A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 3

11/23/16

Had a fabulous chase day with Gary et al, starting on Old Port Isabel Road; unfortunately the Aplomado Falcon wasn't at his normal platform, but a young Peregrine had us fooled for a minute...  The target Cassin’s Sparrow popped up on a bush a little ways down, and at the turnaround point (the condition of the road was pretty bad) a Sprague’s Pipit flew overhead! 

The guys along Old Port Isabel Road (and this was the decent part...)

Backtracking and then blasting up to South Padre via SR48 (they opted not to stop at the boatramp seeing as they already had the oystercatcher), we went straight to the Bay Access Flats, and thankfully the water was out and the birds very approachable!  Unfortunately the only plovers to show were Black-bellied, but the guys were very happy with Sandwich and Royal Terns, Black Skimmers, Willets, Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers, and especially a Marbled Godwit (and I was very happy with the lingering Red Knot :-))!  Having birded in Florida, there were only a handful of targets they were after, so we headed to the boardwalk after that to try for Clapper Rail, and as per usual, they eventually sounded off (along with a Least Bittern) but never showed themselves. 

Part of the bird mob on the flats

Cooperative Tricolored Heron on the boardwalk

From there we headed down SR100 for a last-ditch search for the Aplomado, so I had the eagle-eyed guys yell if they saw a suspicious bird (as traffic along that road goes lickety-split and pulling over can be dangerous)!  Didn't take long, so I careened off, we got the scope out, and sire enough, a bona fide Aplomado was sitting on one of the crossbars very close to one of the many Ospreys!  As the guys were enjoying him, I was checking out the wetland that happened to be there when one of their other targets (and a tricky one at that) flew by:  Gull-billed Tern!  I was excited about the Sandhill Cranes, but that was a common bird back home for them! :-)

VERY distant view of an Aplomado Falcon

From there we backtracked to Laguna Atascosa where the feeders were kinda quiet, but in wandering the butterfly garden an Altamira Oriole came tearing in!  The boys got a great look, but by the time Gary caught up with us (thanks to the radio) the bird just took off! :-(  A skulky Long-billed Thrasher was a nice consolation prize before we meandered over to Kiskadee Trail, and again after we split up, the boys called us back:  they had found the Tropical Parula in a feeding flock (which also included a Nashville Warbler)!  We heard another Beardless Tyrannulet but couldn't pin him down, and the boys also flushed a Pauraque, which was rather anticlimactic after seeing the bird at Estero so close!  Over at Osprey Overlook a careful sort through the mob of waterfowl could produce no Eurasian Wigeon (plus the shelter was overrun with bees), so we headed on to the area west of Rio Hondo where Mountain Plovers had been sighted during the LRGV Bird Festival (after negotiating the detour around Rio Hondo itself).

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher heading in to Laguna Atascosa

Pauraque on Kiskadee Trail

From FM 508 we took FM 507 north to FM 1599, along which the plovers had been reported.  Again, we didn't have to go far before a flock of Killdeer flew across, and in amongst them were a couple of smaller, all brown birds!  With the scope we were able to get great views, and a few Long-billed Curlews were an added bonus!

Bird List:

  American Wigeon                      

  Northern Shoveler                    
  Northern Pintail                     
  Redhead                              
  Lesser Scaup                         
  Red-breasted Merganser                
  Ruddy Duck                           
  Plain Chachalaca                     
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  Double-crested Cormorant             
  American White Pelican               
  Brown Pelican                        
  Least Bittern                        
  Great Blue Heron                     
  Great Egret                           
  Snowy Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Tricolored Heron                     
  Reddish Egret                        
  Cattle Egret                         
  Green Heron                          
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  White Ibis                           
  Roseate Spoonbill                     
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  Northern Harrier                     
  Harris's Hawk                        
  White-tailed Hawk                    
  Red-tailed Hawk                      
  Clapper Rail                         
  Common Gallinule                     
  American Coot                        
  Sandhill Crane                       
  Black-bellied Plover                 
  Killdeer                              
  Mountain Plover                      
  Greater Yellowlegs                   
  Willet                               
  Lesser Yellowlegs                    
  Long-billed Curlew                   
  Marbled Godwit                       
  Ruddy Turnstone                      
  Red Knot                             
  Sanderling                           
  Dunlin                               
  Western Sandpiper                    
  Laughing Gull                        
  Ring-billed Gull                      
  Gull-billed Tern                     
  Caspian Tern                         
  Forster's Tern                       
  Royal Tern                           
  Sandwich Tern                        
  Black Skimmer                        
  Rock Pigeon                          
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Common Pauraque                      
  Belted Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Crested Caracara                     
  American Kestrel                     
  Aplomado Falcon                      
  Peregrine Falcon                     
  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        
  Eastern Phoebe                       
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Scissor-tailed Flycatcher            
  Loggerhead Shrike                     
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Blue-headed Vireo                    
  Green Jay                            
  Horned Lark                          
  Black-crested Titmouse               
  Verdin                               
  House Wren                           
  Marsh Wren                           
  Bewick's Wren                        
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Long-billed Thrasher                 
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  American Pipit                       
  Sprague's Pipit                      
  Orange-crowned Warbler                
  Nashville Warbler                    
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Tropical Parula                      
  Cassin's Sparrow                     
  Savannah Sparrow                     
  Northern Cardinal                    
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Eastern Meadowlark                   
  Great-tailed Grackle                 
  Altamira Oriole                      
  House Sparrow                        
 
104 SPECIES

A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 2

11/22/16

For our second day of this adventure, we headed out to Salineno, Falcon State Park, and stopped at Bentsen on the way home.  Couldn't find any seedeaters and no Muscovies flew by, but we did have nice looks at a Ringed Kingfisher and a couple of Gray Hawks, and one of the guys spotted a Zone-tailed Hawk from Merle and Lois' yard!  Everyone (including Merle and Lois) was disappointed that neither oriole put in an appearance, but we concluded that it was either due to a) the Sharp-shinned Hawk that was terrorizing the joint (and putting on some great aerial performances while chasing Red-winged Blackbirds. ;-)), or b) it simply hadn't gotten cold enough yet, and the orioles tend to come in when it's too cold for their natural nectar sources to produce anything.

Looking for seedeaters along the Rio Grande

Checking upriver for ducks and pigeons 

Green Jay at Merle and Lois' feeders

The Dump Road was very quiet, but thankfully Falcon was more productive: several Cactus Wrens sat right up along with a couple of Black-throated Sparrows, a Roadrunner performed famously right next to the car (never mind I was messin' with him by cooing :)), and in the primitive camping area one little bush gave us cracking views of Pyrrhuloxia, Verdin, and my first ever Black-tailed Gnatcatchers for the park!

Cactus Wren going into Falcon State Park

Roadrunner

We went back to Salineno for one last river/feeder watch, then headed back towards the Inn, stopping at Bentsen on the way in hopes of an Altamira Oriole at least, but Gary managed to spot a Clay-colored Thrush while I was checking us in, and thanks to a tip from Ranger Roy at the Gatehouse Feeders we picked up a wintering Groove-billed Ani!  On the way home we stopped at the Green Parakeet staging area at 10th and Dove to at least pick up ONE more lifer!

A Chachalaca waits (im)patiently as the Gatehouse Feeders get refilled...

Plain Chachalaca

Bird List:

  Mottled Duck                         

  Plain Chachalaca                     

  Double-crested Cormorant             

  Great Blue Heron                     

  Great Egret                          

  Snowy Egret                          

  Cattle Egret                         

  Turkey Vulture                       

  Osprey                               

  Sharp-shinned Hawk                   

  Cooper's Hawk                         

  Harris's Hawk                        

  White-tailed Hawk                    

  Gray Hawk                            

  Zone-tailed Hawk                      

  Red-tailed Hawk                      

  Rock Pigeon                          

  Eurasian Collared-Dove               

  White-winged Dove                    

  Mourning Dove                        

  Inca Dove                            

  Greater Roadrunner                   

  Groove-billed Ani                    

  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             

  Ringed Kingfisher                    

  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            

  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             

  Crested Caracara                     

  American Kestrel                     

  Green Parakeet                       

  Black Phoebe                         

  Eastern Phoebe                        

  Vermilion Flycatcher                 

  Great Kiskadee                       

  Tropical Kingbird                    

  Loggerhead Shrike                     

  White-eyed Vireo                     

  Green Jay                            

  Tree Swallow                         

  Black-crested Titmouse               

  Verdin                               

  House Wren                           

  Bewick's Wren                        

  Cactus Wren                          

  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                

  Black-tailed Gnatcatcher             

  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 

  Long-billed Thrasher                 

  Northern Mockingbird                 

  European Starling                    

  Orange-crowned Warbler               

  Common Yellowthroat                  

  Yellow-rumped Warbler                 

  Lark Sparrow                         

  Black-throated Sparrow               

  Northern Cardinal                    

  Pyrrhuloxia                          

  Red-winged Blackbird                 

  Great-tailed Grackle                 

  House Sparrow                        

 

60 SPECIES

A Thanksgiving Holiday, Part 1

11/21/16

A train delay in Indiana made for a later-than-expected arrival for my Amish guest Gary and his two sons Jonathan and Jesse, but it worked out for the best, as by taking a daytime train down they were able to add a few lifers to their list, such as Harris' and White-tailed Hawks!  But it's always nicer to get a good, solid look at these beauties, so after I picked them up and they had a chance to refresh, we were off to Weslaco for some afternoon birding!

Only as we pulled into the drive at Frontera Audubon, the closed gate reminded me that they were closed on Mondays! :-O  No worries; we could snoop around the butterfly garden and pick up some Valley specialties, as this was their first time to South Texas!  All three of them were great spotters, and they even carried walkie-talkies to keep in touch when we split up (which proved to come in handy on more than one occasion)!  It wasn't long before Jonathan found their first Chachalacas huddled in a citrus tree, and thanks to the feeders we were able to add Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Black-crested Titmouse, Green Jay, and Inca Dove to their list in short order!  Kiskadees and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers were easy, along with more Orange-crowned Warblers than they were used to seeing up north!

The guys enjoying their first Chachalacas at Frontera Audubon!

Estero Llano Grande was by far the highlight, however, with lots of ducks off the deck and their first Least Grebes!  An immature Black-chinned Hummer came to the feeder while we were there, and after enjoying the various waterfowl, we headed over to Alligator Lake in hopes of Pauraque and the "McCall's" Screech Owl.  A scan around Dowitcher Pond actually produced a pair of White-tailed Kites, but the Bufflehead that had been reporting wasn't showing himself.  We searched Grebe Marsh without success for a Green Kingfisher, but a White Ibis next to a big ol' Alligator had the boys digiscoping like crazy!  Before long Gary (who had gone on ahead) was whistling to us - he had found a posing Green Kingfisher!  The night herons also showed well, but we searched and searched for the Pauraque in vain (although a baby Alligator was a nice consolation prize). 

Snoozing Green-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler

White Ibis keeps an eye on a rather large Alligator!

Close-up of the White Ibis

The guys waiting to see if the ibis becomes dinner for the alligator...

Least Grebe

Baby Alligator getting some sun

Since a Sage Thrasher had been reported earlier, we decided to go up on the levee, and while the thrasher didn't show, a nice Ringed Kingfisher did row by nicely!  We had good views of Avocets, White Pelicans, and Roseate Spoonbills up there along with other waders and shorebirds.

We took the back trail to the Tropical Zone in hopes of White-tipped Dove, and while back there we ran into Park Host Huck, who pointed us to another stake-out Pauraque who showed beautifully!  Some American Robins happened by while Huck mentioned he had seen Clay-colored earlier along with the young Bullock's Oriole.

Huck puts out food for the doves

Jon "digi-binning" the Pauraque

After that we moseyed back to the car and headed over to cruise the neighborhoods of Weslaco and listen for Red-crowned Parrots coming in to stage.  We cruised, and cruised...and cruised....and as sunset arrived I was really despondent that we hadn't heard a squawk (but we did find a Merlin ripping into his dinner with gusto)!  Giving up, we headed north towards the freeway when guess what - a whole flock flew right overhead!  Gary said, "That's good enough!" and we headed home!

Bird List:

  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck         

  Gadwall                              
  Mottled Duck                         
  Blue-winged Teal                     
  Cinnamon Teal                        
  Northern Shoveler                     
  Northern Pintail                     
  Green-winged Teal                    
  Ring-necked Duck                     
  Ruddy Duck                           
  Plain Chachalaca                      
  Least Grebe                          
  Pied-billed Grebe                    
  American White Pelican               
  Great Blue Heron                      
  Great Egret                          
  Snowy Egret                          
  Little Blue Heron                    
  Black-crowned Night-Heron            
  Yellow-crowned Night-Heron           
  White Ibis                           
  White-faced Ibis                     
  Roseate Spoonbill                    
  Black Vulture                        
  Turkey Vulture                       
  Osprey                               
  White-tailed Kite                    
  Northern Harrier                     
  Harris's Hawk                        
  White-tailed Hawk                    
  American Coot                        
  Black-necked Stilt                   
  American Avocet                      
  Stilt Sandpiper                      
  Long-billed Dowitcher                
  Caspian Tern                         
  Rock Pigeon                           
  Eurasian Collared-Dove               
  White-winged Dove                    
  Mourning Dove                        
  Inca Dove                            
  White-tipped Dove                    
  Common Pauraque                      
  Black-chinned Hummingbird            
  Buff-bellied Hummingbird             
  Ringed Kingfisher                    
  Green Kingfisher                     
  Golden-fronted Woodpecker            
  Ladder-backed Woodpecker             
  Merlin                                
  Peregrine Falcon                     
  Red-crowned Parrot                   
  Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet        
  Vermilion Flycatcher                 
  Great Kiskadee                       
  Couch's Kingbird                     
  Loggerhead Shrike                    
  White-eyed Vireo                     
  Green Jay                            
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow        
  Tree Swallow                         
  Black-crested Titmouse                
  House Wren                           
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet                 
  American Robin                       
  Curve-billed Thrasher                
  Northern Mockingbird                 
  European Starling                    
  Orange-crowned Warbler               
  Common Yellowthroat                  
  Yellow-rumped Warbler                
  Savannah Sparrow                     
  Red-winged Blackbird                 
  Great-tailed Grackle                  
  Bronzed Cowbird                      
  Brown-headed Cowbird                 
  House Sparrow                        
 
78 SPECIES