Anzalduas County Park, 12/30/07

I checked out Anzalduas County Park yesterday hoping to find some Mexican vagrant (bird that is!). Didn't find anything great but it was still a pleasant morning. This American Bittern greeted me at the entrance.



Eastern Buebird is hard to find in the Rio Grande Valley. This was my first of the year.



Black Phoebe is at the eastern end of its range in the Valley.



American Wigeon 1
Blue-winged Teal 8
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Anhinga 1
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 30
Harris's Hawk 4
Gray Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 2
American Coot 10
Killdeer 5
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Long-billed Curlew 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Rock Pigeon 50
Mourning Dove 25
Inca Dove 8
White-tipped Dove 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 6
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 4
Black Phoebe 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 10
Black-crested Titmouse 6
House Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Eastern Bluebird 3
Northern Mockingbird 6
American Pipit 25
Orange-crowned Warbler 8
Black-throated Green Warbler 6
Pine Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 5
Chipping Sparrow 5
Savannah Sparrow 9
Northern Cardinal 15
Eastern Meadowlark 20
American Goldfinch 5

Weslaco Christmas Bird Count, 12/29/07

Honey and I covered the Llano Grande flood channel as usual for the Weslaco Christmas Bird Count. Birding ws a little slow, with passerines hard to come by. We had only 92 species for the day in our area. But the other areas came through for a preliminary count total of 164 species. Lots of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks greeted us.



This Fulvous Whistling Duck was the only one seen on the count.



We got a few other good birds like Groove-billed Ani, Burrowing Owl and Sprague's Pipit but our best bird was this Short-eared Owl. I had found it the afternoon before and was lucky to refind it for the count.



Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 1955
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 1
Gadwall 15
Mottled Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 26
Northern Shoveler 530
Green-winged Teal 96
Ruddy Duck 3
Least Grebe 6
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American White Pelican 134
Neotropic Cormorant 12
Double-crested Cormorant 9
Great Blue Heron 53
Great Egret 7
Snowy Egret 17
Little Blue Heron 2
Tricolored Heron 2
Cattle Egret 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 14
Turkey Vulture 25
Osprey 1
White-tailed Kite 2
Northern Harrier 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 8
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 2
Common Moorhen 32
American Coot 34
Killdeer 32
Black-necked Stilt 48
American Avocet 85
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Long-billed Curlew 27
Least Sandpiper 97
Stilt Sandpiper 61
Long-billed Dowitcher 251
Caspian Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 34
Mourning Dove 27
Common Ground-Dove 3
Groove-billed Ani 6
Burrowing Owl 1
Short-eared Owl 1
Common Pauraque 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Vermilion Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 6
Tropical Kingbird 2
Loggerhead Shrike 3
Tree Swallow 28
House Wren 6
Marsh Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 105
Orange-crowned Warbler 12
Common Yellowthroat 65
Olive Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 50
Lincoln's Sparrow 32
Swamp Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 35
Great-tailed Grackle 40
Brown-headed Cowbird 3

Western Hidalgo County, 12/27/07

Honey and I started birding this morning along "Sparrow Road", more properly known as Hwy 2221. This road starts on the west side of La Joya and goes north though desert scrub and agricultural fields. We didn't find anything fantastic but I did get my first Hidalgo Co. Say's Phoebe for the year. Sparrows were way down with only a few Black-throated, Cassin's, Vesper and Savannah Sparrows. Here's a Cassin's Sparrow.



We also had about 15 Pyrrhuloxias. They seem to be in higher than usual numbers this year.



The dirt roads in the area were poor for birding as the heavy trucks servicing the natural gas fields stirred up billows of dust as they sped by. Having received no rain for the last few months every plant along the roadside was coated in dust. So we didn't see as much as I had hoped for.

We got our best bird, this juvenal dark phase Ferruginous Hawk, a bit farther north at McCook. The white webbing in the primaries made it easy to identify. This is only the fourth I've ever seen in the Valley.







We also found a couple of Peregrine Falcons. Twenty five years ago it was a special day if you saw a Peregrine. Now they are expected on every trip.

Woops, Back to 499?

My ID of the Balmorhea jaegers as Parasitic may have been premature. Martin Reid, who knows his seabirds, thinks they are Pomarine Jaegers. He based this on bill size and general jizz. I did think the bill looked a bit large even from a distance. Unfortunately Martin only got distant looks like I did. Hope someone else can get a better view.

West Texas quest for 500, 12/21-23/07

Having not added a new bird for my Texas List since August, Honey and I headed out to west Texas hoping to see the Golden-crowned Sparrow and Parasitic Jaegers found last weekend. My last day of school was Thursday, so we headed off dark and early on Friday morning to Robert Lee, north of San Angelo, about 500 miles from Weslaco, for the Golden-crowned Sparrow. We found the spot that had been well described on TEXBIRDS and found the bird after a few minutes. Texas bird #497. He's a cutie!



After spending the night in the thriving metropolis of Pecos we headed up to Red Bluff Lake to have a look see. The cold front was passing through at the same time and made for difficult birding. The lake was a freezing, churning, frothy mess of whitecaps. We had a few interesting things like Horned and Eared Grebes and a few Common Goldeneyes and other ducks



Then we headed south to Lake Balmorhea making a few unsuccessful forays though the worst looking desert for Sage Sparrows along the way. At Lake Balmorhea it didn't take long to find the two jaegers. I'm calling them Parasitic Jaegers since that the one I need for the Texas list. Also Parasitic Jaeger is what most winter jaegers on southwest reservoirs are identified as. They had a single large pale patch on the underside of the primaries. So they're #498. And if you don't like that, what are you gonna do about it?



There were ton's of other cool waterfowl like these Snow and Ross' Geese.



Snow Goose 100
Ross's Goose 10
Canada Goose 30
Gadwall 15
American Wigeon 5
Mallard 5
Northern Shoveler 3
Northern Pintail 5
Green-winged Teal 5
Bufflehead 5
Common Goldeneye 1
Common Merganser 4
Common Loon 1
Westrn/Clark's Grebe 20
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Eared Grebe 2
American White Pelican 50
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 12
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 2
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Golden Eagle 1
American Kestrel 2
Prairie Falcon 1
American Coot 30
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Bonaparte's Gull 20
Ring-billed Gull 40
Parasitic Jaeger 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 5
Say's Phoebe 2
Canyon Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5
White-crowned Sparrow 10

After a frosty night in Alpine we headed to the spot south of Marfa where Mark Lockwood had several Baird's Sparrow a few years ago. I walked quite a bit of fenceline along the road but failed to kick up any sparrows. The red sedge they tend to hang out in had been mowed along the highway. Too bad all the state of Texas is privately owned. There was lots of great looking habitat across the fence. But it wasn't a total loss as a nice flock of about 50 Chestnut-collared Longspurs flew low overhead and bounded into the grasslands. #499!

Rather than waste more time on the Baird's Sparrows we decided to head up into the Davis Mountains. We were not dissappointed as the famous Madera Canyon picnic area north of Fort Davis yielded several Golden-crowned Kinglets and Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches.



Then from out of the top of a large pine flew a noisy flock of six finchlike birds. I immediately recognized the enthusiastic kip-kip calls. Red Crossbills! Texas bird #500! Luckily they landed in response to my pygmy owl calls. As a beginning birder in the late 70's, Red Crossbill was the first rare bird I ever found. I encountered a flock in the Mark Twain National Forest near Paddy Creek in the Ozarks of Missouri. What a thrill for a new birder!





After all, we were birding in Texas so here's some cows.

Delta Lake, 12/16/07

Yesterday Honey and I participated in the La Sal Vieja Christmas Bird Count in northeastern Hidalgo County. We covered our usual area around Delta Lake and despite a near freezing start of about 35 degrees we still managed to find 102 species. The count total will probably be near last year's total of 166. Best for us were a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet and a Northern Waterthrush. As usual we found plenty of warblers including three Yellow Warblers in their usual area where the highway crossed the lake and an amazing ten Yellow-throated Warblers. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a Northern Cardinal...we had 122 of "em.





This Least Flycatcher was a nice find.



Mr. Photogenic.



Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 266
Greater White-fronted Goose 42
Snow Goose 90
Ross's Goose 7
Gadwall 27
Mottled Duck 10
Blue-winged Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 1
Northern Pintail 8
Lesser Scaup 16
Ruddy Duck 92
Northern Bobwhite 8
Least Grebe 1
Pied-billed Grebe 4
American White Pelican 7
Neotropic Cormorant 50
Double-crested Cormorant 350
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 14
Great Egret 8
Snowy Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 2
White-tailed Kite 1
Northern Harrier 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 3
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 11
American Kestrel 7
Merlin 1
Common Moorhen 2
American Coot 10
Sandhill Crane 157
Killdeer 18
Spotted Sandpiper 6
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Long-billed Curlew 1
Least Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 800
Ring-billed Gull 20
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Mourning Dove 73
Inca Dove 29
Common Ground-Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Belted Kingfisher 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 31
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 9
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 8
Vermilion Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 22
Couch's Kingbird 2
Loggerhead Shrike 1
White-eyed Vireo 9
Blue-headed Vireo 3
Green Jay 19
Horned Lark 6
Tree Swallow 25
Black-crested Titmouse 5
Verdin 5
Carolina Wren 4
Bewick's Wren 3
House Wren 25
Marsh Wren 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 36
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 23
Northern Mockingbird 31
Long-billed Thrasher 9
Curve-billed Thrasher 4
European Starling 10
Orange-crowned Warbler 66
Yellow Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 49
Yellow-throated Warbler 10
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 42
Wilson's Warbler 1
Cassin's Sparrow 6
Chipping Sparrow 1
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Vesper Sparrow 8
Lark Sparrow 13
Savannah Sparrow 187
Lincoln's Sparrow 9
Swamp Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 122
Pyrrhuloxia 11
Red-winged Blackbird 291
Western Meadowlark 21
Great-tailed Grackle 169
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Lesser Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 245

Banded Orange Heliconian at Bentsen WBC, 12/08/07

This afternoon Honey and I decided to head over to the NABA Butterfly Park to see if we could see some of the great stuff they've had this fall, in particular the One-spotted Prepona. Well, we stuck out on that but while we were there we got word that a Banded Orange Heliconian had just been found at the nearby Bentsen State Park World Birding Center. What a fantastic butterfly! It's a rare vagrant from Mexico.









This Two-barred Flasher was pretty cool.





This Glazed Pellicia was new for me. I just couldn't get it to pose right. Look at the hairs on its wings.

Llano Grande flood channel, 12/08/07

This morning I checked out the Llano Grande flood channel immdeiately south of Estero Llano Grande State Park. There were lots of birds in the water but nothing unusual.





Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 500
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 1
Gadwall 6
Mottled Duck 4
Blue-winged Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 300
Green-winged Teal 50
Ruddy Duck 1
Northern Bobwhite 12
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American White Pelican 250
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Double-crested Cormorant 6
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 32
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 5
Little Blue Heron 2
Tricolored Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Roseate Spoonbill 10
Black Vulture 2
White-tailed Kite 3
Northern Harrier 3
American Kestrel 1
Common Moorhen 4
American Coot 10
Killdeer 20
Black-necked Stilt 30
American Avocet 50
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Long-billed Curlew 5
Least Sandpiper 120
Stilt Sandpiper 40
Long-billed Dowitcher 200
Caspian Tern 1
Mourning Dove 20
Common Ground-Dove 6
Eastern Phoebe 1
Couch's Kingbird 1
Horned Lark 1
Tree Swallow 20
Cave Swallow 5
Marsh Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
American Pipit 150
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 10
Savannah Sparrow 5
Lincoln's Sparrow 6
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Great-tailed Grackle 10