The nasty bad hot dry summer continues in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas. Here in Mission the daily high temperature has been about 105F. The weather people have us cooling to under a hundred in a week. Something to look forward to but they've been promising that for a month Meanwhile area inland bodies of water are either dry or really low.
Local young hot shot birder Nolan Walker has been hitting the dessicating Delta Lake pretty hard lately and reported Ruff, Ruddy Turnstone and Red Knots among the thousands of migrating shorebirds. All three are super rare in inland Hidalgo county. I've seen them all but I needed better photos of Red Knot for iNaturalist for the county so I made a run up there.
I parked by the gazebo and walked in to the little butterfly garden. A few pishes brought in this Geothlypis warbler. Despite the eye arcs I think it's a MourningWarbler and not a MacGillivray's. I could be wrong.
I followed the fishermen's trail though the dry cattails and reached the receeding water of Delta Lake.
Well now it was just a matter of picking through the mind bogling number of shorebirds. I'm guessing there were thousands of Least and Western Sandpipers.
And hundreds of Stilt Sandpipers. The angle of the sun made photography tough all morning.
Finding a Red Knot actually turned out a lot easier than I had hoped. The large size and dumpy shape made it stand out among the many peeps.
Now it was just a matter of making my way closer and not getting too muddy. The worst fear of a shorebirder is to get in too deep and not be able to get back out. Luckily the mud was pretty firm and I got close enough for some fair shots. Turned out there were four basic plumaged Red Knots.
I saw at least three Reddish Egrest and fifteen Willets. These two species always trip the Hidalgo County filters on eBird requiring additional documentation. They are not common but they are certainly not rare. I expected to see both.
What I did not expect was a flock of Buff-breasted Sandpipers. However they are a usual migrant in open fields the area and did not get flagged by eBird.
A big nosed Long-billed Curlew tried to sneak past me.
There were a few hundred Wilson's Phalaropes. Could not find a Red-necked.
My ninety Roseate Spoonbills were also flagged by eBird for being a high number.
I missed the Ruddy Turnstone and Ruff but misson accomplished. I need to make an afternoon trip out there when the light would be better though the heat would be excruciating.
