3/30/22
John and Jenny from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had already spent some time in Brownsville, so when they drove in to Alamo this morning, we threw their things in the room (which thankfully was ready J) and headed out to Estero Llano Grande State Park! John was primarily a photographer but was getting into birds as he got more into photography, while Jenny (who was a horse person and even knowledgeable about the different types of cattle we encountered) was pretty much just along for the ride and enjoying the show!
Once at the park we took a quick peek at the “McCall’s” Screech Owl, along with a Curve-billed Thrasher on the wire, and a pair of Red-crowned Parrots that went blasting by in the distance.
Curve-billed Thrasher
At the deck, the Black-bellied Whistling Duck mob didn’t disappoint, and the first Black-necked Stilts I had seen there in a while were poking along. We were able to pin down a Common Gallinule on the log, as Jenny had mentioned these red-faced water birds at Rancho Viejos that I thought might have been gallinules, but after seeing the real deal and saying, “No, that wasn’t it,” a little more prompting revealed that they had seen Muscovy Ducks… J After bantering with park volunteers Steve and Tom and Ranger John, we got checked in, then went around on the boardwalk, enjoying the Purple Martins first, then getting better shots at the ducks in the nice morning light (including a pair of Shovelers and Mottled Ducks). A nice prize was the continuing Fulvous Whistling Duck in with the mob (kind of a waterfowl version of Where’s Waldo)! Avocet Pond was hard to see into but we did add some Least Grebes.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks ready to pounce on the food...
Purple Martins
It was pretty quiet all the way over to the
footbridge to Alligator Lake: we had a
Marsh Wren ftt-ftting in the reeds at Dowitcher Pond, and a little window into said pond
revealed a Little Blue Heron and a big Red-eared Slider! Soras also sounded off, but not much was
visible.
Grebe Marsh had no grebes, but we did see a nice
female Anhinga and both flavors of egrets.
One of the park volunteers was there and pointed out a small Alligator
(right after John had asked me if they really did have Alligators there, to which I responded “yes”, but seeing one was
another matter)! We heard a distant
Altamira Oriole but could never locate it, as well as chirping Verdins. The night herons were still at Alligator
Lake, some with some pretty extensive filo-plumes! Then came the Pauraque
hunt: I looked in the same spot where Sirimon had found him previously, and by
golly, he was still there, only more obscured – all you could make out were the golden scapular edges! The only thing we added at the overlook were
a few Neotropic Cormorants, but we paid attention to the Cardinals seeing as
they don’t have those in New Mexico! J
We headed back after that, logging a flyover Tricolored Heron and running into a herpetology class looking for reptiles! They didn’t find anything while we passed, but we found a Rosebelly Lizard when we were almost back to the Visitor’s Center! After taking care of things we headed back to the Tropical Zone where we took another quick peek at the screech owl, this time in better light.
On the way back to the blind, a Hooded Oriole wheeped, and then
perched right in the sun on a dead branch…
We looked for “Burney”, the Pauraque back near Pauraque Hall, but
couldn’t find him L, so headed on in to the Indigo Blind, and that’s where the action really was! We ended up spending about an hour there, and
almost all the specialties came in, at least allowing a look if not a
photo! Kiskadees were feisty (although
no one gave me a crest flare), and the Green Jay came in a few times. The White-tipped Doves were especially
numerous along with the White-winged Doves, and Jenny enjoyed watching the
female Ruby-throated Hummer that came in to the feeder where she was
sitting! A Clay-colored Thrush with a
funky “do” came in a few times along with a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, and a
Black-crested Titmouse whanged on a seed long enough to get some pictures. Other quickies included a Long-billed
Thrasher, a Buff-bellied Hummer, and an Olive Sparrow; surprisingly, the one
specialty we didn’t see (or even hear) all morning was the Chachalaca! Afterwards we went looking for the Great
Horned Owls but couldn’t find them, either…
We chatted with Ranger Javier on the way out, and he mentioned that,
based on some photos, they were pretty sure that one of the Alligators had
nabbed a Coatimundi, which if confirmed would have been the first one for the
park!
After that it was time to head up to Brushline Road! The wind was picking up again (although not
nearly as bad as the day before, John reported), but we were hoping for the
best. The songbirds called but were
stubborn: a Verdin allowed a flyover
look as did several Pyrrhuloxias, and a Bewick’s Wren sang close by but
wouldn’t show himself. The only
cooperative songbirds were the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, who were back in
force!
John’s main targets – the raptors – were a little
more cooperative with several Caracaras posing on power poles, but initially
the Harris’ Hawks were only fly-bys. Our
one and only White-tailed Hawk was so distant that I never would have even seen
it had not Jenny mentioned that there was something flying behind the post that
a Caracara was on! At the farm pond at
the end of Brushline there was a mob of Blue-winged Teal, a small pod of
Pied-billed Grebes, and a single Solitary Sandpiper that flew in. We also saw several exotic Blackbuck on the
property which are always neat to see!
Going down Ken Baker produced no Whitetails, but cruising up the Rio Beef Feedyard entrance bagged us a Loggerhead Shrike for the day! Inca Doves were on the wires, but split the minute John stepped out of the car… We continued down Jesus Maria in a last ditch effort to find some Whitetails, and got a nice Swainson’s Hawk sailing over the barren field instead. Just before we had to turn around we found a group of Turkey Vultures feeding on a road-killed Raccoon, while a pair of Caracaras waited their turn in a nearby tree! We finally found a perched Harris’ Hawk, so John was finally able to get his picture!
We headed home after that with 63 species for the day. Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Mottled Duck
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Pauraque
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Sora
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
Solitary Sandpiper
Anhinga
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Eastern Screech-Owl
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
Red-crowned Parrot
Great Kiskadee
Couch's Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
White-eyed Vireo
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Verdin
Purple Martin
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Bewick's Wren
European Starling
Curve-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Clay-colored Thrush
House Sparrow
Olive Sparrow
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
No comments:
Post a Comment