Looking for Lazulis

On April 19, 2014, we decided to head up to Lost Maples State Park. They had been seeing some good birds there, including a number that would be lifers, like Lazuli Buntings, Black-capped Vireos, and a Painted Redstart. I saw on the Lost Maples website that they were doing bird walks on Saturday morning at 8:00AM, so we decided to make the 1.5 hour drive west.

As we were driving to the park, we got our first year bird, the ever elusive Wild Turkey. We had about 6 of them, including a mating pair in the fields along the road. At the Visitors' Center, we snagged another new bird, a beautiful Indigo Bunting. We paid and made our way up to the overflow parking lot for the beginning of the bird walk. While observing the feeders, we met the guides and saw a nice male Blue Grosbeak enjoying some seed. I told one of the guides about some of the birds we were looking for and she happened to hear one of our targets. We all looked up to see a male Scott's Oriole (lifer) singing at the top of an oak tree. Not even 15 minutes in the park and already 3 year birds!

We ended up being the only participants on the walk, so we began our trek down the trail. We had just crossed a stream when a small Myiarchus flycatcher blew past. Based on call and size, we had another lifer...Ash-throated Flycatcher! The next bird was also awesome, not new, but you can't beat excellent looks at singing male Golden-cheeked Warblers. A Texas Hill Country specialty!

Moving on, our guides pointed out a Hutton's Vireo nest. She wasn't home, but it was very cool to see anyway. In a cliff face on the left side of the trail was literally the largest Red-tailed Hawk nest I have ever seen. They also weren't home, but the size of this thing was impressive to say the least. We crossed a second stream and had a Louisiana Waterthrush sing in the trees. We also heard the beautiful descending song of the Canyon Wren (lifer).

Continuing toward the pond, Les (one of the guides) mentioned that he was disappointed to have not seen an Acadian Flycatcher yet as they normally moved through about this time. No sooner had he said that than we heard a very distinctive 2-note call. 8 eyes and 10 minutes later (and an Eastern Phoebe...), we had our Acadian (lifer).

The Acadian provided a burst of excitement, so we continued around a bend and crossed a third stream. Well, it may have been the same stream, but we crossed it 3 times on our way up. We heard the Canyon Wren again (I'll never get tired of that song!) and had a Northern Cardinal acting very aggressively. Turns out he was less than pleased with the Eastern Screech-Owl perched in a dead tree. The owl gave us the eye, so we moved on. In this area, we had numerous singing and fly-by Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and while those were year birds, those were not my target. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash at eye level, and barely, just barely, had my Black-capped Vireo (lifer). These are also a TX Hill Country specialty, but are much more secretive than the GCWA.

We were all hoping for better looks at the BCVI, so we headed about 100 yards up the East Trail where they have been reported (even as recently as the same morning). We weren't able to see them, but they were definitely calling from the deep bush, as were at least 2 Hutton's Vireos. Our thought was that others most likely played a BCVI call to draw them out in to the open, but as Lost Maples is a State Park, playback is strictly forbidden. Also, I prefer to not play calls unless I really am confident the bird will not be too stressed and I don't think they're on a nest at the time. Generally I play calls in my car so I am familiar with the sound and can recognize it in the field. We were entertained about about 4 GCWA as we listened to the BCVI.

The walk back was filled with many of the same birds. Once we returned to our starting point, our guides described a Great-Horned Owl nest that was visible from the camping area. Luckily the nest was too far away to be disturbed, but we were able to see one adult and one owlet peering out from their home. We camped out at the bird guides' feeders (they live at the park for a couple of months), but did not see any of the reported Lazulis. No worries, we still had 4 lifers and added 11 birds to the year list, bringing our total to 257! :D

Birding Blind?

I suppose that title can have a couple different meanings. You can bird from a blind, or you can blindly bird, or you could feel blind while you bird. I'm dealing a bit with the third. I wear glasses at work, not because it's hard for me to see, but because I easily get eye strain when staring at a computer all day. My vision isn't 20/20, but it's still pretty good. I can see things far away, I can see things up close, I can see things that are small.

However, on our recent trip to the RGV, I was in charge of the camera for a time. I'm clearly not the best photographer, but I don't do it for the best pictures in the world. I like taking pictures of the birds because 1) I think they're pretty, 2) it reminds me of all the fun I had on a specific trip, and 3) it helps me see the field marks on various individuals which may have a different pattern than the standards in a book, which makes me a better birder. Looking back at some of the pictures I took on this past trip, I realized something that made me feel much older than my true age: I can't see nearly as well as I thought I could. The things with the bins and camera is that I can adjust the fine focus to make the birds look clear to me through the lens. Unfortunately, that doesn't always translate to an in-focus image once I've taken the picture.

In concession to my age, I think it's time to start birding with my glasses. I'm due for a new pair, so maybe I can get a cheaper pair for birding and keep my nice ones for work. I just hope that'll solve some of my problems when it comes to taking pictures. It's hard to ID field marks from a smudgy pic.

RGV Birding Part 3 (4/14/14)

We got out of the house around 7AM and grabbed some coffee before heading back to the island. The wind was supposed to have died down, hopefully making birding a bit more successful. We really like this bagel shop called Bada Bing, but they apparently they're closed on Mondays. Instead, we went to McDonalds and grabbed a quick breakfast and then made our way to the SPI Birding Center. This is a really fantastic area, and definitely worth the $5 admission. If you go to the RGV, make this one of your stops.

Walking out on to the boardwalk, we saw a Cattle Egret roost with at least 50-60 birds. There was a Mottled Duck under the seed feeder. Down the boardwalk, there were numerous Willet and Least Sandpipers in the mudflats and Tricolored Herons perched on the boardwalk itself.

Continuing around, we spied a Clapper Rail running in the reeds with Coots and Gallinue. Near one of the bird blinds, we had this little Least Bittern standing right out in the open.



Overhead were lots of Laughing Gulls, Least Terns, Black Skimmers, and other gulls (which remained unidentified until just a bit later). Instead of walking out the end of the boardwalk, we doubled back to see if we could pick up anything else we missed. This is how we saw a Swamp Sparrow and Common Yellowthroat. Near an intersection in the boardwalk, we ran smack into another Least Bittern, as well as a couple we had seen the day before. They pointed us to a Sora and we directed them to the Least Bittern. That's the best kind of birding. As we made our way back to the center, we passed some folks looking at another Clapper Rail (which they were calling a Sora) while others were looking at a scope. I heard two words that made me turn around: "Peregrine Falcon". It's one of my embarrassing misses...well, it was! They had great looks at one perched on the water tower. Lifer! I thanked them and explained how to tell the difference between the Clapper and the Sora and directed them to where the Sora had been. Hopefully they got to see it.



We left the birding center and drove to the Convention Center in hopes of having more luck than the day before. Immediately in the bottlebrushes, we saw two Tennessee Warblers. Around back, we had the Townsend's again, as well as a Black-throated Green.





I kept walking down the path and saw my huge flock of unidentified gulls land. I peeked at them through the binoculars and remembered what Huck had said the day before. "Franklin's will have a pinkish tint. Laughing won't." He was serious. These gulls looked like they got washed with a red sock!



We saw the Orchard Orioles again, but not much else, so we went to the Sheepshead Lots. There were two other birders there, but they said they hadn't seen much. We saw the Louisiana Waterthrush again, and were about to give up when we noticed some fluttering. In one tree we had an unidentified flying yellow object (which was figured out in a bit with the help of you all!), a Northern Parula, a Black-throated Green, and a Painted Bunting. Awesome! I followed the lady back to see a roosting Nighthawk while my partner went on a bunting hunt. I saw the Nighthawk and came around to find my partner on 3(!!!) male Painted Buntings. I quickly waved the couple over (the lady had missed the Painted Bunting her husband had seen a few days before because she was at yoga). By the time they got there, one had left, but we still got nice looks at 2. They went a little further down while we waited to see if anyone else popped out. They got on something, and I swear it sounded like Grosbeak, so we hustled over. They had 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (2 males, 1 female). We decided we were each other's birding good-luck charms.




Coming back around, we ran into the other couple from the Convention Center and we told them about the Nighthawk, so they went off in search of it. There were actually at least 2, so we figured they'd have good luck. I walked back around to the middle of the area, turned, and saw this:



We waved our new friends over so they could see it too. As we were standing there, a van full of New Yorkers rolled up. We happened to get on a bird and were looking at it through our binoculars but myself and one of my new friends could not make the word come out of our mouths. There was some sort of brain/bird disconnect. Leave it to a New Yorkers..."DICKCISSEL!!!!!!!" We all got stellar looks at the year's first Dickcissel before he decided he had somewhere else to be.



The New Yorkers were on an Eastern Wood-Pewee, so I'd like to consider us even. We walked across the street and saw the mystery bird in the water drip. One of our new friends came over and we were all stuck in Warbler mindset and couldn't make it work for anything. Thanks to y'all, I know now that we had a female Scarlet Tanager (duh!). Right before we left, we had a Yellow Warbler in a tree.

We packed up the dogs and began the long drive back to San Antonio. Along the way, we picked up White-tailed Kite, Brewer's Blackbird, Crested Caracara, and Swainson's Hawk. Boy it was fun, but I was glad to be home.

One of the wonderful things about South Texas birding in the winter is Winter Texans. These are folks from up north who come down here in the winter because being up north in the winter really sucks. These are some of the friendliest birders I have ever met. They're always sad for us when they find out we have to go back to work and are only down for the weekend. They always help us find birds we didn't see, and they're always ready to have a chat. I think that's because they only see each other all winter and are happy to see a fresh face.

SPI Birding and Convention Center: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17892581

Sheepshead Lots: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17892657

Trip Summary:
Total Birds: 139
Year Birds: 27
Lifers: 5

RGV Birding Part 2 (4/13/14)

Though the weather conditions had definitely not improved, I had a feeling today was going to be a better day. I had already decided that we should go to Estero Llano in Weslaco and do the guided bird walk at 8:30. We got there around 8 and viewed birds off the deck for the first half hour. One of the guides was there (Pat) and she explained that they like to see birds off the deck for 30 min and then go on the walk. I was very glad we did, since we scored the first lifer of the trip about 15 feet away, a pair of Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. I'd put a picture, but a duck butt is a duck butt, you know? Our first warbler of the entire trip was the Common Yellowthroat flitting around the deck.



Folks slowly trickled in, and our group got up to about 15 + 2 guides (Huck and Pat). We began the walk down the trail near the Purple Martin houses and had a kettle of 200-300 gulls fly over. Huck wasn't super confident they were Franklin's, so we didn't count them. The group stood on the bridge waiting for a Virginia Rail. No luck, but we did have a beautiful little Sora and could hear the Marsh Wrens. As we all turned to leave, I spotted a Marsh Wren in the reeds and pointed it out to the group. It was definitely a lifer for a big portion of the folks (8-9 were from the UK). Another lady pointed out a Least Tern, which was our first for the year. We stopped at various ponds, seeing both White and White-faced Ibis, as well as a pair of fly-over Roseate Spoonbills. Our destination for this part of the walk was a grove of trees where a mama Common Pauraque (I've been saying "Pair-a-key" but Huck called them "Pa-rocky"...any other opinions???) has been nesting. On one side, we didn't see her, so we moved to the other. All of a sudden, there she was, in front of a yucca, with her two babies. There was a rabbit near them, and as soon as he got too close, mama and her babies, stood up and all put their wings up in an effort to be intimidating. I don't think they bothered that rabbit one bit, but we got an awesome show. The pictures aren't the best because it all happened pretty fast, but I thought it was a neat show anyway.





We walked around some more ponds, and finally up to the levee. The wind was even stronger here (sustained speeds of ~30mph), so there wasn't much to see except a handful of Turkey Vultures and our first Tree Swallows of the year. The real reason we were up here was the view of an Eastern Screech Owl nestbox. It was really cute to see that little face poking out! On the way back towards the Visitor's Center, we stopped at a pond where they'd had Cinnamon Teal for months. No Cinnamon this time, but we did have Blue and Green-winged. We also had our year Stilt Sandpipers. Behind the sandpipers, a lady from Canyon Lake (just north of San Antonio) and I both saw this tiny bird spinning in circles like a dog chasing its tail. Wilson's Phalarope! My first of the year, and also Estero Llano's first of the year. As we were crossing the final bridge, we were on the lookout for our missing Virginia Rail. About a quarter of the way, I spied some movement and called out that I had something. One of the other walkers said it was a Sora, but I knew that wasn't right, even though the size fit. I started calling out field marks...long orange bill...gray cheeks... Huck got very excited and said "Virginia Rail!". Second lifer of the day (and #350 overall for me!). Some of the UK folks didn't see it, so they waited on the bridge while the rest of us went back to the Visitor's Center to compile our first half list.

After a snack, we began the second part of the walk. Right away we had a Plain Chachalaca on the feeders. We rounded the corner and had a Brown-crested Flycatcher and Clay-colored Thrush in an old mobile home spot (a big portion of this park used to be a mobile home park. Folks were allowed to continue living there until they either passed away or moved into a retirement home. There are still 3 residents of this old mobile home park who live there...there's also a really cool birder called Benton Basham living there. He did a big year in 1983 and had 711 species. He was super nice!). Huck pointed out two Altamira Orioles building their nest.



There were Bronzed Cowbirds watching...plotting their evil plans. So hopefully the Orioles are able to keep the Cowbirds away. Walking through the old park, we were added Ruby-throated Hummingbirds for the year. Near a feeding station, we saw this squirrel raiding the bird seed.



Finally, on the way out, we had a Broad-winged Hawk soaring overhead, to make the 8th year bird. I would highly recommend the bird walk at Estero Llano to anyone planning on heading to the RGV. Huck and Pat were super informative and gave us a LOT of good tips for recognizing and differentiating various species.

After we left Estero, we drove about 2 miles down the road to the Progreso Grain Silos to pick up our lifer Yellow-headed Blackbirds. On our way back to my sister-in-law's house, we debated what birding (if any) we wanted to do for the rest of the day. Since Estero is a World Birding Center, if you pay to get into one, you can get in to any of them for the rest of the day. So we went to Resaca de la Palma, which is about 2 miles from my sister-in-law's. It was pretty blah. No new birds, very very hot and windy. I was ready to call it a day, but my partner convinced me we could go one more place. I knew from Facebook that a Townsend's Warbler (rare for the Texas Coast) had been seen Saturday night and Sunday around noon at the SPI Convention Center. I said "What the heck?" and we drove out the 45 minutes to the island.

We walked the free boardwalk (the World Birding Center part was already closed since it was 5pm) and saw lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, Laughing Gulls, etc. I was able to add Semipalmated Sandpiper to the year list before we decided to walk over to the Convention Center. We immediately found the Townsend's (just follow the giant lenses...).



We also had a Yellow-rumped, bringing the Warbler total to a whopping 3. Our last year bird of the day was a gorgeous adult male Orchard Oriole.



We left the Convention Center and drove down the island a way before accessing the beach. We added Sanderlings for the day, but this was not a productive spot. On our way off the island, we stopped at the Sheepshead Lots. People had been reporting tons of warblers, buntings, etc. We had a really cute Louisiana Waterthrush, but not much else. This was probably because some idiots climbed over the fence and were trampling all through the habitat. We made our way off the island and tried to get some rest for our last day in the RGV.

Estero Llano: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17873309
Silos: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17872435
Resaca de la Palma: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17875544
Convention Center: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17882736
Beach: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17892682
Sheepshead Lot: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17917951

RGV birding Part 1 (4/12/14)

We woke up at 5 on Saturday because we wanted to get an early start out to the island (South Padre Island). While getting ready, I checked all my sources to see if there was anything rare/cool being seen besides the various warblers, buntings, orioles, etc, that had been seen for the past few days. When I checked the Rio Grande Valley Birding Facebook page, I saw that there was a motorcycle festival going on at the Convention Center (which is some of the best birding on the island) through Sunday afternoon. I was super disappointed because that really threw a wrench in my plans, but we decided to be a bit flexible and head out to Sabal Palm instead. We got there around 7AM and I immediately knew it was going to be a bad day. The winds were terrible. 20-25 mph sustained winds with gusts between 30-50 mph meant that most birds were going to ground or got blown out and weren't going to be around. Oh well, that's what happens sometimes!

We first walked around the old plantation house on the property to check out the nesting Great Horned Owl. She's been in the same tree since January, so we've already seen here 3-4 times, but I never tire of seeing owls! We had some Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in the trees near the house as well. We walked around the front to head down to the feeding station and had our first new bird of the year, Bronzed Cowbird. I like them because they look sort of evil. They don't try and pretend they're nice, they just let you know with those red eyes that they mean business. On the path down to the feeders, we had some Hooded Orioles drinking from a hummingbird feeder, which was really upsetting to the hummingbird. We couldn't see it, but we could hear it flying all around scolding the orioles. The feeding station is always nice, and never disappoints when it comes to South Texas specialties. We had Green Jays, White-tipped Doves, Plain Chachalacs, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Clay-colored Thrushes, Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, etc.




We walked down the trail through the Butterfly Gardens and down to the Rio Grande. Along the way, we had our next new year bird, Brown-crested Flycatchers. The lighting was terrible, but luckily, these called, making it easy enough to distinguish them from Great-crested. We kept hearing this terrible ruckus near the blind so we kept walking towards it...only to be almost run over by the Border Patrol. For those not aware, the Rio Grande is the border between the US and Mexico and also is the southern border of Sabal Palm. The entire park is actually BEHIND the border fence, so Border Patrol is to be expected. I actually heard a lady last month ask if she was in Mexico now. I can see the confusion (especially when AT&T on your cell phone gets replaced by movistar/TELCEL), but the park is still US territory...no passport necessary!

We never saw the birds making the noise, but later figured out that they were Chachalacas. They're getting pretty territorial this time of year and also advertising for mates...so they are really freaking loud. Overhead we had a kettle of at least 200 American White Pelicans. It was one of the coolest things! We turned back towards the feeding station and saw a Bronzed Cowbird doing a display.



Then, we heard a loud noise in the brush. A loud noise in the brush in Texas is always scary. Is it a bobcat? A coyote? A different kind of coyote (the human kind...)? A crazy feral hog? Not today...this was a javelina!



That was a first for us and pretty cool, even if it wasn't a bird. Down near the end of the path, we had our first Olive Sparrows of the day. They were gathering nesting material. We walked down to the resaca and spent some time in the bird blind. We didn't have much down there except Least Grebe, Ruddy Ducks, and a Belted Kingfisher, so we left the blind and decided to walk some more. All of a sudden, my partner jumps back screaming "RED TOUCHES YELLOW RED TOUCHES YELLOW".



While not the biggest snake we've seen at Sabal Palm (last month's 5 foot Indigo takes the prize...), this Coral was definitely the most dangerous, so we headed away from that area. Near the end of the resaca, we got lucky when we looked up and our third year bird of the day, a giant Ringed Kingfisher. Seriously, they're huge. We went back to the feeding station and watched a Buff-bellied preen.






We left Sabal Palm and drove to Hugh Ramsey Park in Harlingen. As I mentioned, the winds were awful, and now the temperature was climbing, so I didn't expect much. At this park, we got nice looks at Curve-billed Thrashers and a Solitary Sandpiper. We also got really nice looks at some Great Kiskadees doing their flycatching. Finally, we went to Harlingen City Lake in hopes of catching the Fulvous Whistling Ducks that had been reported recently. No dice, but the there were plenty of Black-bellieds and Laughing Gulls braving the wind!

All in all, not the best day of birding in South Texas, but there were still a couple more days of the trip to go!

Sabal Palm http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17859948
Hugh Ramsey http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17862672
Harlingen City Lake http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17862717

Of Parrots and Pauraques

This past weekend, we made a trip down to Brownsville. I already knew that this was going to be more of a family trip than a birding trip (especially since we're going down on 3/21 and 4/11 again), so I didn't plan on us getting to see too many species. Plus, once we got down to the valley, the weather was bunk and made me not feel too bad about missing out on some birding experiences.

The one concession to birding I wanted was a visit to Oliveira Park near sunset for a look at the Parrots and Parakeets. If you ever go down to Brownsville, you have to check out this park. It is such an experience to have hundreds of Parrots come flying in, making more noise than you can believe.

We were on the look out for Red-crowned Parrots, which are the most common species, but also anything else we could find. When we got there, it was cold and drizzling, but there were tons of birds lined up on the telephone lines surrounding the park. Scanning the line showed Red-crowned Parrots (as expected), along with a handful of Red-lored Parrots. These are not an accepted TBRC/ABA species, but they are an established population and seem to be holding their own amongst the Red-crowneds. I also managed to spy a Green Parakeet (a lifer...which I thought I had already seen before...whoops!).

On the way back to my sister-in-law's house, we decided to cruise Resaca de la Palma State Park. We knew the visitor's center would be closed, but we thought the gate might still be open. It wasn't, but that was totally ok since we had an awesome bird (or 12) right outside of the gate. Our headlights managed to illuminate at least 12 Common Pauraques working the fields at the entrance to the park. What a neat experience to see these birds we normally only hear at night while sitting on my sister-in-law's porch.

The next morning, we got up in the rain and made it over to Resaca de la Palma again. This time, we knew they'd be open. We were looking for a specific new bird that has been seen lately. We paid our fees and headed to the feeders, keeping our eyes peeled. An employee of the park said that the bird had been seen the previous day, so we had high hopes. About 10 minutes later, we were rewarded by a very brief appearance of a Black-headed Grosbeak (lifer). After that, we were so cold, we packed it up and headed back for breakfast.

The April trip is very exciting and I can't wait to bird until I drop!

Texas year list as of 03/09/14: 198

In the Mood for Migration

During my lunch break, I noticed that "Birders: The Central Park Effect" is on Netflix. I have been watching it during my lunch break and totally jonesing for the end of the month/beginning of April.

I highly recommend this flick. It's a cute look at a variety of birds and birders and explains our obsession just a bit. :)

Here a gull, there a gull, everywhere a gull (aka searching for Slaty-backed Gulls)

Early in February, the border town of Laredo held a birding festival. As these things usually start on Thursdays and I have a full-time job, birding festivals are hard for me to get to. However, I always try to keep up with what's being seen, because you never know what rarities will pop up with so many eyes in so many places. For example, during last year's Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, a gentleman (whose name escapes me) found the second ABA/Texas record Amazon Kingfisher. We were able to drive down the next weekend and get good looks through a scope (owned by Steve Gross, who sadly passed away a week or two later). Anyway, back to Laredo. I didn't see anything interesting until Sunday. That's when word of a Slaty-backed Gull at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park started to trickle out. Long story short, the bird had first been seen on Thursday (OF COURSE!), but not believed until Sunday, when pictures and other birders made it out there to see (just one reason I always carry my camera...regardless of judgement from other birders who say bins are good enough).

I had been trying to convince my partner in crime/birding that we should go down to Laredo to get a glimpse of this bird since it's really rare for our area and we probably won't be going to AK anytime soon. It's hard to convince someone who's not a hardcore birder that they really do want to go look at a seagull on the border. The bird was still being seen for weeks afterward and I finally was able to talk my way into a trip south.

We set out early Saturday (March 1) for Laredo. There weren't too many birds at all on the way down there because it was so foggy, but as we got closer to Laredo, the fog lifted and a nice Pyrrhuloxia was seen perched on a telephone line. I love these guys! Once we got to the park around 10:30 AM we didn't see any gulls at all, but we headed to the boat ramp area anyway since that's where the bird had generally been seen from. There were no other birders until we pulled out the scope and started scanning the lake. One couple drove by and asked if we'd seen the bird. We said no and they said to keep looking because they saw it there yesterday. I was relieved because there hadn't been any reported sightings on the sites I check since Thursday (what is it about Thursdays?), so I figured the bird had to be around somewhere.

After a little while scoping, I started to get frustrated at the general lack of gulls and we decided to drive around the park. Up near a house, we saw a medium-sized bird on a fence. Cactus Wren! Beautiful bird, gave great looks, sweet lifer, but not what we came for. We drove a bit more, saw a few more cool birds (none new for the year though) and decided to try scoping again. Another birder came up again with words of encouragement and a thought to try the other side of the park. We drove to the other side to try scoping from there, and of course I saw a huge raft of gulls...visible from the spot we just left. We drove back to the original side, set up the scope, and finally had success. Slaty-backed Gull (lifer!), hanging out with a number of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls (neither new), and a Lesser Black-backed Gull (new for the year).

With joy in our hearts and sunburn on my arms (it was 91 degrees), we departed from Laredo. On the way out of town, we got one last new year bird, Northern Rough-winged Swallows. I had been hoping to bird other locations in Laredo since it was our first time birding there, but it was so hot and we were so drained that we made a promise to ourselves to come back another day.

Texas year list as of 3/1/14: 193

Nueces County 2/15/14

One of my favorite birding locales is Nueces County along the South Texas Coast. This is about a 2.5 hour drive away from our home, so I enjoy seeing what I can spot along the highway driving down. There are the typical hawks, sparrows, doves, vultures, etc, but as we're doing a Texas Big Year, I was on the lookout for something new. Two flocks flying overhead added two new year birds, Snow Goose and Sandhill Crane.

Once we got to Corpus Christi, we stopped at Labonte Park. This was our first time at this location and while we saw some good birds, including Anhinga (a first in the county for me), there was nothing new for the year. So we moved onward to Blucher Park. This is a huge migrant trap in the county and is truly one of the birdiest parks in America. We haven't hit the stride of Spring Migration, so there weren't a ton of new birds, but we managed to add Great Kiskadee and Brown Thrasher to the year list. Come March/April, the number of warblers there will be fantastic! Not to mention Indigo and Painted Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks...I can't wait!

After leaving Blucher, we drove out to South Padre Island. Along the bridges, we were able to add Black-bellied Plover and Sanderling. Those are about the easiest shorebirds for me to pick out. Once on the island, we stopped at a small migrant trap called Packery Channel Park. The main target was American Oystercatcher (but no such luck today). Only new year bird was Willet, but he did have some company with a lot of other birds (none new unfortunately).

We continued down to Port Aransas and made our first stop at Paradise Pond. It was neat to add Cedar Waxwings to my county list, but the only new year bird was a very personable Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. He just would not stop flying around us. ;) There were also Winter Texans...not a species of bird, but a type of birder from the North who like to escape their terrible weather and enjoy all that South Texas has to offer.

Next stop was the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. I love this place because it always has good birds, good birders, and giant alligators. And we found all three today. For the year list, we were able to add Cinnamon Teal (there was only one and thankfully another birder helped us find it), Least Bittern, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis, Sora, and American Avocet. I was happy to be able to help other birders see and identify the Least Bitter and White-faced Ibis and thankful for the eyes of others to get the Cinnamon Teal and Green Heron.

Finally, we thought we'd try a new spot for us, the Port Aransas Jetty. Driving down the beach towards the jetty, we added Forster's, Royal, and Sandwich Terns, while the walk along the jetty brought Ruddy Turnstone and Bonaparte's Gull. I'm excited to come back here and add more terns and gulls!

On the way off the island, we spotted a Long-billed Curlew working hear near a bridge. The honor of "Last Bird of the Day" goes to a pair of White-tailed Kites hovering over the highway on the way out of Corpus.

All in all a FANTASTIC day of birding with 84 total species, 21 new species for Nueces County, and 21 new year birds, bringing the 2014 total to 180!

Brown Pelican

Laughing Gull

Ruddy Turnstone

Royal Tern with funny hair!

Baby Texas Big Year - Birding Brownsville

We've decided to do a Baby Texas Big Year. All that means is we are aiming to get 350 species in Texas in 2014. Shouldn't be too terribly difficult and hopefully will be a lot of fun. :) After a mini-big day on New Year's and a bird count in Boerne, we were up to 96 by 01/03. A couple of extra bird walks got us to 105 by 01/17...then it was time for some fun! We decided to head down to Brownsville on the evening of the 17th in order to bump up our count a little bit. On the way down, we ended up spotting a Great-horned Owl on the side of the highway. Normally owls are pretty difficult for us, so it was quite a surprise that this was so easy.

The first birding stop in Brownsville was Sabal Palm Sanctuary. They've recently remodeled the old house and moved the Visitors' Center into that building. Fortunately, they still maintain the feeding station at the old center. :) At the time of our visit (01/18), there was a Great-horned Owl nesting in a tree just outside the new Visitors' Center. Two owls in two days will very little effort. If only all birding was so easy! An Osprey flew over, marking the first new bird of the trip. We went to the feeding station and added White-tipped Dove, Green Jay, Clay-colored Thrush (lifer), Gray Catbird, Olive Sparrow, and Hooded Oriole to the year list. Then, we walked down to the lake and had Mottled Duck, Least Grebe, and Green Kingfisher. On the way back we picked up Plain Chachalaca in the underbrush. We were able to help another pair of birders get their eyes on the Chachalaca as well. It's always fun to see someone's eyes light up when they find a bird they were looking for! :)

Clay-colored Thrush

Green Jay
Just outside Sabal Palm, we spied a Chihuahuan Raven (thanks to the wind which exposed the white feathers!). Near the intersection of University at 77, we had a falcon on the telephone wires...Aplomado Falcon (lifer)! Always fun to see birds in unexpected places. We had a Northern Harrier fly over an empty field, bringing the bird list to 120 at the end of the morning.

After a nap, we went to Harlingen Arroyo Colorado to pick up some more birds. At the feeding station we spied Common Ground-Dove and Buff-bellied Hummingbird. We walked down to the river and were able to see Harri's Hawk, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Curve-billed Thrasher. That evening, we drove a resaca and added Anhinga and White Ibis. At the end of the day, we got to 127. Not bad for a few hours of birding!

Sunday, the 19th, we drove out to the South Padre Island Birding and Convention Center. Walking the trails, we were able to add Northern Pintail, Redhead, Red-breasted Merganser, Brown Pelican, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, Clapper Rail, Common Gallinue, Spotted Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit (lifer), Laughing Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Black Skimmer and Common Yellowthroat. I love this area! The trails go right through the marsh and make it very easy to pick up birds like rails that are sometimes really difficult to spot. After walking the trails, we walked up to the Convention Center to look for a female American Redstart which has been seen near the water feature. Another birder already had eyes on the Redstart and she kindly pointed it out to us. On our way back to San Antonio, we picked up Tropical Kingbird, White-tailed Hawk, and Brewer's Blackbird.

Clapper Rail

American Redstart
Two day trip added 3 lifers and 42 year birds...up to 148 already!

Christmas Count…part deux

We did our second CBC on Friday, January 3rd.  We bit the bullet and decided to go owling before the rest of the count started.  Owling started at 5 AM in 25 degree weather.  It was cold.  And windy.  And miserable.  And unsuccessful for the most part.  We have one Eastern Screech-Owl respond to us, along with a bunch of chickens.  But you know what?  It was totally worth it.  What a blast listening to a skilled birder with years of experience make awesome calls.

The rest of the CBC started at 730 AM.  For the most part, we had the same crew for our route as we did for the previous circle.  The two new folks were fun to meet, and after grabbing a cup of coffee, we were ready to head out.  We didn't have high expectations because it was so cold and windy.

Our first stop didn't yield much, except a grouchy landowner and a local deputy, until we were getting ready to leave.  Out of the east came a Cattle Egret (an early bird for this county).   We made the original finder fill out the rare bird sheet…no one likes doing that.  We then broke into two groups.  Our group headed to the local water treatment plant.  On the way, we had some Eastern Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, White-winged Doves and European Starlings.  When we got to the plant, we had American Kestrels, American Coots, Bufflehead, Ruddy Ducks, Mallards, Pied-billed and Eared Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, and Killdeer.

The water treatment plant was one of the first places we really noticed that there was a definite lacking in numbers of birds.  We had decent diversity of species, but not in the numbers we would have expected.  We were also missing some expected species like Osprey, Canvasback, and Redhead.  After scoping the lake, we walked a field that had normally been very good for sparrows.  We had exactly 2 Vesper Sparrows.

We met up with the rest of the group and left the water treatment plant.  Fortunately, not all landowners are grouchy, and we were granted access to a very large private ranch that again did not have much.  The sun had finally come out, but the temperature just didn't get very high (by South Texas standards).  We left the ranch and drove down to one of the lakeside neighborhoods.  Again, we had some nice species by the water (including a Swamp Sparrow), but the numbers were very low.

As we were leaving, we had a couple of unknowns on a wire.  We got out, scoped them, and had our first unexpected birds of the day: Black Phoebe!  On our high, we headed to the main part of the lake to do our last bit of birding.  We pulled in and had a bunch of American Pipit near the restrooms.  There was a gorgeous Vermillion Flycatcher on the volleyball net which provided another highlight to a fairly mediocre day of birding.  Our proximity to the first clean restroom in hours prompted us to take a bathroom break.  While I was washing my hands, I heard "Caracara!", so I hit the dryer because I wanted to get out and see our first Caracara of the day.  The rest of the group was still watching the bird and telling our complier Ray to hurry up and get out of the bathroom.  I watched the bird fly west into the sun and didn't understand why everyone was so excited.  The shape didn't look like a Caracara at all.  The bird was soaring and much larger than a Caracara.  The group was then shouting "Bald Eagle! Bald Eagle!"  I thought they were pulling my and Ray's legs.  I had told them a story about how when I first started birding, I was always trying to turn Caracaras into Bald Eagles, so I thought they were doing the same to me.  They were so insistent that we all hopped in the cars and drive to the end of the park where we saw the bird fly.  We got out and heard Ray call out that he had the bird.  It was a freaking Bald Eagle!  Best bird of the count, by far!  The day started out slowly, but the last hour of birding really made up for it.

I would highly recommend a CBC to anyone, beginner to advanced.  You can always learn something new from the count and have a great time hanging out with other birders.

Bald Eagle 

Vermillion Flycatcher 

American Pipit