5/3/22
In the ongoing quest for Ringed and Green Kingfishers, we decided to try Edinburg Scenic Wetlands today, after adding the requisite Lesser Nighthawks at the Inn! Michael was a little dubious as it was overcast the whole morning, but you do what you can with the weather!
We first went to the South Pond, filming some young
Inca Doves sitting on the wooden gateway separating the municipal park from the
wetlands. Once on the deck we gave it an
hour, and while no kingfishers came by, we had plenty of other action! Several Snowy Egrets were fishing, and some Mottled
Ducks were around, but also what I felt was a Mallard/Mottled mix. A duck that looked good for a wild Mallard
came floating over to our side and spooked the Mottled pair, but with all the
“daffys” around I wasn’t even sure of his lineage; I posted some photos in eBird and said I’d let the reviewers
decide his status! J Both a Gull-billed and
Forster’s Tern batted around, and some rusty-bellied shorebirds on the far edge
had me going for a minute, but they just turned out to be Long-billed
Dowitchers, and not the hoped-for Hudsonian Godwits! Some Stilt Sandpipers were with them, and a
Spotted Sandpiper with his spots performed on a snag! Several Neotropic Cormorants of all ages were
hanging around in groups, but the most entertainment was supplied by the
Black-necked Stilts, first with a pair who were acting as though some hanky-panky
were in the making (but the female eventually got tired of the male endlessly
circling her), then later with two couples who decided to have words and got
into a fisticuff! Heading out, a
handsome (don’t laugh) male House Sparrow was hopping around on the trail, so
we all paused to take pictures; even the jogger waited for us to finish! J
Michael and Becky on deck at the South Pond
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Then we went into the north part, filming the
Purple Martins in their houses after paying our entrance fee (B&M mentioned
they had never gotten close shots of martins, so this was really special), then
went straight to the east end of the North Pond. But first we passed the deck into the Dragonfly
Pond, where a Yellow-crowned Night Heron was standing on the railing, but moved
away when a pair of Chachalacas started walking towards him (also on the
railing)! Once at the North Pond, a
single White Pelican glided overhead and kept going, and some Least Grebes were
also having some territorial disputes, but one lone Pied-billed Grebe seemed to
be staying out of the fray. Another
Mottled Duck had a family of half-grown ducklings, and some Blue-winged Teal
were hanging with them. The vegetation
around the pond was lined with night herons of both flavors, and more egrets
and cormorants, but no kingfishers. L A Green
Heron kept tempting us from the near side (not sure if B&M got any
pictures, but he was too fast for me…), and at the overlook I thought I kept
hearing a warbler chirp, but moving way up in the sky – turned out to be
Chimney Swifts doing their single bright chirp as opposed to the normal
chittering! As we hung around seeing
what else would come by, I noticed a whole bunch of little bodies near the
spillway – Wilson’s Phalaropes! We had to go for
those!
Shooting the Purple Martins (below)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron being stalked by a Chachalaca...
Making our way to the west end, we checked out the canal and other overlooks hoping to kick up a Green Kingfisher, but got another Spotted Sandpiper instead, plus a Ladder-backed Woodpecker that insisted on playing hide-and-seek behind a snag! A Neotropic Cormorant was close, so B&M used that opportunity to get some portraits. A Yellow Warbler briefly showed itself, but that was the only migrant songbird of the day. We eventually made it down to the last overlook, where the phalaropes were very close, and were able to get stunning pictures! There were probably at least 50 of them all told!
After that we kind of just wandered until it was time to head back; I led them through the “woodsy” trails, where we scared up a pair of Clay-colored Thrushes, and another pair of Olive Sparrows actually came out in the open, but I don’t think anyone was able to shoot them (I know my attempts came to naught). A Red-eared Slider was at the end of the trail, and moved pretty fast once we tried to take some pictures! Back at the North Pond, a Texas Spotted Whiptail tried his best to be invisible, and another Yellow-crowned Night Heron was practically at our feet!
Even without the kingfishers (which was hit or miss anyway now that they’re starting to breed), we had plenty of action and excitement for the morning with 44 species altogether! Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Mottled x Mallard hybrid
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Inca Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Lesser Nighthawk
Chimney Swift
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Spotted Sandpiper
Gull-billed Tern
Forster's Tern
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Great Kiskadee
White-eyed Vireo
Purple Martin
Long-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Clay-colored Thrush
House Sparrow
Lesser Goldfinch
Olive Sparrow
Hooded Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Brown-headed Cowbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
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