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