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