Yellow-green Vireos at Sabal Palm, 7/16/11

This morning I headed down to Brownsville's Sabal Palm Sanctuary to tick Yellow-green Vireo for my year list and maybe get some photos. There was no sign of the Masked Ducks but a little effort got me some fair pics of the vireos. The male was singing his head off.





Not too much else going on. I think this is a Common Mellana. Things are slow when I'm taking pictures of skippers!



Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Ruddy Duck 1
Plain Chachalaca 1
Least Grebe 6
Neotropic Cormorant 3
Great Egret 2
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
White Ibis 3
Common Moorhen 11
American Coot 39
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Laughing Gull 1
Mourning Dove 6
Common Ground-Dove 2
White-tipped Dove 6
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2
Groove-billed Ani 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5
Brown-crested Flycatcher 6
Great Kiskadee 3
Couch's Kingbird 2
White-eyed Vireo 2
Yellow-green Vireo 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 4
Northern Mockingbird 1
Long-billed Thrasher 2
Olive Sparrow 6
Northern Cardinal 3
Great-tailed Grackle 3
Bronzed Cowbird 1
Lesser Goldfinch 2

A week ago I checked out Sal del Rey to see what the recent rains had done. Looks like they had less rain to the north of us. I like this pic of the Snowy Plover on the ice. Ice in July in south Texas? No, that's not ice. It's salt precipitate along hypersaline Sal del Rey.



I found this probable Rambur's Forktail at the freshwater cienega. It looks too blue to me.



But segments 8-10 look right.