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!