Roadside Hawk at Frontera Audubon Thicket, 1/30/10

A Roadside Hawk was photographed last Sunday at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. Since then there has been plenty of misidentified Cooper's Hawks and I've spent a lot of time in the thicket to no avail. Two nights ago Bryan Zvolanek from Estero Llana Grande State Park found it again in the orange grove in the late afternoon. Last night we held vigil at the orange grove but nothing was seen. So tonight I decide to make another try and spent an hour in the thicket after closing time and saw nothing but a few warblers including a great male Black-throated Gray. After I left the thicket and locked the gate I thought would would make one last circuit of the grove. That's when I flushed a small hawk that flew up into a tree on the otherside of the bush where I was standing. One quick look through the glasses and I knew this was the bird. I managed to manually focus and shoot a few pics through the bush. A Roadside Hawk! County bird #349.





When I tried to step aside for a better shot he flushed into the thicket where he is most likely roosting at night.



Of course there's other good birds in the thicket like this Tropical Parula.



And Mr. Ovenbird likes to strut around in front of the feeder watchers.

Anzalduas County Park, 1/28/10

I ran over to Anzalduas County Park south of Mission this drippy, windy morning in hopes of finally seeing the male Hooded Merganser that I have missed on several previous tries. Here he is!



I also scored a number of of county year birds like this Zone-tailed hawk that made numerous passes over the treetops. The barred tail indicates it is a young bird.







Most birders assume that all dark Mallard type birds are automatically Mottled Ducks. However Mexican Mallards also occur in the RGV. I think these birds below the dam are Mottleds based on the buffy face coloration and thin white line on the speculum.





This Rock Wren has become the unofficial park sentry.



Rose-breasted (and Black-headed) Grosbeak used to be considered as a rare bird during winter in the RGV but they now occur every winter and are expected.



Gadwall 75
American Wigeon 75
Mottled Duck 10
Blue-winged Teal 25
Hooded Merganser 1
American White Pelican 3
Neotropic Cormorant 5
Double-crested Cormorant 35
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 2
Little Blue Heron 1
Black Vulture 10
Turkey Vulture 20
Zone-tailed Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 4
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Rock Pigeon 25
Mourning Dove 30
White-tipped Dove 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 6
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 2
Great Kiskadee 3
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Green Jay 10
Purple Martin 1
Tree Swallow 15
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 5
Black-crested Titmouse 3
Rock Wren 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Eastern Bluebird 2
Northern Mockingbird 6
European Starling 5
Orange-crowned Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 1
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Yellow-throated Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Chipping Sparrow 15
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 4
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Great-tailed Grackle 10
Lesser Goldfinch 3
House Sparrow 1

Amazon Kingfisher at Zacate Creek, Laredo

Last night I checked Texbirds before I went to bed and was shocked to see a late post by Alan Wormington, famous Canadian birder from Ontario. Seems he and Robert Epstein had just found an Amazon Kingfisher at Zacate Creek where it runs into the Rio Grande in Laredo. Wow! This is another first time ABA record of a Mexican vagrant, like the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron at Bentsen of a few weeks ago. So despite a poor nights sleep, I got up super early and took off for Laredo. After some waiting, The Amazon Kingfisher zoomed in at about 9 AM. Unfortunately, the sun was right behind it and did not allow for any good pics. A little over five hours later, six of us, waiting for another look at the bird, heard the loud roar of the Border Patrol fan boats. They looped around a few times, reving their powerful engines and spraying water,terrorizing all the birds and probably a few illegal aliens. This was just what we needed. The Amazon Kingfisher came shooting out of a side channel allowing for some pics. They're not great but you can see it's a pretty cool bird.







The large bill, lack of white spots on the folded wings and Belted Kingfisher size rules out the similarly-colored tiny Green Kingfisher. We actually had four species of kingfishers, Amazon, Ringed, Green and Belted.





Here's our taxpayers' dollars at work terrorizing wildlife and illegals. But they're nice guys for the most part.

Rose-throated Becard at Bentsen St. Park

This morning I headed over to Bentsen Rio Grande State Park south of Mission to get some county year birds. I missed the Allen's Hummingbird and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl but got most of the others I needed there. It took a couple of hours before the Rose-throated Becard showed up at the feeder on the Acacia Loop.



Other good birds included both Black-headed and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.





There was also a small flock of Indigo Buntings.



A Clay-colored Thrush strutted around below a feeder.





American Robins might sound boring but I saw my first of the year for hidalgo County today.



There was a Least Flycatcher by the visitor's center.

Frontera Audubon Thicket, 1/23/10

I spent a pleasant morning at Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco despite the large flock of Turkey Vultures that have been spending the winter there. Though it has been a good winter for unusual birds in south Texas, the regular wintering birds still seem to be low in numbers. This is my first Ovenbird of the year at Frontera.



This sharp-looking male Black-throated Gray-Warbler has not been reported very often and probably spends more time at the neighbors to the south.



Here's a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.



Plain Chachalaca 4
Least Grebe 1
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Anhinga 1
Turkey Vulture 150
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Inca Dove 15
White-tipped Dove 2
Green Parakeet 2
Red-crowned Parrot 8
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Northern Mockingbird 4
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Orange-crowned Warbler 6
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Ovenbird 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Wilson's Warbler 2
Northern Cardinal 3
American Goldfinch 1

Mad, Mad, Mad Dash for Lewis's Woodpecker, 1/18/10

There has been quite an influx of Lewis's Woodpeckers into west Texas this year. I missed the one at Ozona and another by Alpine and I have missed them when they have been present in past years. So when I got word on a reliable one in Midland, I coaxed Honey out of bed at 4AM and we made the mad dash to Midland about 575 miles away. After we found Hogan Park, it was just a matter of minutes till we had great looks at our bird. This is my Texas bird #521.







A special treat, also at the park, was this partially luecistic Brown-headed Cowbird.







Well we knocked off our bird quickly and Honey had stuff to do so we just turned around and headed back to Weslaco. 1150 miles in 22.5 hours. I love being retired!

Sprague's Pipit, 1/17/10

This morning I went to the Llano Grade flood channel just south of Estero Llano Grade State Park in an attemp to relocate my red Cassin's Sparrow from the CBC. I think I may have found it but it didn't cooperate very well. So I had to be satisfied with this very photogenic Sprague's Pipit which was up on the middle levee.

Guadalupe Mountains, 1/12-13/10

I just got back from a quick trip out to the Guadalupe Mountains in west Texas. My goal was to look for the previously reported Pinyon Jays. I had no luck but finally got Sage Sparrow for my Texas list and enjoyed hiking in Devil's Hall and McKittrick Canyon. I found Sage Sparrows on 1576 just north of Hwy 62/180 and also on Hwy 54 south of the park.



One of the specialty birds of the Guadalupe Mountains is the Mountain Chickadee. Usually you have to hike up to the Bowl to see them but they are a little lower this winter.



Turdids (thrush family) were abundant feeding on juniper berries and Texas Madron. Here's a Western Bluebird. I saw lots of Mountain Bluebirds but they wouldn't pose for the camera.



I don't get to see Townsend's Solitaire very often so it was a treat to see a few.



Hermit Thrush is also a common berry eater.



The Guadalupe Mountains are the only place in Texas where you can find the Juniper Titmouse.



Seed eaters were also well represented by Spotted and Canyon Towhees.





There were also sparrows like Rufous-crowned and Oregon Junco.





I didn't see many raptors but I did get one Ferruginous Hawk on Hwy 54.