Rio Grande Valley, Birding Day 1, Report 2

After our brief but productive time in the windstorm of South Padre, our guide Tim recommended that we head inland for warmer temps and lower wind speeds. He said his favorite place was one I hadn't noticed in my pre-trip research, Estero Llano Grande State Park. He gave us directions and we were off.

First, however, let me show you some of the delicacies on display at the place we breakfasted, Ted's Restaurant, a quality joint for a solid meal at a great price:


I stuck with the more traditional eggs over-medium, homefries, and wheat toast. We passed the famous water tower of San Benito:Wow.

Estero Llano apparently means something like prairie (llano) with water from a spring (estero), though my parents argued back and forth about the precise meanings (dictionaries were also pulled out) for several minutes until I finally told them I really didn't care what it meant, other than BIRDS! (There was some definite "hmph"-ing heard at that point.)

A photo tour, including the many lifers I saw:

Isn't this prairie-like place beautiful? It made me a little sad to think of how the Valley must've looked before all the roads, farm fields, and development took over. It's wonderful to know a place like this still exists; it felt like we were in another country, Africa or someplace, standing on the veldt, watching for colorful birds like this one:a Vermilion Flycatcher, still working on that ridiculously vibrant red breeding plumage. What a beautiful bird! I've wanted to see one of these guys ever since I became a birder up in PA, and it's so wonderful to have finally seen one!

Fulvous Whistling Duck, anyone? I heard no whistling, but everyone in the park was buzzing about this rare visitor. What a find!

Most of the time, however, the ducks pretty much all looked like this, and my pictures were of butts and blurs. You'll see what I mean as I continue with the tour.


a Buff-bellied Hummingbird gets the best of me, shutter-speed wise. That sucker was fast, and I KNOW I heard him giggling at my frustration.

Long-time readers of the bloggy might recall that I once named the Cinnamon Teal one of the top ten birds I'd most like to see:OMG it's a Cinnamon Teal! Let me get a picture! D'oh! He went under!
D'OH!
SHEESH! He WAS a Cinnamon Teal, really! I confirmed it with that Northern Shoveler on the left! I took TEN PICTURES of that darned teal, and all of them were of his butt. I began to take his obvious snubbing of me personally around shot #8. But there was no mistaking that cinnamon-colored plumage; I think Mary actually got some video which I'll be posting at some point. Meanwhile...

Really, Mr. Dove? You think I came here to see your tocks? Seriously? Come on! Help me out here!
Okay--blurry but better than your butt. Now, listen here, Mr. Common Ground Dove; I'm adding you to my lifelist and there's nothing you can do about it! How I've longed to see that pinkish-red at the base of your tiny bill, the reddish wings, the scalloping on your breast! Be still, my birdy heart, for there were many more lifers to be had that day.

a Common Pauraque, looking cute as a button asleep (?) in the leaf litter. I wanted to scoop him up and take him home! Thank you to the unnamed birder who directed me precisely to the exact tree where our little Pauraque could be found!

a little darter action for you, as an Anhinga shows off the white wing streaks that made the ID easier for me, as if that crazy neck and head weren't enough

a terrible picture, but through my binocs I could see the distinct white tail and the kite-head on this White-tailed Kite (the park ranger's ID also helped me not call it a White-tailed Hawk)

I also got close-up views (like from four feet away) of this darling little Least Grebe, whom I definitely wanted to put in my pocket and take home:When I saw one of these in Austin at Hornsby Bend, I knew it was a Least because he was swimming next to a comparatively larger Pied-billed. Now I got to see that these little cuties are the size of baby ducklings! WANT ONE!

the Great Kiskadees were all over the place

here's another photo of our overly ambitious Great Egret, who caught himself a trophy perch but couldn't swallow him. I guess every fisherman's gotta have a "the one that got away" story to tell the kids.

I even got to see one of Niblet's southern cousins. Howdy!

It's past midnight now, and there's still more from Estero Llano--but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Hasta luego from the butts of all the ducks in the Rio Grande Valley!

Coming up tomorrow: a sparrow quiz!

Rio Grande Valley, Birding Day 1, Report 1 UPDATED!

NOTE: I'm updating this post after some information re IDs from my brilliant commenters.
Saturday was a long day at two wonderful facilities: the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center and Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco. In order to include more pictures, I'm going to split it up into separate posts for each place. We'll start off with a visual tour of SPIBNC.

This fairly new facility is located 3.5 miles north of the Queen Isabella Bridge, right off the main drag on the island. The boardwalk stretches over the mudflats of the Laguna Madre (the bay between the barrier island that is South Padre and the continental U.S.), and they have everything from birds to alligators to coyotes out there. We arrived around 8:30 at low tide, so the mudflats were exposed:Also exposed were these huge jellyfish who'd been trapped by the retreating tide. I don't know if they live or die while waiting for the water to come back in.

You know it's going to be a good day when the first bird you see is a lifer:This beautiful Reddish Egret wasn't even fussed that people were staring at him; he just strutted around like he owned the place.

The wind was blowing at probably 30 or 40 miles an hour, which is pretty normal for the beach (and South Texas, actually). That made a morning in the mid-40s into a wind-chilled experience, but we were hardcore and stayed out there with our guide, Tim Bradshaw, a thoroughly good egg. He showed us what there was to see on this windy morning:

Black-bellied Plover still in winter plumage

a Common Moorhen showing his blazing red schnozz

Brown Pelican flying about twenty feet over our heads

that beautiful Little Blue Heron

a Tricolored Heron and his pal the Roseate Spoonbill

a side-by-side comparison of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs

Cute little Pied-billed Grebe

this Northern Harrier was our constant companion, flying over the area the entire time we were there and then landing for a few seconds on this native grass stem (which I figured would collapse under his weight, but it didn't)

Tim said these were Mottled Ducks; I would've passed them off as lady Mallards myself. Speaking of Mallards, there was a hybrid Mallard that Tim pointed out who was much bigger than a normal Mallard and who was missing that white ring separating the green of his head from his chestnut-colored breast. I didn't get a picture, though, dangit! No telling what this big guy's mom/dad cross-bred with; a goose?

The spoonbill returns!

a drinking Willet whose little not-quite-shut eye is cute to me

UPDATE!This isn't a Dunlin, say Laura and John; it's a dowitcher. Now--Long-billed or Short-billed?
I suppose my uncertainty stemmed from the awfully long bill on this guy. However, bill length isn't a reliable indicator of which dowitcher we have, according to Roger Tory Peterson! (Huh?) He states in his Field Guide to the Birds of Texas and Surrounding States (1988), "Bill measurements of the two overlap, but extreme long-billed birds of this species are easily recognized...." That white eyebrow is also distinctive.

I'd say this guy's bill is pretty long; Peterson states that a 3-inch bill qualifies as a Long-billed's bill, so I'm going with Long-billed Dowitcher here. Further, RTP states that the breasts of the Short-billed are more spotted than the more solid-colored or barred Long-billed's. This fellow's breast looks more like a solid darker area than spotty. What do you think?

This shorebird business is tough; Tim did give us a great tip about spotting Spotted Sandpipers: he said they always bob up and down when they walk. He said they're the only sandpiper that does that, though my field guide says that both the Spotted and the Common (which the Spotted in winter plumage resembles) "nod and teeter constantly." Of course, the Common Sandpiper is NOT common here at all! It's one of those Eurasian species that's seen only up in Bering Strait and places like the Pribiloffs.

Well, that was our rapid but rewarding trip to the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center. We meant to go back there, but we just ran out of time. I already listed the birds we saw there -- UPDATE: though now I have to amend my list! Off comes the Dunlin and on goes the Long-billed Dowitcher in a shaky but educational ID process. One thing's for certain: I'm glad the Willet is so much huger than the other shorebirds. He was pretty easy! I also learned that "snipe" is a reference to that distinctive headshape that our boy up above has: that long bill extending from his head, almost like a Woodcock's head does. It's funny-looking but cute, in my opinion.

I wish we'd stayed longer, but the wind was howling and we decided to go inland for a while. Tomorrow, I'll show you birds from our trip to Estero Llano Grande State Park. For now...

gotta fly!

Small selection of Day 1 RGV birds

Day 1 and we're exhausted. Here's just a hint of all we saw today:

Great Egret with a too-big fish that he would end up dropping

White Ibis

Reddish Egret

Little Blue Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

And that was just a hint, and just day 1--more soon! Today we did the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center and then the Estero Llano World Birding Center.
TOTALS:
25 lifers
73 species
My lifers-in-one-day total might be beaten! My first trip to Cape May, I got 31 lifers in two days; I'm going to say that this day was my biggest day ever!

Tomorrow, it's the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge and the Arroyo Colorado Birding Center. It'll probably be Monday or Tuesday before I get up all the pics and the full list, so stick with me, and wish me luck tomorrow. Still hoping to see Green Jay, Green Kingfisher, Altamira Oriole, and more.

THIS POST WAS UPDATED.
Oh my gosh, we're down here on South Padre Island, and it's FREEZING! And WINDY! But we've made one birding stop so far: the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, a beautiful facility with a long boardwalk with viewing platforms and both fresh and saltwater marshy areas and mudflats.

We saw 34 species, thanks to our intrepid guide Tim Bradshaw.
Mallard--including a hybrid who was HUGE--Tim said he'd probably been parented by a Mallard and a domestic duck.

Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Redhead (in rafts of like 150 birds!)
Pied-billed Grebe
Brown Pelican
White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tri-colored Heron--LIFER!
Reddish Egret--LIFER!
White Ibis--LIFER!
Roseate Spoonbill--LIFER!
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Common Moorhen--LIFER!
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover--LIFER!
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper--LIFER!
Willet--LIFER!
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher--LIFER!
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern--LIFER!
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
some kind of pale-colored sparrow--didn't get a good look!

WHEW! Sitting in a coffee shop now, getting ready to leave the Island to go inland where it's warmer and less windy. The sun is out, the beach is beautiful, and my lifelist is growing faster than a little fledgling in the spring!

Pictures coming up tonight!

Geeked up!

I'm so geeked up and ready to go to the Valley that I can hardly stand it. I feel like Peter Petrelli from season one of Heroes, glowing and about to explode -- the excitement of a roadtrip, new birds, going to my old hometown of Harlingen and my old favorite hangout of South Padre Island, and spending some quality time with ol' Mary, my little sister-pal! It's just almost too much! Almost!

I was just on Mel's Peruvian wonderblog and marvelling at all the amazing southern hemisphere birds she's seeing lately, and I was surprised to find some of the RGV "specialty birds" on her list -- I guess the tip of Texas is the northernmost part of their range. That just got me even more excited to get down there and start looking for birds.

Here's a list of some of the birds I'm hoping to see down there, all of which would be lifers and some of which are only on the USA birdlists because of their presence in the southernmost tip of Texas:

Altamira Oriole, Bolsero Campero, I. gularis

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Pijije, Dendrocyna autumnalis

Black-throated Sparrow, Chiero Gorjinegro, Amphispiza bilineata

Bronzed Cowbird, Tordo Ojirrojo, Molothrus aeneus

Brown-crested Flycatcher, Copetòn Tiranillo, M. tyrannulus

Clapper Rail, Rascòn Picudo, Rallus longirostris

Common Ground-Dove, Tortolita Comùn, C. passerine

Common Moorhen, Gallareta Comùn, Gallinula chloropus

Common Pauraque, Pachacua Pucuya, Nyctidromus albicollis

Couch's Kingbird, Tirano Mexicano, T. couchii

Dunlin, Playerito Lomo Rojo, C. alpine

Great Kiskadee, Luis Bienteveo, Pitangus sulphuratus

Green Jay, Chara Verde, Cyanocorax yncas

Groove-billed Ani, Garrapatero Pijuy, Crotophaga sulcirostris

Harris's Hawk, Aguililla Cinchada, Parabuteo unicinctus

Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Carpinterillo Mexicano, Picoides scalaris

Lark Sparrow, Garriòn Arlequìn, Chondestes grammacus

Lesser Scaup, Pato Bola, A. affinis

Lesser Yellowlegs, Tinguìs Menor, T. flavipes

Lincoln's Sparrow, Gorriòn de Lincoln, M. lincolnii

Marbled Godwit, Agachona Real, L. fedoa

Mottled Duck, Pato Tejano, A. fulvigula

Nashville Warbler, Chipe Gorrigrìs, V. ruficapilla

Olive Sparrow, Gorriòn Olivàceo, Arremonops rufivirgatus

Red Knot, Playero Conuto, Calidris canutus

Reddish Egret, Garza Melenuda, E. rufescens

Ruddy Turnstone, Chorlete Comùn, Arenaria interpres

Sandwich Tern, Charràn de Sandwich, S. sandvicensis

Tennessee Warbler, Chipe Peregrino, V. peregrine

Tricolored Heron, Garza Flaca, E. tricolor

White-tipped Dove, Paloma Perdiz, Leptotila verreauxi

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Cuclillo Piquiamarillo, C. americanus
It's a pretty amazing list, and these are only the birds that are supposed to be abundant or common down there; I didn't even include anything that was supposed to be uncommon or rare or accidental! You'll note that the list has the common English name, the Spanish name, and then the usual Latin genus and species. This has been a real advantage when Birding Mommy starts talking to me about birds she loved as a child--she only knows the Spanish names, which aren't exactly easy to match up with the English names I know.

Still, there are some bird names she's used that I haven't been able to find the English translation for. Does anyone know what a "calandria" is? (spelling is my approximation based on her pronunciation) I was so happy to find out, for instance, that a gorrion is mostly like a sparrow and a galandrina is probably a swallow, though that isn't always true on that list.

One Spanish name that I really like is that of the Western Wood-Pewee: Tengofrìo Occidental, which, loosely translated, means "I'm cold in the West!" Hee hee!

Anyway, the birds above are probables for the trip, which means my lifelist could grow by at least 32 birds! There are other South Texas specialties I might see; it just will be a little harder to find them at this time of the year. I was really hoping to see a Verdin, a Roseate Spoonbill, a Vermillion Flycatcher, a Pyrrhuloxia, an Aplomado Falcon, and an Anhinga -- but they're all "uncommon" according to this list I found online. They also list Sandhill Cranes as uncommon, which is a real disappointment. I really want to see one!

We were going to camp out when we were down there, but we've ended up booking rooms at (where else?) Motel 6. I almost always stay at Motel 6 wherever I go, because you always know what you're going to get--a clean room, nothing fancy, cheap rates--no matter where you are. So we're staying on the Island Friday and Saturday nights, and we'll come back sometime Sunday afternoon or evening.

It's been ten years since I was in the Valley; I wonder if it's changed at all. It never used to seem to change when I would go down there from college or when I lived in Austin and Fort Worth. Should be interesting!

Finally, I go birding!

Great-tailed Grackles are EVERYWHERE here.

The weather finally cooperated with Birding Mommy and me today, and thanks to having the day off for Dr. King, we were able to go birding in Macallister Park. I've seen some good birds there before; it's where I saw my first Lesser Goldfinch, so in a pinch (for time) we went there before running some other errands.

There was still some leftover mist and drizzle blowing around, but it stopped soon after we arrived. We've had major flooding here in the last few days, and the evidence is clear in these low-lying water collection areas:At the bases of many trees, we saw these little fort-like collections of debris, wood, and trash (in this case a Coke bottle and a car tire). We had between 1.5 and 5.5 inches of rain the other da, and all that water just rushed over the little creek beds that lay dry and dormant for most of the year. One observation: That would be a perfect little wall to crouch behind, were there snow on the ground, for snowball fights!

Little danger of snow here, however. We wandered around the place for a little while, and we saw a lot of great little birds--though we were there kinda late (9:30ish). Here are a few photos of a beautiful Golden-fronted Woodpecker, a Texas specialty:

Backlighting was rough and she was rather fidgety, but I was thrilled to finally get a good long look through the binocs at this beautiful little lady (I'm guessing it's a lady because the males have a red cap, but it might well be a male still wearing fall color). When I saw my life one back in February, it was just a very quick glimpse--just enough for the ID. We watched this girl for a little while. She made a loud checking sound that I thought at first was a squirrel barking, but it turned out to be this bird--a nice surprise!

We also saw this flycatcher, which I think is an Eastern Phoebe--but then I'm terrible with flycatchers--who wouldn't cooperate and come closer OR turn around:

Once I got home with the field guides, I kept trying to make it into something cool like a Texas rarity (Ash-throated Flycatcher, etc.) but I think it's just a fall-yellow-splash-bellied Eastern Phoebe. He was very quiet, so there was no tell-tale song. Note the possessed-laser-beam-o'-death eye in the second pic. Eek.

Next, we headed into a more heavily wooded area. At first I was ready to give it up as a bad job, as we heard very few bird sounds. Then, I heard a little Carolina Wren tea-kettling, so we stopped and I began to pish in earnest: That was when the inundation began! We had a pair of Northern Cardinals, several Carolina Wrens, a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a pair of these personal favorites: A nice little White-throated Sparrow, something I hadn't seen since leaving Pennsylvania.

And this teeny tiny little wren, which I think is a either a House Wren or a Winter Wren, based on the coloring, the eye stripe, and the tiny tiny size:
When you zoom in on his little face, you can definitely see a whitish stripe over his eye and some barring on his flanks (Winter Wren) but Peterson distinctly states that the Winter Wren is darker than the House Wren, and this little guy was rather light brown. Carolina Wrens are easy to ID with their rusty coloring and white eye-stripe; Bewick's Wrens are very pugnacious and their tails bob up and down more than the other wrens--not to mention the rather distinct songs of each wren. But this little guy... he was just so tiny, like a Ruby-crowned Kinglet; House Wrens are bigger. But now that I listen to the calls one after the other here at home (can you believe I forgot my phone with the BirdJam? groan...!), I'm thinking it was a plain old House Wren. Do you agree? Winter Wrens can be found down in these parts, but other than that eye-stripe, I just don't see it. Dangit.

Let me tell you, wrens go car-ay-zee when you pish them! I just started pishing, and very quickly I had Bewick's Wrens bobbing their tails at me, Carolina Wrens tea-kettling at me, and these sweet little House/Winter? Wrens very interested in who or what was making that noise, and Birding Mommy and I were just surrounded by spastic little birds all a-twitter with excitement. It made my day, my week, my month!

We saw a few other cool sights:


A dash of color on a drab day:

Some neat little moss or lichen:
Also an opportunity to read my palm.

I like this little buck's facial expression:
I'm getting so geeked up about the RGV birding trip at the end of the month. Mary's on a cruise with her husband right now, so there's no one to spend hours on the phone with, psychotically anal-retentive planning and discussing and re-discussing every second of the trip, dangit! But she'll be home soon, and before I know it it'll be time to go. I'm studying my RGV specialty bird list every night before bed, but what I'd really love is to just see some Sandhill Cranes.

Breeding plumage already!?

Saw a Northern Cardinal today, resplendent in his beautiful red breeding suit! No dull winter garb for this boy. At the same time he was chipping and posing and dancing among the branches of a little oak near the door at work, another male was singing his "purdy purdy purdy" song not a hundred yards away. Is it that time again already?




Oh please let it be spring migration time! pleeeeeeeeeeease!