Sooty Tern at Rockport Beach, 6/27/10

Jon McIntyre has found another good bird, this time a Sooty Tern at Rockport Beach. Sooty Tern is actually a very common bird found in tropical pelagic waters around the world. But it's not every day in Texas you can see one from terra firma. Usually, if you want to see one, you have to be bouncing up and down on a pelagic birding trip, trying to keep from tossing your cookies! So Honey and I headed up there yesterday and got some great looks.





The Sooty Tern is hanging out at a breeding grounds for Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls.







We then traveled up the road to Goose Island Stae Park where we didn't see too many birds but I got great shots of this cute little female Seaside Dragonlet. It's the only species of dragonfly know to breed in salt water.

Botteri's Sparrow in Hidalgo County, 6/24/10

For the past two summers Mary Beth Stowe has heard a Botteri's sparrow singing somewhere NE of Sal Del Rey in Hidalgo County. As far as I know there are no county records but I never got up there to check it out. Well a few days ago she heard one in the same location to make it three years in a row and this time got a good sound recording. So I headed up there yesterday and sure enough there it was singing in perfect habitat. I have to say "Thanks MB for my Hidalgo County bird #350." In fact I think I had three birds including young. Problem is it's hard to separate them from Cassin's Sparrow which I also heared singing in the distance.







There was also this young Black-throated Sparrow.



Mary Beth also had three Purple Gallinules at a neaby pond I had not previously visited. Sure enough they were still there.



And while looking for the gallinuels I got a brief look at this rare Claret Pondhawk. It may be the northernmost ever recorded. When I first saw it I thought it was a Red-tailed Pennant and was not even going to photograph it, then I recognized what it was as I looked through the lens.

Big Bend, May 7-8, 2010

Now for some real birding... West Texas style!



Being a school teacher for the last 28 years I've not had the opportunity to go out to west Texas to see the spring migration. But now that I'm retired, I decided to make a run out to Big Bend National Park to look for some things I need on my Texas list. Hiking up the Boot Springs I saw all the expected western warblers except for Hermit. Here's a Townsend's Warbler and an Audubon's Warbler. The above pic is one of several Painted Redstarts in Boot Canyon.





Mexican Jays were friendly.



I saw several empids that I felt comfortable calling Dusky Flycatcher based on color, proportions and call note.



This Varied Bunting was in my campsite in The Basin.



Wild Turkey 2
Scaled Quail 2
Turkey Vulture X
Gray Hawk 1
Swainson's Hawk 1
Zone-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Band-tailed Pigeon 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove X
White-winged Dove X
Mourning Dove X
Inca Dove 2
Common Ground-Dove 5
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Greater Roadrunner 1
Lesser Nighthawk 6
Whip-poor-will 1
White-throated Swift 5
Blue-throated Hummingbird 5
Lucifer Hummingbird 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1
Acorn Woodpecker 10
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Western Wood-Pewee 2
Dusky Flycatcher 3
Cordilleran Flycatcher 3
Black Phoebe 1
Say's Phoebe 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 5
Ash-throated Flycatcher 3
Tropical Kingbird 2
Western Kingbird X
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
Bell's Vireo X
Gray Vireo 1
Plumbeous Vireo 1
Hutton's Vireo 8
Warbling Vireo 5
Mexican Jay 20
Common Raven 1
Violet-green Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 4
Black-crested Titmouse 20
Verdin 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Cactus Wren 3
Canyon Wren 5
Bewick's Wren 15
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 25
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 3
Hermit Thrush 5
Northern Mockingbird 2
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Cedar Waxwing 10
Virginia's Warbler 2
Colima Warbler 3
Lucy's Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 10
Townsend's Warbler 5
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 12
Painted Redstart 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 8
Hepatic Tanager 3
Summer Tanager 6
Western Tanager 1
Green-tailed Towhee 1
Spotted Towhee 4
Canyon Towhee 6
Rufous-crowned Sparrow 4
Chipping Sparrow 40
Brewer's Sparrow 2
Black-chinned Sparrow 2
Lark Sparrow 1
Black-throated Sparrow 10
Lark Bunting 25
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Black-headed Grosbeak 3
Blue Grosbeak 8
Varied Bunting 3
Painted Bunting 10
Orchard Oriole 1
Scott's Oriole 2
House Finch 8
Lesser Goldfinch 2

Great Texas Birding Classic, 4/24/10 to 5/1/10

The second half of April was a very busy birding time. One week after the Frontera Birdathon, our Weslaco Slice-of-the-Good-Lifers birding team (Martin Hagne, John Yochum and myself) competed in the Gulf Coast Bird Obsevatory's Great Texas Birding Classic in the Energy Saver division. We won (as usual!) finding 176 species in 24 hours driving a distance of fifty miles.



Then I flew off to Houston to join David Sarkozi and Tony Frank for the five day long GTBC event, April 27 to May 1, that covers the entire Texas coast. Every day it was get up in the dark to look for owls and tick off birds during the day while racing through the country side till it was too dark to see and then we looked for more owls. Our milage for the week totaled about 1700 and we saw 287 species which was good for second place. The winning team scored 308 species. I got two new species for my Texas list, Barred Owl and Nelson's Sparrow, but I'm not sure I want to to this again. It was exhausting!

Frontera Audubon Birdathon, 4/17/10

Well I'm behind on my posts so here goes. In an attemp to raise funds Frontera Audubon held its first birdathon on April 17. My team, The Visayan Wattled Broadbills did pretty good coming up with 147 species during the alloted twelve hours and raised nearly $900. The Broadbills are Pat Heirs, my wife Honey and her two nurse friends, Richard and Ann, and yours truly. The only team with more species was Father Tom's team. Just wait till next year! Here's what we saw.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck X
Fulvous Whistling-Duck X
Gadwall X
American Wigeon X
Mottled Duck X
Blue-winged Teal X
Cinnamon Teal 1
Northern Shoveler X
Green-winged Teal 1
Redhead 6
Red-breasted Merganser X
Ruddy Duck X
Plain Chachalaca X
Northern Bobwhite 4
Pied-billed Grebe X
Least Grebe X
American White Pelican X
Brown Pelican X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Tricolored Heron X
Little Blue Heron X
Green Heron 1
Reddish Egret X
Cattle Egret X
White Ibis X
White-faced Ibis X
Roseate Spoonbill X
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey X
White-tailed Kite 1
Northern Harrier 2
Harris's Hawk X
White-tailed Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara X
American Coot X
Common Moorhen x
Black-bellied Plover X
American Golden-Plover X
Snowy Plover X
Wilson's Plover X
Semipalmated Plover X
Killdeer X
American Oystercatcher X
Black-necked Stilt X
American Avocet X
Spotted Sandpiper X
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs X
Willet X
Lesser Yellowlegs X
Upland Sandpiper X
Whimbrel 4
Long-billed Curlew X
Marbled Godwit 1
Ruddy Turnstone X
Semipalmated Sandpiper X
Least Sandpiper X
Baird's Sandpiper X
Pectoral Sandpiper X
Dunlin X
Stilt Sandpiper X
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 1
Short-billed Dowitcher X
Long-billed Dowitcher X
Laughing Gull X
Least Tern X
Gull-billed Tern X
Caspian Tern X
Forster's Tern X
Royal Tern X
Sandwich Tern X
Black Skimmer X
Rock Pigeon X
Eurasian Collared-Dove X
White-winged Dove X
Mourning Dove X
Inca Dove X
Common Ground-Dove X
White-tipped Dove X
Greater Roadrunner X
Common Nighthawk 1
Lesser Nighthawk 1
Common Pauraque 1
Chimney Swift X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird X
Red-crowned Parrot 6
Golden-fronted Woodpecker X
Ladder-backed Woodpecker X
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee X
Couch's Kingbird X
Western Kingbird 1
Eastern Kingbird 6
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher X
Loggerhead Shrike X
White-eyed Vireo X
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay X
Horned Lark X
Purple Martin X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow X
Cave Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Black-crested Titmouse X
Bewick's Wren X
House Wren X
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird X
Long-billed Thrasher X
Curve-billed Thrasher X
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing X
Tennessee Warbler 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Northern Parula 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat X
Hooded Warbler 5
Summer Tanager 1
Olive Sparrow X
Cassin's Sparrow X
Lark Sparrow X
Savannah Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal X
Blue Grosbeak X
Indigo Bunting X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark X
Great-tailed Grackle X
Bronzed Cowbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Orchard Oriole X
Altamira Oriole X
House Sparrow X