12/7/21
Headed out to Starr County today, and after a few good-natured groans J the girls agreed to leave at six instead of the standard 7:00 for this time of year! We headed straight for Salineno and the “Seedeater Trail”, and were greeted by a couple of stray dogs which was a first for me! L Thankfully the one acted “scared friendly” (wagging their tail like they want attention, but cowering and keeping their distance all the same) rather than acting aggressively, so we headed on down.
The temperature was perfect (high 60s), but except for a yelling Greater Yellowlegs it was quiet until we actually got down to the cul-de-sac where another couple, Sandy and Michael (who were actually brother and sister), was already keeping watch. Michael was photographing a pair of Caracaras that had the dead tree across the way staked out, and almost right away I heard a Green Kingfisher ticking! Someone spotted her in a bush on our side of the river, so the girls were thrilled to get this lifer under their belts! We hung around for about an hour, and in the course of that time the Ringed Kingfisher pair did circles over our heads, and several kinds of ducks powered by (including a couple of Mexicans mixed in with the Mottleds), but no Muscovy… L But tons of White Pelicans sailed by in formation, first downriver, and then back up again! Lots of Great Egrets wafted by as well, along with a Great Blue Heron (a Green Heron “tucked” unseen from our shore). While our backs were turned the resident Gray Hawk claimed the perch the Caracaras were on, and a Vermillion Flycatcher hawked insects from a closer tree. We heard a distant Altamira Oriole, and a Long-billed Thrasher “faaa”ed at us unseen. We laughed at a Laughing Gull cruising back and forth only because we hadn’t had any gulls heretofore! After a while Karen and Michael decided to go up the steep hill, and Mary Lou went with them just to stretch her legs, but upon coming back didn’t report any seedeaters back there.
Karen and Michael headed up to the feeders
while we hung around awhile, enjoying a tight flock of swirling Least
Sandpipers, three Ospreys wheeling and squealing, and more fly-by cormorants of
both flavors. After the hour was up we
headed back as well, checking the boat ramp for Black Phoebe. No success there, but this was where all the
pelicans had gone! It was quite a sight
seeing them lined up on that “rock bar” bookended by both species of cormorant!
Headed up to Merle and Lois’ feeding area
after that, where the place was inundated with Green Jays! We spent another hour there, eventually
getting great looks (and pictures) of Kiskadees (Sue got one flaring his
crest!), titmice, White-tipped and White-winged Doves, Golden-fronted
Woodpeckers, and Chachalacas. Sadly,
neither oriole came in, but the Audubon’s did sing sadly off-stage. The Cooper’s Hawk cleared said stage a few
times, but one of the highlights there was actually the train of leaf-cutter
ants that was carrying away big grains of corn!
Some of them were actually shuddering with the effort!
Merle sets out the food while Chamois supervizes...
Unfortunately the hoped-for Ladder-backed
Woodpecker never showed, so we headed off to the Dump Road, which, despite the
mild temperatures, was very quiet. We
got out a couple times to try and pish in things I was hearing, but at one of
those stops we had a string of Black Vultures and a very distant White-tailed
Hawk! We tried to call in a Bewick’s
Wren at one of the stops where we got out, but he didn’t wanna play ball, so
the next time we heard one we just stayed in the car and he came right out! We were talking about Roadrunners when Sue
spotted a head sticking out the side of the road, and Mary Lou got to see a
body quickly poke out and dive right back in – I never saw the bird at all, but
they confirmed it was definitely a Roadrunner!
I tried messin’ with him to see if he’d come out again, but he didn’t
fall for it…
From there we headed to Falcon State Park
after a detour to the back side of Falcon Dam to see if they ever opened it up
(the road is open, but the No Trespassing sign kept us from going to the old
parking area). Along the entrance road
we did hear a Ladder-backed Woodpecker rather close, so we piled out; the girls
got a glimpse as he dove into the depths of the mesquite he was in, content to
“pic” at us from his hiding spot, so we finally gave up and continued to the
park entrance. As a consolation prize, an Osprey posed while eating breakfast.
Ranger Jose greeted us and confirmed that
Park Host Mike was happy to have people just stop by, so that’s the first place
we went; I did hear a Pyrrhuloxia chattering on the way in, so I dropped the
girls off at Mike’s campsite and then went to park the car and use the
restroom. On the way back, I was wishing
the girls had been with me: another Roadrunner calmly made his way across the
road and into the brush! After joining
them (they had gone to try and find the Pyrr after Mike told them how dismally
slow the feeders had been), they wanted to see if this Roadrunner would
fall for the trick, so we went over to the campsite where I started cooing at
him, again with no response. But after a
Ruby-crowned Kinglet distracted us for a minute, suddenly Mr. Roadrunner
started rattling his bill at us (still in hiding), and then returned my
coo! Wouldn’t come out, though… L
Roadrunner crosses the campground loop, then pauses before diving into the brush (below)!
So back to Mike’s we went, where he reported that a Curve-billed Thrasher and the coveted Pyrrhuloxia had come in while we were gone! L So we decided to give it about 30 minutes, and things definitely became “un-quiet” in a hurry! There was constantly a handful of blackbirds there, but before long a pair of Green Jays came in, several Inca Doves, and the best show – a big covey of Bobwhite, another target bird! The girls were thrilled (the thrasher that came back was almost ho hum J)! Unfortunately the other coveted lifer, the Common Ground Dove, only sang from the sidelines (Mike saw it in the corner about the same time the Bobwhite came in, but the latter had priority J).
He told us about a Say’s Phoebe in the primitive area, so we headed over there (after a couple of false starts with a presumed Pyrr that turned out to be a female Cardinal). Before we got to the more open area I heard a Black-throated Sparrow singing, so we pulled over to the scrub and got the sun behind us, pished a little, and out he came! That definitely got a reaction from the girls, as they both said the illustrations did not do them justice! A pair of Orange-crowned Warblers also came in that definitely wanted some attention as well! Heading back to the car we had a pair of Harris’ Hawks soaring in the distance.
We had to go home, but we wanted to give the phoebe a try so we continued on, We shortly saw a candidate flopping around right in the sun, so we wheeled around the tree he was in, and sure enough, it was the Say’s, another lifer! He even jumped right up on top of the tree for great pics!
Headed back to Alamo after that, picking
up a couple of substantial flocks of White Ibis past Rio Grande City! Ended up with 63 species for the day, which
is not bad for Starr County! Bird list:
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mexican Duck
Mottled Duck
Northern Pintail
Plain Chachalaca
Northern Bobwhite
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Gray Hawk
Ringed Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Say's Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
White-eyed Vireo
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
House Sparrow
Olive Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Altamira Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
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