I did get out to the NBC last week, where as usual staff opened the massive pipe gate to allow me to cross the levee to access the river. I enjoy this area, and spend time sitting by the river. I need to get back out there soon!
I did my second Breeding Bird Survey on June 2, targeting Sunday hoping for less big rig and oil traffic. This is a somewhat remote route on state highways that starts in Agua Nueva (Jim Hogg County) and heads south and west towards Rio Grande City (Starr County). These surveys are 50 point counts of three minutes in length, counting every bird seen and heard. South Texas is known for windy conditions in the summer and it's hard to get a day where the wind meets BBS weather standards. I couldn't skip this day, who knows when I'd get another calm day. The calm weather made the heat even more oppressive, and the survey process became exhausting as the route unfolded. But I survived, taking a few short breaks to just sit in the air conditioned car. Survey 3 will have to be skipped this year.
I got out birding on Monday this week, meeting Dan J at o-dark-thirty and riding with him to Laguna Atascosa, where we met Mark C. We went out to help Mark with his Seaside Sparrow resightings on his color banding project, and coincidently to listen for Black Rails that Justin Leclaire had heard (and captured) while color banding the Seaside Sparrows.
The Seaside Sparrows in Cameron Co. are Sennett's Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus sennettii), a distinctive and well marked subspecies that is more distinct from birds to the northeast than other subspecies are from each other. There have been a number of studies of these birds, most recently a study finishing up now on the ecological differences between birds in salt marsh and birds on salt flats. It's a treat to see these birds, and they were singing as we arrived, an insect like sneezy trill.
On the other hand, we had to wait for the Black Rail to sing, and we heard one or two. Justin had two or three at this site earlier. But sing it did, with the "ki-kee-grrr" song more than the "ki-ki-doo" song. Access to the area is possible by walking or biking the five or so miles to the site, but leaving the levee is not allowed. The Black Rail was likely audible from the road, but it would be distant. Don't be fooled by tracks of researchers heading off the levee for research purposes.
Mark showed off part of his BBS route that circles the upper end of the lake. As we were driving and looking at the masses of waterbirds, I heard a Black Rail in a completely different area - this one doing the ki-ki-doo! It's so odd to hear them singing mid-morning, when they were a dark of the night bird by legend in the mid-Atlantic region. As a result of hearing this bird, we stopped in several other suitable appearing areas but didn't hear any more Black Rail. I have to wonder what a sunrise survey of the area would yield.
We just finished a week of 100+ heat, with highs as high as 108. This is unusually hot for us, and hopefully not a harbinger of the rest of the summer. I got out to see the horses and curry them a little one day, still very tiring. Heat still exhausts me and makes me physically ill. I'm still able to work a little on Wednesdays. I had juvenal Black-throated Sparrows at the work site this week, not surprising given the location but a surprise as I hadn't heard any adults singing. I get an extra day before chemo this week but the plan was to move it next round anyway, so it's no big deal.
