Mary Birds

Cheryl Delashmit's Photo - Purple Sandpiper, Port Mansfield, TX, January 23, 2012 - Willacy County

2012-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a photograph taken by Cheryl Delashmit of the Purple Sandpiper she and her husband found at Port Mansfield, TX (Willacy Co.) on 1/23/2012. This is a first for Willacy County, and one of fewer than 25 records for Texas. I've taken the liberty of cropping the photo, and I provide the crop below the full size image.

RGV Tracks and Signs - La Sal del Rey, December 20, 2011

2012-01-22T16:21:00.001-08:00

Here's some photos of tracks and signs at La Sal del Rey, USFWS NWR tract. I took these pictures while covering the area on the La Sal Vieja Christmas Bird Count. The salt lake was nearly dry, but was still heavily used for roosting by Sandhill Cranes, Greater White-fronted and Snow Geese. A freshwater spring held the skeleton of a nilgai, an introduced and established ungulate native to India. Nilgai can be more readily observed elsewhere; I've seen more dead animals at La Sal del Rey than live animals. Nilgai are common throughout south Texas.
The skull was partly broken. It was not nearly as heavy or large as a cow skull, but larger and stouter than a white-tailed deer.
Nilgai tracks were all over the lake shore.
Here's the tracks of a coyote on the beach. I watched a pair playing on the sand in the distance. A freshwater spring is the focus of wildlife activity in that saline and arid environment.
The coyote and nilagi tracks were overlapping on the beach. Nilgai are far to large to be prey for the omnivorous coyote, but all the animals were using the spring as a water source. Nilgai use communal feces piles. These are small fecal piles, but the largest I saw on the beach. They are always at the center of a web of tracks of nilgai coming and going. There were a lot more nilgai tracks, with calves skittering and bucking near cows. And yes, I did look up and find some birds, too!

Mountain Bluebird - Santa Ana NWR

2012-01-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of photos of the female Mountain Bluebird at Santa Ana NWR. The long winged profile (compared to Eastern Bluebird) is evident here, as is the sky-blue rump and tail. This is the first winter with Mountain Bluebirds in Hidalgo County since I

Eastern Towhee at Quinta Mazatlan

2011-12-17T14:45:00.000-08:00

I went to Quinta Mazatlan after lunch today with the idea of taking a quick look around in the rain and then heading home quickly. One of the first flocks that I encountered had 3 Spotted Towhee (a male and two females) and this Eastern Towhee.
It was great to hear this bird "chewink"-ing near the mansion later in the afternoon. The towhee flock moved off and this Tropical Parula came in with a flock of Orange-crowned Warblers. At one point it nearly landed on me! Later I saw it feeding on the orange bars by the amphitheater. The yellow breast is very extensive, extending to the legs rather than ending on the upper breast as in Northern Parula; the yellow breast is lacking a crescent (again as in Northern) but rather has an orange wash across the breast. The pale around the eye is more visible in the photo than it was in the field. I have noticed other Tropical Parulas here losing the pale edgings through the winter. This bird sang a few times in a large live oak near the amphitheater.
A quick call to Dan Jones and he came over to look for the Eastern Towhee with success. As we were birding around, this Broad-tailed Hummingbird appeared at one of the feeders at the mansion. Not the greatest photos here in the rain, but the tail had broad blue-green central tail feathers and rusty edges on the outer tail feathers. The throat lacked color in the gorget, and the lores lacked any rufous. It seemed to duck into the feeder when the Buff-bellieds were away.

Eating Crow - Royal Tern in Hidalgo County

2011-12-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

I'm known for being a cynic - I may not be from Missouri, but I like to see photos or descriptions when I'm told about rare birds. There are a few species that I hear reports of, but never see documentation. I've come to question the status of these birds within Hidalgo County, an inland county in Texas.

One such species is the Royal Tern. It's common on the coast, but that's an hour away. I have heard many reports of Royal Terns in Hidalgo County but never seen one myself. I had no idea I was in excellent company - long time local birder Dan Jones had a similar hole in his county list. Today, I called Dan Jones about a Bonaparte's Gull at the Donna Reservoir - and he paid me back with a call about a Royal Tern that he found when he went to look for the Bonie. I still think many reports of Royals in the county are begging juvenal Caspian Terns. Juv Caspians are still peeping and following adults in fall and winter when most Royal Terns are reported.You can see the long, narrow, orange-yellow bill; white forehead with black extending from eye to eye across the back of the head; clear white wingtips with a narrow black border on the trailing edge below; narrow wings throughout their length; and more forked tail compared to Caspian Tern.
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Directions to the Donna Reservoirs - from US 83 on the west side of Donna, take FM 1423 (Val Verde Road) south to Business 83. Follow 1423 east to its continuation on Valley View Road south, which bisects the Donna Reservoirs. This is a good area for diving ducks, herons, egrets, swallows, and gulls and terns in winter.

Surf Scoter at SPI - Until the Alligator ate it...

2011-12-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at observation platform 7 watching the Pied-billed Grebes and ignoring the alligator this morning, when I saw a Surf Scoter swimming down the channel towards me. I was shocked to say the least as I was sitting in a fresh water marsh. I snapped off a few photos and my card filled up - just too many photo ops on the boardwalk! So I went to delete some images to free up space as the scoter kept swimming right at me. I looked down to delete another less than sharp Reddish Egret when I heard a loud splash. I looked up - no scoter. Also no alligator. I waited, and the alligator came to the surface with the scoter in its mouth. Now why couldn't it have grabbed a coot instead?
And the Hammond's Flycatcher was still at the Convention Center too.

Linda Moss's photo - Masked Duck, Santa Ana, 11-23-2011

2011-11-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

Here's Linda Moss's photo of a female plumaged Masked Duck at Willow Lakes of Santa Ana NWR 11-23-2011. The bird has been looked for and not seen through 11-27-2011.

American Woodcock at Casa Santa Ana, Alamo Texas

2011-11-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

I spent a delightful evening tonight (November 22, 2011) on the patio of Casa Santa Ana watching this American Woodcock probing the soil. It seemed to be finding food in this green spot in the middle of the drought. American Woodcock are rare birds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Woodcocks have their eyes widely separated on either side of their head, allowing for binocular vision both in front and behind the bird. This bird is watching John McClung and I stalk it - but it's relatively unconcerned.

Golden-crowned Warbler in Mission at National Butterfly Center

2011-11-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of quick pictures of the Golden-crowned Warbler from the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas this morning. The NBC (or NABA) park is located about 1 miles east of Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park on old Military Hwy. The bird is on the woodland or dike trail between feeders D and F, but it could be anywhere on this wooded trail. This species tends to be a real skulker but will come out in the open if you are lucky. NBC is closed on Thanksgiving, and mosquitos are present on the woodland (aka dike) trail.

Birding the La Laja Ranch, west of San Ygnacio, Texas

2011-10-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

The La Laja Ranch is a 3000 acre ranch with extensive access to the Rio Grande. There is a two-track road along the river with viewpoints to the river and extensive corrizo cane and many White-collared Seedeaters, the main attraction for birders.

Access to the ranch needs to be pre-arranged with the owner, Edward Herbst. There is a fee to visit the site, $25 per person in October 2011 for 6 or more birders; or a flat $150 for less than six. Contact information for Mr. Herbst is edward.herbst@att.net. Someone will have to meet you on the highway (US 83 west of San Ygnacio) at the Arroyo Delores, let you through the gate, and show you the way to the river.

To date, every birding group has seen White-collared Seedeater! I went with six people on 10/21/2011, and each person saw 4-8 seedeaters. This private ranch is the best site I've visited for White-collared Seedeater, and the river access and hackberry trees in the riparian corridor make the birding interesting with Plain Chachalaca, Gray Hawk, Great Kiskadee, Long-billed Thrasher, and Clay-colored Thrush.

Birding the Chara Pinta Reserve, Sinaloa

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Tufted Jay is a charismatic endemic with a very limited range in the pine-oak forests of highlands in Sinaloa, Durango, and Nayarit. Steve Howell's A Bird Finding Guide to Mexico gives directions to this species at Rancho Banco Liebre in Sinaloa. The neighboring community, Ejido El Palmito, has developed an ecotourism program with facilities for tourists who want to see the Chara Pinta, as the Tufted Jay is known locally. And who wouldn't want to see this bird? Here's the Ejido El Palmito van for the Ecotours Chara Pinta in front of one of the cabins. The cabins have running water, propane hot water heaters (lit only when you want a shower), a small cooking facility (gas burners), a sitting area and 2-3 bedrooms per cabin.Here's our cabin, which was set off from the main area by a couple hundred yards. We could see the lights of Mazatlan from the porch, and we could hear Stygian Owl and Mexican Whip-poor-will! Whiskered Screech-Owls are also common here.The communal area had a kitchen and dining room.Here's a view of the cooking end of the cabin -
And the seating and eating end. Note: No internet access as of 10/2011, but cell phone reception was OK. There's no electricity on site, so rechargeable LED lights (provided) were used in the cabin - and bring your own headlamp or flashlight!A wood stove next to the cooking area was used as well, here to heat blue corn tortillas. Our group had arranged for the local community to provide our meals, and we were glad we did! Very tasty food, we especially enjoyed the homemade salsa with roasted chiles and tomatoes. Cooking over a wood fire can be a slow process, but the results are worth the wait. The forest is spectacular. Old pine trees mix with oaks and madrones, and an extensive understory means that Red Warblers of the gray-cheeked subspecies melanauris.
There are several miradors or view points over the Barranca. We saw Military Macaw (Guacamaya) and Band-tailed Pigeon flying in the canyon.Here's Don Santos, our bird guide from Ejido El Palmito with Greg Levandoski of the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory. Our thanks to Don Santos for sharing his knowledge and experience. But the star of the show is the Tufted Jay or Chara Pinta.
We spent a lot of time talking to Don Santos about the Tufted Jay. He believes from survey work he has done that the population has declined on the property by 50% from 600 to 300 birds. Don Santos knows the birds well, and using him as a local guide will add to your experience at the property. Don Santos has a good knowledge of vocalizations, and because he's out on the property often he knows where the birds are. We first met him as we drove in to the reserve and he had a group looking at a Stygian Owl roosting near the road! He told us the best season for Thick-billed Parrots (early November) and knows the seasonal presence of the birds as well. I can't wait to return! To make reservations to visit the Chara Pinta reserve, contact Lizett Gabriela García Alfaro (Gaby) at lizett.garcia@conanp.gob.mx. For our group of four, costs for meals and room came to $800 pesos for 2 nights in October 2011. Don Santos's guide service is extra, as is transportation to/from the Mazatlan airport or hotels. If you are unfamiliar with driving in Mexico or uncomfortable with dangerous mountain roads and lots of truck traffic, leave the driving to Ecotours El Palmito. Others who rode in their van were pleased with the drivers skills and abilities on the tight turns and "interesting" situations presented by the Durango Highway. The road from the highway to the cabins was recently graded when we arrived and although we had to walk some sections (to assess clearance and lighten the load) we were able to navigate the road slowly and with due caution. Higher clearance would have made the trip much easier.

For more information, see the Reserva Chara Pinta facebook page here; go to the "info" and "welcome" links at the left under the logo. And "like" the page while you are there!

A bird list can be found for the Tufted Jay Preserve hotspot in eBird/Aver Aves. Please report your observations in eBird!

Birding Mazatlan - October 2011

2011-10-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

I birded the Mazatlan area during the CECAM 2011 meeting October 2-7.

Estero del Yugo http://www.esterodelyugo.org.mx/HTML/descripcion.html is a reserve of the University of Sinaloa. There is a donation of $50 pesos requested for a day visit. The reserve is a mangrove and tree-lined lake with numbers of wading birds and land birds. I recorded about 50 species each trip, with highlights being Purplish-backed Jay, Black-throated Magpie-Jay, Grayish Saltator, and many migrants.

I birded around the hotel as well, many migrants including Painted Bunting, a variety of warblers, egrets and herons flying by, and the many many Blue-footed and Brown Boobies around the Booby Rocks or Dos Hermanos.One morning, a group of us drove 30-45 minutes north to a private ranch within the Meseta Cacaxtle. We enjoyed large numbers of migrants including Varied and Painted Bunting, warblers, and sparrows. Hummingbirds included Plain-capped Starthroat, Costa's, and Broad-billed.

Red-crowned Parrot

2011-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of interest in Red-crowned Parrot since the US Fish and Wildlife Service responded favorably to a proposal to list the species (see the federal register notice here). I am posting this account - long held in draft form - to pique your interest in the species and its distribution in south Texas. You can also read about a local grass-roots effort by the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival to help the Red-crowned Parrots in Harlingen on their blog.

Red-crowned Parrot
Amazona viridigenalis
IUCN Status: Endangered

The Red-crowned Parrot is a familiar resident of the Lower Rio Grande Valley’s urban habitats. This species forms large flocks in winter in the area of Brownsville, Harlingen, and McAllen. The flocks roam the area, flying out in the morning in search of food, and returning to roost in the evening. Flocks often roost in traditional locations, though these may change through the course of the winter.

Pairs are evident in the winter as mates allopreen (preen each other). Pairs seem to remain together through the winter. In spring, flocks break into smaller and smaller groups as pairs search for suitable cavities to enlarge. Nest cavities are often in dead palm tree trunks, either in the top of the snag or in enlarged holes in the trunk. Red-crowned Parrots in the LRGV have been seen nesting with other species of Amazon parrots (including Yellow-crowned Parrot for several years at Allen Williams in Pharr) and hybrid offspring have been produced. Younger non-breeding birds form small flocks in summer. Like most Amazon parrots, Red-crowned Parrots do not nest until they are several years old.
Confusion species are all believed to be exotic in origin, with the most frequently reported species Yellow-headed Parrot, Red-lored Parrot, Lilac-crowned Parrot, and Yellow-crowned Parrot. Hybrids of these species with Red-crowned may occur. Compare female Red-crowned with smaller Lilac-crowned Parrot.

The voice of the Red-crowned Parrot is a distinctive raucous series of calls usually given in flight. As with most parrots, they have many voices, but the harsh grating tones and raucous voice is unmistakable where other large Amazons are unlikely. Listen here to one of John Arvin's recordings on the WBC site.

Females have less extensive red on the crown compared to males, though this is often easiest to see in pairs. Younger birds have gray irises, changing to light brown to yellow in adults. Field work in Mexico showed individuals with yellow feathers in the head and body, and others with the bend of the wing red (Enkerlin and Hogan 1997).

The Red-crowned Parrot was not present in the valley historically. The earliest records are in the mid-80’s, and by the late 80’s they were present across the valley. There is no agreement as to the origin of these birds, with some advocating that the birds came from Mexico in response to a severe drought, and having found the well irrigated urban environments of the LRGV they decided to stay. Others believe that the flocks had their origin from captive birds. Regardless of the source of the flocks in Texas and those known to be of captive origin in Puerto Rico, Florida, California, and Hawaii, there are now more Red-crowned Parrots in the United States than in their native range.
This chart shows the number of Red-crowned Parrots per party hour as recorded on Texas Christmas Bird Counts from count year 82 (1980-1981) to count year 110 (2009-2010). The wild fluctuations may be the small number of counts driving the numbers, the variable number of observers on each count each year, and the difficult some years finding the flocks other than at dawn and dusk, but only if you know where they are roosting.

Counts with Red-crowned Parrots present include:
* Anzalduas/Bentsen - 1 year - count 94 (1993-1994)- 2 birds. The McAllen flock rarely wanders west to Mission.
* Brownsville - 4 years - count 110 (2009-2010) - 143 birds.
* Harlingen - 13 years - count 107 (2006-2007)- 163 birds.
* Santa Ana - 17 years- count 102 (2001-2002)- 200 birds.
* Weslaco - 7 years - count 107 (2006-2007) - 159 birds. Weslaco has recorded Red-crowned Parrot every year this relatively new count has been conducted.

Range maps for Red-crowned Parrots are generally based on Howell and Webb (1990). The map at NatureServe includes the introuced populations in Puerto Rico as Exotic but does not map the US populations. A much better map of the Mexican range of the Red-crowned Parrot is in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species here.

The Red-crowned Parrot has several conservation issues that can be addressed, including limited nest sites, lack of protection and harvest for the pet trade, hybridization, and destruction of riparian corridor and foothill habitats in the native range in Mexico. The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival is providing parrot and parakeet nesting towers to provide additional sites for these birds to nest. Leaving dead palm tree trunks standing or "planting" these dead trunks in safe areas provides much needed nesting structure. Red-crowned Parrot is not protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The MBTA provides the majority of the protection for birds in the United States, and at the time the Treaty was was written there were no wild parrots left in the United States as the Carolina Parakeet was extinct. Parrots could be added to the treaty to ensure protection for the Red-crowned Parrot. The city of Brownsville has legislation that protects the Red-crowned Parrot, and other cities are contemplating taking action to protect these birds and their nests. Protection of nest sites, and the riparian corridor and foothill forests used by these birds in Mexico, is desperately needed to maintain the native population in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.
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Where to see this species:
Absent or very rare at many World Birding Center sites. See Valley Nature Center's brochure or webpage for suggestions, or the Rare Bird Alert (http://rgvbirds@blogspot.com). Try Downtown Brownsville, Harlingen, Weslaco, and McAllen. Also consider - University of Texas - Brownville Campus; Olivera Park, Brownville; Pendleton Park, Harlingen; Valley Nature Center, Weslaco; Frontera Audubon Center, Weslaco; Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center, McAllen; Allen Williams' Backyard, Pharr.

Online References:

Enkerlin-Hoeflich, E. C., and K. M. Hogan. Red-crowned Parrot. Birds of North America. This series is extremely useful but it is a fee site. The fees are discounted to Texas Ornithological Society members and free to American Ornithologists Union members. Join!
IUCN Red List 2011
NatureServe InfoNatura 2011

Frequent Flier

2011-10-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

More and more it seems everyone is a Frequent Flier with some airlines!

Flooding 2010 - Santa Ana NWR Pintail Lakes

2011-06-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

See photos in the blog from last summer showing flooding at Santa Ana NWR, Bentsen RGV State Park, and other sites. Water at Pintail Lakes of Santa Ana is just coming down so the levees and roads are visible again. Up until these photos - taken last week - the area was one large pond. This is looking east from the Pintail Lakes cuttoff trail.
And looking southeast. This is normally a field. You can see the road that is the Pintail Lakes trail dividing this pond.

Hook-billed Kite Saga 2011

2011-06-21T20:18:00.001-07:00

The date: May 28, 2011.
The location: Private property near La Joya, Texas.
The birds: Hook-billed Kites.
I live near the epicenter of Hook-billed Kites in the USA in western Hidalgo County, Texas. I actually go out looking for them in the summer, and I'm always surprised when I do find one.

My first observations of Hook-billed Kites this summer were of the adults carrying snails on May 29, 2011. The photo above is of the red-barred female. While small, whitish land snails in the genus Rabdotus are the common diet for the species, the kites don't usually carry them long distances unless they have a chick they are feeding in the nest. If they don't have chicks, they take the snail to a nearby stump or fence post, extract the snail, and grab another. But this female was carrying snails off to the north, and returning without a snail. She's got a chick somewhere north of me.

It's funny just how many people jump at the chance to burrow their way through thorny, dusty, tick and chigger-filled thorn forest to look for a Hook-billed Kite nest. A crack crew assembled to look for the nest on June 3. We were all around the nest but we didn't find it, though many of us gave blood to the thorn forest understory.

Here's the chick in the nest, as found on June 5, 2011. I found the nest, snapped this photo, and got out without the adults knowing I was present. That's a great feeling. The nest was actually visible from a road if you knew just where to look.

I worry about the kites being "loved to death" - they are very defensive of the area around their nest, and will follow people around if they find them too close to the nest. Instead of entertaining birders and photographers, they should be feeding their chick - no easy task in the current "exceptional" drought. The nest is in a mesquite, and if anything it is higher than the nest we found last year (see posts from June and July 2010). Here's the male, below, making a snail run - I'm not near the nest here, he's just flying overhead. The male Hook-billed Kite of this pair is a gray (normal) morph (as opposed to the rare black morph) but this individual is nearly lacking the white barring on the breast of a typical male. This unusual plumage allows this bird to be identified as an individual, especially with the very small number of Hook-billed Kites in Texas. The male makes many fewer trips to feed the chick than the female, at least in the second half of the nestling period. I've never found a nest in incubation or with a small chick. The male seems to feed the chick more than the female in the late afternoon. Here's the female Hook-billed Kite crabbing into a very strong headwind, and compensating for the wind by using her tail as a rudder. We've been getting a lot of strong winds this summer.
I wasn't so lucky trying to skulk into the nest to check on the chick a few days later. The female appeared behind me as soon as I got to the area. Hook-billed Kites often remind me of a parrot when perched, something like an African Gray. I think it's the light eye and the large head, but it is exascerbated when the bird is looking for a snail or cocking its head. After I peeked quickly at the chick - getting bigger, doing just fine - I headed straight out. The female was perched by the road on the way out, and she allowed me to walk right by her - but not without some comments. I think she's starting to recognize me as an individual. Probably better I don't know what names she's calling me. Here's the chick on June 18 - it's extensively barred on the underparts and already has the rufous collar across the back of the neck. The extent of the barring means it's a female, the males are much less barred as juveniles. The nest was empty on June 19. The birds vanished last year as soon as the chick fledged. They likely move the chick closer to the feeding area if it's not depleted, or to new areas if it is. I don't expect to see them again soon.

So just how rare are Hook-billed Kites? While they are widespread in the New World, extending well into South America, they are at their northern limits in South Texas. In South Texas there are very few birds, with 4 pair known in Hidalgo County this spring (2011). There were no territorial pairs in Cameron County where they are rare, and there were only infrequent observations in Starr County. The unique nesting habitat needs of the Hook-billed Kite includes stumps, snags, or fence posts to use as food perches, LOTS of accessible Rabdotus land snails for food, and tall trees to hold a nest. There aren't many places that have enough snails to support a nesting pair of Hook-billed Kites. The snails need natural areas with prickly-pear, yucca, or other plants that drop enough leaves, pads, and vegetation to form thick mats on the forest floor. When it gets hot and dry the snails burrow under the mats to conserve moisture.

Your best bet to see these birds is to check the Lower Rio Grande Valley Rare Bird Alert for recent sightings, or look from the tree tower at Santa Ana NWR or the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park hawk tower. Hook-billed Kites are often seen early in the morning when the Turkey Vultures are leaving their roosts. The Hook-billed Kites seem to start flying about the same time as the vultures. And remember, any day you see a Hook-billed Kite is a good day.

Observations of Hook-billed Kites in South Texas are greatly desired, please send information to rgvbirds@hotmail.com or enter them into eBird. Notes on plumage, color and extent of barring, and behavior (carrying snails, display flight, vocalizing) are of great interest. Notes on any Texas nesting attempts from years past are also desired.

Oaxaca - Sierra Juarez from the air

2011-06-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Oaxaca Birding - La Cumbre to Valle Nacional - and back!

2011-06-04T15:51:00.000-07:00

Although it was later in the season than we would have liked, we arranged a trip from Oaxaca city (where we'd been attending a meeting) over the Sierra Juarez to Valle Nacional on May 21-24 2011. Four days were about right for this expedition, as we would have been too hurried in three days. Our targets were the 20+ species with limited range or endemic to the high elevation pine-oak forest, cloud forest, and Atlantic slope foothills. The route was simple, Mexico 175 over the mountains to Valle Nacional. The road has its share of potholes, slips, and slow trucks and takes 5 or 6 hours driving straight through to get from Oaxaca to Valle Nacional.

I'll start with the logistics. We arranged for this trip with local guide Eric Antonio Martinez (mirmidons_1987 AT yahoo.com) (http://mexico-birding.com/) and rode in his Malibu, which had plenty of room for the group and our luggage. The car also had tourist plates, which is required for anyone offering a guide service. Eric was an excellent driver, never bringing on the "white-knuckle syndrome" or motion sickness that these curvy mountain roads can bring on. He knew the area well, and knew which pull-offs provided good bird habitat and safe conditions, and he had a good sense of humor. I would travel with him again and hope to do so this year.
The weather was as expected, fairly cool at higher elevations and hot in the lowlands. We stayed at the Hotel Valle Real on the main street in Valle Nacional. The only hotels available are in Oaxaca city or Valle Nacional. The Valle Real had hot running water, wonderful air conditioning, and a delightful owner Lorena who made us coffee every morning at a ridiculously early hour for non-birders. The hotel was basic for those used to 4-star opulence, but it was clean and comfortable and cool. We ate evening meals at the Restaurant Desgarennes, which had a daily meal option of soup, rice and beans, and a meat entree that was invariably delicious. The beer was cold, and the staff very accomodating.

As far as the birding goes, we start on Monday at 5:30 AM with Eric picking us up on time (as always!) and taking us up to La Cumbre in search of the Fulvous Owl found originally by Rich Hoyer. On the way up, a Mexican Whip-poor-will was sitting in the road and stayed put while we stopped the car. The Fulvous Owl flew in and sat over us, hooting a series of monotone hoots and not sounding like a Barred Owl. What a great way to start the trip!

We spent about five hours walking in the dry pine-oak forest, with Red Warblers so abundant they were dismissed with comments like "just another Red Warbler" - what heresy! We saw Black Thrush, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Gray-barred Wren, Rufous-capped Brush-Finch, Brown-backed Solitaire, Golden-browed Warbler, and many more. We walked a few kilometers up the Corral de Piedras Road and though we saw many Stellar's Jays and a few Gray-barred Wrens, we did not see any of our target Dwarf Jays. Uh-oh! Missing an endemic at one of the best places to find them was disheartening, but we needed to keep moving. We stopped for coffee and then headed off over the pass.
After passing the mirador at the summit, we parked and walked a short distance down a forest trail through more humid pine-oak forest. Eric quickly spotted an elusive Crested Guan, which was eating fruit in the canopy and ran off after tiring of watching us. A flock of Unicolored Jays came in to investigate us, and a gorgeous Blue-crowned Chlorophonia came in to check us out. Yes, I really must carry the camera more often and get a decent flash! While Brown-backed Solitaire is at La Cumbre, from the mirador on the only Solitaire we saw was the well named Slate-colored Solitaire. Eric found a nest on this trail, with four small chicks. Although they sing in the canopy they nest in hollows on the ground - in our case next to the trail.
We continued on, and made a final stop for the day a bit farther on where a Ruddy Quail-Dove whooshed by, bright orange in the sun, and highland birds including Flame-colored Tanager, White-throated Thrush, and Red-legged Honeycreeper stopped by to check us out. White-collared Swifts were pretty common up high, but most were in molt except for this bird, which looks like a youngster lacking the pale collar below.
The next morning we headed back up to walk a forest trail for a couple of kilometers. The trail was shaded and the forest intact. We were looking for interior forest birds, and these shy birds can be tough. Flocks of Barred Parakeets buzzed by overhead, coming lower later in the morning but always going somewhere fast. We had great looks at a pair of Spectacled Foliage-gleaners working their way through the forest. Hummingbirds included Bumblebee, Emerald-chinned, Garnet-throated, and the common Azure-crowned. Azure-hooded Jays were all around at as times, and were glimpsed moving through the trees or in flight and finally one flew in clear view with the sun on its bright blue hood. Here's a morpho that flew by.
We spent nearly an hour playing peek-a-boo with a Mexican Antthrush. The Mexican Antthrush's rising bouncing-ball call was in contrast to the decending call of the Black-faced, but the AOU still considers them conspecific. I finally realized the Mexican Antthrush was at the top of the hill perched in a bush looking at us when it flew over our heads! We watched it run back up the hill in plain view, and then it perched in the open for Eric and I, showing off its bare skin eyering and nearly all black head and breast. Here's a Yellow-bellied Elaenia that was on Highway 175 nearby.
The next two days were a blur of early mornings at different elevations and short walks on Highway 175 (with surprisingly little traffic at times). In the lower more open habitats we saw Blue-crowned (Lesson's) Motmot, White-winged Tanager, Rufous-breasted Spinetail, Blue Ground-Dove, Long-billed Gnatwren, Thick-billed Seedfinch, Yellow-faced Grassquit and more.
One afternoon Eric suggested that we go to Tuxtepec to see Sumichrast's Wren, which Robert immediately dubbed the Sumo-wrestler Wren. I had no idea we were only an hour's drive from this micro-endemic! I was ecstatic about the opportunity to look for this bird, and the others could see my excitement so we were off in the 100F+ weather. We got to the site, an area of limestone ridges and a mule track that had polished the limestone. The heat was radiating off the stones, and I wondered more than once what possessed us to make this trek and how unlikely it was to see such a rare bird under such hot conditions. But the wren didn't get that memo, and it came out in the open and sang for us, sounding more like a Canyon Wren than anything else. Another answered it, and we took the time to track down a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl on the way out.
We drove slowly for several kilometers on the way back, picking up open country species including Aplomado Falcon, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Roadside Hawk, Groove-billed Ani, Altamira Oriole, Blue-black Grassquit, Variable Seedeater, and more.

Another afternoon we walked along the river near Valle Nacional, getting our best looks at Keel-billed Toucan and Band-backed Wrens. Amazon and Ringed Kingfishers were along the river.
On the last day we were trying for a few target that we'd missed along the way. Surprisingly, new birds kept appearing even on the last day. We stopped at a pull-off we'd been to before, and found that the female becard we'd been speculating on before was nowhere to be seen, but the male - clearly a Gray-collared Becard - was singing in front of the nest she'd been working on, so that solved that question! A bit farther up the mountain we had a White-faced Quail-Dove rocket across the road, bright chestnut with a strikingly pale head. We were all a bit shocked (fortunately we were all looking the right direction) when the bird flew back across the road!

Up higher in drier pine-oak forest a stop yielded a pair of Great Black Hawks, another stop yielded a whistling Black Hawk-Eagle. An Eastern Wood-Pewee and an Olive-sided Flycatcher were migrants (as were Yellow-bellied Flycatchers). We got back to La Cumbre late in the afternoon and spent two hours looking and listening for Dwarf Jays. Finally, Eric spotted one - and then there were two - and then we'd all seen the pair! What a way to end the trip!

Oaxaca Birding - Monte Alban - May 20, 2011

2011-05-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

Monte Alban is a large Zapotec site located quite close to Oaxaca city, but surrounded by native habitats. We started our day birding a track adjacent to the entrance gate in the cool of the morning. The habitat is thornscrub with patches of current and former agricultural lands, and the birds were plentiful. One of the highlights were the excellent views of this brilliant Slaty Vireo before the sun rose over the hillside. The psychotic white eyes of this bird are reminiscent of the White-eyed Vireo, but the chartreuse and gray color scheme is striking once it comes into the open.
Among the ruins a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet put on a show, but remained silent.
Other highlights included Ocellated Thrasher (distant views), Dusky Hummingbird, Pileated Flycatcher, and of course the spectacular ruins. Eric Antonio Martinez, our guide (see previous post for contact info for Eric) provided an excellent overview to the site, the times, and the 30,000 Zapotecs that resided there at one time.
Robert was savvy and realized that only former residents of the site were allowed to sell handicrafts inside the site, and that these works were likely to be (much) better quality than those available in the parking lot. I wish I'd spent more time shopping, but I'm always more focused on birds in the cool hours when they are most active.
Later on we stopped at the famous Tule Tree or Big Tree, a huge bald cypress in the town of Santa Maria de Tule, Oaxaca. I can't begin to imagine the amount of biomass in this one single tree.

There's no way to convey the huge size of this tree with a camera, the perspective is too easily lost. Birds aside, it's worth a visit if you're in Oaxaca.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking along Highway 175 in lowland thornscrub, finding a pair of Oaxaca Sparrows, a stunning Elegant Euphonia and a Dwarf Vireo, which put on a show for all of us minutes before the rains came.

Oaxaca Birding May 2011 - Teotitlán del Valle

2011-05-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a meeting in Oaxaca City. Most unfortunately I could not get a flight in on Sunday, so I had to travel on Saturday and go birding on Sunday (May 15) (poor me!). A quick email to Manuel Grosselet identified a local bird guide who was available to take a small group out on Sunday.

Our guide, Eric Antonio Martinez (mirmidons_1987 AT yahoo.com)(http://mexico-birding.com/), picked us up promptly at the hotel at 6 AM on May 15 and took us to a riparian area near his home town of Teotitlán del Valle east of Oaxaca city. We explored this stream area on foot for a few hours. Here's the rest of the birding group, with Eric on the left.
The riparian area ran through arid scrub, and the combination had the birds in abundance. Highlights for me were Gray-fronted Woodpecker, Dusky Hummingbird (none of the field guides seem to do a good job illustrating this bird), Pileated Flycatcher, Boucard's Wren, Bridled Sparrow, and the social, chattering endemic White-throated Towhee. Here's the scenery:

And a few birds, starting with the stunning Bridled Sparrow, one of the showiest New World Sparrows. Love the white malar and black chin, and those rufous highlights!

And here's Boucard's Wren, widespread in this habitat but not seen at higher elevations.

Here's a Pileated Flycatcher - elusive in the winter, but in May singing and putting on a show for us.

After birding the lowlands, and a small presa or reservoir we headed through town to a higher elevation area where the oaks were starting to come in. We heard but did not see Dwarf Vireo, but had excellent looks at West Mexican Chachalacas, Golden Vireo, and Blue Mockingbird. Then it was on up the mountain (the Sierra Juarez) to pine-oak forest, and more endemics including this White-striped Woodcreeper. We went on up into the pine-oak - watching a mix of familiar and unfamiliar birds, Red-shafted Flicker, Mountain Trogon, Crescent-chested Warbler, Slate-throated Redstart, Collared Towhee, Lincoln's Sparrow, and a host of beautiful songsters - Orange-billed and Rufous-capped Nightingale-Thrushes and Brown-backed Solitaire.

Lunch was at the town of Benito Juarez, where we had a late lunch at the local restaurant and saw Cinnamon-bellied Flowerpiercer, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red Warbler, and more before heading back down birding our way back to town. Back in Teotitlán del Valle we visited a high-end weaver as the town is known for the many weavers who dye and weave wool into rugs. The wares were well out of a biologists price range (up to $3000 US) but were stunning.

Our last stop was a sidetrack to a nearby mountain range racing the thunderstorms to look for a Fulvous Owl that had been found previously. We were able to hear it hooting, like a monotone Barred Owl, but did not see it (today!). With lighting and thunder all around it was not surprising the owl didn't come out for us. We returned to the hotel at about 9:30 PM (!). It was a long day but a great one.

We had previously arranged five more days birding in Oaxaca after the meeting - stay tuned!

One last highlight was a migrant Black-billed Cuckoo found by Sherry.

Eagle Optics Southmost Sitters in the BIG SIT April 10, 2011

2011-04-14T08:47:00.001-07:00

Ten birders - most of us wildlife professionals from the area - participated in the Great Texas Birding Classic Big Sit 2011, racking up 106 species on a very windy day. The total is even more remarkable if you scan down the list - it's nearly peak migration in south Texas, but very few migrants were detected. A (greatly appreciated) big miss is (not) found at the end of this list - where is the lowly House Sparrow?Even introduced birds count as one in the quest to see as many species as possible in a 24 hour day. Birds must be seen or heard from within a 17 foot diameter circle. But not one House Sparrow was seen or heard by this crack team. The Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve is located east of Brownsville and south of the border fence. This area of high species diversity is a working orchard and farm with rich resacas and native brush and a distant view of the Rio Grande corridor. The property is not open to the public, but I like to conduct our Big Sit here to call attention to all the wonderful areas that are south of the fence - and as the Team Captain, I can make that decision!

Here's another view of the sunrise squad (below). We break our day into shifts so we aren't tripping over each other, and so it stays fun! I lead the morning shift, seen here with the daylight crew (Jennifer played vampire and was headed out for a work trip before sunrise). Special thanks to the site manager and TNC for access, and to Eagle Optics for the sponsorship which allowed us to compete. Here's the afternoon shift, with Team Leader Martin Hagne. I like the way the guys outlined the circle with coolers. Hydration is important in the afternoon heat - though I did hear rumors of Indio! At least Jose is awake (below)- and Roy is checking on his ID of the wiley John Yochum, photographer who took these great pictures. Here's our list - 106 species, a couple over par for us and excellent for the weather.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Ruddy Duck, Plain Chachalaca, Northern Bobwhite, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, American White Pelican, Least Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, White-tailed Kite, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Gray Hawk, Merlin,

Sora, Purple Gallinule, Common Moorhen, American Coot, American Golden-Plover, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Curlew, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Barn Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Nighthawk, Common Pauraque, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ringed Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker,

Brown-crested Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Green Jay, Chihuahuan Raven, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Cave Swallow, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, European Starling, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Olive Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch.

A BIG Thank You! to my team mates: David Benn, JD Cortez, Javier deLeon, Martin Hagne, Huck Hutchens, Jennifer Owen-White, Roy Rodriguez, Joe Uribe, John Yochum.

Masked Duck - King Ranch - Santa Gertudis - March 26, 2011

2011-04-07T14:55:00.001-07:00

Flame-colored Tanager found dead in McAllen 3/4/2011

2011-03-06T17:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pictures of the Flame-colored Tanager that was found dead in McAllen on Friday. The specimen is already headed to TCWC and Dr. Arnold. This bird hit a window in a brand new subdivision, so new that the landscaping was still not installed. Where it was coming from and where it was headed to is a mystery.

We were very fortunate that the real estate agent that was at the new model home took a photo of the bird and posted it on Facebook, where Tony Bennett, noted bird artist, quickly identified it as a Flame-colored Tanager. The rest, as they say, is history.

This is the first Texas specimen and third LRGV record of Flame-colored Tanager.

Learn more about ending bird window strikes at http://www.flap.org/film.htm and here's a flyer on the subject from the American Bird Conservancy. http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/collisions/pdf/collisions_flyer.pdf

California Gull - Boca Chica Beach - January 30, 2011

2011-01-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

California Gull (right), Herring Gull (left).

Here's a few pictures of a California Gull on Boca Chica Beach today (January 30, 2011).

Greater Pewee - McAllen's Roselawn Cemetary, November 26, 2010

2010-11-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

Found by Cin-ty Lee today - and very vocal in the evening. Roselawn Cemetary is on Main Street in McAllen just north of US 83 on the east side of the road. The Greater Pewee was in the SE corner of the cemetary.

Santa Ana NWR Post-flood pictures - November 7, 2010

2010-11-18T14:45:00.000-08:00

Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge flooded in the summer of 2010 for the first time in over 50 years. Like so many areas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the riparian corridor and floodplain forests have been in need of floodwaters to deliver nutrients. With the regular flooding of the Rio Grande curtailed or diminished by dams including Falcon and Amistad dams and other dams in Mexico, the thorn forest has been replaced by thorn scrub as the tall trees die off. This summer's flood may be the first step in a rejuvenation of the thorn forest and riparian corridor on the Lower Rio Grande. The flood also sent huge mats of Arundo or giant cane and water hyacinth - invasive exotic plants - into the Gulf of Mexico. The Refuge is reopening for guided walks, be sure to see the revitalization of the forests for yourself!
This area below on the tour loop was not flooded as deep, but you can still see the impact on the guinea grass.

The view at Cattail Lakes was of one large pond . The levees subdividing the pond into various units were covered with water.

A branch of the river crossed the tour loop road here and cut into the gravel and soil on the right (east) side of the road. The drop off was 2-3 feet deep on the right side of the picture. Cattail Lakes again.

The forest is recovering quickly. The invasive exotic guinea grass was killed and the roots rotted after several weeks under water. Unfortunately, the grass is regenerating from the seed bank, but the refuge staff are making great efforts to control the guinea grass while it is more sensitive to grass-specific herbicides.

The tour road is still underwater from near the Resaca Trailhead to the Mesquite trail. The water was going down but there was still a lot of it.

Chuck Lorenz's Blue-throated Hummingbird Photo - South Padre Island

2010-11-18T06:44:00.001-08:00

Here's a photo from Chuck Lorenz of the Blue-throated Hummingbird on South Padre Island. It was seen from the empty lot just west of 117 E. Ling Street. If you visit, please be very careful walking in the lot as the owners and neighbors are removing exotic vegetation and replanting with natives for the migrants. You would not want to step on any young plants! Thanks to Chuck for sharing the photo with me and permission to post it. This is a female and was quite vocal - I could hear it through Scarlet's phone call seeping and whining.

A Not-So-Winter Wren

2010-11-06T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a frigid 44F leaving home this morning in the dark but it was a bit warmer at the coast and eventually got to a crisp 78F this afternoon on the drive home. All the exciting birds today at South Padre Island were winter birds from the north. I was pleased to see Golden-crowned Kinglets as soon as I arrived, since they don't always reach the LRGV. A local, Mike, showed me this Northern (Yellow-shafted) Flicker that was hanging around. I think that is my first in the LRGV since I moved here 5 years ago! White-throated Sparrow is another northern bird that I don't see in the LRGV every year.
And maybe you have to be a local to appreciate that Northern Cardinal is not always at the convention center. You can see why this subspecies had "Gray-backed Cardinal" as one common name, back when they gave common names to subspecies.
Star of the show was this Winter Wren that was hopping around in the open off and on, here on the concrete walk next to the convention center!

A Tale of Three Phalaropes - Sal del Rey, October 31, 2010

2010-10-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

Dan Jones found all three species of Phalarope at Sal del Rey, a tract of the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge, on October 30. I went up October 31 to see what I could find. When I got to the refuge and walked in, Dan called me over and showed me the birds. Here's the Red Phalarope on the left, with a Wildon's on the right. Note the white crown on the Red, and the very small cheek patch on the red. The Red is on the left.
Here's the Red again. It's a long way to the birds and a scope is required to get any kind of a look at them. These pictures are digiscoped with a Swarovski and a 50 mm lens - not ideal conditions. Morning is best for low wind and good light. Today, the birds came closer with time.

Red Phalarope on the left, Red-necked Phalarope on the right. The distinctive streaks on the mantle are evident on the smaller and smaller-headed Red-necked Phalarope. Here they've switched sites, the Red on the right with its shorter, thicker bill and whiter forehead.

From the rear the Red Phalarope has a very dark crown with a narrow nape stripe,with the color of the stripe becoming paler closer to the bird's back.

Red left, Wilson's right

Nesting Birds - Lesser Goldfinch and Ruddy Duck

2010-10-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

October 2, 2010 - a brood of Ruddy Ducks on County Rd 20 Pond just north of 186 in Willacy Co. Texas. The four birds on the left are the chicks, the hen is on the right in this digiscoped view. This is a rare nesting bird in the LRGV. The chicks had obvious downy juvenal plumage, especially obvious on the back.
October 1, 2010 - Estero Llano Grande State Park, Weslaco, Hidalgo County. This female Lesser Goldfinch was collecting nest material. I first saw her as here collecting spider webs. Then I noticed her flying to an old nest and ripping large pieces out of the nest and flying off with them, presumably to construct the new nest.

Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park - Bio Blitz - Park Still Closed

2010-09-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go into Bentsen September 9 as part of a bio-blitz. Special permission was required to participate in the event, and permission was only for the one day. Bentsen is still CLOSED due to flooding, but the Headquarters including the coffee shop and store are open.

Here's some pictures of the park after the flood. I am hoping that the flood will rejuvenate the riparian forest, which has been starved for nutrients since Hurricane Beulah, shortly after the construction of Falcon Dam.

The park was extremely birdy with lots of migrants, water birds, and resident species. My group saw tracks of Collared Peccary and Raccoon. Herons and egrets were flying over much of the day.

Here's the entrance road looking south near the maintenance yard.
And the drainage canal on the entrance road, full of water.
The Resaca Vieja Trailhead - the trail is still nearly blocked by a downed tree.
You can see the water level on the vegetation here, looking south to the Ebony Grove.
One of the feeding stations on the entrance road.
Kingfisher overlook.
The picnic pavilion - again, note the water line on the building.
Kiskadee Trail
Trailer loop - Acacia Loop
North end of the Acacia Loop
Roadrunner Crossing at the north end - still a lot of water over the road!
A lot of the brush was flooded, and the invasive guinea grass was dead. Northern Waterthrushes were enjoying the wet spots!
Northern Beardless Tyrannulet nest with young - note that the adult has food for the chicks in the ballmoss nest.

Doug Weidemann's pictures - Yellow-green Vireo - Sept. 6, 2010

2010-09-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here are Doug Weidemann's photos of the Yellow-green Vireo from September 6, 2010. The Yellow-green Vireo was first found at Cannon Road (AKA Old Cannon Road Pond) on August 4, 2010 by Dan Jones http://antshrike.blogspot.com/2010/08/yellow-green-vireo-at-canon-road-8-4-10.html. Reports for the past week have been negative, and Red-eyed Vireos are migrating through now - just to complicate things!

Yellow-green Vireos are nearly impossible to locate after they quit singing (especially as the use of playback is not allowed here). Doug and Don Weidemann relocated the bird by checking each tree carefully according to their post to TEXBIRDS - and at some point the bird did start singing. Note especially the blurry face pattern in the first picture - and the full tail. When I saw this bird on August 22 the bird was in molt and the tail was but a stub - or I had a different bird; early reports were of two birds. The song is somewhat similar to a Red-eyed Vireo but more clipped and - dare I say it - House Sparrow-like. Listen a song on Xeno-canto here: http://xeno-canto.org/recording.php?XC=28870

The use of playback is not allowed at this site as it is USFWS Lower Rio Grande NWR land. The use of playback is not allowed at most LRGV sites.

Bird Behavior - Plain Chachalaca

2010-09-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

I was intrigued to watch this family group of Plain Chachalacas outside my new office at the Camp Thicket of Estero Llano Grande State Park and World Birding Center. This is the entire flock.

The two birds on the left picked up food and fed the small chick in front of them by picking up food (banana, milo, whatever) and holding it in the tip of their bill in front of the chick until ithe chick pecked at the food. The medium size bird on the right seems to be a juvenile - it has a narrow dull tail band and is much smaller in body size. It was also fed by the two larger birds.

In reading the Birds of North America [BNA] account for Plain Chachalaca online, they are not supposed to have more than one brood in a season - so according to that document, the two large birds here shouldn't be the parents of both the older juvenile and the young chick. The BNA states that Plain Chachalaca parents regurgitate food for their chicks, a behavior I have yet to see. Everyone can contribute to our knowledge of bird behavior in the LRGV by carefully observing birds and documenting what you see with photographs - even photos through a dirty window, (like these) help document your written observation. I'm going to try to chronicle some of my observations of bird behavior in the Lower Rio Grande Valley here.

The BNA is a wonderful series covering the breeding birds of the USA and is available online by subscription or in hard copy. The best thing about the online version is that the accounts are frequently updated. See http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna for more information. Some LRGV specialties are not covered (e.g. Hook-billed Kite). Here in Texas, Texas Ornithological Society members can obtain access to the BNA accounts for a discounted price. American Ornithologists Union members have free access with their membership.

Wordless Wednesday - Pharr Purple Martin Roost

2010-09-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Pyrrhuloxia fresh from the nest

2010-08-18T14:45:00.001-07:00

Ageing Inca Doves

2010-08-11T10:02:00.001-07:00

The following is all tentative and is based on a very small number of known-age birds.

Here is the HY/SY pattern of S1 in Inca Doves. Note the extremely broad dusky edge on S1 and the limited rufous center.

Note the discrete rufous center to S1 on this known ASY in March below.

All photos are from March 14, 2010, and were banded by Mark Conway of Harlingen, Texas. Thanks to Mark for allowing me to observe and assist at his site.

Wordless Wednesday - near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon

2010-08-11T09:30:00.001-07:00

Short-tailed Hawk, adult, Chihuahua Woods Preserve, Mission Texas

2010-08-07T07:59:00.000-07:00

In the "world's worst" category of lousy bird photos I was very happy to take, here's a few photos from Chihuahua Woods Preserve near Mission, Texas this morning (8/7). This adult Short-tailed Hawk played tag with the treetops for me and finally when I got to an open area I was able to get a couple quick shots off - though I missed better opportunities. These are heavily cropped and one is darkened very slightly as the whites were bleached out.

Wordless Wednesday - Santa Ana Flood - 8/4/2010

2010-08-07T07:53:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Clay-colored Thrush (juv)

2010-07-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Rio Grande Flood - Bentsen-RGV State Park

2010-07-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

South Padre Island Pelagic, July 17, 2010

2010-07-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

The Osprey headed out from South Padre Island on July 17 with a full load of birders and leaders. The forecast was for calm winds and calm seas and for once it was correct. We finally worked up to nearly two feet waves, but I've seen bigger waves at a family reunion from a cannonball off the diving board.

We looked through a lot of Royal and Sandwich Terns near the shrimp boats on the way out. There really wasn't much going on there, and with the calm waters we were anxious to get to deep water.

Bird of the trip on Eric Carpenter's South Padre Island Pelagic was this Greater Shearwater, one of fewer than 20 records for Texas (once reviewed by the TBRC). This spiffy looking bird was sitting on the water near a young Masked Booby and stayed with the boat and a school of tuna for more than half an hour - at times within 10 feet of the boat!

Here's the Greater Shearwater taking off from next to the boat.

We were also treated to several views of the Shearwater coming in and landing on the water, giving us great views of the smudgy belly found on the species.
We were frustrated with several very distant or very brief views of Masked Boobies in the morning, but this cooperative youngster was extremely accomodating first sitting on the water, and then flying down the length of the boat. Later, we saw this adult Masked Booby, quite a contrast to the first bird and recognizable a long way out.

And now for a fish story. With the Greater Sheatwater and the tuna feeding frenzy we spotted a whale shark about 20 feet long as it swam slowly slowly under the boat - lengthwise. While whale sharks are the largest fish in the world (being truly a shark though the size of a whale) this is a "little" whale shark. Next we saw the tail of one out of the water with dark shadows indicating where the body was for at least two whale sharks.

And then a third was spotted! It's easiest to see fish in the water with polarizing sun glasses, but one whale shark did a tail stand and poked its nose out of the water with its mouth agape. The spots were spectacular in the midday sun! And then it slowly slid underwater. Wow. This was the best look I've ever had at a whale shark! I spent a lot more time watching these huge fish instead of taking pictures.

Rio Grande Flood - Llano Grande Floodway; photos from July 16, 2010

2010-07-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a series of pictures showing the floodway that runs from Anzalduas Dam to the Gulf of Mexico. These photos are in Mercedes or Weslaco, Texas. All the pictures are from the levee that runs east/west at the south end of Estero Llano Grande State Park. This view is from the west end of the federal and state tracts, looking east on the floodway to the Llano Grande RV Park.

This next picture is looking west from the same point. The area is usually a channel bordered with cattails and marsh and a pond in the center. This photo is looking south where 1015 crosses the floodway. The sign just left of center is on 1015, as is the big tangle of phragmites and sticks behind it.

Here's a view across 1015 to the pumphouse on the west side of 1015. Here's another view from the levee looking south across the floodway. A local told me these are the highest floodwaters in the Llano Grande floodway since 1967. The land in the distance under the second electric tower is all agricultural fields.

Wordless Wednesday - Rio Grande Flood

2010-07-14T15:27:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday - Green Jay

2010-07-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Hook-billed Kites - the "backstory" July 5, 2010

2010-07-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

So by now you know there are multiple Hook-billed Kites at Chihuahua Woods Preserve of The Nature Conservancy. I have added earlier posts in date order about the birds and their activities and our efforts to find the nest. I would like to thank Sonia Najera, Paul Bryant, and all the staff at TNC for permission to go off the trails. Thanks also to Mark Conway and Bill Clark for their efforts to locate the actual nest. Most of all, thanks to those who knew about the nest but enjoyed the birds without disturbing them. They are still visible at the Preserve but are seemingly ranging farther away or feeding in different areas. Good luck if you go to look for them. Please do report the kites with information on the plumage of the birds so we can keep track of the chick and the pair. You can report your sightings to rgvbirds@hotmail.com or the RBA, or in eBird add a remark on the age or color of the birds you see in your comments. The last known successful nest was in 2002.

Page down for earlier posts just added about the Hook-billed Kites at Chihuahua Woods.

Mary Gustafson

July 2, 2010 - Hook-billed Kite - Chihuahua Woods Preserve TNC - Palmview, Texas

2010-07-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

Today I had the rare treat of watching a female Hook-billed Kite catching snails in the cow pasture adjacent to the Chihuahua Woods Preserve of The Nature Conservancy. The kite flew into a low perch - a stump or fence post - and then flew off to land on the ground. From the ground she then jumped and grabbed the sapling with her feet and then snatched a snail with her bill. It was an amazing show for about 30 minutes! I didn't see her before or after this extraordinary show!

Hook-billed Kites - post-Hurricane Alex - July 1, 2010

2010-07-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

I went out to check on the Hook-billed Kites today. I found the female feeding quite close to the access road.

She flew in repeatedly and landed in a small snag. From the snag she peered around and then dropped to the ground, often quite close to the perch. She quickly reappeared and I could see her eating snails. She seemed to be taking a long time to process each snail, until I realized that the snails were in clumps - presumably mating - and she was grabbing a clump each time she went to the ground.

She then ate all but one snail in the clump, and took that last snail to the feeding perch by the nest.

Although their diet is almost entirely Rhabdotus snails, the Hook-billed Kites are attacked by resident nesting birds including Northern Mockingbird, Western Kingbird, and Red-winged Blackbird.

The nest is so flimsy I had to check on the chick after the arrival and departure of Tropical Storm Alex. Here is the check, standing up and feisty, waiting for the next snail delivery.

Time to get out and leave things be.

Hook-billed Kite nest - Monday June 28, 2010

2010-06-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Bill Clark, Mark Conway, and Mike Miller came out to help locate the nest. Bill and Mark bushwacked into the thicket (with the permission of TNC, of course!) and after laboring for at least 3/4 mile, Mark Conway found the nest - very close to where they entered the thicket. There was one chick (1-2 is normal) and the chick was mostly grown. Here you can see it sitting in the nest facing left - only the eye is really visible.

Needless to say the Hook-billed Kite pair was not pleased with their activities, but they quickly resumed feeding after we cleared out of the area of the nest. Here's the female again.

Hook-billed Kite - June 26, 2010 evening

2010-06-30T08:35:00.001-07:00

Saturday night I went back out and saw the male make three feeding trips between 6 PM and 6:20 PM. I've had to lighten these up a bit. He's very dark gray, but you can see the barring on the belly - definitely not a black morph bird. He didn't reappear before 7 PM when I left. I did not see the female.

Hook-billed Kites - June 26, 2010

2010-06-30T08:01:00.001-07:00

You know, it's hot here in the summer in deep South Texas, and a bit boring bird-wise until migration gets going again. It's a great time to watch bird behavior or go hiking if you like solitude... and you do it early in the morning.

So I'm walking into Chihuahua Woods, a TNC property west of Mission, Texas on June 26. I've been meaning to come for some time, and just haven't been able to make it. It's about 7:30 AM, and the day is going to get really hot really soon. It's already probably 80F and humid. I walk about 300 feet into the property and I see this bird fly overhead at treetop height.

It's a Hook-billed Kite, an adult male. Yepper. Quite the handsome bird! And the weird thing is that it was carrying a snail! I wasn't all that suprised to see him - I'd seen him here in March, but just once. I wasn't quite ready for the next thing I saw.

A female Hook-billed Kite, also adult, also carrying a snail.
And a few minutes later, she went back out, without the snail.

Repeat several times, snails in, no snails out.

The local Northern Mockingbirds and Western Kingbirds weren't impressed that the diet of these birds is almost entirely snails.

Hmmm. So I got on the phone to Bill Clark, raptor expert and valley resident. W discussed Hook-billed Kite behavior. I was surprised to learn that the adults shuttle all the snails for the chicks in their bill. They carry the snail in the shell to a feeding perch near the nest, extract the snail, and then carry the snail meat to the nest. Yum! I also called the landowner and arranged an expedition to look for the nest. Stay tuned!

Tamaulipas Crow, Brownsville Dump - March 26, 2010

2010-03-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

All photos in this post are (c) Bill Case and are posted with his permission!

These first two images are of the Tamaulipas Crow. Compare the bird to the size of the pipe in the fence, and note the thin bill.

Here it's croaking - the throat feathers are ruffled and not white at the base and the eye is black. I wish we had audio, the call is a nasal croaking - well, here's the only recording posted at xeno-canto.org; recorded by Nathan Pieplow.

The bird below is NOT a Tamaulipas Crow, it's a Chihuahuan (formerly White-necked) Raven for comparison. Note the large heavy thick bill and the larger size relative to the pipe.

Here's a new photo that Bill just sent me - this shows a Tamaulipas Crow on the left, a Chihuahuan Raven in the center, and a Great-tailed Grackle on the right. The photos have been pasted together with the size standardized on the pipe so you can compare the size and shape of the birds. Bill isn't trying to fool anyone with this composite, but it's very educational to compare the relative sizes and shapes of these three species.

The Brownsville Dump is open daily from 7 AM to 3:45 PM according to their website; though other sources indicate they are CLOSED on Sunday. Be sure to follow directions given at the office about access. More information including a map is at the Lower Texas Coast website; the Brownsville Dump is site LTC-041.

THANK YOU Bill Case and Stan DeOrsey for your prompt reporting of this bird and sharing the photos!

more Aztec Thrush pics from the finders...

2010-02-17T06:42:00.001-08:00

Here's the Aztec Thrush as initially seen by the finders, all photos (c) Dawn and Bob Scranton. This is on Hackberry Road near Kiskadee Trail.

Here's better views they got on Acacia Loop.

All photos (c) Dawn and Bob Scranton

Aztec Thrush at Bentsen State Park Feb 16, 2010

2010-02-16T19:33:00.000-08:00

Found by Dawn and Bob Scranton and Madeline and Hans Van der Zweep at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park on February 16, 2010. This would be the sixth record for Texas if accepted. These photos are (c) Rick Nirschl and are posted with his permission.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron in flight at dusk

2009-12-23T17:06:00.000-08:00

So what exactly does a post-sunset Tiger-Heron look like? Well, it looks like a thick American Bittern with very broad Black Vulture-like primarys with lots of fingering. Not sure these pics help, but here they are. Two nights running it's been seen flying into roost after dark. For the GOOD pics, check the next blog post.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Hidalgo County Texas! All Photos (c) Rick Snider and Rick Nirschl

2009-12-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

Potential First US Record! The standing bird is (c) Rick Snider; the flying bird (c) Rick Nirschl. Note 5 new primaries!

Found December 21, 2009 by Rick Nirschl and Rick Snider near Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.

December 12, 2009 Bentsen Crimson-collared Grosbeak photos - (c) Rick Snider

2009-12-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday - Bentsen Rose-throated Becard November 18, 2009

2009-11-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival - November 12, 2009

2009-11-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems a lot of trips have come and gone and it's only day 1 of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival! The King Ranch group saw Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl but they had to work for them. They are nearly silent this time of year. There were Clay-colored Thrush, Audubon's Orioles and other valley specialties. The White-collared Seedeaters were difficult, but showed themselves at the last minute. Everyone on the San Ygnacio trip got to see the White-collared Seedeater at Zapata.

A Black-throated Gray Warbler female was glimpsed at the parking lot at Santa Ana NWR.

Access at Chapeño 2009

2009-11-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

I stopped by Chapeño today at the old El Rio RV Park. There are absolutely no signs left to indicate when you reach the site (well described in bird finding guides), but the huge metal two or three story building as you go down the Chapeño road is hard to miss.

They weren't feeding much, but the view of the river is better than ever. This would be a great spot to watch for Muscovy and Red-billed Pigeon. They were just starting to feed the birds, so there weren't many coming in yet.

The walk to the river through the bridge or new road is easier than the old rutted road, and the river access is narrower since the property below is no longer open. However, you can walk right to the rivers edge and there is a three-story tower you can climb if you're brave.

In just a couple minutes I had close views of Green Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, and a flock of warblers.

There's a fee for the site, but no reason not to go. The view here is much better than at the boat ramp. Bewick's Wrens and Ringed Kingfisher were vocal too.

Hook-billed Kites, Santa Ana NWR, Nov. 3 and 7

2009-11-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Larry Therrien's photos - Masked Duck, Rose-throated Becard

2009-11-05T09:01:00.000-08:00

Larry Therrien from Massachusetts has allowed me to post his photos of the Masked Duck pair and the Rose-throated Becard here. The Masked Duck pair was at Cattail Lake at Santa Ana NWR on November 1, and the Rose-throated Becard was at Eagle Pond at Bentsen RGV State Park on October 30. Great finds, Larry!

All photos (c) Larry Therrien.

Mark Conway - Making a Green Kingfisher Band

2009-06-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here's the problem - the legs on a Green Kingfisher are too short for the standard size 2 federal bird band. The band needs to be shortened significantly to be a safe fit on a Green Kingfisher.

Here's a before and after photo - on the left, the normal federal size 2 band, on the right, one shortened for use on a Green Kingfisher. The final height of the Green Kingfisher band is about half that of the normal band. The trimming has to be done to preserve the numbers on the band which are the unique identifier, so excesss has to be trimmed from the top and bottom leaving the numbers legible.

Step one - hold the band in a pair of banding pliers, and check to be sure that the numbers are below the level of the pliers so they aren't accidentally damaged.

Then file the excess off leaving the band flush with the pliers. Turn the band over, and repeat the process.

A final rounding of the edges of the band on the outside with the file, and smoothing of the inside with a knife, and the band is ready to apply. Total time to make the band: about 2 minutes.

Pintail Lodge Familiarization Trip Report, June 12-14, 2009

2009-06-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Harlingen ( a short drive from our Lower Rio Grande Valley homes, at least for three of us) and were met by Romolo, the welcoming committee on the US side. Romolo had already met early-arrival Bob Schutsky whose luggage was off on a grand tour and taken Bob shopping to replace necessities. Romolo packed our luggage into the Pintail Lodge van and we headed off for the lodge. We sailed through customs and immigration and enjoyed the 2.5 hour drive to Pintail Lodge, on the shores of the Laguna Madre de Mexico in Tamaulipas - actually the southern Laguna Madre.

While the timing of the trip wasn't designed for optimized birding (fall, winter and spring will be more productive in number of species), we still saw over 100 species in two days. The lodge is luxurious and picturesqe, and each cabin has a view of the Laguna Madre. Herons, egrets, ibis, and spoonbills flew by morning and evening.

Our first day was our only full day and it was very very full. After a wake-up knock with coffee delivered to the room and eggs made to order with hot cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit, we headed out birding. We split into pairs, with two Huck Hutchens and Bob going out on the Laguna Madre first, and Tom Pendleton and I birding on land. We were met on return to the lodge with mango margaritas on the porch before a fantastic lunch. After a siesta, we swapped itineraries and headed out for the afternoon. After dinner we went out on a night drive and saw coyote, Common Pauraque, flowering night-blooming cereus (a cactus), deer, cottontails, jackrabbits, you name it.

Our last morning we went to another ranch the lodge has leased and saw a large NAWCA (North American Wetland Conservation Act grant) project creating freshwater ponds (soon to be marshes) next to the Laguna Madre in shallow drainage systems. These ponds still had some water even in the extreme drought, and we saw lots of shorebirds and lingering ducks. Juan's sharp eyes spotted many birds, coyote, deer, and jack- (and jill-) rabbits. Back to another lavish lunch and then it was off to Harlingen and the airport.

The lodge had excellent service, food quality and quantity. Desert was offered at lunch and dinner, and it was hard to pick the best desert - but we all worked on getting that stastically significant sample size!

From left to right - Tom Pendleton, Dan Bolek, Mary Gustafson, Bob Schutsky (http://www.birdtreks.com/) (standing), Huck Hutchens.

For more photos from this trip, see http://community.webshots.com/user/live4birds

Errata - van Perlo, Birds of Mexico and Central America

2009-05-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

I generally like van Perlo's Birds of Mexico and Central America as a true field guide - that is, something to carry in the field all day every day. It's labelled an Illustrated Checklist, and has thumbnail illustrations of all the birds - including the migrants - of Mexico and Central America. It's important to have all the migrants if the guide is going to be at all useful to those who are not already familiar with the birds of the USA and Canada which migrate or winter in the region but are often omitted in other field guides for Mexico. This would be a useful tool for conservation in the region except the text is in English. A Spanish edition would be a great improvement.

The problem is that there are few illustrations of immatures and there are many errors in the book. I need to start collecting the errors in one place and decided to do it here. When you find others, please let me know.

Unofficial errata - B. van Perlo, Birds of Mexico and Central America

PLATES
97.15 and 97.16 - Baltimore and Orchard Orioles - reversed
92.18 Lined Seedeater range SMeCAm actually vagrant to Panama
90.17 Blue Grosbeak, not Grosbeak.

MAPS
Chimney Swift 44.8 map p. 260 - completely wrong
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 54.12 map p. 269 does not include Northeast Mexico
Tawny-crested Tanager 88.7 p. 298 - completely wrong

El Cielo Trip - Day 5 - March 27, 2009

2009-03-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

March 27, 2009

Driving day. We had breakfast at the cabins and started driving down the mountain. Our guides spotted Broad-winged Hawks perched in the forest. The forest echoed with the calls of thrushes and warblers. I wished we'd had time to walk down instead of riding in the truck. We were pleased to see groups of school children riding up to Alta Cima for a field trip.

We stopped to try to see a Greenish Elaenia, which I saw briefly perched before it flew off again. We stopped for a perched Hooded Grosbeak which also flew off immediately. We made it to Casa di Piedre in Gomez Farias for an early lunch, and then headed off down the mountain. We saw some birds driving, including a spectacular view of a Zone-tailed Hawk stooping and catching a rodent! We made good time and got back to the bridge at about 7 PM, for a very short 20 minute wait to get back into the USA. Thanks to Roy Rodriguez and Martin Hagne for organizing this trip!

El Cielo Trip - Day 4 - March 26, 2009

2009-03-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

During the night I woke up and heard four Mottled Owls sounding off.

It was great to wake up and be at 4000 feet in the pine-oak zone. The bird song surrounded us. We took the truck and went to a former town site called again Casa de Piedra – house of the rock. This high elevation site had great birding on the way in, with flocks of warblers including good looks at a Golden-cheeked Warbler, a life bird for Esteban! I glimpsed a perched Amethyst-throated Hummingbird which flew off immediately.

We walked on from Casa de Piedra and saw another Bumblebee Hummingbird male, and had great looks at Golden-browed Warbler. A Bat Falcon was rousted off its perch on the mountainside by a pair of Common Ravens. The Bat Falcon stooped at the Ravens several times and was joined by its mate, and then succeeded in driving the Ravens off the hillside. Other birds included Hutton’s Vireo, Magnificent Hummingbird, and more Mountain Trogon.

We drove back down the mountain for lunch at the hotel. After lunch, we drove into the town of San Jose, birding on the way. Blue Mockingbirds were singing and mimicking other birds. We saw many Azure-crowned Hummingbird and Greater Pewee, and Acorn Woodpecker were well seen by the group. We walked part way back to the hotel through mostly second growth and farms.

After dinner we tried to call in the Stygian Owl that I heard the night before with no luck. We then went back to the open area where the guys had been looking for Stygian Owl the first morning and tried a tape there. The bird hooted back once but we could not find it with a flashlight. “Mexican” Whip-poor-wills sang up on the rocks well up the mountainside, a fitting end to a great day.

El Cielo Trip - Day 3 - March 25, 2009

2009-03-30T14:05:00.001-07:00

March 25, 2009

Again, I woke early and listened to the Tawny-collared Nightjar singing. Then, the rain started right as we were getting read for breakfast. After breakfast, we packed up the pickup truck with our gear for the next two days. Lalo, our driver, had the truck covered with a tarp, but that didn’t last long as we stopped and removed the tarp quickly as the rain stopped. The overcast and fog stuck with us so birding was slow. We did have great looks at Crested Guan, Flame-colored Tanager, Azure-crowned Hummingbird, Brown-backed Solitaire, Golden-crowned Warbler, Black-headed Saltator, Blue Bunting, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak.

We made it to Alta Cima in rapid order as the fog kept the birds difficult to see. We took a break to check the shops and stretch, birding all the while. Esteban Perrones, another local birding guide, joined us in Alta Cima. In the photo at right is Esteban (left), Lalo (center), and Ricardo (right).

We went on up the mountain about 2 km when Esteban told us that we were in a Bumblebee Hummingbird territory. We stopped the truck in the shade and watched the male displaying with his gorget feathers splayed wide. He bounced up and down in front of a female and did his airplane display for us, singing all the while. What a show!

We stopped a few more places on the way up to the Cabinas Canindo http://cabanascanindo.com/ just a few kilometers short of San Jose. The Cabinas were rustic but serviceable with clean sheets, running water (hot on request) and solar electricity. A pair of Rufous-capped Brush-Finch were on the porch when we arrived, and Brown-capped Vireo sang over the cabin. We had lunch and went birding, walking down the road to an area where we had seen a number of Mountain Trogons on the ride up. We had quick views of White-eared Hummingbird, great views of Mountain Trogon, Olivaceous and Spot-crowned Woodcreeper, and Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush. At one point, we were surrounded by Singing Quail but could not see them. Esteban herded two Singing Quail so they crossed the trail in front of us. We headed back to the cabins for dinner. After dinner, when it was full dark, we were able to call in a Mottled Owl which flew directly over our heads and perched in the open! Great end to a great day.

El Cielo Trip - Day 2 - March 24, 2009

2009-03-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2009

I got up at about 5 and listened to the nightbirds calling. A Tawny-collared Nightjar called “Chip-Willow” in the distance. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl called in the mango trees, seen by early risers but not others. We had breakfast at the hotel and then went back to La Florida, much more peaceful without the bus of bathers. We heard Thicket Tinamou at close range but did not see them. A Bronze-winged Woodpecker put on a good show. This is an endemic subspecies according to the AOU, probably due to lack of work as the vocalizations and plumage are markedly different from Golden-olive Woodpecker. A huge flock of Blue-crowned Motmots made us laugh on the way in, as Roy has missed this species with most of the groups he has taken down to El Cielo this year. We saw a Lineated Woodpecker peering out of a nest hole, and later her mate came in to replace her in the nest.

Things were really rather quiet so we packed up and went to Boca Toma II, a restaurant and fish farm on the river Rio Frio (?) downstream. We took a boat ride in search of waterbirds in an outboard boat with plastic seats and had great looks at Sungrebe and Boat-billed Heron – this is the northernmost known outpost of both species. We also had excellent looks at Amazon Kingfisher, Muscovy Duck, more Blue-crowned Motmots, another pair of Bat Falcons. Walking around Boca Toma until lunch, we found a pair of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls allopreening, the larger female preening the male while sharing a perch. We found at least two nests of Rose-throated Becard, and several of us enjoyed watching adult males of the local very black subspecies after watching the immature male at ELG molting all winter.

Lunch at Boca Toma II was Langostinos and catfish. Langostinos are large freshwater prawns served drenched in garlic butter, and the catfish was filleted special for us as they were out of tilapia, and served steamed with vegetables. Rice and potatoes accompanied the meal. This was truly as much a food trip as a birding trip thanks to Roy's knowledge of the local restaurants. We spent another hour waddling along the canal seeing mostly butterflies in the heat of the day before we decided to move on.

We went next to some cactus (nopal) plantations and looked for birds in the patches of grass remaining. We saw Ruddy Ground-Doves on the way in, always a treat since we look for them and rarely find them in the LRGV. We quickly found Yellow-faced Grassquits, and worked to see Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, White-collared Seedeater, Blue-black Grassquit. At one point Roy and I had walked on and the group had remained behind, and Roy spotted an unfamiliar hummingbird. I looked at it and recognized it after a minute as a female Lucifer Hummingbird and snapped off a photo of it as we hurridly tried to set a scope up to take digiscope pictures. Alas, it flew before we could get any more pics. But this was a lifer for Roy, and the first time I heard the term "birdgasm"!

We headed back to the hotel after a pleasant afternoon birding, and sat in the courtyard and watched the birds find us at beautiful Casa de Piedra.

El Cielo trip - Day 1 - March 23, 2009

2009-03-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

March 23, 2009

We met in Mission and Harlingen and were picked up by Roy Rodriguez. We crossed at the Los Indios bridge at 8:30 AM. While the group got visas, I watched swallows (Tree, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cave, Cliff) fly by. A single flock of 8 Am Golden Plover flew silently by. Then it was a long drive with several stops (lucn at El Tinieblo, the museum of mescal). We arrived at Gomez Farias at 3:30 PM and checked in at the Casa di Piedre. I was given the key to the Magnolia room, a delightful room with a balcony overlooking several Mango trees. That's the hotel on the right - and their new dining room overlooks the valley. The food and staff were great! http://www.tourbymexico.com/tamps/elcielo/hoteles/casapiedra/casapiedra.htm

Ricardo Jimenez Ramirez (gomfar@gmail.com), a local birding guide, joined us for the whole trip. We went down to La Florida, a popular swimming hole in the river (Rio Sabinas). Although there was a busload of tourists from Veracruz there swimming, we were able to locate a number of birds including a pair of Blue-throated Motmot, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, Spot-breasted Wren, White-crowned and Red-lored Parrot, Red-billed Pigeon, Vaux's Swift, and Boat-billed Flycatcher.

We went back to the hotel, stopping at a telephone pole with Bat Falcon perched on top. This pair has nested in the area for several years to the delight of visiting birders. A pair of Pale-billed Woodpecker were feeding on the hillside above us and put on a great show, allowing everyone to see them in the scope. We had a fantastic dinner at the hotel and turned in early.

Birding this week - March 16-20, 2009

2009-03-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent a few hours in Bentsen RGV state park with some biologists. It was a great evening with some mosquitoes but not hoards, lots of people in the park as it's spring break, and some interesting behaviors to watch.

At dusk, just as the Pauraques and Eastern Screech-Owls were starting to sing an Elf Owl began calling loudly quite close to us. We watched the pair flying across the road and investigating tree cavities by silhouette before the male sat in place and called repeatedly. It was fun to watch him turning his head and calling.

We located several Pauraque including a confiding pair. The male was singing, flying up and displaying, and shuffling or running along the ground. The female with noticeably less white in the wings and tail flew in and sat nearby before moving off again a short while later. I had just put a red filter on my light, and I was interested to see that I could get closer to the Pauraque with the filter than I could the last time I tried without it. It will be interesting to continue to play with the filter and see how the birds react.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are regular on Bentsen Palm Drive now, and Green Parakeets are often in Mission or Palmview flying around in the morning.

Today (March 20) There were lots of Lincoln's Sparrows and a Common Yellowthroat in the HQ area at Bentsen today. A Tropical Kingbird was singing near the Bentsen Park HQ this morning.

Allen William's March 15

2009-03-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Allen Williams yard in Pharr on Sunday, March 15. At times the birds on his property are so tame that I have to focus my camera as close as it will go and then BACK UP until the bird is in focus. Such was true for both a Buff-bellied Hummingbird and a very curious Northern Mockingbird today. I sat and watched his mulberry for an hour and a half. I was amazed to see SIX Northern Mockingbirds in the tree at once, it was as though they had territorial boundaries extending to individual branches in the tree. Great Kiskadees were in and out of the tree constantly as well. The Clay-colored Thrushes were in and out quickly, as was the female Western Tanager and a Baltimore Oriole. The wintering warblers were still around as well, with Wilson's, Black-and-white and Orange-crowned present though I missed the wintering American Redstart this time.

Here are a couple photos, one of a Buff-bellied Hummingbird (top) and the other of a Northern Mockingbird that decided to pose for me.

Southmost Open House March 14

2009-03-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

It was a cold, wet, windy day on Saturday at the Lennox Foundation Southmost Preserve of The Nature Conservancy. This normally closed property was open for an open house.

David Benn and I were joined by Jennifer Owen, Huck Hutchens, and Tom Pendleton to lead birdwalks for those interested. Note to self: Next time, notify the birds! Seriously, the waterbirds were plentiful even if the landbirds were staying out of the wind. We had flyby Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Wilson's Phalarope, a single Greater Scaup, and more widespread species of ducks and shorebirds on the resacas. Swallows put on a show with Barn and Cliff Swallows joining the abundant Tree and Rough-winged Swallows. A Sora marched out in the open briefly. Ringed Kingfishers were seen by both groups. Cassin's Sparrows flushed ahead of the group on our way back from the marsh. We had fun but we were glad to get out of the wind at the end of the morning.

Here's the designated greeter, an immature male Vermilion Flycatcher.

Bentsen State Park March 12

2009-03-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

I went into the park for an hour this wet and windy morning. The winter flocks are really difficult to find in the wind. We saw a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Orange-crowned Warblers out in the wind, but not many. My friends were looking for Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, so we spent most of our time in the north end of the trailer loop. We walked around, and on the way back we went onto the concrete platform that marks the old lift station on the NW corner of the Acacia Loop. I almost immediately saw a Tyrannulet! Of course I couldn't get anyone else on it. Then the male started calling a single peeping note and we were able to locate the pair for good looks at this drab, enigmatic and much desired bird. The feeding station by the Kiskadee Trail had numbers of molting Indigo Buntings and a Clay-colored Thrush, the thrush coming to a peanut butter log. The Gray Hawks in the area were calling off and on but never came by. My friends went off in search of other birds, and I went off to work.

Canoeing the Rio Grande with Roma Bluffs WBC

2009-03-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

I went canoeing the Rio Grande from Chapeño to Salineño last Friday. This is a great way to see the Rio Grande and its habitats without getting covered in chiggers and ticks. We went with the great volunteers from the Roma Bluffs World Birding Center. Although we hit a really windy day, the trip was memorable for the vistas of the Rio and the stately Montezuma Bald Cypress. The wind was so strong it created whitecaps going UP the Rio Grande - against the current. I can't wait to go back on a calmer day and canoe up towards Falcon Dam. THANK YOU to the Roma Bluffs WBC Staff and Volunteers for making this trip possible!

Anzalduas March 10 (evening)

2009-03-11T07:13:00.000-07:00

The wind is still roaring through south Texas. I headed over to Anzalduas County Park [Mission Texas] after work to help some friends searching for birds. They were looking for Gray Hawk and Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. We walked the northern section looking and listening for the Tyrannulet, and though I thought I heard it a couple of times give a single "peep", it was hard to hear in the wind and it's difficult to localize this sound even in calm conditions. The Gray Hawk male came into the nest calling and was glimpsed by all, but it didn't stay long. We found the pair later perched on the south side of the park (across the levee) and had good looks as the male flew off with a stick in his talons, the female following a moment later.

Other highlights were Prairie Warbler (presumably the wintering bird - finally!) and excellent looks at swallows by the dam.

We celebrated at Casa del Taco for Molcajete and Negra Modelo - it was a great evening!