South Padre Island, 5/1/1

After laying around all day yesterday (I've been in a funk since the Spurs got knocked out of the playoffs!), I decided to get off my keester and head out to South Padre Island to see if any of the good stuff that has been seen lately might still be around. Well the day turned out much batter than I deserved. Despite the strong south winds and seemingly good migration conditions, most of the stuff was still out there. For the second consecutive year a Black-vented Oriole has been found on the Island. I missed last year's bird so I was happy to pick this one up for a new Cameron County bird. Of course most people are not so excited about this bird after the long staying one we had last winter at Bentsen.



Another bird seen the past week was Lazuli Bunting. This has been a nemesis bird in Texas for me, so I'm happy this one decided to stay another day. Texas bird #536 and Cameron County bird #354.



A couple of knock-out Cape Mays have been present for more than a week. We only get a few each spring.



Another hard to find bird in the RGV is Bay-breasted Warbler. Here's a female.



Ash-throated Flycather is very unusual on SPI.



The "spark bird" that got me started birding about 35 years ago.



Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Reddish Egret 1
Cattle Egret 6
Black-bellied Plover 5
Snowy Plover 1
Piping Plover 1
Black-necked Stilt 2
Willet X
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Ruddy Turnstone 8
Sanderling X
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 8
Short-billed Dowitcher 5
Laughing Gull X
Least Tern 1
Black Tern X
Common Tern X
Royal Tern X
Sandwich Tern X
Black Skimmer X
Eurasian Collared-Dove 10
Inca Dove 7
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Olive-sided Flycatcher 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 2
Western Kingbird 2
Eastern Kingbird 1
Barn Swallow 2
Gray-cheeked Thrush 2
Swainson's Thrush 2
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 3
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Tennessee Warbler 5
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 1
Yellow Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 2
Cape May Warbler 2
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 2
Northern Waterthrush 2
Common Yellowthroat 2
Wilson's Warbler 2
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Lark Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Summer Tanager 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
Lazuli Bunting 1
Indigo Bunting 15
Painted Bunting 3
Dickcissel 7
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Black-vented Oriole 1
Orchard Oriole 6
Baltimore Oriole 10