Third ABA record Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch, 5/4/24

On February 23, 1983 a dead Mottled Owl was found along the road near Bentsen State Park.  This was the first record of this tropical owl species for the United States though they are resident in Mexico less than a hundred miles from the US border.  A second was reported from Frontera Audubon in Weslaco in July of 2006 though never photographed.  I vaguely remember looking unsuccessfully for that bird.

Finally on Nov 18 last year Zach Johnson and Simon Kiazc recorded the voice of a Mottled Owl at the Santa Margarita Ranch in Starr County, Texas just north of Roma.  The ranch had recently been opened to guided birding following the rediscovery of Brown Jays and the owners allowed Zach and Simon to take birders in to find this third ABA Area record.  Since then this owl has been seen by hundreds of birders and photographed many times.

I got my lifer Mottled Owl at San Blas, Nayarit in Mexico sometime in the late 80's.  A group of us took the train down from Nogales and had a blast.  There we bumped into Wings guide Jeff Kingery who was happy to show us a Mottled Owl outside his hotel.  Since then I've seen them a couple of times at Palenque in Chiapas and maybe elsewhere.  As I'm not a serious ABA lister I figured I would take my time and eventually get out to see this third record bird.  If I missed it, well I would probably survive.

Then a few days ago I was on South Padre Island enjoying the Mangrove Cuckoo when I ran into Zach Johnson.  Zach, a TxDOT biologist in his daytime job, told me he had noticed that I had not been out to see the Mottled Owl and that he had a small group going out Saturday night.  The time seem right so I jumped at the chance.

So last night we met at the Santa Margarita Ranch.  I've been there a few times through the years so I was a little familiar with it.  Most memorably Oscar Carmona and I found a male Blue Bunting there back sometime in the 90's.  Anyway Zach led us nearly a mile and half through the breezy humid darkness to the spot he had last seen the Mottled Owl.  He let out a few blasts of the recorded barking call of the owl and shortly we had great looks at this fantastic bird.  Flash photography was not allowed so I had to bump up the ISO on my camera to 3200 and 6400 to capture this bird in Zach's spotlight.  The photos came out surprisingly well.

High fives all around!  On the walk out Zach found us Eastern Schreech Owls but we dipped on Elf and Great Howned Owls.  Common Parauques called but we could not get a Poorwill to call.  Tawny-collared Nightjar is another species that occurs not too far away in Mexico but has never been recorded in the US.  Zach says he plays the call for that species every time he takes a group out on the Ranch.  So far no luck.

Mottled Owl is Stryx virgata and is superfically similar to its larger congener Barred Owl which is common in much of the US and is my 603rd Texas species on eBird placing me in a three way tie for fifth place with David Bradford and Randy Pinkston.  And I have a pretty easy ace in the hole for number 604.  I've been putting it off but I may have to go to Houston and get the exotic but recently accepted by TBRC Speckled Munia and break that tie.

Mangrove Cuckoo at South Padre Island, 5-2-24

I've been busy with birds and butterflies lately and neglecting real life stuff, so today it was time to hunker down and get some chores done.  But then that darn WhatsApp when off.  Javi Gonzalez and crew at the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center had found a Mangrove Cuckoo.  Now I've seen Mangrove Cuckoos before in the Florida Keys and in Mexico but never in Texas.  I remember looking for the one at Frontera Audubon in Weslaco many years ago.  Then there was another long ago at Sabal Palm and Scarlet Collie found one in Port Isabel.  That's three swings and three misses.  Then more recently there was the one on inaccessible state property on the Arroyo Colorado and finally last year a late afternoon bird near Rio Hondo that I didn't chase and a very coopertive bird in Galveston that I should have chased.  Mangrove Cuckoo has long been my #1 nemesis bird in Texas.

So after a brief discussion with myself about how vagrant Mangrove Cuckoos are notoriously difficult to refind and how I had stuff to do, I told myself to shut up and drove out to the Island.  When I arrived at the SPI Birding Center, birders were already on the glorious Mangrove Cuckoo.  My first shot was the classic cuckoo pose, eye ball peering through vegetation.

Mangrove Cuckoos belong to the genus Coccyzus along with our common Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos and the rare austral migrant Dark-billed Cuckoo.  They have this distintive manner of sitting perfectly still with there head slowly moving around, surveying the situation, much like trogons do.  And like our other cuckoos are big fans of caterpillars.

This Mangrove Cuckoo is from Mexico as evidenced by the rich buffy almost fulvous underparts.  Most birders get their Mangrove Cuckoo in the Florida Keys where they are much more pale.  Here's one I photographed on Key Largo.

This Mangrove Cucko is my 602nd species for Texas and 435th for Cameron County.  And tomorrow night I have an appointment to score another ABA and Texas lifer.  Stay tuned.