Willacy County, 4/13/08

Yesterday afternoon Honey and I made it over to Port Mansfield in Willacy County to see if any warblers were forced down by the cold front. Well the only warblers we could find were a Tennessee and a couple of Nashvilles. But we enjoyed the afternoon and I got a few new birds for my Willacy County list like Whimbrel and Franklin's Gull. I was surprised to see ten Pyrrhuloxia scattered about the town. They are leftovers from the winter invasion.



Here's another with two Curve-billed Thrashers and the Laguna Madre in the background.



This morning was perfect with temps in the 50's and low humidity. Something we don't get in the Valley too often. I headed up to the western side of Willacy county and found a few more birds for the list.

These Wild Turkeys were nice.



This was my first Bullock's Oriole for Willacy County.



I found Ash-throated and Brown-crested Flycatchers. Notice how much smaller the bill is on Ash-throated and how much paler it is compared to Brown-crested.





This Harris' Hawk was reluctant to leave his perch along the road.



Here's a Least Grebe.



And this photogenic Merlin was my final bird of the morning and increased my Willacy County life list to 181.



I wound up with 82 species for the morning.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 25
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 1
Gadwall 10
Mottled Duck 10
Blue-winged Teal 20
Northern Shoveler 20
Ruddy Duck 5
Wild Turkey 6
Northern Bobwhite 16
Least Grebe 5
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Anhinga 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 3
Cattle Egret 1
Green Heron 2
White-faced Ibis 2
Black Vulture 2
Turkey Vulture 10
Harris's Hawk 3
Swainson's Hawk 7
White-tailed Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 6
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Sora 3
Common Moorhen 8
American Coot 50
Killdeer 1
Black-necked Stilt 15
Solitary Sandpiper 3
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Least Sandpiper 2
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 25
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Mourning Dove 60
Inca Dove 3
Common Ground-Dove 10
White-tipped Dove 1
Greater Roadrunner 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 2
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 5
Eastern Kingbird 1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 20
White-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 2
Horned Lark 1
Tree Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 10
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Verdin 3
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 1
Marsh Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 15
Northern Parula 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 6
Yellow-breasted Chat 1
Summer Tanager 1
Olive Sparrow 1
Cassin's Sparrow 3
Lark Sparrow 10
Lincoln's Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 6
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Blue Grosbeak 1
Red-winged Blackbird 200
Great-tailed Grackle 50
Bronzed Cowbird 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 200
Orchard Oriole 1
Bullock's Oriole 2
House Sparrow 15