South Padre Island, 4/16/10

Well there was a Bobolink found at the convention center at South Padre Island yesterday afternoon but I didn't find out about it till afternoon today. So I raced out to SPI but as it turned out no one had seen it today. Well, actually the photographers there (who outnumbered the birders) acted like they didn't know what I was talking about. I don't think they would know a Bobolink from a Humperdink. But I got a good pic of a Blackpoll Warbler so that was okay.



And then I was really happy to find this Prairie Warbler on the Campeche lot. We don't get to many of them down here.





This Tennessee Wabler and Northern Parula were taking turns at the same orange.





Here's a Black-and-white Warbler doing what Black-and-whites do.

Frontera Audubon Thciket, 4/13/10

The past couple of days has seen a weird low pressure system over south Texas reminiscent of the tropical systems we see in July or August. So we're getting some rain which is grounding some of the migrant passerines and consequently I was able to see 61 species at Frontera Audubon Thicket today including 14 species of warblers. They included Worm-eating, Kentucky and this Blue-winged.



This Northern Waterthrush seems unusually dark.



I think this empid is an Acadian Flycatcher. Most empids bring up the rear of the spring migration, many not arriving till June. Acadians are one of the early ones.



Yellow-crowned Night-Herons nest at the Valley Nature Center and are frequently seen feeding at Frontera. I bet they nest here some day.



As I was leaving this morning I happened to see this "V" of about 100 double-crested Cormorants migrating north. I'm calling them Double-crested because they seem rather short tailed.



Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 12
Plain Chachalaca 10
Neotropic Cormorant 100
Anhinga 1
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Gray Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 1
White-winged Dove 6
Inca Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 6
Green Parakeet 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 3
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 4
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Purple Martin 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 2
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 2
Marsh Wren 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 1
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Tennessee Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 4
Nashville Warbler 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 3

Willacy County, 4/11/10

With it a bit breezy and drippy outside this morning I decided I would head over to Willacy County to see if I could find a few migrants for my county list. I did well with 124 species on the day and got about ten or so new county birds. Unfortunately I didn't find out about Scarlet's Black-vented Oriole till after I got home. So it's out to the convention center on SPI tomorrow morning.

One of the new Willacy County birds I added to my list was Prothonotary Warbler.



Notice it has a bit of rusty coloration on its face. I'm not sure if this is natural or maybe pollen. Another had much more of this coloration.





Also new for my county list was this Yellow-headed Blackbird.



I had several good birds on the Nature Trail in Port Mansfield including Summer Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged, Prothonotary, Black-and-white and Hooded warblers and these flyover Whimbrels.



Also on this trail was one of ten migrant Grasshopper Sparrows I saw during the day.



New for my year list was Wilson's Plover.



Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 20
Gadwall 1
American Wigeon 25
Mottled Duck 6
Blue-winged Teal 6
Northern Shoveler 5
Ruddy Duck 20
Wild Turkey 2
Northern Bobwhite 5
Least Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Anhinga 3
Great Blue Heron 3
Snowy Egret 5
Tricolored Heron 3
Reddish Egret 5
Cattle Egret 60
White Ibis 100
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 1
Harris's Hawk 6
Swainson's Hawk 2
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 3
Merlin 1
Black-bellied Plover 5
Wilson's Plover 2
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 25
American Avocet 10
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Willet 15
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Upland Sandpiper 5
Whimbrel 12
Long-billed Curlew 2
Ruddy Turnstone 10
Sanderling 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper 15
Western Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper X
Dunlin 50
Long-billed Dowitcher 15
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull 10
Least Tern 4
Gull-billed Tern 6
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 15
Royal Tern 4
Sandwich Tern 8
Rock Pigeon 6
Eurasian Collared-Dove 20
Mourning Dove X
Common Ground-Dove 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Barn Owl 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 10
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 8
Couch's Kingbird 12
Eastern Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 30
Loggerhead Shrike 8
White-eyed Vireo 5
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Horned Lark 20
Purple Martin 20
Tree Swallow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 15
Cave Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 200
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Cactus Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 2
Northern Mockingbird 12
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 10
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Prothonotary Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 8
Hooded Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 2
Olive Sparrow 4
Cassin's Sparrow 8
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Lark Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 10
Grasshopper Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 4
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Indigo Bunting 10
Painted Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 10
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle X
Bronzed Cowbird 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 2
Hooded Oriole 3
Altamira Oriole 1
House Sparrow 15

Northern Jacana at Santa Ana NWR, 4/4/10

I was snoozing comfortably this morning when Mary Gustafson called to tell me Huck Hutchens had just found a Northern Jacana at Santa Ana NWR. Well this is a pretty good Hidalgo County year tick so I ran over and luckily another birder had refound the jacana at Pintail Lake. It seems to be a young bird just molting into adult plumage.



After giving up on trying to get a good pic of the jacana I decided to go over to Willow Lake to look for my county year tick Louisiana Waterthrush. I found one right where I have seen them in years past on the northeast end of the lake.



I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning on the hawk tower at Santa Ana hoping to maybe see some interesting migrants passing through. Not a lot going on but five Mississippi Kites were nice.