More Great Migrants on South Padre Island, 4/25/26

After fun on the SPI flats, I ran over to the nearby Convention Center just in time for lunch.  Parking spots were filled by participants of some even at the Center but I still managed a close one just in time for lunch by the water feature.  My peaceful lunch was soon interruped by a loud ringing warbler chip.  I was expecting a Hooded Warbler or a waterthrush but instead found this Kentucky Warbler.

  Back to work after lunch.  I like the screwy plumage on this young male Baltimore Oriole.

Common Yellowthroat at the water.

A couple of birders joined me by the water feature as this Yellow Warbler came in.

One of them told me he had just seen a Worm-eating Warbler.  Dang!  I would like to see that.  A perky Ovenbird stole my attention.

Then something small and brown was digging around for bugs in the leaves.  I was expecting the Worm-eating Warbler, but saw someting better.  It was a Swainson's Warbler!  I suggested to the birder next to me that this may have been his Worm-eater.  He concurred.  We stayed on it and eventually got nice shots.  Pretty fantastic!

My other goal for the day was to see the Cape May Warbler.  A couple reported seeing it earlier in the morning but i couldn't find it.  So here's a couple of Tennessee Warblers.

Nothing new was happening so I mosied on down to Sheepshead.  As soon as I got out of the jeep I heard "Black-troated Blue Warbler."  It was a real skulker in the SW corner that refused good photographs despite a bunch of us looking for it.  These trans-Gulf migrants are hard to get in the RGV.

Meanwhile the Chestnut-sided Warbler was posing for photos.

It's been a good spring for Prothonotary Wrblers.

Finally got a Worm-eating Warbler on the day.  This one is an orange eater.

Friendly Hooded Warbler.

First Veery for the year.

Sixteen species on warblers on the day including Swainson's and Black-throated Blue along with a Parasitic Jaeger makes  for a pretty good day.

Parasitic Jaeger on SPI Convention Center Flats, 4-25-26

A possible Parasitc Jaeger has been hanging out on the mudflats north of the Convention Center at South Padre Island for the past couple of days.  Excellent photos from Friday showed it to be missing a foot so I thought it might be easy to find and maybe not surviving too long.  I drove out Saturday morning and found the flats muddy but firm enough to drive on.  I skirted the north edge and easily found the loafing jaeger.

Compare this bill to the huge ones on these Pomarine Jaegers from a long ago pelagic birding trip.

Looking at images online, these broadly barred under wing tertial coverts might also be a field mark for Parasitic Jaeger.  On Pomarine they seem  morre finely barred but I don't see this mentioned anywhere as a field mark.

There was also a fun little flock of ten Common Terns.  We usually get Forster's Terns.  A few Common Terns will winter amd are easy to ID by the carpal bar.  Here's a couple of breeding plumaed adults with one still in winter plumage.  The dark outer web of the outer rectrices has long been known as a field mark for Common Tern.  Forster;s Tern has a larger more orange bill.

If it stands, this Parasitic Jaeger is Cameron County bird species #443 for me.  No one else is close.

Willacy County Migrants, 4/21/26

After a day of recovery I was ready to get back at it.  Evan Farese saw lots of good stuff on the Port Mansfield Nature Trail and it was still kind of drippy so I thought it would be a good idea to work on my Willacy County list.  First stop was the playa on CR 315 and 1900.  I wanted to check out shorebirds and see if any tiger beetles were out.  Snowy and Wilson's Plovers may stay to nest here.

Clouds and rain would interfere with photography all day.  Usual migrants were around.  Nice to get some Semipalmated Sandpipers.

I was surprised to find four species of tiger beetles.  I was hoping this Ellipsptera would be the rare Rio Olmos Tiger Beetle but it was just the common Coastal Tiger Beetle.

A stop at the woodcock spot on FM 1420 turned up a Yellow Warbler and an Eastern Kingbird.

A bit later I was checking out the brush of the El Sauz Ranch along TX 186 when a pickup pulled up.  I didn't recognize the truck but young hotshot birder Nolan Walker popped out so we worked the brush a bit.  Lots of migrants out.  I missed shots of the good stuff like Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers.  This Worm-eating Warbler was my 301st species for Willacy County.

This good looking Scarlet Tanger was more cooperative.

We wanted to check out the action closer to the coast so we moved over to the Port Mansfield Nature Trail.  First bird was a black-throated Green Warbler.

Followed by a couple of Chestnut-sided Warblers.

Plenty of Black-and-white Warblers out acting like nuthatches.

Acadian Flycatcher was my only Empidonax.

Red-eyed Vireo.

eBird flagged this Magnolia Warbler for being early.

Summer Tanagers were out.

Here's a female American Redstart.  I have a hard time getting photos of males.

At this point Nolan left to check out Wildlife Road but I wasn't done here.  First Yellow-billed Cuckoo for 2026.

The ground was littered with Gray Catbirds.

Then some good warblers but kinda crappy photos.  Prothonotary, Worm-eating and Kentucky Warblers.  I guess the Prothonotary is ok but I cropped the hell out of it.

I love Wood Thrushes.

I walked out of the brush to the mowed area and found a flock of Pectoral Sandpipers.

And lastly a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak who had just nabber a grain of corn out of the deer feeder.

Defintely my best day in Willacy County in a long time.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  25

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  1

White-winged Dove  1

Mourning Dove  50

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  10

Buff-bellied Hummingbird  1

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Pectoral Sandpiper  20

Laughing Gull  10

Little Blue Heron  4

Black Vulture  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Golden-fronted Woodpecker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3

Acadian Flycatcher  2

Brown-crested Flycatcher  1

White-eyed Vireo  4

Yellow-throated Vireo  1

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Gray Catbird  20    Probably more.  All over the place.

Long-billed Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

Wood Thrush  3

Lincoln's Sparrow  1

Yellow-breasted Chat  1

Baltimore Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  1

Bronzed Cowbird  3

Brown-headed Cowbird  5

Great-tailed Grackle  25

Worm-eating Warbler  1

Northern Waterthrush  1

Black-and-white Warbler  8

Prothonotary Warbler  2

Tennessee Warbler  6

Kentucky Warbler  3

Common Yellowthroat  2

Hooded Warbler  6

American Redstart  4

Magnolia Warbler  1

Northern Yellow Warbler  1

Chestnut-sided Warbler  3

Black-throated Green Warbler  3

Summer Tanager  4

Scarlet Tanager  1

Northern Cardinal  1

Pyrrhuloxia  1

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  4

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  3

Painted Bunting  1