South Padre Island, 3/21/10

With the cold front coming through yesterday, Honey and I headed out to South Padre Island this morning to see what migrants might be about. We were greeted with a Swallow-tailed Kite lazily looping its way northward at the entrance to the island. Unfortunately my camera settings were screwed up and I missed the pic. Also at the entrance to the island were a couple of Yellow-throated Vireos.



Other early spring migrants included Yellow-throated and black-and-white Warblers. We found them at the Sheepshead lot.









Another early spring migrant is Lousiana Waterthrush.



Hooded Warbler



I got within about six feet of this Cliff Swallow.



Red-breasted Merganser 50
Brown Pelican X
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Tricolored Heron X
Reddish Egret X
White Ibis X
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Great Kiskadee X
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 13
Yellow-throated Vireo 3
Tree Swallow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Cliff Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 10
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10
Yellow-throated Warbler 5
Black-and-white Warbler 7
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 8
Clay-colored Sparrow 3
Savannah Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Red-winged Blackbird X
Great-tailed Grackle X
Hooded Oriole 1
House Sparrow X

On the way home we checked out the La Feria sod farm and found 320 American Golden-Plovers.





One of the ways to separate American Golden from Black-bellied Plover is to look at the axilary feathers. Black-bellies have black armpits and American Golden-Plover doesn't.