Cleaning Up the Valley Birds

4/13/21 

Frank and Amy were a couple of fairly new birders who managed to escape the work place long enough for a quick vacation to a new birding area!  They picked me up this morning so Frank could do the driving (he’s driven all over the world so I figured I could rest easy, control freak that I am… J) and told me they had already logged over 140 birds with Roy Rodriguez on the coast, and Huck Hutchins at Estero Llano Grande!  I warned them ahead of time not to expect a big list for Starr County, but they said that was fine – their “short list” included targets that could only be gotten upriver, so upriver we went!

Went to Salineno first thing and were greeted right away by a subadult Yellow-crowned Night Heron at the boat ramp!  I had intended to check the river first, but the sad, plaintive whistles of two Audubon’s Orioles practically over our heads sent us to the trail!  Even though they sounded “exposed”, the birds were pretty well hidden, but eventually both Frank and Amy were able to spot them!  While still in the parking area last week’s Ringed Kingfisher made a repeat performance by announcing her presence unseen with a loud Crack! flight call, then appearing over the trees for a great look!  Truthfully, we didn’t see much along the trail except a Common Ground Dove (which was nonetheless a life bird for them), but at the cul-de-sac had a Bullock’s Oriole where the Gray Hawk was sitting last week, a Coot in the river, a flyover Osprey, and a Rough-winged Swallow zipping by (also a lifer), but only heard the seedeater, way too far away to even hope for a glimpse. L  A flying duck got us excited as we were leaving, but it turned out to be a female scaup…  Rolling through the little town some Purple Martins on a shelter were fun! 

Subadult Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Frank checking out the Rio Grande from the Salineno parking area

Amy and Frank at the end of the Seedeater Trail

Osprey

We stopped at the foot of the Dump Road Route to do the eBird list, but got distracted by some little birds jumping around in the bushes that turned out to be Lark Sparrows!  But while we were enjoying them a couple of Painted Buntings came in and stirred things up!  Amy had seen something larger, but whatever it was fled the coop before any of us could get a look…  Once on Old School Road (which connects Salineno Road with the Dump Road) a brilliant Pyrrhuloxia landed on a power pole just before the turnoff – Frank was thrilled as he was able to get a wonderful photo! 

Lark Sparrow

Pyrrhuloxia

Once on Dump Road (Frank and Amy were aghast at how well it lived up to its name L) we heard lots of stuff but not much wanted to show: the Cactus Wrens were stubborn, but we at least got a distant look at a Bewick’s Wren.  Even the Roadrunners were unresponsive to my messin’ with ‘em and only gave us brief looks!  At one point I ordered (nicely J) Frank to stop – there was a nighthawk perched on a limb!  (With all my talk of having lousy eyesight he was amazed that I spotted the thing… J)  Because of the way it was sitting, a definitive ID was difficult, but Frank saw it fly as he approached the side of the road and said the band was definitely closer to the tip of the wing, so we called it a Lesser.  In the same tree was a female Brown-headed Cowbird and a gnatcatcher I tried real hard to turn into a Black-tailed, but it was definitely a Blue-gray…  The Verdins were also frustrating, and although one did come in to some coaxing, we just couldn’t get a good look, while two Nashville Warblers were more than cooperative!  While all this was going on the Harris’ Hawk pair circled around near “their” windmill!  A Kestrel on the wire got everyone excited, and unlike the other songbirds, a singing Black-throated Sparrow came right in!

Lesser Nighthawk

Black-throated Sparrow 

From there we headed straight to Falcon (Starr) County Park (I didn’t really expect the pigeons but I thought we’d try), where the shrike pair greeted us right away!  The Vermilion Flycatchers were definitely a hit, along with both Ash-throated and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.  The staff at Falcon State Park was out to lunch, so I filled out an envelope while a Hooded Oriole sang behind us.  A pair of Caracaras gave great photo ops, and in the primitive camping area had a flock of Chipping Sparrows (tried hard to turn one into a Clay-colored), and the Cactus Wren finally came out.  Couch’s Kingbirds called unseen, while a female Summer Tanager hid in the bushes.  One Ash-throated Flycatcher was particularly cooperative for videos and vocalizations! 

Lunch time!

Pyrrhuloxia takes advantage of a leaky faucet

Vermilion Flycatcher

Marital spat...

Frank at Falcon County Park

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Crested Caracaras (the one in front is a younger bird)

Frank checks his flycatcher photo in the primitive camping area

Ash-throated Flycatcher fanning his tail

Normal appearance... 

Frank was okay with “off-roading” so we bounced down to the lake edge while a weird-sounding meadowlark sang across from the boat ramp.  We had the usual water birds:  the spit had over 100 Neotropic Cormorants that were grunting, plus three Black Skimmers (that didn’t get flagged by eBird, so I guess they’re somewhat expected)!  After our romp we braved using the pit toilet and were rewarded with a Brown-crested Flycatcher!  We then rolled into the picnic area and took a little hike which kicked up nothing, but on the way out ran into park host Mike Ebersol who directed us to his camping spot for feeder birds!  Hit the jackpot there:  when we pulled up a Peccary was grazing, along with a Pyrrhuloxia on the seed tray!  They of course split when we came around to sit at the bench, but after a while stuff returned, starting with two Long-billed Thrashers along with a Curve-billed, Cardinals, Inca Doves, a Green Jay, Lincoln’s Sparrow, both cowbirds, and a handful of Bobwhite!  I think that was Frank and Amy’s favorite, as she was pretty sure that’s what she saw that we could never get on at the foot of Dump Road! J

Snowy Egret

Neotropic Cormorants with Mexico in the background

Falcon Dam

Cardinal at Mike's feeders

"What're YOU lookin' at?!"

Long-billed Thrasher

Lincoln's Sparrow

Inca Dove

We had to head home after that, but ended up with a respectable 72 species for the day, which is pretty good for Starr County!  Bird list:

Lesser Scaup

Northern Bobwhite

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Inca Dove

Common Ground Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Greater Roadrunner

Lesser Nighthawk

American Coot

Killdeer

Spotted Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Black Skimmer

Neotropic Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Harris's Hawk

Ringed Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel

Vermilion Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Couch's Kingbird

Western Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Loggerhead Shrike

Green Jay

Black-crested Titmouse

Verdin

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Purple Martin

Cave Swallow

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Bewick's Wren

Cactus Wren

European Starling

Curve-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

House Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Black-throated Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Eastern Meadowlark

Hooded Oriole

Bullock's Oriole

Audubon's Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Bronzed Cowbird

Brown-headed Cowbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Nashville Warbler

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Painted Bunting

Morelet's Seedeater