Birding The Nature Conservancy's Rancho El Uno Reserve, Chihuahua

I had the privilege to visit the Nature Conservancy's Rancho El Uno Reserve in northern Chihuahua, March 11-14, 2013.  While the main purpose of the visit was for work, as usual it's hard to separate the birding from the work for me!

This region of the Chihuahuan Desert has been in drought conditions for over a decade.  This winter, poor grass conditions even on well-managed El Uno reflect the exceptional drought of last summer.  Range conditions are better on the ranch than the surrounding grasslands, and the birds are concentrated on the ranch as a result.  Predators are also concentrated on the ranch.  One of the research projects we participated in, a Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory radio tracking project looking at winter movements and survival in Baird's Sparrow, had some birds lost to predation by raptors including Loggerhead Shrike and Short-eared Owl.

Jesús tries out the scratching post for the bison

TNC has restored bison to the ranch, with 36 bison roaming one (huge) pasture.  Our first morning we were entertained with the bison herd just outside the building compound, playing, rolling, and shaking the ground.  Discussions are underway about restoring other native grazers including pronghorn.

We met with members of a local ejido who are grazing their cows on Rancho El Uno while the ejido pasture is restored.  Some members of this ejido are quite progressive in their outlook, willing to help with the work of rotational grazing their cows on Rancho El Uno.  The ejido is also receiving ecosystem services payments from the Mexican government while they reduce grazing pressure on a different tract of ejido land.  These funds are from the forestry department!

Rancho El Uno is a great place for Baird's Sparrow, but it's not a great place to study Baird's Sparrow - except in flight!  They certainly don't sit up and pose for you, but they are present in some numbers along with Grasshopper Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Sprague's Pipit, and other grassland birds.  Brush-loving birds are found in the surrounding area in numbers, including Vesper Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Brewer's Sparrow, and other birds.  

The last morning as we were heading out to El Paso we were treated by Jose Luis of TNC to a trip to Casas Grandes to see the Laguna Fierro and Laguna Redondo.  These reservoirs hold numbers of Snow and Ross's Geese and other waterfowl, particularly in spring migration.  Flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs were coming in to drink, and Western Grebes were present on the water.  My favorite birds were the stately Common Mergansers since I don't see them where I live in south Texas.

The diverse arid grasslands of Rancho El Uno

It was a whirlwind trip, and I can't wait to go back and spend more time at Rancho El Uno!  

Chihuahuan Ravens on the entrance gate to the reserve.

Golden-crowned Sparrow - SPI Convention Center - May 17, 2013

Birgit and Rex Stanford and Erik Breden found this Golden-crowned Sparrow at the South Padre Island Convention Center today.  This is a TBRC Review Species, and it will likely be the first accepted from the LRGV.  Documentations and photos are highly desired! 

Thanks to this trio for the excellent find and prompt reporting! 

Prairie Warbler - Roselawn Cemetery - McAllen, Texas

Jon McIntyre found this Prairie Warbler at Roselawn Cemetery in McAllen, Texas on May 11, 2013.  This is a scarce migrant in the LRGV with most records near the coast.  I was able to relocate it later the same day.

Melanistic Golden-fronted Woodpecker at Anzalduas - Rick Nirschl photos

On February 21, Rick Nirschl found and photographed this melanistic Golden-fronted Woodpecker at Anzalduas County Park, Hidalgo County. These photos are from February 22. The bird has been resighted through end of the month. It's a stunning bird! Thanks Rick for sharing your excellent pics.

Birding the Rio Grande in Laredo - CBC 2012

Here I am on the Rio Grande in Laredo - on the USA side.  Photo (c) Raul Delgado.

 I've wanted to help out with the Laredo Christmas Bird Count for the last few years, and I finally made the trip the winter of 2012. I was lucky enough to be assigned to join Raul Delgado and his party in downtown Laredo. We birded downtown Laredo at dawn, and watched the Green Parakeets leaving the eaves of historic buildings at about 7:30 AM. We made a quick stop at an overlook on the east side of Zacate Creek known as the Slaughter Property, where we had typical south Texas birds including Plain Chachalaca and Green Jay. Then we started on a five mile hike from the mouth of Zacate Creek upstream to the Laredo Community College, where we'd left a car. Zacate Creek is famous among birders for hosting the first confirmed Amazon Kingfisher for the USA, and while we saw Ringed, Belted, and Green Kingfisher we didn't see an Amazon - this year. 

 

I was impressed with the pockets of forest with native trees and shrubs, and the minimal amount of invasive species (salt cedar, Arundo, and other plants).  Warblers abounded in the forested pockets, and we searched for White-collared Seedeaters, the poster child for the Laredo Birding Festival. (More on the Laredo Birding Festival here.)

 

We walked up past the two international bridges and stopped to rest at a little-used park on the river for a break to watch birds flying along the river. A gorgeous male Vermilion Flycatcher watched us as we watched him. Raptors were about the only bird on this stretch of the river, as the river was running high and fast. 

Vermilion Flycatcher supervising our break.  Photo (c) Raul Delgado.

 

The floods of 2010 had innundated the area, and it was easy to see damage from the flood waters, which nearly reached the bottom of the bridges.

Once we crossed under the international railroad bridge we started seeing White-collared Seedeater. The White-collared Seedeater is a widespread species with many subspecies, and the subspecies in south Texas is rarely depicted correctly in field guides. This subspecies is nearly lacking the black collar, and is typically very buffy in color. Sibley seems to have some better illustrations of what the bird really looks like. We had at least ten birds from the railroad bridge to the community college.

White-collared Seedeaters on the CBC - Photo (c) Raul Delgado.

We ended our walk at the system of trails maintained by the Laredo Community College and the second vehicle, hungry for lunch and anxious to check out the ducks on the quarry ponds.

 

Salineno Update - 12/8/2012

The Valley Land Fund has closed their half-acre tract at Salineno, formerly the feeding station run by Pat and Gail DeWind.  Volunteers Cheryl, Lois, and Merle were ready to move in and open the site.

I ran into Lois and Merle today at the boat ramp at Salineno, and found they were provisioning feeders on the FWS tract next to the VLF site.  From the river, walk south down the trail parallel to the river and you will quickly see the feeders.   They said it took the Green Jays 30 minutes to find the food when they were putting it out the first day!  I saw a wide variety of birds at the feeders including Audubon's Oriole, many Altamira Orioles and Northern Cardinals, nearly 20 species in the area in less than half an hour. 

Here's the message at the VLF site, which leads me to believe that the site is closed to birding. The boat ramp and FWS site remain open.  

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Falcon Lake (Zapata Co. Texas/Tamaulipas)

Crappy digi-pic of the near-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull on the left with a Laughing Gull.  This bird was in Mexico across from Zapata County, Texas south of Zapata on a private ranch.  Thanks to my Laredo friends, Raul Delgado and Glenda Barrera for inviting me on this scouting trip!  The bird spent most of its time in Mexico.