Willacy County Stuff, 8/12/25

A couple of days ago I was playing with iNaturalist and discovered I was not first in the butterfly species rankings for Willacy County.  That combined with it being fall bird migration inspired me to run out there and do some poking around.  I was driving down FM 1018 when I saw this Swaison's Hawk in a recently plowed field.  I glassed the field and found a total of eight.  Seems a little early for migrant Swainson's Hawks so my guess are these are local birds responding to a new food source in the plowed corn field.  But I guess they could be migrants.

I should have studied the raptors more to look for White-tailed Hawks but I got distracted by distant shorebirds.  My guess was they were Buff-breasted Sandpipers.  So I drove a dirt track along the edge of the field and managed to get quite close to some of them.  Yup there were young migrant Buff-breasted Sandpipers based on the scaly backs and spotted breasts.

I heard a familiar call overhead but could't remember if it was American Golden Plover or Upland Sandpiper.  Turns out there were a few Upland Sandpipers in the field.  The long neck and big eyes are reminicent of the Bustards I saw in South Africa.

I crossed the canal on FM 1420 and noticed a good sandbar so I stopped and scrambled down the bank and found three species of tiger beetles; Coastal, S-banded and Ocellated.

And a few Least Sandpipers.

I drove on out to the coast passing wet spots with egrets, ibises and spoonbills but I was too jaded for photos.  At the Laguna Point Recreation Area I found this misplaced Greater Roadrunner on a fishing pier hanging out with the regulars.

I think this is a summering female Redhead with a serious mite infestation.

There were a few shorebirds but nothing exciting.  I didn't even go to to Fred Stone County Park.  My objective had been to find a few butterflies but there was little blooming in the dry conditions.  The summer monsoon has been going on but the clouds usually pop up a few miles inland so the coast doesn't get as much rain.  I did find a few flowers by the boat dock and got my target for the day, Obscure Skipper.

So I got a few Willacy County year birds and four Willacy County iNat lifer butterflies though I know I had seen three of them before.  It's been raining up in the Teniente Tract the past few afternoons so I need to make another Willacy County run soon.

Brown Noddy at Boca Chica Jetty, 8/2/25

Not much has been going on lately birdwise.  I've been spending most of my time with insects. But yesterday afternoon the WhatsApp dinged.  Young up and coming birder Hector Duran had just sighted a Brown Noddy on a buoy from the South Padre Island jetty.  Last week he had a rare Sooty Shearwater from the SPI beach so Hector is on a role.  Anyway I've only seen Brown Noddy once and that was from the tip of the Port Aransas jetty years ago.

I hate walking the long rough South Padre Island jetty and figured I would be just as close from the end of the much more user friendly Boca Chica jetty.  So I drove out to Boca Chica, passing through congestion of the bizarre Elon Muskland.  The beach was quiet for a hot Saturday morning.  Early fall migrants included Willets and Sanderlings.

First Red Knots of the fall.

Just a few fisherman on the jetty.  I made the third of a mile walk out passing by a few Ruddy Turnstones.

At the end of the jetty I saw the buoy.  According to Google Earth it was 400 yards distant.  I set up the scope and there was the Brown Noddy!

Not much of a look.  I don't know why I didn't bring the 1.4x extender though I don't think it would have helped much.  I tried digiscoping but that was worse.  Here's a few more poor shots.

Well I'll take it.  Brown Noddy is my 440th species for Cameron County.  There was been several reports of this tropical tern species along the Texas coast this year including a very coopertive individual at the Bob Hall Pier on Padre Island by Corpus Christi.

This fisherman was cleaning up on Redfish.  He left burdened with five big ones.  I'm not sure if that is legal or not.

Not much exciting on the return drive down the beach.  A flock of four Yellow-crowned Night-Heron flew south.  Not sure what's up with that.

Back at Elon Muskland things were busy.  They had a rocket on the pad but I would wager it was there for tourist purposes.  They have been blowing up the huge Super Heavies lately.

Don't think you would want to reenter the atmosphere with a bunch of heat shield tiles missing.

This huge building was new.

Looks like someone had defaced the Overlord.  Bet this is a frequent problem.  There was bright paint on the other side.  Here's a link to more info.

Well Boca Chica beach was nice as usual but the long drive out there is becoming a real pain.  But I guess I would do it again for a Red-footed Booby.