Lark Bunting at SPI, 4/7/14

I've been getting out to South Padre Island a lot more this spring with hopes of finding some unusual migrants.  It finally paid off this morning as I found a Lark Bunting with a mixed flock of sparrows in a lot just north of the Sheepshead lot.  This poor lonely female took to cavorting with a flock containing mostly Lark Sparrows along with Savannah and Clay-colored.  I failed to find one in the RGV this past winter and people in other parts of Texas have said they were low in numbers.  It was my 374th Cameron County bird.

Clay-colored Sparrows were scattered across the Island and I even had a couple of Grasshopper Sparrows.

A flock of ten male Indigo Buntings shared seeds with their even more colorful congener.

My first Blue Grosbeak for the year was a colorful male which still had the rusty feather edgings.

And then there were the warblers, sixteen species, including some real knockouts.  Every spring Palm Warblers pass through but I never see any colorful males.  This is my second for the spring.

Blue-winged Warbler was back to being difficult to photograph.

But this Black-throated Green Warbler was putting on a show.

As was this Northern Parula.  A few birders were trying to turn this into a Tropical/Northern hybrid.  I think it's just a worn male Northern.

I've seen several Kentucky Warblers already this spring, but have yet to get one for Hidalgo County.

I just can't resist Yellow-throated Warblers.  I didn't see any at Sheepshead so I walked a block north on Laguna to the palms and pished a loud pish.  Two zoomed right in.

I was arguing with Cheryl Longton that this was a young male Orchard Oriole.  But the large single white wingbar and big black bib means she was right and it's a young male Hooded Oriole.

The flowers in the preceding photo are on an Australian plant called Bottlebrush.  Though is not native, the migrants love it.  And it makes for great Ruby-throated Hummingbird photos.

Two days ago Jim Chapman called me over to his house next to Frontera to take a look at this nightjar in his backyard.  Seemed big and rusty, with a streaked crown, so I'm calling it a Chuck-wills-widow.

Just looked out the window and saw a Yellow-breasted Chat in the yard so I'd better check it out.  Here's yesterday's list.

South Padre Island, Cameron, US-TX
Apr 7, 2014 9:45 AM - 4:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Mostly Sheepshead and Convention Center, no boardwalk or mud flats
69 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck  7
Neotropic Cormorant  15
Reddish Egret  1
Cattle Egret  150
White-faced Ibis  30
Laughing Gull  X
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  1
Caspian Tern  X
Royal Tern  X
Sandwich Tern  X
Black Skimmer  X
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Eurasian Collared-Dove  10
White-winged Dove  1
Mourning Dove  2
Inca Dove  2
Chimney Swift  3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  8
Buff-bellied Hummingbird  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Great Kiskadee  1
Couch's Kingbird  1
Western Kingbird  3
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher  8
White-eyed Vireo  2
Yellow-throated Vireo  1
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Barn Swallow  50
House Wren  1
Swainson's Thrush  1
Wood Thrush  1
Gray Catbird  2
Northern Mockingbird  2
Louisiana Waterthrush  2
Blue-winged Warbler  3
Black-and-white Warbler  3
Tennessee Warbler  1
Orange-crowned Warbler  2
Nashville Warbler  5
Kentucky Warbler  2
Common Yellowthroat  6
Hooded Warbler  5
Northern Parula  5
Yellow Warbler  1
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5
Yellow-throated Warbler  2
Black-throated Green Warbler  2
Yellow-breasted Chat  1
Chipping Sparrow  5
Clay-colored Sparrow  10
Lark Sparrow  70
Lark Bunting  1
Savannah Sparrow  10
Grasshopper Sparrow  1
Lincoln's Sparrow  20
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  2
Blue Grosbeak  1
Indigo Bunting  15
Painted Bunting  1
Red-winged Blackbird  X
Great-tailed Grackle  X
Brown-headed Cowbird  100
Orchard Oriole  8
Hooded Oriole  1
Baltimore Oriole  1
House Sparrow  X