Willacy County Migrants, 4/21/26

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

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

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

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

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

This good looking Scarlet Tanger was more cooperative.

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

Followed by a couple of Chestnut-sided Warblers.

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

Acadian Flycatcher was my only Empidonax.

Red-eyed Vireo.

eBird flagged this Magnolia Warbler for being early.

Summer Tanagers were out.

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

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

The ground was littered with Gray Catbirds.

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

I love Wood Thrushes.

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

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

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

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  25

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  1

White-winged Dove  1

Mourning Dove  50

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  10

Buff-bellied Hummingbird  1

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

Pectoral Sandpiper  20

Laughing Gull  10

Little Blue Heron  4

Black Vulture  1

Turkey Vulture  2

Golden-fronted Woodpecker  1

Eastern Wood-Pewee  3

Acadian Flycatcher  2

Brown-crested Flycatcher  1

White-eyed Vireo  4

Yellow-throated Vireo  1

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Red-eyed Vireo  2

Gray Catbird  20    Probably more.  All over the place.

Long-billed Thrasher  1

Northern Mockingbird  1

Wood Thrush  3

Lincoln's Sparrow  1

Yellow-breasted Chat  1

Baltimore Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  1

Bronzed Cowbird  3

Brown-headed Cowbird  5

Great-tailed Grackle  25

Worm-eating Warbler  1

Northern Waterthrush  1

Black-and-white Warbler  8

Prothonotary Warbler  2

Tennessee Warbler  6

Kentucky Warbler  3

Common Yellowthroat  2

Hooded Warbler  6

American Redstart  4

Magnolia Warbler  1

Northern Yellow Warbler  1

Chestnut-sided Warbler  3

Black-throated Green Warbler  3

Summer Tanager  4

Scarlet Tanager  1

Northern Cardinal  1

Pyrrhuloxia  1

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  4

Blue Grosbeak  2

Indigo Bunting  3

Painted Bunting  1

Golden-cheeked Warbler at SPI Convention Center, 4/19/26

I arrived at the South Pade Island Convention Center at about 1 PM.  There were a lot fewer birders than at Sheepshead.  I checked the water feature and found nothing so I wandered back behind the center to check the Huisache trees.  I found another more cooperative Acadian Flycatcher, the second of an amazing five on the day.  Green, pale breasted, narrow eye ring, big billed with long primary extensions, this is one of the easier Empidonax to identify.

 

I noticed Sarkozi's group was photographing something near the coma tree on the west end of the water feature habitat island.  Turns out they had a bright male Cerulean Warbler.  Unfortunately it was wet like all the birds on this soggy day.

And a couple of brilliant but wet Scarlet Tanagers.

And another Black-throated Green Warbler.

I walked back behind the Convention Center again and found another Summer Tanager.

Then I got a shocking text from David Sarkozi.  He and his group had gone down the boardwalk through the mangroves hoping to add birds to their day list.  One of his group had just photographed a Golden-cheeked Warbler!  Damn that's a species I've wanted to see in the Valley for over thirty years.  David is not in our local WhatsApp group and I was his only contact so I got the text.

Every few years some birder will report a Golden-cheeked Warbler in the Valley.  There is never a photo and they are never refound.  This endanged species nests in juniper and ash trees in the Texas Hill Country and winters in the mountains of Mexico.  I have only seen them on their breeding grounds.  I went running.

I found the group near the end of the north boardwalk.  David showed me where they had last seen the bird in the mangroves.  Then I got a look at the back of the photographer's camera.  Sure enough it looked like a Golden-cheeked Warbler.  I started searching while David's happy group departed.  

I put the word out on Whatsapp and soon eager birders started arriving.  Michelle and Horatio were first to arrive.  She's good at finding stuff in the mangroves.  We had glimpses of birds and found a couple of Hooded Warblers.  More people arrived and we searched and then Isidro Montemayor yells "There it is!"  Fortunately it stayed high in the mangroves.  Between the dark cloudy skies and my poor camera being on its last legs it was hard to get shots of this active little warbler but I managed a few.  The black back and crown differentiates this species from the similar Black-throated Green Warbler.

The bird drifted to the south into the SPI Birding and Nature Center.  I have not heard of it being refound though high powered birders like Ryan and Nolan went running down the boardwalk for it.  This much wanted Golden-cheecked Warbler was my 442nd species for Cameron County.  It started raining so I decided that was enough.  I passed another Kentucky Warbler on the way out.

Not nearly the number of migrants I expected on the cool, wet day.  But I'll take quality over quantity.

South Padre Is.--WBC/Conv. Center/Laguna Madre Trail (LTC 035), Cameron, Texas, US

Apr 19, 2026 1:17 PM - 4:09 PM

Protocol: Traveling

0.326 mile(s)

30 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  14

Mottled Duck  2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird  12

White Ibis  2

Eastern Wood-Pewee  2

Acadian Flycatcher  4

Great Crested Flycatcher  1

Great Kiskadee  1

Red-eyed Vireo  1

Gray Catbird  4

Northern Mockingbird  1

Swainson's Thrush  2

Lincoln's Sparrow  1

Orchard Oriole  5

Hooded Oriole  1

Altamira Oriole  2

Baltimore Oriole  5

Great-tailed Grackle  15

Northern Waterthrush  1

Black-and-white Warbler  2

Tennessee Warbler  6

Nashville Warbler  1

Kentucky Warbler  1

Hooded Warbler  3

Cerulean Warbler  1

Golden-cheeked Warbler  1

Black-throated Green Warbler  1

Summer Tanager  2

Scarlet Tanager  2

Indigo Bunting  1