Sal del Rey, 11/30/08

Birding is going to be great this winter in eastern Hidalgo County with lots of water in the low spots. My first stop this morning was Delta Lake on Hwy 88 north of Elsa. The water is low on the west side creating perfect shorebird conditions. Best birds were a Black-bellied Plover and the usual late Yellow Warbler.

Lesser Scaup 100
White Pelican 35
Double-crested Cormorant 100
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 50
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 10
Black-necked Stilt 1
American Avocet 12
Greater Yellowlegs 8
Lesser Yellowlegs 5
Long-billed Curlew 35
Least Sandpiper 300
Stilt Sandpiper 8
Long-billed Dowitcher 400
Laughing Gull 40
Ring-billed Gull 25
Caspian Tern 3
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 5

Just a half mile north a Delta Lake was a flock of 500+ Snow, Ross' and White-fronted Geese. Just across the line in Willacy County on Hwy 88 the usual wet area had lots of stuff including 12 Anhingas and two Vermillion flycatchers. Here I found another photogenic Wilson's Snipe.





I didn't stop at the numerous flooded areas on Hwy 186 and went straigt over to the parking area on Brushline Rd for Sal del Rey. Though I avoided stepping on rattlesnakes this time, the seed ticks were the worst I've ever seen. I brushed over 100 off my pants and my wife removed another 35 after I got home (God bless her!). I think I still have a few more. Anyway the birds were good as usual. A Sedge Wren was a nice surprise at the fresh water cienega. How's this for a bad pic?



The Wilson's Phalaropes are still here with about 100 scattered across the lake. This is about the only place in the USA where they regularly winter.



The large gull flock on the west end had 100 Ring-billed, 700 Laughing and at least three Franklin's Gulls. Notice the large white spots on the primary tips along with the blacker hood when compared to the nearby Laughing Gull.





Greater White-fronted Goose 12
Northern Shoveler 5
Northern Bobwhite 12
Eared Grebe 61
Neotropic Cormorant 3
Great Egret 1
Turkey Vulture 10
Northern Harrier 1
Sandhill Crane 6
Snowy Plover 2
Killdeer 1
Western Sandpiper 50
Least Sandpiper 200
Dunlin 1
Wilson's Phalarope 100
Laughing Gull 700
Franklin's Gull 3
Ring-billed Gull 100
Mourning Dove 7
Common Ground-Dove 10
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 5
Loggerhead Shrike 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Green Jay 2
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 1
House Wren 10
Sedge Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 12
Northern Mockingbird 6
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 10
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Lark Sparrow 12
Savannah Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 10
Swamp Sparrow 1
Pyrrhuloxia 5
Indigo Bunting 1

Brushline Road south of Hwy 186 has a couple of good wet areas with lots of Least Grebes. The wet areas in Hargill on Hwy 490 are dry but there are a few wet spots to the east in Willacy County that held lots of birds. All of the above areas are in the La Sal Vieja CBC (two weeks from today!) which should be fantastic this year. Give Martin Hagne a call to partcipate on this fun CBC.

More Kleberg County, 11/27/08

Honey and I decided to skip all the work of making a Thanksgiving dinner and just decided to go birding and have a picnic instead. Since Kleberg County was so good last weekend and Honey had never birded up there before, we decided that would be our destination. No luck with the Brant reported last weekend or the Surf Scoters. However we still managed a very respectable 105 species for the day. This Wilson's Snipe was hunkered down in the mud.





This Sedge Wren was a thrill for me as I do not see them very often. They're actually fairly common but it takes a little effort to find them.





We had seven species of sparrows on the day. Here's a Grasshopper Sparrow on the fence.



There were plenty of shorebirds at the county park and up at Drum Point. Here are Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin and Least Sandpipers.



And another Dunlin.



I like this pic of the Dunlin plunging his head into the water.



A couple of Sanderlings.



An American Pipit was being very cooperative.



Sandhill Cranes finished off a beautiful Thanksgiving.

Kleberg County, 11/23/08

I headed up to Kleberg County to look for a couple of Brant that were found yesterday. Brant are rare anywhere in Texas, especially in the south. There were a couple of thousand geese to sort though and I was unable to find them. But it was still a fun morning.



They were mostly Snows and White-fronts with a few Ross' mixed in.





After a couple of unsuccessful hours with the geese, I headed over to Drum Point to look for the two Surf Scoters also found yesterday. Here they are.



Drum Point is on an estuary on Baffin Bay on the Laguna Madre. Here's a Reddish Egret.



Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderling.

Anzalduas County Park, 11/16/08

Made my way over to Anzalduas County Park this magnificently beautiful morning. With "Border Wall" - levee stabilzation going on I had to park outside the gate and walk in. No Problem. In fact it helped me scare up a Sprague's Pipit. Best birds in the park were this Prairie Warbler and two Black-throated Gray Warblers found last week during the bird festival. It was only my second ever Prairie Warble for Hidalgo County.



Black-throated Gray Warbler



The usual pair of Black Phoebes were along the water at the southeast end of the park. I tok this hand-held with my Canon A590 through my Kowa 824.



Eastern Bluebirds are hard to find in the county. Another digiscope shot.

Sal del Rey, 11/2/08

What an absolutely gorgeous morning it was at Sal del Rey unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR. The temperature was in the upper 50's and the air was perfectly still. The lake looked like a sheet of glass. The first part of the trail from the parking area on Brushline Rd. had been mowed as far as the corner where the trail goes north. After that I had to make my way through 3-4 ft. tall grass with dozens of spider webbs across the trail. In fact I was so distracted with the spider webbs in my face that I stepped on a five feet long Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake. Lucky for me he was too cold to strike. Now that would have put a damper on the morning! Here is the only pic I could get. You can tell by the number of rattles that he was a big one!



There were pleanty of birds on the water. Most I've seen in over a year. It's good to have water. Nice to see the Snowy Plovers back.



After seeing my first Hidago County Dunlin last week, I was surprised to find three more today. I always thought there sould be Dunlin at Sal del Rey.



There were plenty of Western Sandpipers about.



As far as I can tell, These are my first Redheads for Hidalgo County, #337. I don't know how I had missed them before now.



Greater White-fronted Goose 3
Northern Pintail 4
Redhead 30
Ruddy Duck 10
Eared Grebe 45
American White Pelican 15
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Anhinga 15
Great Blue Heron 2
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2
Crested Caracara 2
American Coot 1
Sandhill Crane 10
Snowy Plover 6
Killdeer 5
American Avocet 74
Lesser Yellowlegs 70
Western Sandpiper 250
Least Sandpiper 20
Dunlin 3
Wilson's Phalarope 84
Laughing Gull 800
Mourning Dove 12
Common Ground-Dove 4
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 4
White-eyed Vireo 1
Barn Swallow 3
Cactus Wren 1
Bewick's Wren 4
House Wren 8
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
American Pipit 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 3
Savannah Sparrow 1
Lincoln's Sparrow 6
Pyrrhuloxia 2
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Great-tailed Grackle 2