National Butterfly Center, 2/12/26

I ran over to the National Butterfly Center to see what was flying.  But I was also thinking about buntings and was soon in the ditch behind the feeding staton hoping for the Lazuli Bunting Tiffany found a couple of weeks ago.  No buntings but this Black-and-white Warbler put on a show.  I've not seen any wintering ones around lately so this may be an early spring migrant.

An Olive Sparrow bathed nearby.

Green Jays were causing trouble at the feeding station.

I told a photographer about my Black-and-white Warbler and he was eager to see it.  We could't find it but a surprise Green Kingfisher hunting in the ditch made up for it.  Despite being unusually tame I could never get a clear shot.

I saw the Audubon's Oriole several times.  But I don't know if the photog packing his Canon R5 and 400mm f2.8, a $15-20k rig, ever got a shot.  It's a lot easier for a birder to turn into a photographer, than the other way around.  The knowledge of bird behavior and how to stalk them really makes a difference.

The Wilson's Warbler was making the rounds but she stayed in the shade.

Orange-crowned Warblers are easy to approach on near the butterfly bait logs.

Black-crested Titmice were cooperative.  Sometimes they're not.

Only 80's and 90's in the weather forecast so we may be having and early spring.  Just heard they saw two Gray Catbirds at Estero.  Rain would sure be nice but none is due.

Lazuli x Indigo Bunting Hybrid at NBC, 2/8/266

Two weeks ago Tiffany Kirsten's Nature Ninja birding tour found a male Lazuli Bunting at the National Butterfly Center.  I went out there the next day and got distant looks and poor photos of a bluish bunting with white wing bars in the ditch behind the feeding station.  At the time I assumed I was looking at the Lazuli Bunting.  But later examination of the sketchy photos proved it to be hybrid Lazuli x Indigo Bunting.  Then the cold weather hit and I spent some days chasing birds and yesterday I finally went back to the National Butterfly Center to enjoy the warm spring weather and look for butterflies.

After chasing butterflies a while I eventually found myself back in the "ditch" and thinking about buntings.  Last year's summer rain produced a good crop of exotic Guinea grass and wintering buntings enjoy the seeds.  Sure enough the little blue guy with white wing bars shows up again but this time closer and I got OK photos.

Though the males of Indigo Buntings and Lazuli Buntings have different plumages, they are closely related and hybrids from the intersecting ranges of the two taxa are not rare.  Here are typical male Indigo and Lazuli Buntings from South Padre Island.

Hybrids can produce an array of phenotypes depending on dominant traits and whether they are F1 from pure parents or F2 back cross with a pure parent and a hybrid parent or some other combination involving hybrids.  

I would not be surprised if Tiffany's original Lazuli Bunting is still around and I will keep my eyes open for it.

Kelp Gull at Port Mansfield, 2/6/26

Ten days ago or so, on a cold blustery day,  Ryan Rodriguez found a third year Kelp Gull at Fred Stone County Park in Willacy County.  Several of us looked the next day but could not find it.  But yesterday Nolan Walker checked the park and there was the Kelp Gull not far from the fishing pier.  It makes sense it would stay with the free supply of cleaned fish corpses.  So I ran over yesterday and easily ticked it for my 300th Willacy County bird species.  But the bird was distant and soon took off to the north so my photos were not great.  After birding Laguna Point a bit I returned to Fred Stone where a group was assembled hoping for the return of the Kelp Gull.  Another birder arrived and showed me a photo he had taken near a private dock to the south where a local resident was cleaning fish.  Sure looked like the Kelp Gull.

Several of us drove the few hundred yards south where the man was still cleaning fish and there was the big stonking black and white South American gull.

Nearby was a pale immature gull that I remarked to the group could be a Thayer's Iceland Gull.  One of them said that was Merlin's guess also but I don't have a lot of faith in Merlin.  Head seemed to be more Herring Gull like to me.  But I'm not much of a guller so I'll wait to see what more experienced eyes have to say.  Iceland Gull would be a great Willacy County bird and new for my list.

Otherwise there was not much interesting in the area so I decided to go check the old Mountain Plover site on Mesquite Road.  On the way I found a fun herd of Nilgai crossing the canal on FM 1420.  These huge introduced Indian antelope have made a home in coastal south Texas.

I followed Mequite Road east of FM 2099 though an area of plowed fields that once hosted wintering Mountain Plovers.  None have been seen in the area since the windmills invaded.  The once pristine white fans are now coated in grime.  

There were very few birds but it's hard to tell if that is because of the windmills or extreme drought.  Probably both.  But I found one of my targets.  All this Horned Lark needs is wide open spaces.

My other target was Sprague's Pipit.  I've heard of no reports this winter.  There doesn't seem to be any at the usual Anzalduas field south of Mission.  But Mesquite Road has been good for them in the past so I slowly drove the dirt track keeping an eye open for any little bird flying up from the short grassy border.  A small sparrow sized bird flushed and flew ahead.  Hmmm....  Usually Sprague's Pipits explode upward, sometimes flying high and circling before descending in a series of stairsteps.  This bird landed back in the grass ahead so I just kept driving slowly forward.  It flushed again, this time higher up, circling back behind me before dropping back into the grassy margin.  That looked good.  I thought I saw the white outer tail feathers.  So I got out and slowly walked the grass and......  nothing.  They are so sneaky!  So I got back in the jeep, turned around and backtracked a hundred yards, and started the slow drive forward again.  And the little bird flushed again and repeated the routine.  But this time I could see the little bugger sneaking through the grass and got a few photos.

Well that was a fun day.  As I write this birders are again observing the Kelp Gull.  It is thought this may be the same bird seen last year on Padre Island National Seashore and aged as a second year bird.  This bird is in near adult plumage and is thought to be a third year Kelp Gull.  This is my third in the ABA area though I have seen many in Ecuador and Argentina.

And the large pale gull is still being seen and birders are calling it an Iceland Gull.  We'll see.

PS:  Visiting author and bird guide Cameron Cox has deemed the pale gull to be a worn American Hering Gull based on structure and molt.  As I said I didn't think the head was shaped right for Iceland Gull.  But Merlin keeps saying Iceland and birders keep adding Iceland to their life lists.  Glad I'm not an eBird editor.  There's a mess to clean up.

Limpkin in Willacy Couty, 1/31/26

With the fantastic butterfly fall/winter we've had here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas I've not done a lot of birding lately.  But with the onset of some cooler weather, warm blooded birds are easier to find than ectothermic butterflies.  So when Ryan Rodriguez found a South American Kelp Gull and a flock of Black Scoters at Port Mansfield on a cold blustery day I made the long drive over to Willacy County.  Well I checked all the accessible spots but couldn't find them.  

As I headed home, the WhatsApp dinged.  Some visiting winter birders were reporting American Woodcocks (plural!) at what I call the wet spot on FM 1420 not far away.  I know that location well and always check it when I pass through.  Multiple rare American Woodcocks at a spot where I would expcet to find Wilson's Snipes found by visiting birders?  In my cold negative frame of mind, "Yeah, I bet." was my thought and I continued home.

Well it turned out there were at least three American Woodcocks and I kicked myself for not making the short detour to see them.  But numerous birders went to tick them.  Then more visiting birders found a Limpkin on Wildlife Rd for a first Willacy County record.  That's enough!  I had to get back out there.  So again I made the long eastward drive with the sun in my eyes and hope in my heart.

The moist wooded patch on FM 1420 looked like a good woodcock spot.  But despite investing ninety minutes I couldn't find any.  This guy may have ahd something to do with it. 

But other than being woodcockless the little moist wooded area was hopping.  My first bird was this Hermit Thrush.

Then a pair of Clay-colored Thrushes.  These omnivores will eat anyting.  Often they are seen pulling earthworms from the ground, but this one was dining on aquatic snails.

And a foraging Northern Waterthrush.  These are not rare in the Valley during winter but they can be hard to find.

A bright yellow Wilson's Warber glowed in a spot of sun.

And a Common Yellowthroat.

And a small flock of Green jays.

Three expected Wilson's Snipe flushed from the pond across the road.

With snipe in the bag but no woodcocks, I headed over to Wildlife Rd.  They've had a lot more rain along the east side of the Valley so there is still standing water.  The rest of the RGV is bone dry.  Just as I had started my search for the Limpkin, Ryan Rodriguez shows up and it doesn't take him long to find our quarry.  It wasn't much of a view.  After Ryan left it briefly popped out in the open.

Wet areas in the Valley always have wintering Vermillion Flycatchers.

Got my first Black-and-white Warbler for the year.

Limpkins used to be restricted to the Neotropics and south Florida where the large apple snails they feed on can be found.  But the snail is a popular aqaurium pet and has consciously or inadvertently been introduced across the gulf coast where with the help of global warming, numbers have exploded.  Limpkins are now regulargly seen in SE Texas.  I have now seen them in all four RGV counties.  As the ephemeral wetlands down here do not have apple snails, Ryan and I surmised they may be feeding on amphibians and crayfish.  We do not know if our Limpkins are coming from east Texas or up from Mexico.