Cameron County, 5/12/07

I decided to work on my Cameron County year list today. First stop was to get the Tamaulipas Crows that are nesting near the Brownsville airport. Years ago hundreds of these, then known as "Mexican Crows", would spend the winter at the Brownsville city landfill. Now only a few remain and they're not present every year. I got this one along Hwy 4 just west of Vermillion St. He even let out his pathetic "uhgghh" call. Sounds more like a belch than a bird call.



Next on the list was Sabal Palm Sanctuary. Driving along the entrance road just south of the levee I heard the song of the Yellow-green Vireo Mary Gustafson had discovered last week. The song is quite similar to Red-eyed but slower with a few burry notes like Yellow-throated. Not a great pic but you can see it's got a lot of yellow below.



I wanted to see the Gray-crowned Yellowthroat that has been present for the last few years. I saw one there several years ago and saw my first there back in 1988. No luck today. I ran into a birder who said he saw it singing from a tree near the far end of the boardwalk. I walked back there and found a singing yellowthroat in a tree at the end of the boardwalk. Unfortunately it was a Common Yellowthroat. Hmmmm. I sure run into this a lot.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 4
Mottled Duck 3
Plain Chachalaca 10
Least Grebe 6
Great Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 6
Common Moorhen 3
American Coot 2
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 10
Common Ground-Dove 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 8
Groove-billed Ani 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 5
Couch's Kingbird 2
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-green Vireo 1
Green Jay 2
Black-crested Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 8
Veery 1
Swainson's Thrush 2
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 5
Cedar Waxwing 100
Yellow Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Canada Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 4
Painted Bunting 1
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Bronzed Cowbird 3
Baltimore Oriole 2
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 3


I thought about heading home at this point but decided South Padre Island might be worth a try. It turned out pretty good. Quite a few warblers around like this really sharp Black-and white Warbler.



There were also lots of Empids and dozens of Eastern Wood Pewees. For the third week in a row I fownd a Black-billed Cuckoo. This was my first for cameron County.



Earlier in the day birders had discovered another Yellow-green Vireo at the convention center. I only caught a glimpse of it. Interesting was a huge flock of Black Terns resting on the mudflats behind the convention center.





Reddish Egret 3
Cattle Egret 15
Roseate Spoonbill 2
Osprey 1
Black-bellied Plover 4
Semipalmated Plover 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Willet 2
Ruddy Turnstone 10
Sanderling 5
Least Sandpiper 5
White-rumped Sandpiper 4
Baird's Sandpiper 3
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher 25
Laughing Gull 100
Franklin's Gull 10
Royal Tern 30
Sandwich Tern 100
Forster's Tern 50
Least Tern 5
Black Tern 2500
Rock Pigeon 10
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
Inca Dove 4
Black-billed Cuckoo 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Eastern Wood-Pewee 25
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 2
Least Flycatcher 4
Brown-crested Flycatcher 1
Couch's Kingbird 1
Western Kingbird 5
Eastern Kingbird 15
White-eyed Vireo 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-green Vireo 1
Bank Swallow 20
Cliff Swallow 20
Barn Swallow 200
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Veery 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Swainson's Thrush 5
Gray Catbird 4
Northern Mockingbird 2
Cedar Waxwing 80
Tennessee Warbler 2
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 3
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 12
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Bay-breasted Warbler 3
Black-and-white Warbler 4
American Redstart 10
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Summer Tanager 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 4
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Orchard Oriole 8
Baltimore Oriole 10
House Sparrow 5

I finished the day with this pair of Aplomado falcons along Hwy 100. Turned out to be a good day of birding in the valley.