a Yellow Warbler and Northern
Waterthrush, and paused to photograph a feisty Kiskadee and a couple of Lesser
Yellowlegs (the Black-necked Stilts were a little too far away). On the deck we ran into Ranger John and his
bird walk (including the two guys who showed us the Pauraques) and enjoyed a
Chachalaca at the feeder!
Dowitcher Pond
Sora (also below)
Joakim shooting a cooperative Kiskadee (below)
(My version...)
Lesser Yellowlegs
It
was definitely getting warm by that time, so since we still had a little time
before we had to head back, and Joakim had never seen a Bronzed Cowbird, we
decided to swing by the silos to see if we could kick one up (which we did, but
it was a juvie). But I guess I had never
been there this time of year before, as the place was devoid of
blackbirds for once! But we got the
cowbird, so it wasn’t a total loss…
We
headed back for siesta after that, and upon further discussion decided to
adjust the itinerary a bit in order to try and hit the parakeet/parrot shows
after La Sal! But while showering I got
to thinking that maybe Wallace and Laguna Seca Roads would be better than La
Sal, being closer to Trenton with similar habitat, plus you had the wetlands
along Wallace. So that’s exactly what we
did: the initial fields along Wallace
were pretty barren (didn’t even get a Horned Lark out of it), and even after
driving up there Heppy’s thermometer said it was still 100 degrees out L! Even so we managed to log a bunch of Lesser
Goldfinches and some more anis, plus one set of bushes had three goodies that
just didn’t wanna come out (the wind was starting up by then as well): a
Pyrrhuloxia, a peeping Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and a “whitting” Willow
Flycatcher! A Verdin popped up for
Joakim, which was another nice lifer, along with a buzzing Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher. We had several more
swallows, and in addition to the Barnies we were able to add Rough-winged to
the list. A bird I thought was a shrike
at first and Joakim thought was a Mockingbird turned out to be a Lark Sparrow!
The
real party was at the wetlands, where we found about 70 Wood Storks, a Roseate
Spoonbill, some really nice-looking Neotropic Cormorants, and more Great Egrets
than you could shake a stick at! A pair
of Common Gallinules was nice, but that was the extent of the waterbird
show. A pair of Caracaras posed for
pictures, and just before the end of the road a White-tipped Dove blasted
across (Common Grounds were all over), and a pair of Blue Grosbeaks popped up
by the side! We managed enough of Laguna
Seca Road to get the “Fuertes’” Red-tailed Hawk and a couple of Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers, plus a calling Bobwhite out the window and a nice Harris’ Hawk on
the way to the freeway. While Joakim was
shooting the hawk I heard an Upland Sandpiper calling in the distance, but of
course there was no chance of seeing him…
Wood Stork (in flight below)
Neotropic Cormorant
Wallace Road Wetland
Part of the Egret Party
Crested Caracara
Harris' Hawk
From
there we headed down to the HEB on Trenton and 10th, and I was
really beginning to sweat a little as we waited around for about 20 minutes
before a small flock of Green Parakeets decided to screech past! That was good enough for Joakim, so we
blasted down Colonel Roe to Dallas to try for the parrots. We parked, then saw two silent birds come in
down the street, but we couldn’t see where they landed. After checking the length of Cynthia (where
we also witnessed a spectacular swirl of Purple Martins) we had three more silent
parrots fly by, and that’s all we had by the time the sun set, so we headed
home after that. Joakim missed the
Common Nighthawk I heard on Cynthia, but as we pulled into the Inn’s parking
area, a Lesser Nighthawk batted by low, so that was one last lifer for Joakim
for the day! We ended up with a whopping
101 species! Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Muscovy Duck
(Domestic type)Blue-winged Teal
Mottled Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Least Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Common Ground Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Groove-billed Ani
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Common Nighthawk
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Pauraque
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Sora
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Killdeer
Upland Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Caspian Tern
Wood Stork
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite
Harris's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Eastern Screech-Owl
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Red-crowned Parrot
Green Parakeet
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Willow Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Couch's Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cave Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
European Starling
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Clay-colored Thrush
House Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
Lark Sparrow
Orchard Oriole
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Northern Waterthrush
Mourning Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Blue Grosbeak
Dickcissel
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