Ilya Povalyaev and I went down to Texas for the first time in our lives this past April from April 7-23rd. We had been planning this trip
for over a year and talked to many of our friends such as Paul Prappas,
Jon Corcoran, Russell Cannings, Brian Stech and Chris Charlesworth who
helped give us invaluable tips on where to visit. We also bought both Texas
ABA Guides (A Birder's Guide to the TX Coast and Rio Grande Valley) and
found them to be an absolute Godsend and still mostly accurate despite
being written in 2006 and 2008 .
We
flew into San Antonio and went straight to visit the Monk Parakeet
roost. They were nesting with their big stick nests on transmission line
towers. It was neat watching them carry and add nesting material to an
already huge nest. In the evening, we had a nice meal on San Antonio's
River Walk. We watched motorized gondolas go by along the river canals
and tried to turn every Mallard into a Mexican one.
After
that we took the highway out of town towards Eagle Lake, as we were
going to the Attwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) the next day. We
made several exit stops off the Hwy that proved successful, including
finding a large colony of Cave Swallows under an underpass,
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks sitting on poles, Carolina Chickadees and
then seeing gorgeous Scissor-tailed Flycatchers on every wire!
The next morning we went to view Attwater's Greater Prairie-Chickens on
the Lek. We were so excited because this is only open twice a year for
two days, to the public since they are so seriously endangered. We
bumped into another friend and birder from Nakusp Gary Davidson here
what a small world.
We watched 4 Prairie-Chickens on the Lek (1 female and 3 Males). It was
fantastic to watch the Prairie Chickens display with their orange sags
and ears up like a rabbit. Ilya and I had never seen it before or a
Prairie Chicken of any kind so it was incredibly special. It was a
priviledge to see them since they are so critically endangered. The Park
Ranger told us that last year there was 128 living birds in the refuge
but this year due mostly to fire ants (killing chicks) and habitat loss,
they are now down to 39 birds! They still have about 100 birds in a
captive breeding program, where hopefully they can regenerate the
population. At
this location we found one Burrowing Owl, several Eastern Meadowlarks
and Upland Sandpipers, an Anhinga and a White-tailed Kite.
After
lunch, we drove towards Houston and to the WG Jones State Forest. This
area is called Piney Woods. There we picked up Brown-headed Nuthatch,
Eastern Bluebird, Tufted Titmouse, White-eyed Vireo, Red-headed
Woodpecker,Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Pine Warbler and Cedar
Waxwings among other goodies. However, the reason we went there was for
the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and we nabbed two after a 2 hour wait. Like
the Prairie Chicken they are also endangered in TX.
After
leaving Conroe, we then headed to Big Thicket NWR (near Kountze) and on
the Kirby Nature Trail we picked up some good birds. We nabbed the only
Swainson's Warbler of our trip
here. It was a lifer for us both, a male singing in the open in front
of us. They truly are a unique warbler. We also got Great Crested
Flycatcher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hooded Warbler, Blue Jay,
Yellow-throated Vireo, Prothonotary Warbler, Black Vulture, Eastern
Kingbird, Broad Winged Hawk, Northern Parula and Red-bellied
Woodpecker.
Later
that evening we went owling at night along Gore Store Rd and found an
Eastern Screech-Owl, a Barred Owl, Great-horned Owl and many
Chuck-will's-widows calling. We tried for Prairie Warbler as well along
Gore Store Rd but we were too early as none were back yet.
The next day we were in Boykin Springs (near Jasper) for Bachman's
Sparrow. We got a clear look at one after hearing 3 sing but it sure
took a lot of time and patience. They were all singing but singing low
to the ground and in dense shrub. They are notoriously skulky and
unfortunately rapidly declining in Texas,
so it was special to see this large sparrow. Here again we were lucky
to see 3 Red-cocaked Woodpeckers as well. The trees were full of
Brown-headed nuthatches and Pine Warblers as well.
After
this, we drove to Martin Dies Jr. State Park where we got our main
target Yellow-throated Warbler as Ilya picked up the bird singing in the
distance. We found the bird and lloved watching it climb down a tree
like a White-breasted Nuthatch. We also saw more Prothonotary Warblers,
Pine Warblers, Northern Parulas, Hooded Warblers, Wood Thrush, Summer
Tanagers and Broad-winged Hawks. The mosquitoes were bad in the swamps,
no matter how much Deet we put on.
After overnighting in San Antonio we headed towards Texas
Hill Country via Uvalde. We ended up in Bracketville and got some good
birds at Fort Clark Springs and Kikapoo Caverns State Park. Our main
targets for the Hill Country were 2 endangered birds: Black-capped Vireo
and Golden-cheeked Warbler. We did end up getting them but more on that
later.
In
Fort Clark Springs and on the country roads and ranches of
Bracketville, we got Gray Vireo. That was super cool as they are quite
uncommon and one sang on a open perch right in front of us giving us
incredible views. We only found 2 during our whole trip.
We also had several other birds: Bell's Vireo, Chimney Swift, Lesser
Goldfinch (the black back form), Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Northern
Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Greater Roadrunner, Vermillion Flycatcher, Blue
Grosbeak, Long-billed Thrasher, Cactus Wren,Orange-crowned Warbler,
Red-shouldered, Cooper's, Swainson's, Red-tailed and Harris's Hawks. We
also added Olive Sparrow, saw breeding bright-billed Black-bellied
Whistling-Ducks, Couch's Kingbird, Great Kiskadee, Cassin's Sparrow,
Black-crested Titmouse, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Orchard, Scott's and
Hooded Orioles, Northern Bobwhite, Northern Harriers, Brown-Crested
Flycatcher, a couple of stunning male Varied Buntings, Black-throated
Sparrow, Field, Lincoln's,
Lark, Rufous and White-crowned and Clay-coloured Sparrows, Common
Ground-Doves, Wild Turkeys, White-winged Doves, Canyon Wren, Canyon
Towhee, Verdin, Black Phoebe and Mississippi Kites here as well.
We
headed next to Kickapoo Caverns State Park in search of the
Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo and we just loved the
place. We ended up getting several Black-capped Vireos but only two
popped up for good but the briefest views. Some guy there described them
as "popping popcorn" and that's a good analogy. To me that is the best
looking Vireo I have ever seen and it still boggles my mind that one
made it to BC once!
Our time with the
Golden-cheeked Warbler was quite special, as he sang from a juniper in
the open. We heard his song and then sat down on a dry river bed to
watch him. It meant a lot to see this endangered bird singing his song
and staking out his territory with his mate, so that he continues to add
to that population. He is one of the most beautiful Warblers I've seen.
It looks kind of like a mix between a Townsend's and Black-throated
Green. We also saw a early Olive-sided Flycatcher here which was
unusual.
After
a beautiful 5 mile hike at Kikapoo through purple flowers, flowering
cactus and juniper, we returned to the parking area and had more good
birds, including a White-throated Sparrow, Vermillion Flycatcher,
Black-throated Sparrow, White-eyed and Bell's Vireo, Ash-throated
Flycatcher, Northern Mockingbirds, Great tailed Grackles, Blue
Grosbeaks, Lesser
Goldfinch, Crested Caracaras, Yellow-headed Blackbirds and more. We did
not find any of the nesting Zone-tailed Hawks in the area though but on
our Casita where we stayed there was nesting Cave Swallows allowing us
up close views of the parents and young. The bad news is that we looked
on our clothes and we were both covered in ticks! Our worse nightmare,
since they were small Deer Ticks (the ones that can carry Lyme Disease).
We were shocked since we stayed on the main trails that had short grass
and sprayed down our bodies, shoes, pants and shirts with 30% DEET but
it seemed to have attracted them instead. I had them up to my chest and
Ilya to his waist. Maybe if we didn't spray we would have been bitten
and covered more. Many people warned us that it was a bad tick year...so
we took them all off and got a seat at the Stuart bat cave. Later that
night we found out that I had 3 that had actually bitten me and embedded
in the skin and he had 2. Not fun but they were not in long enough to
transmit any Lyme disease.
Texas
has the most bats of any state and as I said we went to Stuart Bat
Cave, which is located in Kickapoo State Park. At 8pm, millions of
Mexican free-tailed bats began to come out from the cave to feed. Since
the cave is many kms long, it takes over 2 hours for all the bats to
exit. Most of these insect eating, winged mammals exit during darkness
and use echolocation but the beginning ones who exit in light use sight
only. In the big bat swarms some get knocked to the ground. The ranger
picks them up, let's a few people pet a few and then helps them on his
way. They can't stay on the ground long or a hawk, snake or raccoon will
get them. During the flight a few Cooper's hawks grabbed some bats.
This cave also had a massive Cave Swallow colony in it and before it was
dark we saw them going into roost in their nests in a large flock which
was also pretty cool to see. I made a video of the bats it was such an
incredible sight. You can watch the video below:
:
The sounds of the bat swarm and the spectacle is one of the most
incredible things I have ever seen. There are many of these caves
through Texas and some hold up to 20 million bats. I highly recommend a visit to one.
When it was dark and
we could no longer see the bats but feel them brush and hit us and the
loud noise of the swarm, we also heard Common Poorwills calling and just
before it went completely black we saw some porcupines emerging from
the cave. The smell was rather pungent from the cave but you forget it
quickly during the spectacle.
Texas Hill Country was one of my favourite places in Texas.
I loved the pretty landscape and the variety of desert birds. We
didn't have time unfortunate to go to Big Bend but I can imagine it's a
pretty place like Hill Country.
The
next day after spending the night in Eagle Pass we were now on route
for Laredo. When we got to the Las Palmas Trail we quickly found
Black-chinned Hummingbirds and our target White-collared Seedeaters. No
luck here on the 3 Kingfishers (we got them later). But we did find a
Neotropic Cormorant, Great Kiskadees and Rough-winged and Bank
Swallows. We also saw a massive Cliff Swallow colony nesting on the side
of the international bridge connecting Laredo to Mexico. We also got to
wave at people only a few feet away across the river fishing in Nuevo
Laredo, Mexico.
As we were leaving we were surrounded by police and border control who came for our "abandoned car". Apparently
we were in a "no parking area" (but the officers admitted there was no
sign and we were out of towners that couldn't know). We were prepared to
meet border control here as the ABA guide warned us and so did our
friend Brian. They were very nice when we explained the situation and
they let us go. Border Control was especially amused about the Seedeater
trek we made.
We next headed to Salineno however the valley
bird centre gates were bolted and locked shut and the trail along the
river was closed by US Fish and Wildlife, so we left and had no
Audubon's Oriole either (luckily we would find it elsewhere). Here we
picked up Bronzed Cowbird as we were searching for Muscovy Duck and
Red-billed Pigeon. Sadly no sign of the Ringed or Green Kingfishers yet
again. We then went to Falcon State Park and dipped on
everything except Tropical and Western Kingbird and Bullock's Oriole We
were told by others to avoid it on Weekends but didnt heed the warning.
It was Easter and music was blaring and people were celebrating, which
was great but not conducive to birding. We left and did not go to Falcon
Starr park where we later found out the Red-billed Pigeons had been
seen recently because unfortunately, we found out about it too late when
we were in Brownsville and had no time to go back. It was frustrating
to know we drove right by there when they were present though.
After
Falcon State Park we went to Roma Bluffs hoping for Red-billed Pigeon
but the best we could do was watch a Spotted Sandpiper flee to the US
from Mexico during the big, loud festive celebrations at the Easter
fair across the river. Although this again was not conducive to birding
it was neat watching the Mexicans celebrate Easter across the river.
Many Americans watched from the bluffs and Border Control with their
dogs sat uneasy on the other side. We all got uneasy when two young
teens swam right over from Mexico into the US water. Luckily we watched
them swim safely back across to their parents.
Next
we were off to McAllen to the evening Green Parakeet Roost which is
located in a strip mall with water fountains that they bathe in. The
beautiful loud Parakeets came in nuzzled and groomed one another while
making tons of noise, as parakeets do. We saw about 100 come into bathe and roost for the night.
The
next day we were up early for Bentsen-Rio State Park where we were a
little dissapointed by the lack of birds but were happy to see
Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Ruby-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds,
Green Jay, Plain Chacalaca, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed
Woodpeckers and Curve-billed and Long-billed Thrashers. We dipped
unfortunately on Hook-billed Kite there. We did find Common Parauques,
Common Nighthawks, and Chuck-will's-widows here and at night a tiny
nesting Elf Owl that comes out of the telephone pole when it gets dark.
Our
next stop was at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. We loved it here.
As soon as we stepped out of the car we heard the gorgeous song of the
Clay-colored Thrush. We also picked up Mexican Mallards, Least
Grebe,Redhead, Green and Blue-winged Teals, White Ibis and White-faced
Ibis, Altamira Orioles (including two of these beautiful birds nesting
in the same tree as a Great Kiskadee!). We also had American Redstart,
Nashville Warbler and got Gull-billed Tern, Tri-coloured Heron,
White-tipped and Inca Dove, Stilt and Solitary and Spotted Sandpiper,
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Neotropic Cormorant and a Belted
Kingfisher. The Belted Kingfisher is supposed to be the rarest
Kingfisher to find during this time of year but we found him the
easiest. The other two sure gave us great difficulty as we still could
not find them.
We
did the famous hawk watch here but only came up with Harris', Vultures
(Black and Turkey), Swainson's and Broad Winged Hawks and a Kestrel. We
tried a few days here for the Hook-billed Kites and people saw them the
day before and after us but unfortunately no luck. This was a big
disappointment as it was a main target for us but you can't see them
all, nor could we complain with all we saw.
We
next went to Estero LLano Grande State Park where we found a Eastern
Screech-Owl sunning himself in a tree cavity where they were nesting. In
the same tree below him was a nesting Golden-fronted Woodpecker and to
the left of them hanging from the tree was an active nest of a Northern
Beardless-Tyrannulet! I've never seen such a different mixed nesting
combination. I was hoping to see some Alligators here and the Paraques
but no luck as the Paraques had left their famous roost spots to go deep
into the forest to breed and no Alligator was to be found! Thankfully
we got Paraques at Bentsen! We ended up getting Red-crowned Parrot here
as well with a very accommodating individual posing for us, as he fed.
He was brilliant and was a bird we chased unsuccessfully a few years ago
in Southern California. We enjoyed photographing him.
Since
we dipped yet again on the Green and Ringed Kingfishers we set out to
Progresso Lakes where we finally caught up with not one but 2 tiny Green
Kingfishers. The male and female were hunting food and were very fun to
watch as these tiny birds with their insect like calls plunged head
first into the water for fish.
The
next morning we were in Brownsville and headed to the Palo Alto
Battlefields where we picked up a White-tailed Hawk, Bobwhites and
Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows! Both of these birds were singing from
conspicuous perches! Usually the Botteri's are much harder to see but we
had 2 males posing for each of us for amazing photos. We ended up
seeing more of these Sparrows later in our trip, little did we know at the time.
Next,
we went to the centre of Brownsville and we found Red-crowned Parrots
nesting in Palm Trees. Unfortunately, some cavities were taken over by
Starlings in front of our eyes, despite frantic attempts by the adult
Parrots. A Least Tern flew fast over our heads here right before we
left.
We
then headed to Sabal Palm Sanctuary. Here we FINALLY connected with a
bird we had been searching high and low for but kept dipping on: two beautiful large-billed Ringed Kingfishers.
We
also got to see a "heron tree." I call it that because on this lone
tree with 3 perches in the middle of the lake was one Great Egret, one
Green Heron and one Little Blue! We also saw at least 7 Least Grebes
here, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, White-tipped Dove,
Buff-bellied Hummers, several Olive Sparrows and a few Long-billed
Thrashers.
Later that afternoon we were on route for one of our biggest targets, the Aplamado Falcon in Port Isabel. The Old Port
Isabel Rd was impassable for our car after a heavy rain so we were we
happy we picked up Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows earlier in the day at
Palo Alto. Most people get those sparrows along the Old Port Isabel Rd.
On Hwy 100 directly across from a blue shed we spotted an Aplamado
Falcon perched on a transmission line. He was stunning and gave great
views with the scope. We were so thrilled with him but were even more
thrilled when I spotted another female on the nest! Their nests are made
out of prickly pear cactus and other things, I didn't think it looked
too comfortable but they seemed to like it. It was really special to see
this bird that was wiped out by DDT in the US and now successfully
breeding here once again. A real success story and so cool to see them,
as you can't find them reliably anywhere else in the ABA. Lots of other
hawks were here as well including Swainson's, Harris's and White-tailed
Hawk. Also, other birds like Chihuahuan Raven and Crested Caracaras. We
never did find Groove-billed Ani during our stay as very few were back
yet.
After
this we went to South Padre Island and finally saw the beautiful ocean.
Here we went to the South Padre Island Birding Centre and saw Roseate
Spoonbills, Ruby-throated and more Buff-bellied Hummingbirds, Clapper
Rail, 100's of Dickcissels that migrated over the Gulf of Mexico, Indigo
Buntings and finally our first Painted Buntings of the trip.
They really are gorgeous birds. We also saw a brilliant and striking
American Oystercatcher. Little did we know he would be the only
Oystercatcher we saw during our trip,
which was unfortunate because we both really wanted to photograph him
but since he was right near an Alligator we thought better of it. This
was my first time ever seen an Alligator and here we were lucky to see
2. We also saw Royal Terns and lots of other shorebirds. A neat bird we
saw here was a tiny Least Bittern it was fun watching him climb up the
reeds and at one point a Common Gallinule chased him right up onto the
boardwalk!
After
this, we went to the South Padre Island Convention Centre and saw a few
migrating warblers and birds including a stunning Baltimore Oriole,
Northern Parula, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler,
Wilson's Warbler, Tropical Kingbird, Nashville and Tennessee Warbler,
Gray Catbird, Blue Grosbeaks and many Indigo and Painted Buntings. We
just missed a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Worm eating, Canada and Kentucky
Warbler unfortunately. We would later find the Kentucky.
One of the absolute highlights of the trip and I highly recommend it is a trip to King's Ranch. Here we had great views of all birds and picked up 1 Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, 1 Audubon's Oriole (During this trip
we saw all naturally occurring Orioles in the ABA), 1 Wilson's Plover
and 2 gorgeous Tropical Parulas and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Other good
birds here were many White-tailed Hawks, a male Barn Owl, a gorgeous
male breeding Dickcissel, Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows, Northern
Beardless-Tyrannulet, dozens of Grasshopper Sparrows, Greater
Roadrunners, Upland Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalaropes, Whimbrel, Willet,
Long-billed Curlew and other shorebirds.
The only target bird we dipped on was Sprague's Pipit, which was seen
on the tour the day before us. However, we can't complain with the day
we had.
We
spent the rest of the evening in Corpus Christi and went to Blucher
Park and found a beautiful "rufous form " Chuck-will's-widow perched on a
limb looking at us. This was our first visual of the species ever for
both of us. Of course we left our cameras in the car. They look so
interesting with their big blocky heads and a much larger body size than
a Common Nighthawk. We were hoping to find a roosting Eastern Whip-poor
will here as others had the days before but we could not. However we
did find a handsome male Kentucky Warbler (which we had missed in South
Padre Island) and a Wood Thrush. Huge flocks of migrating Franklin's
Gulls flew overhead calling which helped to tell them apart from the
Laughing Gulls.
Later that evening we went to the wetlands between the Naval Base and Texas
A&M University, where we had up close views of a dancing Reddish
Egret (our favourite Egret because we love how they dance when they
hunt) and picked up Forster's Terns.
We
were planning to hear straight up from here to Galveston but got wind
of a Sooty Tern and decided to spend the night in Rockport and try for
it in the morning.
The
next morning we were in Rockport Beach Park where we were surprised to
see only 2 other birders for such a rarity. We found the gorgeous Sooty
Tern (who looked like a mini fighter jet) in a field filled with wild
flowers and mating Laughing Gulls against the ocean. You couldn't have
asked for a more beautiful backdrop if you tried. He was nice and close
up for photography which was nice. Here we also picked up Sandwich Tern and Brown Pelicans and got close to loafing but fascinating Black Skimmers.
We
next went to Shellridge Rd in Rockport to look at the wetlands there
and found a few Least Terns up close sitting on the ground and a White
morph Reddish Egret dancing in his spectacular way. We also saw Wilson's
and Semipalmated Plovers and a surprise Buff-bellied Sandpiper.
We
were en route now to Galveston via Lafitte's Cove. On the way there, we
picked up Osprey and Boat-tailed Grackle. A good way to tell the
grackles apart is the male Boat-tailed on the Gulf have brown eyes while
the Great-taileds have yellow ones. At the Cove there was no fallout
just like everywhere else we visited but here we got a beautiful male
Scarlet Tanager, Blackpoll Warbler and dodged a few big venomous
Cottonmouth snakes. One 4ft long thick Water Moccasin crossed right in
front of us very slowly. A few of the snakes ate a few tired warblers at
the drips, unfortunately as well. We also picked up our first Fulvous
Whistling-Duck of the trip
and saw more Nutria which were a common sight at many of the wetlands
we visited. We took the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and on this
ferry passengers are allowed to feed the Gulls and we took flight shots
of the Laughing Gulls soaring over our heads. We also got other Gulls
such as Herring and other birds on this short trip which nice as well.
We
went next to Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary and were amazed by the bird
diversity! There was lots of washed up trash on the flats though sadly.
We picked up two more Texas
rarities here: a Great Black-backed Gull and a Long-tailed Duck. We
also saw cute little Piping Plovers (some were banded, which I later
found out from researchers were banded on the Great Plains). Other good
birds we saw were Lesser Black-backed Gull, Horned Larks, Wilson's and Semi-palmated Plovers, breeding
Red Knots, a Black Tern, many Royal, Common, Caspian, Least and
Sandwich Terns. It was fun to watch the Sandwich Terns doing their
famous mating dance. American Avocets, Roseate Spoonbills and American
White and Brown Pelicans were also present. We also saw Ruddy Turnstones
and Sanderling in breeding and had 6 Hudsonian Godwits fly over our
head which was cool as it's not an easy bird in TX. It was truly a
fantastic place, all of the shorebirds were in nice and close for photos
as well. We also picked up our first Yellow-crowned Night-Heron of the trip,
who was hunting in the sand dunes where supposedly the poisonous snakes
were. A Merlin zoomed right over our heads and flushed all the
shorebirds before we left.
We
stopped in at Rollover Pass hoping for a Snowy Plover that we couldn't
turn up at Bolivar and saw much of the same birds and no Snowy but
preferred Bolivar Flats location wise, as you could get closer to the
birds.
We
then carried on en route to High Island and Anuahac NWR. At High Island
we birded at Boy Scout Woods. The birding was extremely slow but we
picked up a staked out beautiful male Cape May Warbler and also found a
few Common Grackles and Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes.
At Anahuac NWR we drove Shoveler Loop and found a few lifers: a rare Glossy Ibis, King Rail with chicks, Clapper Rail, Soras, Snowy, nesting Cattle and Great Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron and
amazingly colourful Purple Gallinules. We also saw more Alligators and
another Least Bittern . At Yellow Prairie we had some nice views of
Sedge and Marsh Wrens. Here we also saw at least ten Seaside
Sparrows. They flew right at us at the side of the road giving us
incredible views. However when we lifted our lenses to shoot them, they
vanished into thin air. We also got 2 Hudsonian Godwits feeding along
with 2 White-rumped Sandpipers in the rice fields as we left which was a
treat. We went back to Yellow Rail Prairie at night and successfully
got Black Rail! We could not believe our luck! We never did hear a
Yellow Rail here.
Smith
Oaks Bird Sanctuary and Rookery was next and it was a great place to
photograph nesting Neotropic Cormorants, Roseate Spoonbills, Great,
Snowy and Cattle Egrets with their chicks and Alligators who were on
land hoping for a tasty meal of a baby bird. A few Alligators ate some
clumsy Neotropic Cormorant Chicks the sounds of the young and parents
and to see it was pretty awful but it is nature and the Alligator must
survive too. We also found a Prothonotary Warbler and Yellow-billed
Cuckoo here as well.
The
next day we tried Tyrell Park and Taylor's Bayou for Fish Crow. At both
places we dipped but later ended up finding 2 birds in Winnie thanks to
Chris Charlesworth who was in town who let us know. We went on to
Sabine Woods and looked at Louisiana for the first time across the river
as we drove in but only added Veery to our trip
list at this location and migration was painfully slow here. I stepped
in a fire ant nest and was in massive pain and Ilya also picked up
chiggers on this trip. Between us the only bugs that didn't get us this trip were Africanized Bees!
On
the way back to the airport we searched along the Trinity River between
Liberty and Dayton where Swallow-tailed Kites are known to hang out but
came up empty. The final birds we saw in Texas
were beautiful Roseate Spoonbills flying over the Trinity River coming
into roost just as the sun was setting. It was a nice way to cap off our
trip.
Overall, I felt Texas
held an amazing diversity of birds and incredible shorebirds, it was
not my favourite place though and I prefer Arizona for many reasons,
including the more picturesque landscape. However, there are few, if no
places that you can add so many ABA birds to your list. Out of all the
places we visited in TX, my favourites were Kikapoo Caverns State Park
with Stuart Bat Cave, Santa Ana NWR, Rockport Beach Park, South Padre
Island Birding Centre and Convention Centre and Bolivar Flats Bird
Sanctuary.
I feel that every birder should go to Texas once in their lives to experience the large species diversity and to get those beautiful and unique Rio Grande Valley specialties that they can't get anywhere else in the ABA.
Our total species list for this trip was 272 and I gained 86 lifers and Ilya gained 65. On this trip
I passed 630 birds for the ABA and Ilya got 590 birds. Ilya's favourite
birds were the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Chuck-will's-widow, Swainson's
Warbler, Varied Bunting, Purple Gallinule, Gray Vireo, Wilson's Plover,
Black-capped Vireo, Black Rail and the Common Ground-Dove and mine were
the Ringed Kingfisher, Aplamado Falcon, Sooty Tern, Tropical Parula,
Golden-Cheeked Warbler, Attwater's Prairie Chicken, Audubon's Oriole,
Yellow-throated Warbler, Least Bittern and American Oystercatcher.
The photos attached
are of a Bell's Vireo, male Vermillion Flycatcher, Black-throated
Sparrow, Cactus Wren, Male Summer Tanager, White-winged Doves, Female
Hooded Oriole, Male Hooded Oriole, Male Scott's Oriole, Female Orchard
Oriole on a prickly pear Cactus, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, male Northern
Bobwhite, Plain Chacalaca, Yellow-breasted Chat, Northern Mockingbird on
Algerita Berry Tree, Female Pyrrhuloxia, male Common Ground-Dove and Black Vulture.
 |
| White Ibis at Anahuac - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Black Vulture in Kountze, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Bobwhite in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Black-throated Sparrow in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Cactus Wren in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Plain Chacalaca in Mission, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Yellow-breasted Chat in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Common Ground-Dove in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| White-winged Doves in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Female Hooded Oriole in Bracketville, TX - Photos: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Hooded Oriole in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Northern Mockingbird in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Female Orchard Oriole in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Scott's Oriole in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Female Pyrrhuloxia in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Bell's Vireo in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Rufous-crowned Sparrow in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Scott's Oriole after a bath in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Summer Tanager in Bracketville, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Vermillion Flycatcher in Uvalde, TX - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Male Green-winged Teal in Weslaco - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Black Skimmer in Rockport - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Neotropical Cormorant at Anahuac- Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| The Northern Mockingbird the State Bird of Texas - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
 |
| Vermillion Flycatcher in Bracketville - Photo: Melissa Hafting |
You can see some more photos I have posted so far from our trip HERE
Thanks for reading!
excellent trip report mel. i loved it and your beautiful photos. how cool it was for you. sad santa ana where you went is going to have a big ugly wall in it :( glad you had a great trip Mel.
ReplyDeletethank alvin other than the ticks it was nice LOL
Deleteyour photos from texas are top notch even if you didnt love all about it you must love those photos.
ReplyDelete