Black Skimmer at Progreso Lakes, 1/21/21

It was a cool, cloudy, drippy day so I decided to stay in our Progreso Lakes yard and see what I could find for the new year list.  At one point a couple of Caspian Terns approached.  I got a bad shot of the first and wasn't even going to try for the second.  But I did and was shocked to see it was actually a Black Skimmer.  In Hidalgo County, Black Skimmer shows up annually, usually one or two in the heat of summer on some distant drying wetland.  They are abundant on the coast.  And I was expecting to maybe see on from the yard some summer but I wasn't expecting one in January.  Yard bird #233.

Our wintering White-throated Sparrow popped out a few time but is always skittish.

The local Olive Sparrow is much more tame.

The Long-billed Thrasher has recently moved into the brush patch and now acts like it's the boss.

This Hooded Oriole was flagged on eBird for being a little early.

As soon as I left my post on the lake shore, the Black-bellies reclaimed their loafing spot.

Today's birds pushed the new yard year list to 85.

Jones yard, Progreso Lakes, Hidalgo, Texas, US

Jan 21, 2021 7:30 AM - 2:15 PM

Protocol: Stationary

54 species (+1 other taxa)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (fulgens)  2000

Fulvous Whistling-Duck  1

Muscovy Duck (Domestic type)  6

Northern Shoveler  1

American Wigeon  2

Ring-necked Duck  4

Lesser Scaup  120

Plain Chachalaca  6

Eurasian Collared-Dove  2

Inca Dove  6

White-tipped Dove  1

Mourning Dove  30

Rufous Hummingbird  1

Buff-bellied Hummingbird (Northern)  1

Common Gallinule (American)  1

American Coot (Red-shielded)  2

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Caspian Tern  2

Forster's Tern  1

Black Skimmer  1    

Neotropic Cormorant  4

Double-crested Cormorant  1

Great Egret (American)  1

Snowy Egret  1

Green Heron  2

Black-crowned Night-Heron  10

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  6

Turkey Vulture  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

Ringed Kingfisher  1

Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Northern)  1

Ladder-backed Woodpecker  1

Black Phoebe  2

Eastern Phoebe  1

Vermilion Flycatcher  1

Great Kiskadee  1

Green Jay (Green)  2

Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1

Tree Swallow  5

European Starling  6

Long-billed Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  2

House Sparrow  15

Olive Sparrow  1

White-throated Sparrow  1    

Lincoln's Sparrow  4

Hooded Oriole (cucullatus/sennetti)  1 

Altamira Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  100

Great-tailed Grackle  1

Orange-crowned Warbler  2

Common Yellowthroat  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  6

Wilson's Warbler  2

Northern Cardinal  6