Migrants - Finally!!!

4/27/22 

What many of us felt was probably the last big storm system to come through (based on the upcoming forecasts) provided what many of us felt was the last chance of anything resembling a fallout this spring migration!  It had been pretty dismal thus far with strong, consistent south winds (great for the birds, not so much for the birders L), so today I headed out to South Padre Island with Bob and Ann (originally from Texas but now living in Oregon nearer to family)!  On the way we stopped at the Aplomado Viewing Area along SR 100, and sure enough, someone was on the nest on the distant platform (but Ann and Bob had to go on faith that it really was an Aplomado as all you saw was a silhouette)!  They mentioned that Chihuahuan Raven would be a life bird for both of them, and when I saw two black birds on the power poles across the highway (one with white basal feathers blowing in the wind), I was thrilled to be able to point them out – until a scope view revealed them to be Turkey Vultures… L  Keeps you humble, but am I glad I took that second look!  A few Ospreys were around, a flock of Cattle Egrets took off, Eastern Meadowlarks were singing, and Ann spotted a Roseate Spoonbill that I missed, but thankfully we saw more from the car as we headed towards Port Isabel, along with a few Scissor-tailed Flycatchers! 

Ann and Bob enjoy the nesting Aplomado Falcon (circled)

After a Stripes stop we headed on over to the Island and went first to the Convention Centre, where I parked at the top of the “circular area” and we began to work our way to the actual center.  Both Black-bellied Whistling and Mottled Ducks were on the grass entertaining some folks, and you almost had to kick the Catbirds out of the way!  But right away Bob found us a brilliant Blackburnian Warbler, and Ann found a female Magnolia!  We stumbled upon a skulky thrush that I would have loved to have called a Gray-cheeked (certainly looked that way on the face and back), but it didn’t seem to have much spotting on the breast, and I felt the look I got couldn’t rule out a dull-looking Veery in the shadows.  Indigo Buntings and Northern Waterthrushes played behind one of the benches, and a couple of male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks showed off in the mesquites.  We rounded a corner and spotted a Bronzed Cowbird in the top of a tree, which was new for both of them!

Working the "circular area" 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak working a discarded orange

Gray Catbird

We spent about 15 minutes at the water feature which proved pretty productive:  another waterthrush came in, along with a Tennessee Warbler at point blank, and a female Yellowthroat down in the water.  But what stole the show was a Kentucky Warbler that came in and took a quick bath!  There was a herd of people out back locked onto the “magic tree”, where a Yellow Warbler, a Black-and-white Warbler, a pewee, and another Indigo Bunting were hanging out.  Most of us were zeroed in on that Yellow when Bob had another warbler that none of us saw before it shot north, and from his initial description I thought it was a Chestnut-sided (which we later saw), but when he scrolled through his app he found a picture and declared, “This is what I saw!” – a Golden-winged Warbler!!  We never refound the thing, of course, so that was definitely the one that got away!  We went and sat on a bench for a few minutes to see if he’d come back, and got a nice look at both a male and female Indigo Bunting out in the open, plus a female Northern Parula.  Barn Swallows were swooping all over along with Purple Martins, and at one point both Ann and I spotted a “different” swallow gliding overhead and simultaneously announced, “Cave Swallow!” 

Female Indigo Bunting

Transitioning male

Female Black-and-white Warbler

We ended up wandering into the back overlook, where we added Neotropic Cormorants, a Great Blue Heron, a knockout breeding Black-bellied Plover, and the male Greater Scaup!  This was the best look I had ever had of him, and he showed off very well, allowing for some nice documentation photos.  Back in the "back yard", the bottlebrush tree that had been so attractive the week before was pretty shot, so we sat on the “corner bench” for awhile to see if anything would come in (birding buddy Mary Volz reported only a White-eyed Vireo).  Said vireo popped between us and a photographer, which was entertaining, but the best bird was a Philadelphia Vireo right over our heads!  Over by the blooming bottlebrush plant someone was avidly shooting something (that always gets your attention J) which turned out to be a very active Black Swallowtail!

Greater Scaups are somewhat rare in the Valley anyway, but even so, this guy should have been long gone!

Flighty Black Swallowtail

From there we took the boardwalk that went out into the mangroves; the Mangrove Warbler wasn’t even singing this time, so that was a bust, but we at least added a Tricolored Heron, a couple more non-breeding Black-bellied Plovers running back and forth, a Great Egret, and a couple of Pied-billed Grebes out in the bay to the list; interestingly the scaup had also made his way out there!  Lots of skimmers were flying around (and probably skimming in the pond by the other boardwalk), along with Willets chasing each other over our heads and several species of terns.  I heard an Oystercatcher in the distance, and Ann had a cuckoo fly overhead, but he was too fast for the rest of us… L  Ran into birding buddy Brad McKinney coming onto the boardwalk while we were leaving as he was determined to get that scaup (I had put it out on the RBA group)!  As we were headed back to the car Father Tom Pincelli got us on a thrush, which promptly flew to a tree and landed briefly before taking off again; the quick shot I got off proved it to be a Swainson’s. 

On the boardwalk

Black-bellied Plovers still in non-breeding plumage, with a photo-bombing Great Southern White 

Neotropic Cormorant

Sleepy Pied-billed Grebe

From there we headed to the Birding and Nature Center; I dropped them off while I ran to the Stripes to get a taco, then came back to join them, only the door was locked!  Turned out someone somewhere ruptured a pipe and the city had to shut the water off, so technically they had to close!  But since my “clients” were already in there he let me in, and I met them (and a bunch of other people) overlooking Songbird Alley from the deck! It was really quite active:  a female Summer Tanager had caught herself a wasp and was working it with her beak, perhaps trying to dislodge the stinger!  A Northern Waterthrush came in to the drip (I had to be reminded that it wasn’t running because the water was shut off - duh L), and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo came in briefly.  But the star of the show was a little male American Redstart who came in and hopped all over the place, fanning his little tail!  He was a cutie!

Birders watching the migrant show at the Birding & Nature Center! 

Female Summer Tanager with a bee/wasp

Showoff American Redstart

Rather than do the boardwalk the guys wanted to go to Sheepshead (Bob admitted he preferred the dickey birds J).  Going out we ran into Javi Gonzales, the staff naturalist, who pointed out a whole gang of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks clamoring on the seed tray!  While we were enjoying them a Green Heron came blasting in to our feet as if to say, “Hey!!  Lookit me!!”   A drip had been cordoned off for a group, evidently (which was long gone), where a tired male Scarlet Tanager let everyone get great shots (when he wasn’t hiding behind leaves)!  But as we were all watching the drip waiting for other things to come in, suddenly a Black-billed Cuckoo (as Javi put it) appeared out of nowhere and perched cooperatively near the fence!  That made everybody’s day! 

Scarlet Tanager

Black-billed Cuckoo

Annoyed-looking Green Heron

Rose-breasted Grosbeak convention

There was a lot of action at Sheepshead as well:  we pulled into the last parking spot in the little east end square, and had a nice Golden-fronted Woodpecker and Summer Tanager before we even got out of the car!  We slowly worked the north (“sunny”) side and enjoyed both Baltimore and Orchard Orioles (including a female Baltimore that had a Bullock’s-like “beard”), and a Collared Dove that nearly exploded in my face because I didn’t see it eating the seed right there on the barrier!  On the south (“dark”) side another point-blank Tennessee came in, but the star was the lingering female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that came bouncing in and latched onto a tree (and the video showed that she had made several of her famous “sap holes”)!  We checked the vegetation on the west end of the street and found a male Summer Tanager, but back at the viewing area and Eastern Kingbird flew by, and Bob spotted a little bird bouncing around just on the other side of the barrier - it was the Palm Warbler!  That excited a lot of people, and a bunch of us (including birding buddy Betty Mannon who had followed us over from the Birding Center on her bike) followed him as he led us on a merry chase eastward along Sheepshead!  I kept hearing a Dickcissel, which would have been a new bird for Bob, but just couldn’t spot the thing; he waved it off, sure that they would eventually see one during their stay here!  

Palm Warbler, rare in the Valley

Summer Tanager

Lingering Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (note the drill holes)

Baltimore Oriole

Female Tennessee Warbler

Oddball female/immature Baltimore Oriole with a "beard" - Bullock's blood?

Fluffy Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Female Orchard Oriole

The activity was slowing down (and it was getting warm to boot), so since they wanted to be shown where the Laguna Vista Nature Trail was, we headed over there.  A Ladder-backed Woodpecker greeted us in the parking lot, and as we made our way to Blind #1, we were thrilled to spot a male Bay-breasted Warbler!  (Not to be outshined, a Tennessee photobombed us…)  A male Yellowthroat popped up just short of the blind, and a Common Nighthawk beented somewhere in the distance (and we saw a real one on the way home in case we were being fooled by a Mockingbird J)!  In the blind itself a Long-billed Thrasher hopped around and took a bath, and a Lincoln’s Sparrow poked around.  But the Buff-bellied Hummingbird stole the show as he came in and perched, with the light shining through his beak and feathers and in general glowing gloriously!  Nice way to end the day!  (And in addition to confirming the nighthawk we added Harris’ Hawk on the way home…) 

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Long-billed Thrasher

We finished up with 86 species, which isn’t bad as we avoided the Flats and wetland habitats this time around!  Bird list: 

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Mottled Duck

Greater Scaup

Pied-billed Grebe

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Inca Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Black-billed Cuckoo

Common Nighthawk

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Common Gallinule

Black-necked Stilt

American Oystercatcher

Black-bellied Plover

Least Sandpiper

Willet

Laughing Gull

Least Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich Tern

Black Skimmer

Neotropic Cormorant

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Tricolored Heron

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Harris's Hawk

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Aplomado Falcon

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Purple Martin

Barn Swallow

Tree Swallow

Cave Swallow

Marsh Wren

European Starling

Gray Catbird

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Swainson's Thrush

House Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Eastern Meadowlark

Orchard Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Bronzed Cowbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Northern Waterthrush

Golden-winged Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Palm Warbler

Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Dickcissel

The Dream Finally Realized, Part 2

4/22/22 

With a report of both Golden-winged and Cerulean Warblers landing at the Laguna Vista Nature Trail the evening before, I presented that option to Becky and Michael, and they readily jumped on it!  The hour-plus drive went quickly as we chatted eBird and all sorts of things on the way over!

We parked in the main lot (which was almost full, not surprisingly) and ran into Madeleine Sandefur and her Great Texas Birding Classic team as they were leaving; I don’t think they got the Goldenwing (who tells you what blends together after awhile), but a lady we ran into along the trail had seen it that morning, in the bushes around Blind #1!  So we set up our cameras and waited to see what would come into the drip, and it was really quite active:  lots of Lincoln’s Sparrows were bouncing around like little balls, then shuffling for seeds, and among them came an Olive Sparrow!  An Ovenbird strutted his stuff by the edges and occasionally came out into the open, while a Long-billed Thrasher ran across the stage, stopping to “thrash” a bit before running back into the brush!  Both White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos came down to the pond and did their characteristic “fast dip” before flying up and shaking themselves off, while a Yellow Warbler came in and took a more leisurely bath.  A macho Great-tailed Grackle tried to impress a lady with his display, while she was more interested in gathering mud and leaves for her nest!  Both a Ruby-throated and Buff-bellied Hummingbird made brief visits, but not long enough for pictures… L  Becky had wished that the single White-tipped Dove that poked in and out would come back, and instantly her wish was granted when a pair showed up, but they pranced across the stage before any of us could get shots off! 

Ovenbird

Great-tailed Grackle trying to impress...

Female Great-tailed Grackle trying to make the nest...

White-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Long-billed Thrasher

Yellow Warbler

Lincoln's Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Eastern Cottontail (token mammal)

More and more people came in and (understandably) wanted their turns at the viewing windows, so we headed over to Blind #2.  Only I had miscalculated and we only had about an hour before we had to head back, so since Blind #3 was usually more productive (even though #2 has the better lighting setup), we headed over there, scaring up a couple of Ground Doves and Brown-crested Flycatchers in the process.  That blind was more quiet; another Ground Dove came in and perched on a limb briefly, and I thought he was gonna come in to the drip, but he zigzagged out…  The best show was a female Common Yellowthroat that came in and went from high perch to low perch to the pond to bathe several times in a row, giving a great performance; Michael got a terrific shot of her peeking up out of the water while sending spray all over! 

Michael and Becky take their places at the blind! 

Female Common Yellowthroat enjoying her bath

(©2022 by Michael Miller)

We went back to Blind #1 for a short stint, on the way to which Michael photographed a Mockingbird with a “scarf” (the wind was blowing his feathers).  They also enjoyed shooting the many cactus blossoms!  It was really quieting down by that time, and sadly it was time to leave, having dipped on the Golden-winged, even though it was spotted by others throughout the day… L  That’s the crap shoot of birding sometimes!  We wrapped up with 40 species for the morning.  Bird list:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Common Ground Dove

White-tipped Dove

Mourning Dove

Lesser Nighthawk (seen at the Inn before leaving)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Laughing Gull

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Turkey Vulture

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

White-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Curve-billed Thrasher (seen at the Inn before leaving)

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Olive Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Ovenbird

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow Warbler

Northern Cardinal

A New Valley Record

4/20/22  

I met Steve and Tom, birding buddies from Orange County, California, at the Inn early enough to log our nesting Lesser Nighthawks (who happened to be chasing each other and whinnying J)!  Tom also had a Subaru Forrester and invited me to do the driving (since I tend to be a Control Freak when it comes to that anyway), so we headed on over to Estero Llano Grande to begin with for the Valley specialties and hoped-for migrants that had been reported the day before.  Although it was dark and dismal (a storm system was fixing to hit us), we hit pay dirt right away with a Long-billed Thrasher singing on the wire, then a pair along the brick walkway gathering nesting material!  We checked “Pam’s” box (the McCall’s Screech Owl), but she wasn’t home, or at least not showing.  Since Chuck-will’s-widow was on their wish list, we hiked the Green Jay Trail in hopes of flushing one, but just got spider webs (I told them that’s why I sent them on ahead J).  

Steve shoots his life Long-billed Thrasher on the wire (below)

From there we went to the deck and logged our Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and a couple of Long-billed Dowitchers, then checked out Avocet Pond where we thankfully found a pair of Fulvous Whistling Ducks amongst the Blackbellies, along with a Little Blue Heron.  We had some sleeping grebes in Dowitcher Pond that I suspected were Pied-billed, but I really couldn’t tell.  Steve was elated at discovering a wing-drying female Anhinga at Grebe Marsh, and we providentially ran into some people who told us exactly where the Pauraque was hanging out (this time of year they can be unpredictable)!  After a brief scan at Alligator Lake for Green Kingfishers, we went straight to the spot just before the Big Overlook (this was known as our “backup Pauraque”), and there he was!  (As an aside, the lighting was awful all morning, so Tom gave me some great pointers about adjusting ISO and shutter speeds in those conditions!)  The singing Altamira Oriole overhead was almost anticlimactic!  We quickly checked the overlook as it was starting to drip; no kingfishers, but there were several Yellow-crowned Night Herons there.  We ran back to the deck and decided to check the sod farms since the rain was on its way. 

Long-billed Dowitcher

Avocet Pond

Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Female Anhinga

Pauraque

The La Feria Sod Farms were back in business after a hiatus of growing other crops for several years, so we went slowly along FM 3067 and spotted two target Upland Sandpipers on the far side of the field, plus a young Swainson’s Hawk on a post (Tom had a laser pointer that actually reached across the field – unbelievable!)  Steve wanted a closer view, so we headed to Hanka Sod (aka the Weaver Road Sod Farms) in hopes of getting good looks of not only the Uppie but other grasspipers as well.  Unfortunately the rain started coming down in earnest, so the only bird we added was the continuing “Blue” Goose that didn’t go north with its friends.  But about that time an alert came over the LRGV Rare Bird Alert What’s App group that Alex Lamareaux had found a Kelp Gull at the Brownsville Dump!  Steve made the command decision to go chase it (“Megas trump everything,” he said J), so we headed over, praying they wouldn’t close the place due to muddy conditions! 

Young Swainson's Hawk at the La Feria Sod Farms

Blue morph Snow Goose that decided to stick around

Thankfully they didn’t, and the road up the hill was quite solid!  The guys in the check-in booth apparently were ready for us as he waved us on through (we ran into Alex and his group who were on their way out and he reported that the gull was right there)!  We parked up at the top (they ask you to avoid the “active area”, but sometimes the “active area” moves over to where you happen to be, which was the case this day) and scanned the flock, but unfortunately the bird appeared to be either gone or in hiding.  Fellow birders Susan Strasevicz and Tiffany Kersten (plus a few others I didn’t know) scoured the area (even behind the stick barriers); besides the Laughing Gulls (Tom mentioned that now he knows why they call them that J) there were several pink-breasted Franklin’s Gulls, in addition to a few Ringbills and Herrings of all ages, but the guys were pleased to see the Chihuahuan Raven, especially since it’s the only raven to occur here (no chance at confusion)!  Besides the ubiquitous Turkey Vultures, the normal raptors seemed to be absent, other than a lone flyby Caracara.  So since a Glaucous Gull had been reported from the impoundment visible just down the hill, we decided to check that, as “you never know”!  Passed the illustrious trio of Brad McKinney, Dan Jones, and Father Tom Pincelli on the way, and after some good-natured bantering I promised to let them know if we found anything! 

Typical scene at the Brownsville Landfill

Birders searching for the Kelp Gull

A face-on Herring Gull had us going...

Sleepy Franklin's Gulls

Scruffy-looking Chihuahuan Raven

The wind was ferocious, so we opted to stay in the car and scan the impoundments from there.  Since the gulls were so far away the guys didn’t hold much hope of finding it, but before long I spotted a black-backed gull that stood out like a sore thumb – we got the Kelp!  I sent out the alert on the What’s App, took a bunch of pics and video (as did the guys – the bird even spread his wing for me to show off his diagnostic pattern), and also found a big white blob that proved to be the reported Glaucous Gull, in addition to another dark-backed gull that one of the guys spotted that was undoubtedly a more-expected Lesser Black-backed!  Presently the Three Amigos (plus Susan) came running down the hill and got on the Kelp, and before long the guys were traipsing down the [steep] hillside and across the ditch to get better views and pictures!  (We stayed in the car, thank you very much…)  But later their efforts would lead to a detailed discussion of that white gull on the birding pages, and now the consensus is that it was actually an Iceland-type, perhaps even a ”Kumlein’s” (which is considered accidental in Texas) as opposed to the still rare but more expected “Thayer’s”!

News of the Kelp Gull's new location bring several birders scrambling!

Distant Kelp Gull conveniently spreads his wing (below) to show the diagnostic single white apical spot!

The reported Glaucous Gull is now thought to be an Iceland 

Lesser Black-backed Gull; note the paler shade of the mantle.

The guys gallop down the hill to get better shots of the Kelp Gull (arrow marks the approximate location of the bird on the land bridge - and that hill is steeper than it looks!)

After stopping at the bottom of the hill to check out a pond that had more Franklin’s Gulls, a better look at the guys’ life Mottled Ducks, a couple of Avocets, and a mob of Cattle Egrets, we headed to Burger King for lunch, then headed back to Estero in hopes of the leftover migrants that had been reported the day before.  No banana there, and “Pam” still wasn’t showing, but we did get good looks at a Clay-colored Thrush, plus lots of White-tipped Doves and a Chachalaca at the “picnic table” feeders.  Steve finally got his life Chimney Swift flying over, and somewhere in here a female Summer Tanager popped up.  Nothing at all came in to either drip, so we started for the Indigo Blind but ran into Park Host Huck Hutchins, who knew where was yet another staked out McCall’s Screech Owl back by the old tennis court (or maybe it was shuffleboard court…)!  It took some doing to get everyone on him, as he was way back in the woods (and some of us were just too short L) but how he found that thing in the first place was beyond me!

Multi-bird pond with Laughing, Franklin's, Ring-billed, and Herring Gulls; Avocets; and Black-necked Stilt

Steve at the "picnic table feeders" 

White-tipped Dove

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Clay-colored Thrush

We finally made it to the blind where Huck put out some food and we enjoyed the show:  Green Jays, Kiskadees, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Black-crested Titmice, White-winged Doves, both Ruby-throated and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, and even a pair of whistling ducks came in to indulge!   After about an hour Huck returned and asked if we were interested in seeing a Chuck-will’s-widow (the looks of shock and leaps from the benches said it all J), so he led us back to the spot, and again, how he found that thing is beyond me (although he did admit he had seen them there before, so he just happened to check)!  We got great looks (and some pics) before he decided he didn’t like all the attention…  

Huck puts out the food at the Indigo Blind

A Black-bellied Whistling Duck at the feeder is a first!

Green Jay

Shy Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Square-headed Kiskadee

Chuck-will's-widow

It was actually time to head back about then, so Tom agreed to drive me back to the Inn while Steve stayed to bird some more, and Tom would return and join him.  On the way to the parking lot we ran into Jesse Huth and his group who had a couple of Brown-crested Flycatchers, and Tom got his Tropical Kingbird and Inca Dove in the lot before we headed back.  

Inca Dove

Tropical Kingbird

We ended up with a modest 68 species, which wasn’t bad considering the weather, but the quality couldn’t be beat, especially with a first Valley record in the Kelp Gull (which reportedly went back up to the top of the hill after we left L)!  Bird list:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Snow Goose

Blue-winged Teal

Northern Shoveler

Mottled Duck

Plain Chachalaca

Rock Pigeon

Inca Dove

White-tipped Dove

White-winged Dove

Mourning Dove

Lesser Nighthawk

Common Pauraque

Chuck-will's-widow

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Sora

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Upland Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Laughing Gull

Franklin's Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Iceland Gull

Kelp Gull

Anhinga

Neotropic Cormorant

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Cattle Egret

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Swainson's Hawk

Eastern Screech-Owl

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Crested Caracara

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Great Kiskadee

Tropical Kingbird

Couch's Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Green Jay

Chihuahuan Raven

Black-crested Titmouse

Purple Martin

Barn Swallow

Carolina Wren

European Starling

Long-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Clay-colored Thrush

House Sparrow

Olive Sparrow

Altamira Oriole

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Common Yellowthroat

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal