Sal del Rey, 11/2/08

What an absolutely gorgeous morning it was at Sal del Rey unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR. The temperature was in the upper 50's and the air was perfectly still. The lake looked like a sheet of glass. The first part of the trail from the parking area on Brushline Rd. had been mowed as far as the corner where the trail goes north. After that I had to make my way through 3-4 ft. tall grass with dozens of spider webbs across the trail. In fact I was so distracted with the spider webbs in my face that I stepped on a five feet long Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake. Lucky for me he was too cold to strike. Now that would have put a damper on the morning! Here is the only pic I could get. You can tell by the number of rattles that he was a big one!



There were pleanty of birds on the water. Most I've seen in over a year. It's good to have water. Nice to see the Snowy Plovers back.



After seeing my first Hidago County Dunlin last week, I was surprised to find three more today. I always thought there sould be Dunlin at Sal del Rey.



There were plenty of Western Sandpipers about.



As far as I can tell, These are my first Redheads for Hidalgo County, #337. I don't know how I had missed them before now.



Greater White-fronted Goose 3
Northern Pintail 4
Redhead 30
Ruddy Duck 10
Eared Grebe 45
American White Pelican 15
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Anhinga 15
Great Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 2
American Coot 1
Sandhill Crane 10
Snowy Plover 6
Killdeer 5
American Avocet 74
Lesser Yellowlegs 70
Western Sandpiper 250
Least Sandpiper 20
Dunlin 3
Wilson's Phalarope 84
Laughing Gull 800
Mourning Dove 12
Common Ground-Dove 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 4
White-eyed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 3
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 4
House Wren 8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Savannah Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 6
Pyrrhuloxia 2
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Great-tailed Grackle 2