Sugar House Pond, 7/14/22

A brief stop today at the Sugar House Pond on FM 1425 north of FM 107 yielded quite a few shorebirds.  Just a narrow stip of shoreline around the pond but it was being used by hundreds of postbreading adults on their way south in every kind of ragged breeding plumage imaginable.  Peeps were represented by rusty Western Sandpipers with their long bills.

Short billed grayish Semipalmated Sandpipers.

And brown Least Sandpipers with their yellowish legs.  But they were so muddy leg color was hard to determine.

I didn't have time to count so I went with a rough estimate of 100 Stilt Sandpipers.  Notice the Long-billed Dowitcher photo bomb.

And I went with a 100 Lesser Yellowlegs also.

A flock of four Wilson's Phalaropes contained a juvinle plumaged bird along with some funky worn males.

Here's some mixed flight shots.  They make for great opportunities to compare plumages.

So it's time to hit the mudflats in 100 plus degree temps and find something good.  The famous birder who penned "Real birder's don't wear white" was sitting in the shade watching hummingbirds and not plying the flats in stifling heat.  Yes we do wear white!

Sweatin' at Santa Ana NWR, 7/10/22

I wanted to go birding this morning but I slept a little late so I decided to see what butterflies and odes might be about at Santa Ana NWR.  I got there at 10:30 and it was already 90 F.  The Rio Grande Valley has had little rain and daily temperatures around 100 so I wasn't surprised to find dry conditions and little going on.  But birds were definitely active.   So after walking a bit of the tour road and getting my first Black-and-white Warbler for the fall, I decided to make the switch from bugs to birds.

Walking the Pintail Lakes trail in reverse, I stop to whistle a pygmy owl call and birds responded so vigorously I wonder if there may be a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl in the area.  One of the first to fly in was the first Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet I have seen since last year's February freeze.  It was a scruffy little bugger.

Along with some mobbing titmice, Couch's Kingbirds and Brown-crested Flycatchers, a young Verdin voiced his displeasure at my whistled owl call.

As did a White-eyed Vireo.

Along the river were several family groups of Groove-billed Anis.

A young Yellow-billed Cuckoo responded to my call.  It was so buffy below it had me thinking of Mangrove Cuckoo.  However the Mexican Mangrove Cuckoos that rarely show up in the Vally are much darker buff, almost orange, below.  And this one has the white edge to underside of the base of the tail.

I heard a Common Ground Dove calling so I whistled back and he immediately proceeded to copulate with his partner.  I guess he was trying to prove something.

Water was very low at Pintail Lakes making for some good mudflats with lots of waders and a few migrant shorebirds.  

Sorebirds included Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Solitary, Least and Western Sandpipers.  Might be good to check it again in a couple of days.

Santa Ana NWR (LTC 059), Hidalgo, Texas, US

Jul 10, 2022 10:30 AM - 12:50 PM

Protocol: Traveling

1.5 mile(s)

49 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (fulgens)  3

Common Ground Dove  7

White-winged Dove  60

Mourning Dove  6

Groove-billed Ani  12

Greater Roadrunner  1

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  10

Chimney Swift  1

Buff-bellied Hummingbird  1

Black-necked Stilt (Black-necked)  40

Killdeer  7

Least Sandpiper  31

Western Sandpiper  2

Solitary Sandpiper  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  2

Neotropic Cormorant  15

Great Blue Heron (Great Blue)  1

Great Egret (American)  40

Snowy Egret  8

Little Blue Heron  2

Cattle Egret (Western)  2

Green Heron  1

White Ibis  8

Roseate Spoonbill  13

Black Vulture  1

Turkey Vulture  20

Harris's Hawk  1

Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Northern)  8

Ladder-backed Woodpecker  1

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet  1

Brown-crested Flycatcher  10

Great Kiskadee  3

Tropical Kingbird  1

Couch's Kingbird  20

White-eyed Vireo  2

Green Jay (Green)  1

Black-crested Titmouse  3

Verdin  6

Carolina Wren (Northeast Mexico/South Texas)  2

Long-billed Thrasher  2

Northern Mockingbird  10

Olive Sparrow  3

Altamira Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged)  13

Bronzed Cowbird (Bronzed)  1

Brown-headed Cowbird  1

Great-tailed Grackle (Great-tailed)  2

Black-and-white Warbler  1

Northern Cardinal (Common)  1