Birds of SE Texas

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What : 1,667 images of 86 different species (28 new species)
When : April 9-12 2010 / 30 hrs of birding
Where : Bensten-Rio Grande Valley State Park
  Estero Llano Grande State Park
  Santa Ana NWR
  Falcon State Park
  Aransas NWR
  Goose Island State Park
  Indian Point Park and Pier
  San Miguelito Ranch
  Resaca De La Palma State Park
bold = New Species    = Good quality photos

A birding friend’s email touting his recent trip to the Rio Grande Valley in SE Texas got me thinking. Work would keep me busy and I would not be able to take any time off in the next 10 months or so. So I quickly put together long weekend trip to Texas in early April. I wanted to make sure I could get there before all Whooping Cranes had migrated up north and I also hoped that I could get some of the early migrants. Looking at the birds that could be found in the area, I set a goal of 35 new species.

I left Philadelphia Thursday evening April 8th and landed in Brownsville, Texas at around 11:00 pm. After picking up my rental car I headed off to Weslaco where I would stay for the next 3 days. Friday I got up early and after getting lost for a little while, I arrived at Bensten-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Plain Chachalaca Since the auto-route was closed I decided to rent a bike at the headquarters so that I could get around quickly. I started off on the Palm drive under overcast skies and visited most of the feeding stations some of which were more productive than others. I picked up White-tipped Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Green Jay, Altamira Oriole and Plain Chachalaca within the first hour or so. At the Kiskadee trail I had Tennessee Warbler and Louisiana Waterthrash. While the LOWA was playing hide and seek with me, a family of Javelinas emerged from the thicket. They proceeded to drink water, have a mud bath and eat seeds just a few feet away from me.

Next stop was the Hawk watch where I was hoping to catch some migrant hawks. Couch's Kingbird Not much migration happening that morning but the surrounding area produced Mottled Duck, Neotropic Cormorant, Ladder-backed Woodpecker and Couch's Kingbird. After an hour at the Hawk watch I headed back to the Park’s headquarters to drop off my bike. The garden at the headquarters had Buff-bellied Hummingbird and a Least Flycatcher (I tried to make it a Beardless-Tyrannulet in vain). I signed up for the Owl walk scheduled for the following evening at 8:00pm and was out of there by 1:00pm.

So things got off to a good start with 10 new species in ˝ a day. The overcast skies did not allow for great pics but we had no rain and the wind kept the bugs under control. I did however have one problem which plagued me for the rest of the trip: my left ankle was giving me a lot of problems (playing soccer for most of my younger days has caught up to me in my late 40s) and my hiking shoes were not that comfortable so covering a lot of ground by foot in the next 3 days would be a challenge.

In the afternoon I drove to Estero Llano Grande State Park near Weslaco, TX. On the way to the park I had good looks at Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Bronzed Cowbird. I checked in at the headquarters and the staff there was very helpful. Least Grebe First new bird at the park as the Least Grebe. That was followed by photos of Green Kingfisher and another first – a very skittish Long-billed Thrasher. American White Pelican, Anhinga, Long-billed Dowitcher, Roseate Spoonbill and a perfectly camouflaged Common Pauraque rounded off the day at the park. I was not successful spotting the King Rail that was reported there and I should have spent more time looking for Cliff and Cave swallows which were most likely easy to get had I looked. I also missed Fulvous Whistling Duck, Long-billed Curlew and American Golden Plover but I thought that I would get them later on which turned out to be wishful thinking.

Day 2 was a sunny beautiful day that started off with a visit to Santa Ana NWR. First stop was the Hawk watch where a number of folks were trying to determine if the raptor on the nearby trees was a Hooked-billed Kite or a Gray Hawk. After much deliberation it was decided that it was the later so no new bird for me. Everyone was waiting for the Mississippi Kites that touched down the night before to take off and head north but we first saw a few hundred Broad-winged Hawks pass by some right over us. Brown-crested Flycatcher The Mississippi Kites were not that numerous but they were impressive nonetheless. Not much else happened at the Hawk watch so I explored other areas of the refuge. On my way to the Hawk Tower I heard an Olive Sparrow and was able to get him to come out by pishing. I also saw and photographed my first Brown-crested Flycatcher and Black-crested Titmouse. I spent some time walking around the different trails and photographing some old friends but the heat along with my laboring foot forced me to leave the refuge at around moon.

I had to make a decision where to go next and the fact that the Whooping Crane trip was on for tomorrow morning made things a little more complicated. I had inquired on a Whooping Crane boat tour a couple of days before I came down to Texas and at that time I was told that I was the first person to ask for a Sunday morning tour and they needed at least 10. When I called earlier in the day their message said that they would be going out on Sunday morning. That was good new but it meant that I had to drive up to Rockport, TX which is a 3 ˝ hr haul from Weslaco. So do I sacrifice the rest of the day by driving up north? No, instead I drove close to two hours west to Falcon State Park .That gave me a chance to stay out of the sun, rest my feet a little and go after some new birds.

Right before Falcon SP, I had a quick look around Salineno and I spotted a Hooded Oriole. At the park I had good looks at a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers, Northern Bobwhite and after some searching my target bird: Pyrrhuloxia. I then noticed a nest on a cactus and after some time I got a quick glimpse of a pair of Cactus Wrens. Greater Roadrunner I then had the pleasure of observing a Greater Roadrunner up close. As I was getting ready to leave the park I saw a Harris's Hawk on a utility pole. I headed back to Salineno hoping to see the Red-billed Pigeons as they came to roost or maybe Muscovy Ducks at the Rio Grande. I met up with a couple of birders who told me that I had just missed 3 Muscovy Ducks flying over the area about 10 minutes before I got there. It was almost 6:00pm and after waiting for 10-15 minutes I decided to give up on the Red-billed Pigeons so that I can be back to the Bensten-Rio Grande Valley State Park in time for the Owl walk.

I hit some traffic and arrived at Bensten RGV at around 8:10pm. I ran down to the headquarters and to my delight I saw a park naturalist waiting. I asked if I was the only one and he said that he had at least 8 people signed up but would give everyone a few more minutes. It turns out that the rest of the folks were observing an Elf Owl nearby. Got there in time to take a few photos before the Owl flew away. It was now dark and I decided to skip the rest of the walk so that I can get back to the hotel and get some sleep. The walk would have ended at 10:00pm and the hotel was at least an hour away. Instead I was able to get to my room pack up and get 5 hrs of sleep before I headed north at 4:00am on Sunday morning.

The drive up north was uneventful aside from the border patrol checkpoint. I arrived at the boat an hour ahead of time and we took off at around 9:00am. This was another overcast day but not that windy so the boat ride was not that choppy. My first new bird was a Wilson's Plover and that was followed by a very nice Franklin's Gull. We had Gull-billed Terns follow us around and we got our first glimpse of 2 Whooping Cranes in the distance. Whooping Crane A White-tailed Hawk was hanging out near the cranes and after we took off we were lucky to get to another group of cranes that were nearby (we were told that there were only a total of 9 cranes that had not migrated yet). We then went close to a couple of rookeries and I got some good looks of breeding White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbill. I got back on land at around noon and I had not planned where to go next. I had not studied the Corpus Christi area and did not know where I should go next. I decided to drive further north to visit Aransas NWR because I thought that would produce some additional birds. On the way I visited Goose Isl. SP which was very unproductive. Aransas NWR was equally disappointing with a distant look of a Merlin being the only highlight. I decided to start heading back down south and got to Indian Point, an area that was recommended by a local birder for shorebirds, with just a little less than an hour of sunlight left. I had good looks of Reddish Egrets, Marbled Godwit and American Avocets as well as some Western Sandpipers. When it got dark I headed south and got a room at Kingsville.

The next day I headed to the San Miguelito Ranch which is on Highway 77 south of Norias. It was raining nonstop and I was told by the Ranch owner that she would have to cancel my visit if it was raining in her area. Luckily her area was dry when I got there at 9:00am. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl I was treated to some very close looks of a pair of Ferruginous Pygmy Owls and a distant look of a beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher. Mission accomplished and as soon as I left the ranch the rain reached the area! I got to Harlingen at around noon and I unsuccessfully looked for the resident Green Parakeets at the Pendleton Park and the Rio Hondo Rd/6th St. intersection. Ironically I had a couple of domesticated Muscovy Ducks come check me out at the park… Off to Brownsville where I figured I still had 2-3 hours before I had to drop off my rental car and catch a flight back home. I decided to spend a little time at the Resaca De La Palma State Park before I went to the dump where Chihuahuan Ravens are common and Tamaulipas Crows have been reported in the past few days. The park was dead (I was their only visitor) and the rain did not keep the mosquitoes from attacking in full force. As disappointing as that was it got even worse when I called the landfill. Due to the heavy rainfall they closed it for the day!! Yikes. Dejected I headed to the airport where a 45 min delay almost made me miss my connecting flight. I run through the Houston airport so that I can get to the gate in time to board the LAST flight to Philly for the day. I was lucky to make it with 5 minutes to spare and safely got to my house at around 1:30am...

Although the trip did not yield the amount of new birds I expected, partly due to poor planning on my part and also due to the bad weather, I enjoyed it a great deal and I look forward to returning in the area very soon.

Full list of birds seen and photographed along with images will be posted shortly