Sal del Rey, 2/19/07

The only wintering population of Wilson's Phalaropes in the USA continues at Sal del Rey, Lower Rio Grande NWR. Sal del Rey is a salt pan that drains the surrounding south Texas brush country. Historically it was a source of salt for Native Americans and colonial Spaniards. Sal del Rey is our little seashore in land-locked Hidalgo County.



Seventeen Snowy Plovers are about half as many as last month. I couldn't find any Sanderlings.



How about a White-tailed Hawk?



Six Nilgai give an exotic appearence to the brush country.



Gadwall 2
Mottled Duck 2
Northern Shoveler 200
Eared Grebe 300
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 4
Turkey Vulture 6
Northern Harrier 1
White-tailed Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 3
Snowy Plover 17
Killdeer 5
Black-necked Stilt 1
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 300
Western Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper 100
Wilson's Snipe 1
Wilson's Phalarope 110
Laughing Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Mourning Dove 50
Common Ground-Dove 10
Belted Kingfisher 1
Eastern Phoebe 5
Couch's Kingbird 1
Verdin 1
Cactus Wren 4
Bewick's Wren 4
House Wren 3
American Robin 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Common Yellowthroat 1
Lark Bunting 2
Savannah Sparrow 13
Grasshopper Sparrow 2
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 500
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Western Meadowlark 20
Great-tailed Grackle 14