Antshrike's Bird and Bug Blog

Tailed Cecropian at NABA, 9/2/11

2011-09-05T21:01:00.007-05:00

This past Thursday night I checked out the Texas Butterfly listserve to see if anything interesting had been seen locally. There was a post from Barry Nall up at Falcon Heights saying he had found a Tailed Cecropian in his yard that afternoon. This was the third U.S. record for this neotropical species. I thought about going up there on Friday morning but just didn't feel like making the long drive for a bug that might not even be there so I just headed over to the NABA Butterfly Center to see what was about.

Well the morning was pretty slow and David and Jan Dauphin were on their way out when I find this big leafwing-looking butterfly sitting in the shade on a baited post. The pattern on the underwing looked strangely familiar. Then I see these little spikes on the hindwing. Holy moly, it's the Tailed Cecropian! I had just been looking at pics of it the night before. I called to David and Jan as they were getting in their car and they came a running. It hung aroud for a half hour or so and we got some great photos of this first park record. My best bug find ever!

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 9/4-5/11

2011-09-05T19:46:00.008-05:00

With a cool front coming from the north, I checked out Fronter Audubon Thicket in Welasco yesterday morning and again this afternoon to see if I could find any county year birds. Nothing new for the year list but a Bell's Vireo was pretty good along with 13 species of warblers. I had seven warbler species at the water feature this afternoon. Here's a few pics starting with a male Mourning Warbler.

Female MacGillivray's Warbler.

Northern Waterthrush

Yellow Warbler is usually the most abundant in early fall.

Yellow-brested Chat is also very common in fall but many birders miss these skulkers.

Yesterday's List

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 25
Plain Chachalaca 15
Great Egret 2
Green Heron 1
Mississippi Kite 1
Gray Hawk 1
Swainson's Hawk 1
Killdeer 1
Upland Sandpiper 3
White-winged Dove 650
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 3
White-tipped Dove 8
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Common Pauraque 1
Chuck-will's-widow 1
Chimney Swift 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 12
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 2
Least Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Bell's Vireo 1 photographed
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 1
Barn Swallow 2
Carolina Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 3
Long-billed Thrasher 2
European Starling 7
Northern Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 5
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 2
Yellow Warbler 3
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 5
Olive Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 3
Blue Grosbeak 1
Great-tailed Grackle 2
Bronzed Cowbird 2
Lesser Goldfinch 5

Today's list.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 1
Plain Chachalaca 10
Gray Hawk 1
White-winged Dove 20
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 3
Chuck-will's-widow 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 10
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Alder Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 1
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 4
Nashville Warbler 1
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 7
American Redstart 1
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 8
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 4
Yellow-breasted Chat 6
Northern Cardinal 3
Great-tailed Grackle 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 4

Boca Chica, 8/31/11

2011-09-01T15:18:00.012-05:00

After J. D. Cortez told me about tons of birds on the flats at Boca Chica Unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR, I decided to drive down there and check it out. On the way I had a singing Botteri's Sparrow on Hwy 4 across from the Palmito Ranch. The turnoff for the Boca Chica Unit is about four miles before the beach with the road just being a sandy track that follows the Rio Grande.

Some large Black Mangroves along the river exceeded ten feet in height and held some buckeye butterflies that I think may be Mangrove Buckeye.

An unexpected find was six Seaside Sparrows. This is about as far south as they nest. I was hoping one would fly 50 yards across the river so I could add it to my Mexico list.

Another surprise was a Kentucky Warbler skulking in the mangroves.

The mudflats back to the north were covered with thousands of egrets and shorebirds. I scoped over them for a while but found nothing unusual.

After a couple of hours along the river I drove over to the beach and checked out the river mouth. Plenty of terns about including this Common.

This Keeled Earless Lizard was quite camouflaged against the sand.

Every time I get down here I like to check on the two Red Mangroves that grow along a little tidal creek. Though they had suffered a bit of frost damage last winter they were doing well and even producing fruit.

Living on the river on the other side.

Santa Ana NWR, 8/30/11

2011-08-30T14:21:00.011-05:00

The hoard of storks and egrets at Pintail Lakes have departed but Santa Ana NWR still has plenty of good birds. Best for me today was this young Black Skimmer, my 278th Hidalgo county bird for the year.

Among the six species of warblers were seven Mourning Warblers, all in juvenile plumage. The broken eyering fool some birders into thinking they are MacGillivray's.

Northern Waterthushes are starting to go through.

Saw three Canada Warblers today. This one was at Frontera two days ago.

This scruffy male Indigo Bunting seems a bit early.

I tried again to get some better pictures of Neotropical Bluets but they were always just out of range and much more active than the Blue-ringed Dancers who always pose for photos.

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Hidalgo, US-TX
Aug 30, 2011 8:20 AM - 12:10 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
73 species

Blue-winged Teal 60
Plain Chachalaca 4
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 25
Cattle Egret 2
Green Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
White-faced Ibis 2
Roseate Spoonbill 7
Turkey Vulture 1
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
American Coot 20
Killdeer 3
Black-necked Stilt 70
American Avocet 3
Upland Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 30
Stilt Sandpiper 40
Long-billed Dowitcher 120
Laughing Gull 7
Gull-billed Tern 3
Black Tern 4
Forster's Tern 3
Black Skimmer 1
White-winged Dove 70
Mourning Dove 5
Common Ground-Dove 5
White-tipped Dove 2
Groove-billed Ani 25
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 6
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Alder Flycatcher 4
Least Flycatcher 2
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 10
Tropical Kingbird 1
Couch's Kingbird 5
Eastern Kingbird 3
White-eyed Vireo 3
Green Jay 4
Purple Martin 2
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 5
Cave Swallow 35
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Mourning Warbler 7
Yellow Warbler 40
Canada Warbler 3
Yellow-breasted Chat 8
Olive Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 1
Blue Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 1 Male, photographed at Willow 1
Painted Bunting 3
Dickcissel 12
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Great-tailed Grackle 5
Lesser Goldfinch 1

Bentsen RGV State Park and NABA, 8/24/11

2011-08-25T13:00:00.011-05:00

I spent yesterday morning birding and bugging at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park south of Mission. Birds were pretty good with a Canada Warbler and plenty of Yellow Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats. However my main goal was to look for bugs. Now that I've been looking more at damselflies, I'm starting to see the differences more easily and it was easy to pick out Golden-winged Dancers. These were along the resaca just south of the boat ramp.

At the same spot along the resaca I was happy to see two Mexican Scarlettails. Luckily they weren't wiped out by last years flood.

This Statira Sulphur near the entrance was a new one for me. Yellows and Sulphurs don't get me too excited.

With the heat building up I decided to head over to nearby NABA Butterfly Park and see what was going on. One of the first things I saw was this Flag-tailed Spinyleg. Unfortunately I misIDed it at the time. And when I later saw a pair in tandem, I IDed them incorrectly again. After I got home I saw those long spiny legs in the photos and finally got it right.

Troy and Robin Zurovec were there at NABA and got me onto some great butterflies. This Florida White was new for me.

Robin also found this Gray Cracker. I used a flash and it brought out a lot of colors you normally miss as they hide in the shade.

Red-bordered Pixie is always nice to see.

This Pipevine Swallowtail as outside the nice new visitor's center.

Santa Ana Madness, 8/23/11

2011-08-23T16:47:00.010-05:00

The flood waters from last summer are retreating, concentrating fish in the remaining pools, and creating a feeding frenzy at Santa Ana NWR. It looks just like a scene from the Okavango or the Venenzuelan Llanos. Here's a few shots of the madness.

I counted 800 Great Egrets and 310 Wood Storks with lesser numbers of Roseate Spoonbills, Snowy Egrets, White and White-faced Ibises and assorted shorebirds.

Add to the fun a few buckets of warblers and empids and it was a heck of a morning. This was only my second ever Prothonotary Warbler for Hidalgo County. It was also county year bird #276 tying my all time high.

Meanwhile Empidonax flycatchers semed to be every where giving me some great ID practice. Lots of Alder Flycatchers were calling.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is passing through also.

Here's the 90 species I've seen there over the past couple of days.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 1
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 18
Mottled Duck 1
Blue-winged Teal 14
Least Grebe 2
Plain Chachalaca 7
Wood Stork 310
Neotropic Cormorant 70
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 800
Snowy Egret 100
Little Blue Heron 5
Tricolored Heron 2
Green Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4
Yellow-crowned Night-heron 3
White Ibis 10
White-faced Ibis 30
Roseate Spoonbill 20
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Gray Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 1
American Coot 20
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 60
American Avocet 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Upland Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 30
Stilt Sandpiper 220
Long-billed Dowitcher 80
Wilson's Phalarope 1
Laughing Gull 6
Gull-billed Tern 12
Black Tern 1
White-winged Dove 120
Mourning Dove 10
Common Ground-Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Groove-billed Ani 14
Chuck-will's-widow 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 10
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 4
Alder Flycatcher 18
Least Flycatcher 4
Empidonax sp. 5
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Brown-crested Flycatcher 4
Great Kiskadee 8
Couch's Kingbird 12
Tropical Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 6
Green Jay 8
Purple Martin 110
Cave Swallow 50
Black-crested Titmouse 15
Carolina Wren 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Clay-colored Thrush 5
Northern Mockingbird 3
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 3
Tropical Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 23
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Olive Sparrow 10
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 5
Blue Grosbeak 1
Painted Bunting 5
Dickcissel 5
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Bronzed Cowbird 5
Orchard Oriole 3
Lesser Goldfinch 15
House Sparrow 100

Sugar House Pond, 8/3/11

2011-08-03T13:36:00.004-05:00

Pat Heirs and I checked out the Sugar House Pond this morning in hopes of refinding the Red/Red-necked Phalarope but no luck. We did find this Willet which is only my third ever for Hidalgo county. Don't know if it's Eastern or Western.

Shortly after Pat left I found this distant Black-bellied Plover which was my 275th county bird of the year. I don't get Black-bellied every year in Hidalgo county.

The past week has produced 21 species of shorebirds at the Sugar House Pond. Here's todays list.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 200
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 2
Mottled Duck 4
Blue-winged Teal 5
Northern Shoveler 1
Ruddy Duck 21
Least Grebe 8
Neotropic Cormorant 2
Snowy Egret 2
White Ibis 10
White-faced Ibis 9
Common Moorhen 1
American Coot 136 counted
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 10
Black-necked Stilt 583 counted
American Avocet 144
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Willet 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 250 estimated
Upland Sandpiper 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 100
Western Sandpiper 4
Least Sandpiper 70
Baird's Sandpiper 35
Stilt Sandpiper 650 counted
Long-billed Dowitcher 13
Wilson's Phalarope 1000 counted
Laughing Gull 2
Black Tern 35
Mourning Dove 1
Horned Lark 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 2
Dickcissel 1
Great-tailed Grackle 10

Long-billed or Short-billed Dowitchers? 7/28/11

2011-07-28T15:21:00.011-05:00

After I posted on Texbirds that I had three dowitchers that I wasn't too sure about at the Sugar House Pond, I received an email from Justin Bosler stating that because of the date these might be Short-billed as they migrate earlier than Long-billed. I'm leaning towards Long-billed because of the feather edgings on the back but I may be misinterpreting this character. There were four of these birds were at the Sugar House Pond today.

I also photographed these three today at the Bucy Road Pond near Hargill. I also think they are Long-billed.

Red or Red-necked? 7/28/11

2011-07-28T15:05:00.010-05:00

Two days ago I found this phalarope among 1500 Wilson's Phalaropes at the Sugar House Pond in eastern Hidalgo County. I originally thought Red-necked but now I'm not so sure. Bill seems a bit thick. Doesn't seem small enough for Red-necked. Posture doen's seem right. This little guy was about 150-200 yards away so forgive my photos.

>

Mexican Wedgetails at Frontera, 7/27/11

2011-07-27T15:07:00.011-05:00

A few weeks ago Mike Rickard found some Mexican Wedgetails at Frontera Audubon Thicket in the long shady pool south of the maintenance shed. This morning I finally got out there to see them myself as I had only seen the species once before. It took a bit of effort and two tries but I eventually found the little buggers.

The name of this Mexican damsel comes from the wedge shaped tip of the abdomen.

Other shade-loving odes on this pool included Slough Amberwing and this Carmine Skimmer.

I figured it would be a good day for odes when the first thing I found was this Turquoise-tipped Darner near the entrance gate. Too bad it didn't hang around for a better pic.

Later I found this sharp looking Blue-faced Darner.

Some other damesels included this Blue-fronted Dancer.

Kiowa Dancer at the water feature.

And Blue-ringed Dancer.

It was also a good day for birds with my first Least Flycatcher and Black-and-white Warbler of the fall.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 10
Plain Chachalaca 10
Great Egret 1
Green Heron 3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
Gray Hawk 1
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Rock Pigeon 3
White-winged Dove 70
Inca Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 8
Chimney Swift 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 12
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 9
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 4
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 4
Green Jay 1
Purple Martin 2
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 4
Clay-colored Thrush 3
Northern Mockingbird 8
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Great-tailed Grackle 12
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 10
Lesser Goldfinch 4
House Sparrow 3

Big Bend, 7/20-21/11

2011-07-24T16:18:00.018-05:00

I finally got up and out to Big Bend National Park for the first time this year. My logic was with all the drought and fires around in the Southwest, there might be some juicy stuff around looking for sanctuary. Turns out it's incredibly dry at Big Bend too. Dryest I've ever seen. Boot Springs was dry with only scattered black, scrummy rancid pools in the canyon above the spring.

My first stop after a hard day of driving up from the RGV was at Fort Pena Colorado County Park south of Marathon to look for odes. The stream that flows into the park was dry although the main pond is still full. Very few dragonflies around, just gliders and saddlebags. Damsels included this cute Mexican forktail.

And this Orange Bluet.

I camped out in the Basin as usual. It was extremely dry with few birds around, but scenic as always.

I did my nine mile Boot Springs hike with high hopes. Though enjoyable, birds were a bit scarce. I did manage a couple of Painted Redstarts, but for the first time I went Colima Warblerless. This redstart was at the shady area below the Pinnacles.

I aslo had a Blue-throated Hummingbird there, but no sign of Dusky-capped Flycatchers.

Birds seemed to be struggling to find anything to eat and in general looked pretty scruffy. This Hutton's Vireo looks particularly worn.

Mexican Jays begged for food all along the trail. I even had one eat trail mix out of my hand.

That evening I made a run down to Panther Junction to use the phone to call Honey. I was surprised to find my first Big Bend Crissal Thrasher in the lower part of Green Gulch. The next morning I found anouther foraging along the edges of Cottonwood Campground.

Also foraging along the edge was one of my favorite lizards, Cnemidophorus tesselatus, the Checkered Whiptail.

The uncommon campground specialties like Tropical Kingbird and Gray Hawk were no where to be found. However seedeating birds were attracted to the irrigated lawn and its seeding grass. I had at least ten Painted Buntings there.

This desert loving Black-throated sparrow was also taking advantage of the free food as was a Cassin's Sparrow and eight Pyrrhuloxias.

I then ran down to Santa Elena Canyon where the only ode species along the river were some crappy Powdered Dancers who don't deserve a photo. Desert birds like Verdins and Ash-throated Flycatcher were present along with more Painted Buntings, but nothing unusual.

A stop at Sam Nail Ranch turned up singing Bell's Vireos, Yellow-breasted Chats and this Varied Bunting.

Having had enough of the heat and few birds, I headed back home to pleasant south Texas summertime where it's also incredibly hot, but at least it's humid. Ugh!

Yellow-green Vireos at Sabal Palm, 7/16/11

2011-07-16T14:33:00.009-05:00

This morning I headed down to Brownsville's Sabal Palm Sanctuary to tick Yellow-green Vireo for my year list and maybe get some photos. There was no sign of the Masked Ducks but a little effort got me some fair pics of the vireos. The male was singing his head off.

Not too much else going on. I think this is a Common Mellana. Things are slow when I'm taking pictures of skippers!

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Ruddy Duck 1
Plain Chachalaca 1
Least Grebe 6
Neotropic Cormorant 3
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
White Ibis 3
Common Moorhen 11
American Coot 39
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 1
Mourning Dove 6
Common Ground-Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Groove-billed Ani 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5
Brown-crested Flycatcher 6
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-green Vireo 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 4
Northern Mockingbird 1
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Olive Sparrow 6
Northern Cardinal 3
Great-tailed Grackle 3
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Lesser Goldfinch 2

A week ago I checked out Sal del Rey to see what the recent rains had done. Looks like they had less rain to the north of us. I like this pic of the Snowy Plover on the ice. Ice in July in south Texas? No, that's not ice. It's salt precipitate along hypersaline Sal del Rey.

I found this probable Rambur's Forktail at the freshwater cienega. It looks too blue to me.

But segments 8-10 look right.

Missouri Odes

2011-07-14T13:33:00.012-05:00

I spent a few weeks this summer in Fair Grove, Missouri to be with my father during his passing. After the memorial service I was able to get out and look at a few odes. A nearby gravelly, dolomite bottomed stream gave up some new bugs for me. Here's the magnificent Dragonhunter.

Another new Gomphid for me was the exquisite, diminutive Interior Least Clubtail.

This Cyrano Darner eating an American Rubyspot was also new for me.

Widow Skimmers were common.

A few miles away at the old Iron Bridge crossing of the Pom de Terre River I found my first Slaty Skimmer.

Stream Bluet was another new one.

As was Spring-water Dancer.

Lots of American Rubyspots around.

And everyone's favorite, the Ebony Jewelwing.

Yturria Brush, 6/12/11

2011-06-12T16:37:00.008-05:00

This morning I headed over to Yturria Brush tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR to look for desert stuff for my Hidalgo County year list, specifically Blue Grosbeak and Ash-throated Flycatcher. Despite the hot, dry leafless conditions birds were quite active. I missed my targets but scored big with my first Varied Buntings for the county (bird #362). This adult male was right under my nose when I found it but only gave me a poor pic.

I think this singing basic plumaged bunting was also a Varied. At least that's what I'm calling it till someone tells me otherwise.

I was not surprised by this Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet as I have had the species here before, though this one was a bit more friendly than most.

Black-throated Sparrows are always a treat.

Despite a complete absence of water, dragonflies were numerous. A year ago I found my first Halloween Pennant here at Yturria Brush. Today I saw maybe fifteen of them.

Northern Bobwhite 2
Great Egret 2
Cattle Egret 5
Turkey Vulture 2
Swainson's Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 1
Laughing Gull 1
White-winged Dove 10
Mourning Dove 10
Common Ground-Dove 8
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Western Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 2
White-eyed Vireo 8
Green Jay 2
Bank Swallow 1
Cave Swallow 2
Verdin 16
Bewick's Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 8
Long-billed Thrasher 2
European Starling 2
Olive Sparrow 8
Lark Sparrow 3
Black-throated Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 10
Pyrrhuloxia 24
Varied Bunting 2
Great-tailed Grackle 3
Bronzed Cowbird 10
House Sparrow 2

Masked Duck at Sabal Palm Sanctuary, 5/4/11

2011-06-04T19:34:00.007-05:00

This past week a female Masked Duck has been hanging out at the resaca at Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville so I made a run down there to see it. I was definitely not disappointed.

I am so fine!

Although I've seen lots of super rare birds in the RGV, I've seen very few of the Valley's herp specialties. After 18 years, today I finally saw my first Speckled Racer. Actually there were two of them. Apparently they are fairly common at Sabal Palm but they've avoided me before today.

Bobolink at South Padre Island, 5/5/11

2011-05-09T12:11:00.008-05:00

Last spring I failed miserably at chasing good birds on South Padre Island. I missed 'em all. But this last week has been different with the Black-vented Oriole and Lazuli Bunting. And now I can add another of my nemesis species to my Texas and Cameron County lists....Bobolink! They are usually one day wonders out on the island, but with conscientious birders putting out a little seed at the Valley Land Fund lot on Sheepshead, this one stayed for one more day so I could see it. Not a great shot but I'm still quite happy to have Bobolink on my Texas list.

At the Convention Center this late scruffy Prothonotary Warbler had his face covered with the sticky maroon pollen that this species occasionally picks up in Central America. I have no idea what kind of plant it comes from.

I learned a new field mark for the Yellow-headed Blackbird. I guess that's a better name than 'Yellow-sphinctered Blackbird".

Though primarily insectivorous, lots of warblers will eat an occasional berry. This Bay-breasted has a fiddlewood berry. I frequently see Yellow-breasted Chats feeding on pigeon berries in my yard. And of course berry-eating is what allows Yellow-rumped Warblers to winter so far north.

Usually we ignore female Painted Buntings in favor of their more birghtly colored mates. This female in the sun is a good looking bird in its own right.

Several Blackpoll Warblers have been seen on the Island this spring.

Willacy County, 5/4/11

2011-05-09T11:37:00.007-05:00

With the north winds continuing for another day, I figured heading up to Willacy County to look for migrants and work on the county list might be a good idea. Turned out great as I added eight new species to my Willacy County list (now at 257) and several new for the eBird county list. This Veery was new for the county.

Scarlet Tanager was also new for the county.

Lots of Chesnut-sided Warblers about.

Not new for the county, this Yellow Warbler looks almost bright enough to be the Caribbean race.

This Wild Turkey tried to attract my attention away from migrant passerines.

Finished the day with 109 species!

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 20
Northern Shoveler 8
Lesser Scaup 4
Red-breasted Merganser 1
Wild Turkey 2
Brown Pelican 5
Great Blue Heron 5
Snowy Egret 8
Tricolored Heron 1
Reddish Egret 1
Cattle Egret 20
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 30
Black Vulture 3
Turkey Vulture 10
Harris's Hawk 1
Swainson's Hawk 3
Crested Caracara 3
Semipalmated Plover 1
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 6
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Ruddy Turnstone 8
Sanderling 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3
Least Sandpiper 3
White-rumped Sandpiper 2
Dunlin 5
Stilt Sandpiper 5
Wilson's Phalarope 150
Laughing Gull 50
Franklin's Gull 150
Least Tern 8
Gull-billed Tern 15
Caspian Tern 1
Royal Tern 1
Rock Pigeon 3
Eurasian Collared-Dove 10
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 10
Common Ground-Dove 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Barn Owl 1
Common Nighthawk 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 15
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 10
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 6
Brown-crested Flycatcher 10
Great Kiskadee 1
Couch's Kingbird 2
Eastern Kingbird 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 5
Loggerhead Shrike 3
White-eyed Vireo 3
Warbling Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 3
Horned Lark 15
Purple Martin 1
Bank Swallow 20
Barn Swallow 100
Cliff Swallow 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Verdin 1
Cactus Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 2
Veery 1
Gray-cheeked Thrush 1
Swainson's Thrush 3
Gray Catbird 6
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 3
European Starling 5
Tennessee Warbler 3
Northern Parula 1
Yellow Warbler 12
Chestnut-sided Warbler 6
Magnolia Warbler 13
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 2
American Redstart 10
Ovenbird 4
Northern Waterthrush 3
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 8
Hooded Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Lark Sparrow 20
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Blue Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 5
Painted Bunting 2
Dickcissel 4
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Eastern Meadowlark 5
Great-tailed Grackle 50
Bronzed Cowbird 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
Orchard Oriole 3
Hooded Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 2
Lesser Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 10

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 5/3/11

2011-05-03T19:36:00.008-05:00

A nice cold front blew in yesterday and grounded some migrants causing a pretty good birding day around Weslaco for the first time this spring. I spent the morning at Frontera Audubon Thicket and ran up a list of 68 species including 14 warblers. I'm always happy to see a Blackburnian Warbler but wish they would be more photogenic.

Huck found this Philadelphia Vireo last week and it's still around. I missed it for the county last year.

Another bird I missed last year in Hidalgo County was Scarlet Tanager. I saw this one as I was leaving the Thicket.

After lunch and a nap I decided I needed to check ou the Valley Nature Center as Raul had seen a bunch of warblers there during the morning. After entering, a nice lady told me she had just seen a Golden-winged Warbler and I found it easily. This is another species I don't see every year.

Yesterday I saw my first Kentucky Warbler for the year and I got another today at VNC.

Canada Warblers always seem to be in the shade making for difficult photography.

So an hour and a half at the VNC turned up eleven warbler species making for 16 on the day. Not too bad. Here's my list for Frontera.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 20
Plain Chachalaca 12
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
Laughing Gull 3
White-winged Dove 12
Inca Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 6
Green Parakeet 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Chuck-will's-widow 1
Chimney Swift 10
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 12
Green Kingfisher 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 6
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Least Flycatcher 2
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Brown-crested Flycatcher 5
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 3
Warbling Vireo 3
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 1
Black-crested Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 2
Swainson's Thrush 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 3
European Starling 1
Tennessee Warbler 2
Yellow Warbler 5
Chestnut-sided Warbler 5
Magnolia Warbler 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 2
American Redstart 8
Ovenbird 2
Northern Waterthrush 1
Mourning Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 4
Canada Warbler 3
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Olive Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
Indigo Bunting 1
Painted Bunting 4
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 5
Altamira Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 6
Lesser Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 1

South Padre Island, 5/1/1

2011-05-01T18:27:00.011-05:00

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

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 4/28/11

2011-04-28T19:33:00.008-05:00

Well it's been a month since I posted anything. The continual southerly winds have been pushing all the spring migrants over our heads and there hasn't been much to see. In fact it's been the crappiest spring migration I've ever seen. We finally got a cool front that slowed down the birds and I was able to see a few things at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. Here's a sharp looking Chestnut-sided Warbler. I had one in my yard yesterday also.

An unusual peekaboo pose.

A half dozen gaudy Magnolia Warblers were about.

My best bird of the morning was a MacGillivray's Warbler. I didn't get a pic of this western species but I did manage a poor one of his eastern congerer, Mourning Warbler.

Another good bird for the day was my first singing Bell's Vireo. I've seen a few on them in the Valley but they've always been silent.

Here's a teneral male Common Green Darner.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 10
Plain Chachalaca 12
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2
Broad-winged Hawk 2
Gray Hawk 1
Laughing Gull 4
Rock Pigeon 2
White-winged Dove 10
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 8
Green Parakeet 7
Groove-billed Ani 1
Common Pauraque 1
Chimney Swift 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 10
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Least Flycatcher 5
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 5
White-eyed Vireo 3
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 1
Purple Martin 2
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 10
Cliff Swallow 15
Black-crested Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 2
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 4
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 3
Nashville Warbler 4
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 6
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Mourning Warbler 1
MacGillivray's Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Canada Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Olive Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 6
Painted Bunting 4
Great-tailed Grackle 12
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 3
Altamira Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 3
House Sparrow 2

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 3/30/11

2011-03-30T19:22:00.011-05:00

With boring March coming to an end, the fun spring birding season is starting to ratchet up. After a couple of weeks of warm, muggy, windy days, we finally got a little cool front to make things more pleasant and the birding picked up accordingly. Once again I got brief looks at the Spotted Towhee at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. Ten warbler species were the most I've seen in a while. Here's a Black-throated Green.

Wilson's Warbler in the water feature.

Clay-colored Thrushes are usually around when the mulberries are fruiting. I've even had a couple in my yard lately.

A Gray Hawk has been hanging around lately and making lots of noise.

I'm not sure how many people know that Great Kiskadees have a large showy crest. I see it displayed only a few times a year. If the camera had focused on the bird, this would have been a good pic.

Last night I photographed this large Eyed Click Beetle at the water feature.

Upon closer inspection it turns out he's got a couple of passengers. These are arachnids called psuedoscorpions and it is thought they prey on parasitic mites occuring on some beetles. Live and learn. Well, at least some people do.

Another first for me was this Four-lined Skink.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 40
Plain Chachalaca 10
Great Egret 1
Green Heron 2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 4
Turkey Vulture 2
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
Gull-billed Tern 2
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 2
Inca Dove 4
White-tipped Dove 11
Green Parakeet 2
Red-crowned Parrot 1
Common Pauraque 1
Chimney Swift 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Green Kingfisher 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 5
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 3
Green Jay 1
Purple Martin 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Hermit Thrush 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 5
Curve-billed Thrasher 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Nashville Warbler 2
Northern Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Spotted Towhee 1
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Great-tailed Grackle 5
House Sparrow 5

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 3/17/11

2011-03-17T19:28:00.007-05:00

With the annual March birding doldrums upon us I haven't seen too much lately and haven't been posting too much. But hawks are starting to pick up and warblers aren't far behind. This morning I checked out Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco hoping to tick a Louisiana Waterthrush for the year. Well I didn't find one but got lucky with the Spotted Towhee that has been spending the winter. It's only been seen twice since it was originally found on the CBC. A very good tick for the county year list.

I was also happy to find my FOS Great Crested-Flycatcher.

Not a particularly great bird but my first ever in Weslaco was this Black Vulture. They're common out in the brush country but not here in town.

Another first for me, copulating hoverflies!

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 6
Plain Chachalaca 10
Snowy Egret 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Common Moorhen 1
Inca Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 6
Red-crowned Parrot 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 7
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 3
White-eyed Vireo 2
Black-crested Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle 1
Altamira Oriole 1

Sal del Rey, 2/2/11

2011-03-02T12:51:00.007-06:00

Yesterday I checked out the Sal del Rey unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR as I had not been there for a few weeks. Birding was a little slow but 46 Snowy Plovers helped make up for it.

Here's a darker winter plumaged bird.

Most of these birds will soon leave to breed in saline playas across the Great Plains. A few will stay here for the summer. Does it look like they're standing around in the snow and ice? No, this is salt precipitate from hypersaline Sal del Rey (the King's salt).

My first Hidalgo County Western Sandpiper for the year.

There were lots of Least Sandpipers around. No confusing them with the Western.

This Greater Yellowlegs was making plenty of noise at the freshwater cienega.

Odes are starting to makes themselves known now that the weather is warming up. Here's Rambur's Forktail

I think this is a newly emerged Variegated Meadowhak.

On the way home I stopped at the CR 2500 pond on FM 88. The recent very cold weather killed many of these exotic plecostomus catfish native to South America.

Here's my Sal del Rey list for yesterday.

Northern Bobwhite 10
Eared Grebe 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Crested Caracara 1
American Kestrel 1
Sandhill Crane 2
Snowy Plover 46
Killdeer 2
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Western Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 90
Wilson's Snipe 2
Mourning Dove 50
Common Ground-Dove 3
Greater Roadrunner 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Kiskadee 3
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 1
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Verdin 3
Cactus Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Savannah Sparrow 5
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Pyrrhuloxia 1

Yellow-faced Grassquit at Goose Island, 2/23/11

2011-02-24T14:03:00.012-06:00

Yesterday Honey and I got up early and made the long journey to Goose Island State Park north of Rockport where a Yellow-faced Grassquit was found a few weeks ago. I saw the Bentsen bird back in 2002 but wanted some pics so I thought a trip was worthwhile. After a brief look and several hours of searching I eventually hit the jackpot at site 218. As I was the only there, sneaking up on the bird got me some good photos.

His travelling buddies included a flock of Field Sparrows.

And this Clay-colored Sparrow.

Unfortunately the Harris' Sparrow and Anna's Hummingbird were not so cooperative. One of the visiting birders discovered this Green Treefrog on a cocklebur. This is one of the cooler things I have ever seen.

The nearby family of Whooping Cranes at the Big Oak Tree were closer to the road than I had hopped.

One of them had both leg bands and a radio transmitter. Not sure I would want to fly a couple of thousand miles with those attached.

Then a run over to the Port Aransas Jetty for the Little Gull gave ame a brief look before a car scared the flock but no photo. Lots of Bonaparte's Gulls were not a good substitute

Bentsen Rio Grande State Park, 2/18/11

2011-02-18T15:58:00.009-06:00

I spent the morning at Bensten State Park hoping to get some better pictures of the Black-vented Oriole. While waiting at the feeding station near the nature center I got the opportunity to try out my new 1.4x extender. Despite the lack of sunshine I still got some OK pics and it really brought things in closer on my 300mm f/4 lens. Here's Mr. Altimira Oriole.

A female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was unusually photogenic as it checked out the grapefruit.

Clay-colored Thrush is now an expected species. I had one at my bird bath the other day.

Giving up on the oriole, I checked out the Acacia Loop feeders for the Black-headed Grosbeak reported recently. I had one at the same spot last year.

Smudge, the hybrid oriole, is still around. Actually there's probably been several different versions of Smudge through the years. This one seems yellower than the one I had last year.

The wintering Gray Flycatcher gave me some better photos this time. Usually you have to go out to Big Bend or southern Arizona to see one in winter.

Finally on the way out I got to see the Black-vented Oriole at a distant feeder near the ebony grove. Not much of a photo. I guess I'll have to give it another try in the future.

White-throated Thrush at Estero Llano Grande, 1/30/11

2011-01-31T12:55:00.005-06:00

The White-throated Thrush, first found on the Weslaco CBC back in December, continues at Estero Llano Grande State Park. I went back for a second try at it yesterday and finally got some not so bad pics. As is the case with a number of north Mexican vagrants, White-throated Thrush has become almost annual in the RGV. The first one was at Laguna Vista in 1990.

The wintering Black-throated Gray Warbler put in an appearance at the water feature while I was waiting for the thrush.

Still a few good butterflies showing up. This is a Band-celled Sister.

Brooks County Blitz, 1/26/11

2011-01-31T12:44:00.003-06:00

Last Wed. John Heaney and I decided to make a run up to Brooks County to work on a county list. The morning was spent west of Rachal digging up some sparrows. Dry conditions made for some tough birding. By the time we got to the Hwy 77 rest area at 2 PM we only had 50 species. But then things warmed with a Pine Warbler and Summer Tanager. The ephemeral ponds along the highway finally gave us some ducks and a couple of surprise Say's Phoebes. A Song sparrow hopped up in Los Olmos Creek for a good Brooks County find. We finished the day with a respectable 86 species. A return trip in the spring should push us over the century mark and first place is only 104.

Greater White-fronted Goose 5
Gadwall 3
Mottled Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 6
Northern Shoveler 2
Northern Pintail 6
Green-winged Teal 6
Canvasback 5
Lesser Scaup 5
Wild Turkey 8
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Cattle Egret 1
White-faced Ibis 7
Black Vulture 25
Turkey Vulture 12
Northern Harrier 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
White-tailed Hawk 4
Red-tailed Hawk 10
Crested Caracara 15
American Kestrel 12
American Coot 1
Sandhill Crane 140
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 5
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Least Sandpiper 8
Wilson's Snipe 1
Rock Pigeon 20
Eurasian Collared-Dove 5
Mourning Dove 25
Common Ground-Dove 3
White-tipped Dove 1
Greater Roadrunner 2
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 10
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5
Eastern Phoebe 10
Say's Phoebe 2
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 3
Loggerhead Shrike 7
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 15
Black-crested Titmouse 5
Verdin 4
Cactus Wren 1
Carolina Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 5
House Wren 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Northern Mockingbird 20
Long-billed Thrasher 5
European Starling 15
American Pipit 1
Sprague's Pipit 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 15
Pine Warbler 2
Olive Sparrow 3
Cassin's Sparrow 2
Clay-colored Sparrow 7
Field Sparrow 2
Vesper Sparrow 8
Lark Sparrow 12
Savannah Sparrow 20
Grasshopper Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 6
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 20
Pyrrhuloxia 25
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Eastern Meadowlark 30
Great-tailed Grackle 20
Lesser Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 20

Hammond's Flycatcher in Copus Christi, 1/22/11

2011-01-22T19:01:00.010-06:00

Last week Corpus Christi's dean of birding, Mel Cooksey, found a Hammond's Flycatcher at Rose Hill Cememtery in Corpus Christi. I finally got up there today and found the western empid without too much trouble. Texas bird #532 and my fourth Empidonax for the month. Hammond's Flycather is olive-gray without the contrasting white throat you see on Least. Due to the long primary extension the tail looks short.

Another characteristic of Hammond's Flycather is the short narrow bill.

Another good bird in the cemetery was this Plumbeous Vireo. I've seen many of them in the mountains of west Texas but it's pretty rare for Nueces County.

After doing well at Rose Hill, I headed over to Polywog Pond to look for Jon McIntyre's Rusty Blackbirds. It took a lot of searching but eventually I flushed the small flock of birds. They were hard to approach and all I managed was this week photo of a female.

"Western" Flycatcher at Bentsen, 1/15/11

2011-01-15T18:26:00.008-06:00

I heard from Mary that someone had found a possible "Western" Flycatcher at Bentsen Rio Grande State Park yesterday. So I got up this slightly warmer but drippy morning to look for it. This first day of precipitation after several rainless months really made the birds active. Orange-crowned Warblers were all over the place and there was plenty of action while I searched for yet another mystery empid. Finally after three hours of walking the Acacia Loop trail numerous times in the vicinity of the feeding station, The "Western" Flycatcher showed up right where it was seen yesterday. Dark skies didn't help my weak photography skills.

Up seeing it and firing a few pics I tried whistling my version of the Cordilleran Flycatcher "who-wheet" call. The bird immediately jumped to a new perch. However it failed to respond to any more of my calls. Odds are greatly in favor of this being a Cordilleran Flycatcher which is resident south of here in the Sierra Madre Oriental as opposed to Pacific-slope Flycathcer which is a west coast species. Whichever it is, it's still my Hidalgo County bird #361. I've been on a roll lately!

While waiting for the empid I saw my second Tropical Parula for the year.

One of my goals today was to find the Pine Siskins reported earlier. They are not annual down here. Luckily one popped up for a bad photo.

Plain Chachalaca X
Gray Hawk 1
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 14
Common Ground-Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 15
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 12
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Pacific-slope/Cordilleran Flycatcher (Western) 1
Eastern Phoebe 7
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 6
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay X
Black-crested Titmouse 2
House Wren 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 10
Hermit Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird X
Long-billed Thrasher 5
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 30
Tropical Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 12
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Olive Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 8
Red-winged Blackbird X
Altamira Oriole 4
Pine Siskin 1

Estero Llano Grande, 1/14/10

2011-01-15T18:07:00.005-06:00

After more cold crappy weather it finally brightened a bit so I went over to Estero Llano Grande State Park to look for stuff for my new year list. I added a few things, best of which was a couple of calling Virginia Rails. They were "oinking" nearby but wouldn't come out of the cattails. Interesting was this Cinnamon X Blue-winged Teal hybrid.

Soras were all over the place. I had seven of 'em.

Swamp Sparrows are usually real skulkers but this one was a bit brave.

Pauraques are normally easy to see at Estereo Llano Grande but this one was almost on the trail.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 1/12/11

2011-01-12T15:33:00.013-06:00

It was a cold blustery morning at Frontera. While much of the country is digging out of snow and going about their business, clouds and 45 degrees are enough to paralyze us in the Valley. The hummers were busy trying to stay warm. This young male Rufous Hummingbird was a nice surprise.

Buff-bellies were trying to guard their feeders from the Archilochus interlopers.

I took some photos of the Archilochus hummers and they all seem to be Black-chinned Hummingbirds. This one even shows a new purple gorget feather.

They all seemed to be pale crowned with short tails and broad, curved wing tips as
Sibley illustrates.

Same bird as above.

A couple of perky Overnbirds were strutting around the feeding station.

Plain Chachalaca 8
Turkey Vulture 10
Rock Pigeon 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4
Black-chinned Hummingbird 4
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Kiskadee 2
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 2
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4
Ovenbird 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Wilson's Warbler 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6

Hidalgo County Birding, 1/8/10

2011-01-08T18:40:00.011-06:00

I headed up north of Elsa to do some county birding today. My first stop was along FM 88 at Delta Lake for Yellow Warbler. They've been present here the last five winters at least. Two popped up right on cue across from the park headquarters.

While looking at the Yellow Warblers I saw a big brown bird on the lake. My first Hidalgo County Brown Pelican! With the Gray Flycatcher yesterday, my county list is now up to 359.

Next stop was Sal del Rey to pick up some seaside birds for the county year list. Hidalgo county is land-locked and hypersaline Sal del Rey acts like our seashore. I wasn't disappointed as I found five Sanderlings, 27 Snowy Plovers and 31 Wilson's Phalaropes.

A bonus was this Sedge Wren in the grass behind the freshwater cienega.

A quick stop at the Rio Beef Yard picked up my Brewer's Blackbirds for the year and then it was a run down Brushline Road to check the ponds. Not much on the water but pishing at the flooded woods south of the big pond turned up lots of stuff including a Golden-crowned Kinglet and this surprise Winter Wren.

Sal del Rey birds

Gadwall 1
Eared Grebe 35
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 1
American Kestrel 1
Snowy Plover 27
Killdeer 4
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Sanderling 5
Least Sandpiper 90
Wilson's Snipe 1
Wilson's Phalarope 31
Laughing Gull 15
Ring-billed Gull 21
Mourning Dove 4
Common Ground-Dove 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 6
Great Kiskadee 3
White-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Verdin 1
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 4
Sedge Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Northern Mockingbird 6
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 15
Pine Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 1
Lark Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Pyrrhuloxia 6
Eastern Meadowlark 2

Brushline Road birds.

Gadwall X
Blue-winged Teal X
Northern Shoveler X
Northern Pintail X
Green-winged Teal X
Northern Bobwhite 6
Least Grebe 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 1
White-tailed Kite 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Sora 4
Common Moorhen 1
American Coot 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Kiskadee 3
White-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 2
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Verdin 1
Bewick's Wren 2
Winter Wren 1
Marsh Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 15
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 12
Savannah Sparrow 30
Lincoln's Sparrow 5
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Western Meadowlark 5

Bentsen is a Rockin' 1/6/11

2011-01-06T16:40:00.009-06:00

The Black-vented Oriole found at Bentsen State Park south of Mission a couple of weeks ago has been a lot more cooperative as of late. It has taken up residence in the RV resort just north of the park and has a particular fondness for a bright red Mexican coral bean. This morning I finally got some great looks but the light wasn't very good for photography.

Earlier in the week an unidentified Empidonax was found on the CBC at Bentsen. Turns out it's a Gray Flycatcher. I went looking for it after viewing the oriole and eventually found it between the bathrooms and Green jay blind. I got pretty good looks at it including its unique downward tail wag.

The pale color, short primary extension and long narrow bill are all good field marks.

A pair of Northern Beardless-Tyrannulets were very vocal.

Other good birds included Ringed Kingfisher, Gray Hawk, Golden-crowned Kinglet and a pair of Clay-colored Thrushes.

This Vermillion Flycather has a real attitude! Actually he was coughing up a bug.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 200
Plain Chachalaca 32
Neotropic Cormorant 40
Anhinga 2
Great Egret 7
Tricolored Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
White-tailed Hawk 2
Caspian Tern 1
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 12
Groove-billed Ani 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 2
Gray Flycatcher 1
Black Phoebe 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Vermilion Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 6
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Green Jay 10
Black-crested Titmouse 1
House Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Clay-colored Thrush 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 8
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 15
Common Yellowthroat 5
Lincoln's Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 6
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Black-vented Oriole 1
Altamira Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 5

Sparrow Road, FM 2221, 1/4/11

2011-01-06T16:20:00.007-06:00

A couple of days ago I covered Sparrow Road, FM2221 northwest of La Joya for the Bentsen/Anzalduas CBC. With the drought and a paucity of birds it was pretty boring, but I did manage ten species of sparrows. I liked this plucky little Vesper Sparrow.

Lark Buntings winter in small numbers in the Valley and are hard to find on a CBC.

White-crowned Sparrow is another tough one.

Grasshopper Sparrows are not a sure thing either.

Northern Bobwhite 14
Double-crested Cormorant 30
Turkey Vulture 3
White-tailed Kite 2
Northern Harrier 2
Harris's Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 4
American Kestrel 4
Peregrine Falcon 1
Sora 1
Rock Pigeon 50
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Mourning Dove 335
Common Ground-Dove 10
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Tropical Kingbird 2
Loggerhead Shrike 2
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 4
Horned Lark 3
Verdin 10
Cactus Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 4
House Wren 9
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 9
Northern Mockingbird 28
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Curve-billed Thrasher 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 19
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Cassin's Sparrow 8
Vesper Sparrow 18
Lark Sparrow 16
Black-throated Sparrow 5
Lark Bunting 7
Savannah Sparrow 113
Grasshopper Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 7
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 11
Pyrrhuloxia 49
Red-winged Blackbird 335
Western Meadowlark 5
Great-tailed Grackle 50
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
House Sparrow 2

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T22:42:00.007-06:00

I got a late start this morning after enduring last night's rocket barrage as the neighborhood celebrated the new year. I am thankful no bullets came through the roof! I went over to Estero Llano Grande to start the new county year list. Good warblers included Tropical Parula and Black-throated Gray among the eight species I saw. Then it was the sit and wait game for the White-throated Trush. After two hours it flew in for a brief drink and a poor photo. This is the fifth one I have seen in the Valley.

After going home for lunch and a nap, I ran back over to the flood channel south of the park to look for a couple of things I had seen on the CBC earlier this week. The Yellow-headed Blackbirds were still around.

And after a bit of tromping around at the Short-eared Owl field, a couple popped up for good views and a year tick.

Then in a pond by the Llano Grande golf course I saw a Double-cresed Cormornat struggling to swallow a very spiny plecostomous. The common aquarium suckermouth catfish from South America seems to be common here in the waterways of the RGV.

Short-eared Owls at Llano Grande, 12/29/10

2010-12-30T14:50:00.006-06:00

Yesterday Honey and I covered our usual section for the Weslaco CBC. We basically have the flood channel from FM 88 to Mercedes. Despite a warm very windy day we did OK with 94 species. I'm still digging the sand out of my ears! Our best birds for the third year in a row were the Short-eared Owls right in their usual location by the Llano Grande golf course. I hadn't heard of any reports this year but thought I should still walk their field. High thick grass made if difficult and the few sparrows were hard to see in the stiff wind. But the owls popped up right on schedule and I got five of them in a few hundred yards.

Another good bird was this Pine Warbler. I'm not sure how many birders properly identify these dull ones.

A really cool find was this colony of Blue Spiny Lizards on a pile of broken concrete. The only others I have seen were at Falcon Dam and the entrance to Bentsen State Park. I'll go back for better photos of these guys.

Teniente Tract, 12/27/10

2010-12-27T19:43:00.009-06:00

Getting up late this morning I decided to head up to Willacy County and
work on my county list. I saw little going up FM 1425. There was nothing
at the Sugar House Pond. No raptors at all on 1425 and west on FM 490. So
I decided to circle the Teniente Tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR.
From TX 186 I went north on CR 30. Around the pond north of the nice ranch
house were quite a few Brewer's Blackbirds with the other blackbirds. Just
north of here the Teniente Tract starts. Here I stopped and started
pishing and tooting. Much to my surprise two Audubon's Orioles pop up.
I'm sure they nest up here in the brush country but I've never heard of
anyone seeing one.

Then I walked down the road a bit and heard a repeated "fwit" call. I
tooted and in comes a Least Flycatcher.

Then I walked a bit more, to the FWS parking area and had a calling Couch's
Kingbird. I noticed a little activity down the trail so I entered and
pished and tooted and this yellowish warbler jumps up wagging its tail.
Palm Warbler!

There was quite a bit of activity here with kinglets and gnatcatchers.
More pishing brought in one of my targets for the day... a bright Pine
Warbler.

I continued up CR 30 and then west on G.I. Rd and back south on CR 10.
Nothing else noteworthy. I also stopped at the CR 20 pond. There were
lots of birds but nothing unusual.

Four new county birds pushes my Willacy County list to 245 and just three away from first place. Of course I'm about the only one that birds up there so it probably doesn't matter too much.

Greater White-fronted Goose 50
Gadwall X
Northern Shoveler X
Northern Pintail 2
Ruddy Duck X
Least Grebe 10
Pied-billed Grebe X
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 3
Peregrine Falcon 1
Sora 1
Common Moorhen 2
American Coot X
Sandhill Crane X
Killdeer X
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Wilson's Snipe 1
Ring-billed Gull 4
Mourning Dove X
Common Ground-Dove 6
Golden-fronted Woodpecker X
Ladder-backed Woodpecker X
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe X
Great Kiskadee 1
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 10
Black-crested Titmouse 5
Verdin 1
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 3
House Wren 10
Marsh Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 25
Northern Mockingbird 7
Long-billed Thrasher 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 25
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8
Pine Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat X
Olive Sparrow 3
Cassin's Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 12
Swamp Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 6
Pyrrhuloxia 8
Red-winged Blackbird X
Western Meadowlark 2
Brewer's Blackbird 20
Great-tailed Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Audubon's Oriole 2

Yturria Brush, 12/26/10

2010-12-26T15:17:00.004-06:00

This cold frosty morning I headed over too the Yturria Brush tract of the Lower Rio Grande NWR to see if I could add a few birds to my Hidalgo County year list. Yturria Brush is Tamaulipan thorn scrub on the extreme SW border of Hidalgo County and allows access to habitat that can produce western desert species. Instead of taking the left fork to the west as I usually do, I continued straight to the north. As the trail veered away from the east boundary and its busy dirt road, I started seeing more stuff. Here's a Vesper Sparrow.

I have a really difficult time photographing Verdins. This is the best I could do.

Yturria Brush is one of the best places in the county for Black-throated Sparrow.

White-crowned Sparrow is sometimes a tough one to get on the county list. I saw two this morning.

Finally I got a good one. I heard a musical "mewp" call that could only be Green-tailed Towhee. But I just barely got a glimpse of it. But a little later a second popped up in a bush. And a bit down the trail I got a third. Pretty good for a bird I had only seen once in the county.

When I got home I figured out how to use Google Maps to calculate how far I had walked. Turned out I had walked 5.4 miles. No wonder my feet are so tired!

Northern Bobwhite (Eastern) 6
Turkey Vulture 3
Northern Harrier 3
Cooper's Hawk 1
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 3
Mourning Dove 20
Greater Roadrunner 3
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Kiskadee 1
White-eyed Vireo 4
Verdin 7
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 30
Hermit Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 35
Long-billed Thrasher 4
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 30
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 6
Olive Sparrow 5
Green-tailed Towhee 3
Vesper Sparrow 6
Lark Sparrow 1
Black-throated Sparrow 7
Savannah Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 5
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1

Heck of a day! 12/3/10

2010-12-05T11:38:00.005-06:00

I slept in a little late this morning so I made a last second decision to go to Edinburg to look for the resident Blue Jays. After a while I had one calling loudly from near Tim Brush's house by the irrigation canal. I didn't see it but it's still good for a new county bird by my rules. Also got a Summer Tanager, Least Flycatcher and Wilson's Warbler so I may go back there again sometime.

Next I went over to the Roselawn Cemetery to get better pics of the Greater Pewee. This time I was too close for a good pic.

Then I went over to the NABA Butterfly Park to look for some of the good leps from Mexico they've had thre lately. I was looking at a Tropical Greenstreak when I got word that a Dusky-capped Flycatcher had been found earlier in the day by Jeffrey Glassberg and Martin Reid. This is only the second record for the county and is the bright eastern Mexican "lawrencei" subspcies. Sorry for the poor pic.

Then I got to see a couple of great butterflies. I've seen lots of Gray Crackers in Mexico but very few in Texas.

Then someone found an Angled Leafwing which was a new one for me.

Meanwhile as I was looking at leps, Martin had been over at Benstsen looking for the Claw-tipped Bluet found the day before. When we got word he had refound it, there was a mad dash over by the "oders" to see this third record for the Valley. The strongly bifurcate terminalia are distinctive. (I love talking like that!)

Pretty good day.

Greater Pewee in Mcallen, 11/27/10

2010-11-27T16:59:00.002-06:00

The interesting Fall continues with a Greater Pewee found in McAllen yesterday by visiting top notch birder Cin-Ty Lee. I'm ashamed to say that this morning was my first visit to the cemetary but I'll be going back. Except for the headstones, wandering under the large trees with lots of warblers around is reminiscent of Anzalduas. Greater Pewee is native to the mountains of Mexico extending up into SE Arizona and have nested in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. I've seen Greater Pewee in Texas a couple of times previously but it's still a great year bird.

Lots of warblers around, mostly Yellow-rumps but there were a few Pines and a Yellow-throated.

This Summer Tanager may stay for the winter.

Turkey Vulture 1
Inca Dove 8
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Greater Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Kiskadee 10
Tropical Kingbird 1
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
Northern Mockingbird 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 6
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 25
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 3
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Chipping Sparrow 3
Summer Tanager 1
Lesser Goldfinch 3

Rufous-backed Robin at Laguna Atascosa NWR, 11/22/10

2010-11-23T13:37:00.002-06:00

Sunday afternoon a Rufous-backed Robin was found in the water feature at the visitors center at Laguna Atascosa NWR at 3:45 PM. So I got up the next morning and arrived at 8 AM figuring I could twich the robin and be about my business. Well it wasn't that easy and I waited around all day, wandering around, checking out juicy spots where I thought it might be hiding out. After almost deciding to give up and go home on several occasions, I thought I might as well wait till the designated time. And at 3:48 PM he pops out into the water feature and takes a bath. I couldn't believe it. Cameron County bird #352. I've been on a roll lately.

This is the the sixth Rufous-backed Robin for the country this year. There's been two in the RGV, three in Arizona and one in New Mexico. This species is native to the west coast of Mexico and the Rio Balsas watershed. No matter where these birds are coming from they're travelling more than 500 miles. I wonder what's going on down there and if it will cause other species to wander up this way.

While waiting for the robin this late Wood Thrush put in an appearance.

Most visiting birders to the RGV are blown away by the beauty of Green Jays. We local residents sometimes fail to appreciated them. This ones got his crest fluffed up a bit.

Field Sparrow at SPI, 11/18/10

2010-11-18T18:45:00.002-06:00

After watching the Spurs whip the Bulls last night in San Antonio we raced home so Honey could go to school today. I was pretty groggy but it didn't keep me from an afternoon trip to South Padre Island to look for Scarlet's Blue-throated Hummingbird. I got brief looks at it in the same vacant lot where I saw the Anna'a Hummingbird a few days ago. The seep calls were familiar from my years in Arizona and trips to Boot Springs. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. Then out at the convention center I was unable to find the Winter Wren. In fact most birds there seemed to have moved on with the cold front. But this cute little Field Sparrow gave me a brief look. Two more new Cameron County birds!

Here's a Rain-pool Spreadwing by the convention center.

Red-breasted Nuthatch at Quinta Mazatlan, 11/16/10

2010-11-16T14:45:00.005-06:00

This morning I went over to Quinta Mazatlan to search for the Red-breasted Nuthatch that was originally found last week during the RGV Bird Festival. I didn't have much hope of of finding it as it had not been seen since the original sighting. Well I got lucky and found my first nuthatch for the Valley and Hidalgo County bird #354. I really enjoyed watching this bird doing his nuthach thing!

Aftewards I ran over to Bentsen to look for the Unanius moth and the Blue-eyed Darner. No luck but here's a nice gulf Fritilary.

Yesterday I stepped out of the house and this Merlin was just a few yards away over the neighbor's house. Yard bird #158.

Ruddy Ground-Dove at Estero Llano Grande

2010-11-10T19:18:00.004-06:00

Today I finally nailed one of my long time nemesis birds for Texas, the Ruddy Ground-Dove. I failed to find the one at Big Bend a couple of years ago. There was one at Estero Llano Grande State Park several years ago that I tried for 13 times but had no luck. Many are reported here in the Valley by over enthusiastic birders who don't understand how maroon a male Common Grond-Dove can be. I've chased after those too. So here's the story of today's bird.

The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival is taking place this weekend in Harlingen and I get to co-lead a couple of field trips with the renown ornithologist, author and bird guide, Jon Dunn. We did a warbler field trip together last year and thought it was worthwhile to do one again. Also while in the Valley, Jon graciously agreed to speak in Weslaco for a fund raiser for Frontera Audubon Society and I happily offered to drive him over from Harlingen. Well Honey and I thought we might as well invite Jon for dinner before the program and we got to spend a brief bit of time with this geneorous and entertaining man. Here's Honey and Jon.

Today Jon was leading a van of people as part of the bird festival's Big Day competition. I was over at Frontera scouting for our warbler trip. After I got home I called Mary Gustafson to finalize a few things for the festival and got word that Jon's group had just found a Ruddy Ground-Dove at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco. So I raced right over and got bird #530 for my Texas list. I have seen Ruddy Grond-Doves many times in Arizona and even had a flock of five of them at my apartment while I lived in Patagonia. But today's bird is the east Mexican rufipennis subspecies which is a much richer rufous, almost maroon. Thanks Jon!

While scouting for warblers at Frontera Audubon Thicket I found this nice Black-throated Green in the water feature.

Yellow-throated warblers like riparian vegetation during the breeding season. They love palms when they winter in the Valley.

Here's a really sharp Blue-faced Darner. Not sure how much longer they'll be around as winter approaches.

Great birding this weekend!

2010-11-07T18:03:00.002-06:00

Yesterday I spent the day birding in Willacy County hoping to find a Golden-crowned Kinglet for my county list. Well, I didn't find one but I checked out the Mountain Plover spot east of Sebastian and with a bit of effort found eight of the little tan-colored ghosts. They are so hard to see as they run, popping up and down, between the furrows in the very large plowed fields. Here's a poor pic.

Meanwhile I had left my phone at home and didn't know Mary Gustafson was looking at a Winter Wren at South Padre Island and didn't find out till I got home. So I got Honey out of bed (on a morning when we should have been using our extra daylight savings hour) and we ran out to the Island. Honey with her good karma found the Winter Wren first but it took me a while. Its voice indicates it's the newly split eastern species called the... uhm... Winter Wren. The western one is called the Pacific Wren. Anyway it's a new one for my Cameron County list.

There was also a Northern Flicker which is very hard to find in the Valley. It was my second for the county.

The cute little Golden-crowned Kinglet was still there.

After good luck at the Convention Center, Honey and I ran over to the late Barbara Kennet's house to look for the possible Anna's Hummingbird found by Scarlet Colley. Well, it looks like a good female to me. Two new county birds in the sme day!

Here's the SPI Convention Center list.

Pied-billed Grebe 2
Brown Pelican X
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Reddish Egret 1
Clapper Rail 1
Common Moorhen 2
Black-bellied Plover 5
Semipalmated Plover 8
Piping Plover 5
Killdeer 2
Black-necked Stilt 1
Greater Yellowlegs X
Willet X
Lesser Yellowlegs X
Sanderling X
Least Sandpiper X
Dunlin X
Laughing Gull X
Herring Gull 1
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern X
White-winged Dove 2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Couch's Kingbird 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
House Wren 3
Winter Wren 1
Sedge Wren 1
Marsh Wren 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird X
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Great-tailed Grackle X

Phalarope Trifecta at Sal del Rey, 10/31/10

2010-10-31T19:39:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I went up to the Sal del Rey unit of the Lower Rio Grande NWR to see what the cold front had delivered. I was hoping for a Dunlin for my county yearlist and maybe some Wilson's Phalaropes. Sometimes they winter here and we get them on the Sal Vieja CBC. Well I hit the jackpot! When I got to the lake I scoped it over and could see lots of phalaropes off to the west. So I hoofed it through the mud along the south shore and periodically stopped and counted. I got 155 of them. Then I got a bit closer to them and scoped some more to see if I had missed anything. There with the Wilson's Phalaropes was a gray phalarope with a white forehead and short black eyeline. The bill was shorter than the Wilson's and thicker. Holy smokes! A Red Phalarope! My first for the county and only my second for the state.

Here it is next to some Wilson's Phalaropes. This was taken through my 300mm lens at more than 100 yards.

Scoping some more I picked out a smaller darker phalarope with gleaming white forehead and a black eyeline. It also had paler streaks runing down the dark grey back. Red-necked Phalarope! All three phalaropes in one day! Unfortunately it was too far away for a photo. Then I found a third non-Wilson's that was pale and looked like another Red but it was just too far away to do anything with and my eyes were hurting after a couple of hours of squinting through the scope at high power at small birds a couple of hundred yards away bobbing up and down in a stiffening wind. So I gave it up for the day.

This morning I gave it another go. This time the phalaropes were way out again but the wind had died down so I studied them a couple more hours. I refound the Red and three Red-necks. I was about ready to leave when Mary Gustafson showed up. As we watched them they swam to the west where the lake is a bit more narrow and we were able to get a bit closer. Through the scope we were able to note the differences and it was soon easy to distinguish the individual birds. One of them was a paler bird that was looked like a Red but was smaller. The Red-necks also have a smaller head. Here's a Red and a Red-necked.

Here's a pale and a darker Red-necked Phalarope.

In flight the Red-necked is much smaller than the Wilson's.

I'll try for better pics later this week sometime. As we were getting ready to leave Mary picked out a distant Dunlin. County year bird! Here's my list from yesterday.

Greater White-fronted Goose 50
Snow Goose 19
Ross's Goose 1
Gadwall 6
American Wigeon 1
Northern Shoveler 15
Green-winged Teal 3
Ruddy Duck 20
Wild Turkey 3
Eared Grebe 70
Turkey Vulture 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 1
American Coot 12
Killdeer 5
American Avocet 40
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Least Sandpiper 175
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Wilson's Phalarope 155
Red-necked Phalarope 1
Red Phalarope 2
Laughing Gull 20
Common Ground-Dove 12
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Eastern Phoebe 5
Great Kiskadee 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 100
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 10
Marsh Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Northern Mockingbird 3
Long-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 7
Nashville Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 1
Pyrrhuloxia 3
Red-winged Blackbird 250
Great-tailed Grackle 25

South Padre Island, 10/28/10

2010-10-31T19:15:00.003-05:00

North of here some good winter birds have been trickling in, things like Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglet. I was able to find the later of the three at the Convention Center on South Padre Island the other day. Golden-crowned Kinglet shows up in small numbers most falls but usually don't stay for the winter. I hope the other two show as they are quite rare down here.

I spent a couple of hours here as the front blew in. Every twenty or thirty minutes a new bird would show up. Here's a female Painted Bunting.

A Summer Tanager has been here a couple of weeks. Not sure it's been the same bird.

I also put in some time at the Valley Land Fund's Sheepshead lot. Good birds here included a Palm Warbler and late Western Kingbird and Scarlet Tanager.

I got ten species of warblers on the day including American Redstart and Black-throated Green.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Brown Pelican 20
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 2
Reddish Egret 1
Cattle Egret 6
Clapper Rail 1
Common Moorhen 3
American Coot 1
Black-bellied Plover 10
Semipalmated Plover 60
Piping Plover 20
Killdeer 1
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Willet 25
Long-billed Curlew 1
Marbled Godwit 4
Ruddy Turnstone 3
Sanderling 30
Least Sandpiper 25
Dunlin 25
Short-billed Dowitcher 3
Laughing Gull 200
Franklin's Gull 20
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 1
Royal Tern 700
Sandwich Tern 10
Rock Pigeon 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 4
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Western Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 15
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 3
Tennessee Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 4
Magnolia Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Palm Warbler (Western) 1
American Redstart 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 3
Summer Tanager 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 10
Painted Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Great-tailed Grackle 50

Evening Skimmers at Santa Ana NWR, 10/27/10

2010-10-27T16:58:00.002-05:00

With one last warm, humid morning before the cold front comes in, I decided to check out the Evening Skimmer party going on at Santa Ana NWR. A few years ago Evening Skimmer was considered a very rare bug north of Mexico. A couple of weeks ago Martin Reid discovered dozens of them in the brush north of the parking lot at Santa Ana. As I walked through the grass, three and four would flush at a time. It was neat to watch their erratic flight behavior. Often they would perch in the open but their coloration still made them hard to see.

I also kicked up a Bar-sided Darner. The anterior abdomen constriction and dark wing edging is diagnostic.

I also found a few Rainpool Spreadwings.

Caribbean Darner at Llano Grande, 10/25/10

2010-10-25T14:05:00.003-05:00

A week ago Terry Fuller found a Caribbean Darner on the Green Jay trail at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco. This is a species that was fist seen in the USA just a couple of years ago and this individual was the first to be reported this year. After five tries and close to 20 hours of effort I finally found it this morning on the Green Jay trail in the shady south part of the loop near the #3 interpretive post. What a beautiful bug!

Yesterday I spent some time looking for the Caribbean Darner in the south part of the park where John Yochum had seen it earlier. I struck out but got lucky to get great views of the Blue-faced Darner near the gate to the trailer park.

While doing loops around the Green Jay trail I saw several Bar-sided Darners.

Common Green Darners are....well....common. But they're still sharp looking bugs.

South Padre Island, 10/22/10

2010-10-22T18:23:00.006-05:00

A few days ago Huck Hutchens and John Yochum found a male Black-throated Blue Warbler at the Valley Land Fund's Sheepshead lot on South Padre Island. It had been about fifteen years since I had seen a male Black-throated Blue so I took off to look for it this morning. I found it with no trouble but was puzzled why I would see it on one side of the lot and then a couple of seconds later it was on the other side. Turns out there are two of them.

Other warblers at this site included Magnolia, Ovenbird, American Redstart and Northern Parula. I ran into the Stanfords and Pat Heirs at the Convention Center where we found a few more warblers including this Palm Warbler. We see very few of them in fall and winter. They're much more common up the coast. Finished up the day with eleven species of warblers.

A bonus was my first Cameron County Seaside Dragonlet. I'm sure they're pretty common out on SPI.

Brown Pelican 20
Great Blue Heron 2
Snowy Egret 1
American Kestrel 1
Black-bellied Plover 12
Piping Plover 2
Willet 1
Marbled Godwit 3
Ruddy Turnstone 4
Sanderling 50
Dunlin 15
Short-billed Dowitcher 3
Laughing Gull 200
Franklin's Gull 400
Forster's Tern 5
Royal Tern 20
Sandwich Tern 2
Rock Pigeon 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 12
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Gray Catbird 3
Northern Mockingbird 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Northern Parula 3
Yellow Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 2
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Palm Warbler (Western) 1
American Redstart 1
Ovenbird 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Indigo Bunting 5
Dickcissel 1
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Great-tailed Grackle 5

Chestnut-collared Longspur at Laguna Atascosa NWR, 10/16/10

2010-10-16T17:58:00.003-05:00

Two days ago Tom Langschied, the bird guide at the King Ranch, found a Chestnut-collared Longspur at Laguna Atascosa NWR. I wanted to go after it but stayed home and did some chores (like a good husband). This morning, with plans to go birding somewhere, I checked out Texbirds and saw that Erik Breden had found the bird yesterday and got some good photos. So I took off to look for the longspur. When I reached the area 1.1 miles past Plover point on the Bayside Tour road, I ran into Chuck Lorenz from Laguna Vista who, on his bike, and was also longspur hunting. We slowly poked along and kicked up a bird that flew up and circled like a longspur. It came back down at the pull off ahead where I could breifly see it was our bird before it flushed again and we lost it. We slowly drove up to Stover Point with no luck. So I parked and we retraced our steps and there was the Chestnut-collared Longspur right back at the pull off where we had earlier seen it. Cameron County bird #347! Finally a bit of luck after striking out on Bobolink, Black-vented Oriole and Scott's Orioles this year.

Another good find for me was my first Southern Spreadwing near the water feature north of the visitor's center.

This Silver-banded Hairstreak was near the visitor's center.

Overall, just a beautiful birdy and buggy day. Here's a view of the Laguna Madre looking towards South Padre Island.

Greater White-fronted Goose heard overhead
Blue-winged Teal X
Northern Pintail X
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American White Pelican X
Brown Pelican X
Neotropic Cormorant 1
Double-crested Cormorant 18
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Tricolored Heron X
Reddish Egret 1
Green Heron 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis X
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 5
Osprey 8
White-tailed Kite 1
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
White-tailed Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 1
American Kestrel 6
Merlin 3
Sandhill Crane 2
American Coot X
Black-bellied Plover 2
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt X
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
Long-billed Curlew 10
Marbled Godwit 23
Least Sandpiper X
Laughing Gull X
Gull-billed Tern 2
Forster's Tern 1
Mourning Dove X
Common Ground-Dove 3
White-tipped Dove 5
Greater Roadrunner 2
Common Pauraque 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 4
Least Flycatcher 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 2
Loggerhead Shrike 6
White-eyed Vireo 10
Green Jay 6
Barn Swallow 3
Cave Swallow 25
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 10
Marsh Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Northern Mockingbird X
Long-billed Thrasher 8
Curve-billed Thrasher 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 13
Nashville Warbler 9
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 8
Wilson's Warbler 3
Olive Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 5
Chestnut-collared Longspur 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Indigo Bunting 12
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark X
Great-tailed Grackle X

Red-necked Phalarope at Sal del Rey, 10/14/10

2010-10-14T16:43:00.002-05:00

This morning I went up to Sal del Rey with the hope of finding something good for my Hidalgo County year list. I was thinking that a Sanderling or a Red-necked Phalarope would be nice. I parked at the Brushline Rd. entrance and walked in on the newly improved road. After the Lower Rio Grande NWR graded this road I'm getting a lot fewer ticks and chiggers. A refuge employee told me in the future we would be able to drive the half mile down to the red gate making for a shorter walk. This Marsh Wren greeted me at the freshwater cienega.

Scoping over the lake I found a large raft of American Coots. Closer inspection turned up ten Redheads and a few Eared Grebes. Redheads are hard to find in Hidalgo County and the species was a new year bird for me. They were too far out for a pic. Scoping to the west I could see some very distant American Avocets and a few peeps so I made the long slog though the mud along the south shore. As I got closer I could see a phalarope with the avocets. A lone phalarope might be a Red or a Red-necked. As I got closer I could see it was a Red-necked Phalarope. It was out about 100 yards and too far for much or a pic, so I rolled up my pants legs and started wading. The mud can be soft but I got lucky and it was firm enough to get out about half way. I like it when I score one of my target birds.

Nothing else too exciting around. The cool front did bring in a lot of Variegated Meadowhaks.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 25
Blue-winged Teal 5
Northern Shoveler 30
Redhead 10
Northern Bobwhite 15
Eared Grebe 5
Snowy Egret 2
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 2
American Coot 150
Killdeer 2
American Avocet 18
Long-billed Curlew 32
Western Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 300
Red-necked Phalarope 1
Laughing Gull 3
White-winged Dove 40
Mourning Dove 3
Common Ground-Dove 4
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Couch's Kingbird 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 10
Barn Swallow 50
Cliff Swallow 1
Verdin 2
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 10
Marsh Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 1
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Red-winged Blackbird 25

Big Bend Area Odes, 10/7/10

2010-10-09T10:51:00.009-05:00

Well I was finally able to get away for a couple of days for my first ode trip to the Big Bend area. It was a spontaneous "wake up in the early morning and ask Honey if I could go to Big Bend" trip. Luckily I had been talking about it for a few weeks and she wasn't too surprised and said it was OK. So I packed and took off. I went with a want list of a half dozen species and was concerned that it might be too late in the fall to see much. As it turned out the weather was warm and odes were plentiful. A more experienced oder would have seen a lot more but I was happy with my results. Of course the star of the trip was the dazzling Mayan Setwing. I'll get to them in a bit.

I managed to get to Pena Colorado south of Marathon in the late afternoon and was relieved to see lots of dragonflies at the first stream crossing. Having been here several times before as a birder I had a good idea of the spots I wanted to check out. The first new bug for me was the very common Plateau Dragonlet.

Also new for me was an Autumn Meadowhawk. At least that's what I think it was.

Also saw Flame and Comanche Skimmers, Eastern Amberwing, Common Green Darner and a bunch of damselflies I need to work on. Here's a Desert Whitetail.

After spending the night in Alpine, I drove over to Marfa and then south to Presidio. Cibola Creek in the old mining town of Shafter povided my first and only Red Rock Skimmers.

I stopped at Fort Leaton State Park to get a permit for Big Bend State Park. A covey of Gambel's Quail were a nice surprise. Too bad I had the wrong lens.

The next target was Ojito Adentro in Big Bend State Park. "Ojito" literally means "little eye" in Spanish and in this case refers to a freshwater spring. The grove of cottonwoods stands out in comparison to the xeric landscape and holds a small spring fed creek which is the home to a population of Mayan Setwings. They are very hard to find elsewhere north of Mexico

Here I found at least a dozen of the brightly colored sprites. Their glowing red bodies contasted with the cool dark green vegetation in this marvellous little canyon.

Also present were lots of Great Spreadwings. This one is chowing down on one of his smaller cousins.

Another dragonfly I really wanted to see was the Giant Darner. This one hunted along the pool at the base of the pouroff. This is the best shot I could get.

One of my favorite denizens of southwestern canyons in the Canyon Treefrog. Spending all day sitting in the shade on a cool rock is my kind of lifestyle.

Several Flame Skimmers interacted with the Mayan Setwings but didn't seem to bother them too much.

I reluctanly left the canyon and headed back down to the river to look for Gomphids. My first stop turned up the female White-banded Ringtail.

A bit farther along the "Camino del Rio" I found this Russet-tipped Clubtail. They're quite different from our local ones.

I finally got a good pic of a Filigree Skimmer.

I was hungry and stopped for dinner at La Kiva in Terlingua for some of the best brisket I've ever eaten. What a weird funky place! With a full belly and lots of ode pics I dediced I needed to get back home.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 10/4/10

2010-10-04T13:46:00.003-05:00

Beautiful day at Frontera but not too much going on. Hard work produced seven species of warblers. A Cooper's Hawk took a dive at this Green Kingfisher.

Here's a Great Pondhawk munching on a Hackberry Emperor.

Red-bordered Pixie has been easy to see lately.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3
Mottled Duck 1
Plain Chachalaca 8
Great Blue Heron 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
American Kestrel 1
Killdeer 1
Rock Pigeon 8
White-winged Dove 60
Inca Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 6
Common Pauraque 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 10
Belted Kingfisher 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 3
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 4
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Nashville Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 5
Ovenbird 3
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Indigo Bunting 2
Red-winged Blackbird 30
Great-tailed Grackle 6
Altamira Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 3

Salineno, 10/2/10

2010-10-03T09:53:00.002-05:00

Birding was very slow at Salineno today. Got two Gray Hawks, Audubon's Oriole, Black Phoebe and a Black-and-white Warbler but nothing noteworthy. They're releasing lots of water from Falcon Dam so the river was up nearly to the trail. But odes were another story. Straw-colored Sylphs were all along the river and easy to study.

I saw a number of Variegated Meadowhawks last summer in west Texas but this was my first for the RGV.

Gomphids seen were Flag-tailed Spinyleg, Broad-striped Forceptail and this Eastern Ringtail.

There were at least half a dozen Needham's Skimmers. I didn't see any my last two visits here.

Anax junius, Common Green Darner
Aphylla angustifolia, Broadstriped Forceptail
Argia moesta, Powdered Dancer
Argia sedula, Blue-ringed Dancer
Brachymesia furcata, Red-tailed Pennant
Brachymesia gravida, Four-spotted Pennant
Dromogomphus spoliaatus, Flag-tailed Spinyleg
Dythemis fugax, Checkered Setwing
Dythemis nigrescens, Black Setwing
Erpetogomphus designatus, Eastern Ringtail
Erythemis simplicicollis, Common Pondhawk
Hetaerina titia, Smokey Rubyspot
Ischnura ramburii, Rambur's Forktail
Libellula needhami, Needham's Skimmer
Macrothemis inacuta, Straw-colored Sylph
Orthemis ferruginea, Roseate Skimmer
Pachydiplax longipennis, Blue Dasher
Pantala flavescens, Wandering Glider
Sympetrum corruptum, Variegated Meadowhawk
Tramea lacerata, Black Saddlebags
Tramea onusta, Red Saddlebags

Estero Llano Grande, 10/1/10

2010-10-01T18:43:00.003-05:00

It's been a good week of birding in the RGV. Yesterday another Scott's Oriole was found in the Valley, this time at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco. Mary Gustafson was kind enough to get the word to me and I rushed right over. When I got there, the park people were looking at it and I managed a brief glimpse before it disappeared for the day. Hidalgo County bird #351 for me. While searching for it I did manage to find the Townsend's Warbler that Mary had seen earlier in the week. This is a western warbler that we see maybe once or twice a year down here.

I returned to the park this morning for another shot at the Scott's Oriole. No one saw it today but I got a nice Tropical Parula in the Townsend's Warbler tree.

Wednesday I spent the morning at Fronter Audubon Thicket where there weren't too many miagrants but I did get this nice Bell's Vireo. Despite being an abundant bird in much of Texas we see few of them in migration.

There was also a nice lift off of Broad-winged Hawks.

Plain Chachalaca 10
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 85
Gray Hawk 1
Killdeer 1
Rock Pigeon 8
White-winged Dove 20
Inca Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 4
Common Pauraque 1
Chimney Swift 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 12
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 1
Least Flycatcher 2
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 3
Tropical Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 3
Bell's Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 4
Black-crested Titmouse 4
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Clay-colored Thrush 4
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Indigo Bunting 1
Great-tailed Grackle 4
Baltimore Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 1

On the bug front I'm still finding Three-striped Dashers at Estero Llano Grande.

Here's a pretty Desert Firetail.

South Padre Island, 9/20/10

2010-09-20T18:52:00.004-05:00

This morning I headed out to SPI to see what migrants might be downed by the rainy weather. The first bird I found at the base of the causeway in the median plantings was this Chestnut-sided Warbler. I've seen quite a few of them this fall.

Most of the fifteen species of warblers I saw this morning were at the convention center. This is the second Prothonotary Warbler I have seen this fall.

Fall warblers are a bit more drab than they are in the spring. Many birders would not recognize this Magnolia Warbler.

And many would identify this as a MacGillivray's but it's a young Mourning Warbler.

No mistaking this Kentucky Warbler by the water feature.

Yellow Warbler is always abundant during the early fall.

American Redstart.

Mating Common Green Darners were taking advantage of the recent rains.

Brown Anole is an introduced species from the American tropics.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 30
Brown Pelican 40
Little Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 5
Common Moorhen 2
Laughing Gull 100
Eurasian Collared-Dove 15
Inca Dove 5
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 3
Eastern Kingbird 13
White-eyed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Northern Mockingbird 5
Northern Parula 2
Yellow Warbler 8
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Magnolia Warbler 4
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 4
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Northern Waterthrush 4
Kentucky Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 3
Canada Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Dickcissel 14
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 2
House Sparrow 8

Resaca de las Palmas, 9-12-10

2010-09-12T14:26:00.002-05:00

My goal this morning was to find some good dragonflies at Resaca de las Palmas State Park. However, I couldn't find much which was OK because there were lots of migrant birds around. This Yellow Throated Vireo was near the parking area.

I also had the previously seen Yellow-green Vireo singing at Hunters Crossing but couldn't find it though it was right over my head. I also had several Red-eyed Vireos including this yellow-vented youngster,

My first fall Swallow-tailed Kite in the RGV was a surprise.

Thirteen species of warblers included Prothonotay,

perky Ovenbirds,

and Northern Waterthrush.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 8
Plain Chachalaca 14
Least Grebe 2
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 4
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 4
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 2
White-winged Dove 3
Common Ground-Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Groove-billed Ani 8
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 5
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 2
Alder Flycatcher 1
Least Flycatcher 3
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Brown-crested Flycatcher 10
Tropical Kingbird 2
Couch's Kingbird 5
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 8
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 3
Yellow-green Vireo 1
Green Jay 5
Purple Martin 2
Bank Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 3
Black-crested Titmouse 6
Carolina Wren 8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Northern Mockingbird 1
Long-billed Thrasher 6
Yellow Warbler 10
Black-and-white Warbler 3
American Redstart 3
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Ovenbird 3
Northern Waterthrush 6
Kentucky Warbler 2
Mourning Warbler 1
Hooded Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Olive Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 3
Great-tailed Grackle 1

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 9/8/10

2010-09-08T19:37:00.002-05:00

A warm, humid, drippy, rainy morning brought in more migrants than I've seen since spring. Noteworthy were Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian and Tennessee Warblers, all of which are very uncommon in fall. Unfortunately the weather made for crappy photos. Here's the Chestnus-sided Warber.

And you can imagine this is a Blackburnian.

It sure is easier taking ode pics. This is only the second Rainpool Spreadwing I have seen.

After a return visit in the afternoon I finished the day with twelve warbler species.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 4
Plain Chachalaca 10
Green Heron 3
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Killdeer 1
Rock Pigeon 2
White-winged Dove 50
White-tipped Dove 3
Red-crowned Parrot 4
Common Nighthawk 50
Chimney Swift 25
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Alder Flycatcher 1
Empidonax sp. 1
Great Kiskadee 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 5
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Tennessee Warbler 2
Yellow Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 4
American Redstart 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Olive Sparrow 1
Summer Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Baltimore Oriole 3
Lesser Goldfinch 1

Spot-winged Glider.

Some more neat bugs.

2010-09-07T16:57:00.002-05:00

Although fall migration is going on I'm not seeing much. So here's some more bug pics. A few days ago I found my first Evening Skimmer on the Green Jay trail at Estero Llano Grande State Park. It's a crepuscular species that spends the day in a dark wooded area. I later found a couple more of them outside the headquarters at Santa Ana NWR. This is one of the rare RGV odes.

Another new one for me was the also crepuscular Bar-sided Darner, another RGV specialty. This one was at Estero Llano Grande.

After finding the darner, a special treat was this superb Two-barred Flasher.

New Damselfly for the USA.

2010-09-07T16:36:00.005-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Terry Fuller from San Benito found a colony of Telebasis damselflies near his home that he was pretty sure was not the usual Desert Firetail. He did some heavy duty scientific sleuthing and discovered they are a new species for the United States, Telebasis digiticollis. Here's a link to his pics. He later found a large colony nearby that is easy to access. The previous northernmost site for this species was in the Mexican State of Veracruz. Here's a pic of the new bug.

The specific epithet (species name) "digiticollis" refers to two horns of the prothorax of the female. Here's a female but you can't see her horns.

Claret Pondhawk at Frontera, 8/30/10

2010-08-30T21:58:00.003-05:00

With everyone and their dog finding neat stuff arond the RGV, like Bar-sided Darner, I headed over to Frontera to try my luck. No Bar-sided but I found some good bugs. This Claret Pondhawk is a first for Frontera.

Here is my first Amazon Darner.

As I was walking along the east ditch this Turquoise-tipped Darner flew in and hung up right in front of me.

Common Green Darner has been abundant in the Valley lately. I finally got a good pic of a male.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 8/30/10

2010-08-30T21:32:00.003-05:00

It was hot and muggy this morning at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. A few warblers are starting to trickle through. Canada Warbler is one of the last to pass through in the spring and one of the first back in the fall.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 8
Plain Chachalaca 10
Green Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 4
White-winged Dove 50
Mourning Dove 3
Inca Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 4
Chimney Swift 5
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Alder Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 3
Bank Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 5
Cliff Swallow 1
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Long-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 1
Yellow Warbler 3
Mourning Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 4
Olive Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Dickcissel 1
Orchard Oriole 5
Baltimore Oriole 1
House Sparrow 1

Other than a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet by the entace gate to the Thicket there was little noteworthy around. Bugs on the otherhad are doing quite nicely. Red-boredered Pixies are showing by the water feature and near the entrace gate. Not a great pic.

Zebra Heliconians are starting to pop up. Maybe they will bring some of their exotic cousins up from Mexico this fall.

Yellow-green Vireo at Canon road, 8-4-10

2010-08-04T16:59:00.000-05:00

With many of the good Valley birding sites still underwater because of Hurricane Alex, this morning I decided to head over to Canon Road in SW Cameron County. Actually my goal was to look for darners but I was birding all the time also. A couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos were raising quite a ruckus. As I checked them out, a scruffy Yellow-green Vireo responding to my pygmy owl tooting. There have been few reports of them this summer.

Here's one of the upset Yellow-billed Cuckoos.

I kept count of calling Tropical Kingbird as I walked and drove up Canon Road and across the cane field and then back south along the irrigation ditch west of Canon Road. I had a personal one day high of sixteen Tropical Kingbirds. Years ago the electrical substation on Canon Road was "the" place to see them in the RGV. Now there seems to be more than ever of them. But I didn't get any pics of them. So here's a Painted Bunting.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Cattle Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
White-winged Dove 120
Mourning Dove 15
Common Ground-Dove 12
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 10
Groove-billed Ani 6
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 3
Tropical Kingbird 16
Couch's Kingbird 5
Tropical/Couch's Kingbird 8
White-eyed Vireo 4
Yellow-green Vireo 1
Green Jay 1
Purple Martin 3
Bank Swallow 20
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Olive Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 1
Painted Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Great-tailed Grackle 4
Bronzed Cowbird 10
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1

Sooty Tern at Rockport Beach, 6/27/10

2010-06-28T11:40:00.002-05:00

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

2010-06-26T21:38:00.002-05:00

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

2010-06-03T19:45:00.003-05:00

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

2010-06-03T19:17:00.004-05:00

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

2010-06-03T18:51:00.003-05:00

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

South Padre Island, 4/16/10

2010-04-16T21:41:00.003-05:00

Well there was a Bobolink found at the convention center at South Padre Island yesterday afternoon but I didn't find out about it till afternoon today. So I raced out to SPI but as it turned out no one had seen it today. Well, actually the photographers there (who outnumbered the birders) acted like they didn't know what I was talking about. I don't think they would know a Bobolink from a Humperdink. But I got a good pic of a Blackpoll Warbler so that was okay.

And then I was really happy to find this Prairie Warbler on the Campeche lot. We don't get to many of them down here.

This Tennessee Wabler and Northern Parula were taking turns at the same orange.

Here's a Black-and-white Warbler doing what Black-and-whites do.

Frontera Audubon Thciket, 4/13/10

2010-04-13T19:42:00.003-05:00

The past couple of days has seen a weird low pressure system over south Texas reminiscent of the tropical systems we see in July or August. So we're getting some rain which is grounding some of the migrant passerines and consequently I was able to see 61 species at Frontera Audubon Thicket today including 14 species of warblers. They included Worm-eating, Kentucky and this Blue-winged.

This Northern Waterthrush seems unusually dark.

I think this empid is an Acadian Flycatcher. Most empids bring up the rear of the spring migration, many not arriving till June. Acadians are one of the early ones.

Yellow-crowned Night-Herons nest at the Valley Nature Center and are frequently seen feeding at Frontera. I bet they nest here some day.

As I was leaving this morning I happened to see this "V" of about 100 double-crested Cormorants migrating north. I'm calling them Double-crested because they seem rather short tailed.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 12
Plain Chachalaca 10
Neotropic Cormorant 100
Anhinga 1
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Gray Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 1
White-winged Dove 6
Inca Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 6
Green Parakeet 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 3
Eastern Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 4
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Purple Martin 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 2
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 2
Marsh Wren 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 1
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Tennessee Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 4
Nashville Warbler 2
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Kentucky Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 3

Willacy County, 4/11/10

2010-04-11T20:21:00.002-05:00

With it a bit breezy and drippy outside this morning I decided I would head over to Willacy County to see if I could find a few migrants for my county list. I did well with 124 species on the day and got about ten or so new county birds. Unfortunately I didn't find out about Scarlet's Black-vented Oriole till after I got home. So it's out to the convention center on SPI tomorrow morning.

One of the new Willacy County birds I added to my list was Prothonotary Warbler.

Notice it has a bit of rusty coloration on its face. I'm not sure if this is natural or maybe pollen. Another had much more of this coloration.

Also new for my county list was this Yellow-headed Blackbird.

I had several good birds on the Nature Trail in Port Mansfield including Summer Tanager, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged, Prothonotary, Black-and-white and Hooded warblers and these flyover Whimbrels.

Also on this trail was one of ten migrant Grasshopper Sparrows I saw during the day.

New for my year list was Wilson's Plover.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 20
Gadwall 1
American Wigeon 25
Mottled Duck 6
Blue-winged Teal 6
Northern Shoveler 5
Ruddy Duck 20
Wild Turkey 2
Northern Bobwhite 5
Least Grebe 1
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Anhinga 3
Great Blue Heron 3
Snowy Egret 5
Tricolored Heron 3
Reddish Egret 5
Cattle Egret 60
White Ibis 100
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Osprey 1
Harris's Hawk 6
Swainson's Hawk 2
White-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 3
Merlin 1
Black-bellied Plover 5
Wilson's Plover 2
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 25
American Avocet 10
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Willet 15
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Upland Sandpiper 5
Whimbrel 12
Long-billed Curlew 2
Ruddy Turnstone 10
Sanderling 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper 15
Western Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper X
Dunlin 50
Long-billed Dowitcher 15
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull 10
Least Tern 4
Gull-billed Tern 6
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern 15
Royal Tern 4
Sandwich Tern 8
Rock Pigeon 6
Eurasian Collared-Dove 20
Mourning Dove X
Common Ground-Dove 3
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Barn Owl 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 10
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 8
Couch's Kingbird 12
Eastern Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 30
Loggerhead Shrike 8
White-eyed Vireo 5
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Horned Lark 20
Purple Martin 20
Tree Swallow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 2
Cliff Swallow 15
Cave Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 200
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Cactus Wren 2
Bewick's Wren 2
House Wren 2
Northern Mockingbird 12
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
European Starling 10
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Prothonotary Warbler 3
Common Yellowthroat 8
Hooded Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 2
Olive Sparrow 4
Cassin's Sparrow 8
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Lark Sparrow 10
Savannah Sparrow 10
Grasshopper Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 8
Northern Cardinal 4
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Indigo Bunting 10
Painted Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark 10
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle X
Bronzed Cowbird 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Orchard Oriole 2
Hooded Oriole 3
Altamira Oriole 1
House Sparrow 15

Northern Jacana at Santa Ana NWR, 4/4/10

2010-04-04T13:38:00.004-05:00

I was snoozing comfortably this morning when Mary Gustafson called to tell me Huck Hutchens had just found a Northern Jacana at Santa Ana NWR. Well this is a pretty good Hidalgo County year tick so I ran over and luckily another birder had refound the jacana at Pintail Lake. It seems to be a young bird just molting into adult plumage.

After giving up on trying to get a good pic of the jacana I decided to go over to Willow Lake to look for my county year tick Louisiana Waterthrush. I found one right where I have seen them in years past on the northeast end of the lake.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning on the hawk tower at Santa Ana hoping to maybe see some interesting migrants passing through. Not a lot going on but five Mississippi Kites were nice.

Backyard Beauties

2010-03-30T14:57:00.002-05:00

The past few mornings a dozen or more Green Parakeets have been feeding on the bottlebrush blooms in our back yard in Weslaco. It is debated as to whether these are wild birds or not, but with over a thousand of them across the RGV they do appear to be breeding and increasing in numbers.

Despite their gorgeous coloration and colorful antics Green Parakeets are not popular as pets. They have the most incredible loud, screeching voices and would drive a person nuts if one was kept in the confines of a house.

Santa Ana NWR, 3/30/10

2010-03-30T14:45:00.002-05:00

I spent a couple more mornigs at the hawk tower at Santa Ana NWR hoping to get some new year birds and maybe some pics. Neither morning produced Hook-billed Kite but I did see Mississippi (no pic) and Swallow-tailed Kites.

This morning there were probably over 1000 Broad-winged Hawks coming up on the morning thermals.

And quite a few Swainson's Hawks.

Sunday had a couple of hundred Anhingas.

I checked out Pintail Lake and had these side by side Neotropic and Double-crested Cormorants.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 70
Mottled Duck 12
Blue-winged Teal 60
Northern Shoveler 40
Green-winged Teal 3
Ring-necked Duck 1
Ruddy Duck 4
Plain Chachalaca 2
Least Grebe 10
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Anhinga 200
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 4
Little Blue Heron 2
Cattle Egret 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron 6
White-faced Ibis 4
Roseate Spoonbill 1
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 12
Osprey 1
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
White-tailed Kite 2
Mississippi Kite 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Harris's Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 300
Gray Hawk 1
Swainson's Hawk 10
Common Moorhen 3
American Coot 25
Killdeer 2
Black-necked Stilt 55
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 60
Stilt Sandpiper 6
Long-billed Dowitcher 150
Mourning Dove 10
White-tipped Dove 2
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 3
Great Kiskadee 10
Couch's Kingbird 10
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 6
White-eyed Vireo 1
Tree Swallow 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10
Cliff Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 1
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Long-billed Thrasher 6
European Starling 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 3
Common Yellowthroat 8
Olive Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Great-tailed Grackle 15
Bronzed Cowbird 6
Hooded Oriole 1
Altamira Oriole 3

Hook-billed Kites at Santa Ana NWR, 3/25/10

2010-03-26T19:35:00.002-05:00

It was a clear, beautiful, still morning at Sant Ana NWR....perfect for Hook-billed Kites from the hawk tower. Actually I was hoping for Mississippi and Swallow-tailed but no doing on them. The north winds of yesterday did not allow for a big landing last night so there was no great hawk passage. Might be good tomorrow.

The first to show were a distant two Hook-billed Kites to the south that we could just make out in the scope. Later two appeared over Willow Lake and seemed to be a pair.

Later the scruffy youngster from earlier in the week appeared.

Then at about 10:30 AM three Hook-bills came up and did not include the scruffy one so there were a total of at least four Hook-billed Kites ranging across the refuge. Here's the male.

Other raptors included one Cooper's Hawk, one Zone-tailed Hawk, two Gray Hawks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, one Swainson's Hawk and about 60 Broad-winged Hawks.

More SPI, 3/25/10

2010-03-25T20:33:00.003-05:00

Another cold front blew ino the Rio Grande Valley this morning so I headed out to South Padre Island to see what was about. Most of the Spring Break debauchery is over so its rather peaceful out there now. Nothing too exciting but I did see ten species of warblers and several new birds for the year. This is my FOS Tennessee warbler.

Most of the birds were either at the Valley Land Fund's Sheepshead lot or at the Convention Center where I saw this plucky little Hooded Warbler.

Several Northern Parulas were feeding on something in the dandelions.

I really had a difficult time getting good photos though many of the birds were rather close. This Black-throated Greenwarbler refused to come out into the open.

This female Black-and-White Warbler was more cooperative.

This Grasshopper Sparrow was a real surprise. Many of them winter in Mexico so we do see some each spring but I wasn't expecting one today.

This Ruby-throated Hummingbird was attracted to the bottlebrush.

Brown Pelican X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Tricolored Heron X
American Kestrel 1
Laughing Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Caspian Tern X
Royal Tern X
Sandwich Tern 3
Black Skimmer X
Rock Pigeon X
Eurasian Collared-Dove X
Mourning Dove X
Inca Dove X
Common Ground-Dove 1
Chimney Swift 3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Great Kiskadee 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 10
White-eyed Vireo 5
Purple Martin 1
Tree Swallow 25
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Bank Swallow 3
Cliff Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 100
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Gray Catbird 2
Northern Mockingbird 4
Tennessee Warbler 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 5
Northern Parula 7
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 8
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Black-and-white Warbler 6
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Clay-colored Sparrow 3
Lark Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 4
Grasshopper Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 3
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Great-tailed Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Orchard Oriole 1
House Sparrow X

South Padre Island, 3/21/10

2010-03-21T19:34:00.004-05:00

With the cold front coming through yesterday, Honey and I headed out to South Padre Island this morning to see what migrants might be about. We were greeted with a Swallow-tailed Kite lazily looping its way northward at the entrance to the island. Unfortunately my camera settings were screwed up and I missed the pic. Also at the entrance to the island were a couple of Yellow-throated Vireos.

Other early spring migrants included Yellow-throated and black-and-white Warblers. We found them at the Sheepshead lot.

Another early spring migrant is Lousiana Waterthrush.

Hooded Warbler

I got within about six feet of this Cliff Swallow.

Red-breasted Merganser 50
Brown Pelican X
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Tricolored Heron X
Reddish Egret X
White Ibis X
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Cooper's Hawk 2
American Kestrel 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Great Kiskadee X
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 13
Yellow-throated Vireo 3
Tree Swallow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Cliff Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 10
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 10
Yellow-throated Warbler 5
Black-and-white Warbler 7
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Hooded Warbler 8
Clay-colored Sparrow 3
Savannah Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Red-winged Blackbird X
Great-tailed Grackle X
Hooded Oriole 1
House Sparrow X

On the way home we checked out the La Feria sod farm and found 320 American Golden-Plovers.

One of the ways to separate American Golden from Black-bellied Plover is to look at the axilary feathers. Black-bellies have black armpits and American Golden-Plover doesn't.

King Rail at Estero Llano Grande, 3/15/10

2010-03-15T16:15:00.003-05:00

This morning I headed over to Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco to look for the Virginia Rail seen yesterday under the boardwalk. While looking along the boardwalk I finally managed a decent pic of a Swamp Sparrow.

Later I saw a little dark rail run out from under the boardwalk but it turned out to be a Sora. I saw five of them this morning but no Virginia's Rail.

Then as I was scoping the island of rushes on the south end of Ibis Pond I was surprised to see this guy. I've only seen a few King Rails in Hidalgo county.

Later he walked out into the open on the south west side of the rushes.

Later I found three Solitary Sandpipers in Grebe Marsh.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 1
Blue-winged Teal X
Cinnamon Teal 7
Northern Shoveler X
Green-winged Teal X
Ring-necked Duck 5
Ruddy Duck 6
Plain Chachalaca 2
Least Grebe X
Pied-billed Grebe X
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 2
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Turkey Vulture X
Northern Harrier X
King Rail 1
Sora 5
Common Moorhen X
American Coot X
Killdeer 2
Black-necked Stilt 20
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Solitary Sandpiper 3
Least Sandpiper 11
Long-billed Dowitcher 2
Common Ground-Dove 2
Red-crowned Parrot 2
Great Kiskadee 1
Purple Martin 5
Tree Swallow 1
Marsh Wren 1
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Great-tailed Grackle 5
American Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 3/14/10

2010-03-14T19:02:00.003-05:00

The Rio Grande Valley is still in the doldrums of March. Visiting birders can find plenty of cool things to tick. But for the rest of us locals, we're waiting for spring migration. Not much to see this morning at Frontera. Thirteen Cedar Waxwings were the first I've seen there in a long time. Butterflies are slowly starting to pick up. This is my first Dusky-blue Groundstreak.

Here's a Mournful Duskywing. Some of these butterfly names seem a bit arbitrary.

All of us here in the Lone Star State take pride in the Texan Crescent. It kicks the Oklahoman Crescent's ass!

This hoverfly has a territory set up over the trail.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 40
Plain Chachalaca 8
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 200
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 4
Inca Dove 10
White-tipped Dove 8
Green Parakeet 8
Red-crowned Parrot 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Great Kiskadee 4
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Black-crested Titmouse 3
House Wren 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Cedar Waxwing 13
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 40
Great-tailed Grackle 8
Lesser Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 1

Hook-billed Kites at Santa Ana NWR, 3/9/10

2010-03-09T13:41:00.005-06:00

I spent a couple of hours this calm, balmy morning on the hawk tower at Santa Ana NWR and was rewarded with a pair of Hook-billed Kites. They came up distantly at about 9:40 over the Cattail Lake area and moved to the southeast gaining altitude and interacting with another pair of birds that may also have been Hook-bills. They were too high to find in my scope. When the kites first came up, a couple of birders popped up on the tower(at least they had binoculars) and I told the lady I thought I had a Hook-billed Kite. Her response was "Oh. Is it kiting?" Ugh!

The Hook-billed Kites then reappeared coming from the Pintail Lake area and did a few laps over Willow Lake. The male then perched about 100 yards west of the tower for ten minutes. Later the female appeared over Pintail Lake. I then left the tower and on my way out met the morning bird walk group. I asked them if they had seen the kite and one guy said "No. But we got great looks at the Red-shouldered Hawk right over our heads." I showed them my pics and then they realized they had misidentified the kite.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 3/7/10

2010-03-07T11:52:00.002-06:00

Not too much going on at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. This time of year our winter birds are starting to leave while spring migrants aren't quite here yet. So there's just fewer birds around. This Wilson's Warbler posed before jumping into the water feature for a bath.

Blue-headed Vireo.

Things are boring when I'm photographing Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. But I don't always see them in the thicket.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 12
Plain Chachalaca 4
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Neotropic Cormorant 2
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 50
Cooper's Hawk 1
White-winged Dove 1
Inca Dove 4
White-tipped Dove 5
Red-crowned Parrot 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Great Kiskadee 4
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Purple Martin 1
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 6
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Wilson's Warbler 3
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Great-tailed Grackle 3
American Goldfinch 2

Knox County, 3/4/10

2010-03-05T13:47:00.003-06:00

Wednesday morning there was a report on Texbirds of Pinyon Jays being seen around Truscott Brine Lake in Knox County which is about a hundred miles north of Abilene. Needing this bird for my Texas list I packed up the car and took off. Well I put in about six hours looking through the area junipers to no avail. The problem is, though the area superfically looks like a good place for Pinyon Jays, it lacks the all important Pinyon Pines the jays feed on. I expect the Pinyon Jays checked it out and moved on. They are known for roving long distances when local food supplies are short. They could have been anywhere in the thousands of acres of cedar breaks.

But there were plenty of other cool birds to look at. The junipers attracted hundreds of Montain Bluebirds and Cedar Waxwings though I'm not sure if there were any fruit on them. They seemed to be mainly hanging out around the ephemeral puddles on the adjacent cattle pastures.

Gadwall X
American Wigeon X
Northern Shoveler X
Redhead X
Ring-necked Duck X
Lesser Scaup X
Bufflehead X
Common Goldeneye X
Red-breasted Merganser X
Ruddy Duck X
Horned Grebe X
Eared Grebe X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron X
Bald Eagle X
Northern Harrier X
Cooper's Hawk X
Red-tailed Hawk X
American Kestrel X
American Coot X
Sandhill Crane X
Killdeer X
Rock Pigeon X
Eurasian Collared-Dove X
White-winged Dove X
Mourning Dove X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Ladder-backed Woodpecker X
Northern Flicker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Loggerhead Shrike X
American Crow X
Black-crested Titmouse X
Bewick's Wren X
Ruby-crowned Kinglet X
Eastern Bluebird X
Mountain Bluebird X
American Robin X
Northern Mockingbird X
Curve-billed Thrasher X
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing X
Spotted Towhee X
Rufous-crowned Sparrow X
Chipping Sparrow X
Field Sparrow X
Vesper Sparrow X
Savannah Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Lincoln's Sparrow X
Harris's Sparrow X
White-crowned Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Eastern Meadowlark X
Western Meadowlark X
Great-tailed Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Pine Siskin X
American Goldfinch X
House Sparrow X

South Padre Island, 2/28/10

2010-02-28T19:23:00.003-06:00

With Honey at work today, my old teaching colleague Mike and I headed out to South Padre Island to see what was about. Still a bit early for spring migrants. We spent a few hours walking the boardwalks at the SPI Birding and Nature Center. Nothing unusual was going on but there's always interesting stuff to see. I enjoyed this Black Skimmer cruising by.

Here's a frantically feeding bunch of Roseate Spoonbills.

The Ardeids were looking sharp in their prenuptial finery. Normally I don't look twice at Great Blue Herons but I made an exception for this one.

A very tame Reddish Egret.

This Little Blue Heron dared me to get close.

There was not a lot of shorebird diversity, mostly Dunlin, Willits and both Yellowlegs. This was the only Marbled Godwit.

Yellow-rumped Warblers will be around a few more weeks before the main spring warbler invasion occurs.

After the boardwalk we drove the beach looking for unusual gulls. I think this may be a first cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull but I'm open to suggestions. Looks a lot like 27.11 in Howell and Dunn.

Here's some good looking Brown Pelicans.

We finised the day with some good food and suds at the SPI Brewery and some more at the Wahoo Saloon. A nice day was had by all!

Bentsen State Park, 2/16/10

2010-02-16T19:38:00.003-06:00

After returning from taking my dad up to see Sal del Rey I got the call from Mary Gustafson and also from David Dauphin that an Aztec Thrush had just been found at Bentsen State Park south of Mission. So I rushed right over and spent a couple of hours looking for it but was not able to refind it. I guess I'll give it another go tomorrow. But on the way in I was happy to tick my Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl for the year. It was just south of the maintenance building where it has been heard lately.

Son of Smudge, the offspring of a supposed Altimira/Audubon's Oriole hybrid was hanging out at the feeding station.

I tried to make this bunting into a Lazuli but the whitish throat and faint streaking on the sides point to Indigo.

Here's a Snowy Plover from this morning's walk into Sal del Rey. My dad is 80 years old and made the 1.5 mile walk just fine. I hope I can do that when I'm that old.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 2/14/10

2010-02-15T11:21:00.002-06:00

Last weekend witnessed the demise of our visiting Roadside Hawk. Feathers were found on the trail near the photo blind that fit those of a Roadside Hawk. Breast and fight feathers were collected to be sent of to Dr. Arnold at Texas A&M to be examined. Not much was left when I visited in the afternoon. My guess is it was nailed by one of the other local raptors, perhaps the Cooper's Hawk or Red-shouldered Hawk or maybe even Red-tailed Hawk. I don't think a Great Horned Owl would have plucked its prey. Sad, but this stuff happens in nature. But, luckily for birders, another Roadside hawk is being seen up at Falcon State Park.

Yesterday I visited but didn't see anything too great. Here's a female Green Kingfisher.

And a fat White-tipped Dove.

Plain Chachalaca 6
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American White Pelican 18
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 150
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 5
White-tipped Dove 8
Red-crowned Parrot 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
Green Jay 2
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 2
House Wren 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Northern Mockingbird 5
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 6
Tropical Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Altamira Oriole 2

Santa Ana NWR, 2/9/10

2010-02-09T14:06:00.003-06:00

'Twas a cool, blustery morning at Santa Ana NWR. Not much going on. I really had to work to dig out a few warblers and kinglets. It's not too good when a Wilson's Warbler is the best bird of the morning. And a not too good picture either.

Blue-headed Vireo.

Gadwall 100
Mottled Duck 4
Blue-winged Teal 15
Northern Shoveler 100
Northern Pintail 4
Green-winged Teal 2
Green-winged Teal (American) 3
Ring-necked Duck 7
Ruddy Duck 3
Plain Chachalaca 2
Least Grebe 12
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Great Egret 9
Snowy Egret 1
Tricolored Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 3
Harris's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Common Moorhen 12
American Coot 100
Black-necked Stilt 3
Mourning Dove 1
White-tipped Dove 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 9
Eastern Phoebe 4
Vermilion Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 13
White-eyed Vireo 3
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 10
Tree Swallow 4
Cave Swallow 2
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 14
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 10
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 7
Wilson's Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 4
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 4
Red-winged Blackbird 10
Altamira Oriole 1
House Sparrow 1

On the way home I passed a recently mowed field with a dozen young White-tailed Hawks looking for mouse corpses.

Edinburg Scenic Wetlands, 2/7/10

2010-02-07T13:31:00.002-06:00

I headed over to Edinburg Scenic Wetlands this morning to look for the Northern Flicker that has been present the past few weeks. I couldn't find it but was happy to find only my second-ever-for-Hidalgo County Field Sparrow.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 45
Gadwall 25
Blue-winged Teal 120
Northern Shoveler 100
Green-winged Teal (American) 20
Lesser Scaup 10
Ruddy Duck 40
Least Grebe 7
Pied-billed Grebe 2
American White Pelican 3
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Great Blue Heron 7
Snowy Egret 3
Cattle Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 13
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Common Moorhen 15
American Coot 65
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 13
Spotted Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 7
Stilt Sandpiper 2
Long-billed Dowitcher 35
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 3
Inca Dove 4
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
House Wren 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Northern Mockingbird 6
Curve-billed Thrasher 4
American Pipit 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 13
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 50
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Field Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 3
Great-tailed Grackle 20

Crimson-collared Grosbeak at Quinta Mazatlan

2010-02-06T11:35:00.002-06:00

The amazing onslaught of rarities continues in south Texas. A couple of days ago a male Crimson-collared Grosbeak was found in McAllen at the Quinta Mazatlan branch of the World Birding Center. This morning I was able to find the bird feeding on Coyotillo berries and get a couple of photos before it was chased away by a mockingbird.

Quita Mazatlan also has its own Tropical Parula feeding on citrus, much like the one at Frontera.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 8
Plain Chachalaca 25
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Long-billed Curlew 1
White-winged Dove 22
Mourning Dove 4
Inca Dove 2
Common Ground-Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 4
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Great Kiskadee 5
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 5
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Clay-colored Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 4
Curve-billed Thrasher 3
European Starling 5
Cedar Waxwing 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 10
Nashville Warbler 1
Tropical Parula 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Wilson's Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 1
Crimson-collared Grosbeak 1
Northern Cardinal 3
House Sparrow 100