2009 Tour Narrative
In Brief: This year’s spring trip to South Texas was filled with a wonderful mix of specialties, migrants in coastal woodlots, cooperative flocks of shorebirds and terns, and excellent studies of several difficult species pairs. And there were a few surprises, too. Few would argue that birds such as Painted Bunting, Green Jay, or Altamira Oriole deserve top billing on any trip, but the antics of dust-bathing Plain Chachalacas, mating Eastern Willets, displaying White-tipped Doves, and nesting Gray Hawks should hardly take second place. A female Crimson-collared Grosbeak and two female Masked Ducks added a welcome Mexican flavor to the week, in which we tallied 239 species. The leader’s indelible memories will be of a flock of 40 Reddish Egrets (of both morphs) huddled out of the wind, a surprise flyby of a small flock of Hudsonian Godwits, the adult Gray Hawk in full view on a nest, or the Texas Tortoise trundling down the hawkwatch tower in Bentsen State Park.
In Detail: We started and ended this year in Corpus Christi, where the 2009 ABA Convention began immediately following our tour. Our first day started with a bang, as a lingering cold front along the coast had grounded a significant number of birds over the weekend, and many individuals remained in coastal migrant traps. Oso Bay and Mustang Island offered a dramatic picture of migration in action as dozens of swallows and Indigo Buntings streamed steadily overhead all morning. Also present was an impressive assemblage of wading birds, including standouts such as Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Roseate Spoonbill, and Reddish Egret. In the groves of trees we located dozens of brilliant orange Baltimore Orioles, as well as many of the smaller but equally colorful Orchard Orioles. Indigo Buntings were seemingly everywhere, and our first few stops along the coast tallied an impressive 13 species of warbler, including favorites such as Worm-eating, Blue-winged, and Blackburnian. Without much effort, we crossed the 100 species mark well before lunchtime! A nice marsh near Port Aransas held an active Least Bittern, a foraging King Rail, and great views of both breeding- and basic-plumaged Eared Grebes.
On the way south to McAllen, we lucked into Harris’s and White-tailed Hawks and a singing and very territorial Tropical Parula. Arriving in McAllen in the late afternoon, we enjoyed a short rest before visiting the flocks of Green Parakeets coming into roost near our restaurant. All in all it was an incredible introduction to this very bird-rich area.
We started the second day off at the famous Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. Here we were treated to an amazingly loud and lengthy Chachalaca chorus as well as a very nice fallout of migrants—and our first real taste of south Texas birding. New birds came thick and fast, with White-tipped and Inca Doves, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Olive Sparrow, and Black-crested Titmouse all vying for attention. We picked up several new migrants, including real gems such as Kentucky and Magnolia Warblers, Ovenbird and Northern Parula, and Philadelphia Vireo and Acadian Flycatcher. Also present was a lingering female Crimson-collared Grosbeak, a vagrant from Mexico.
After tearing ourselves away from Frontera, we made a few quick stops for such local specialties as Cave Swallow and Tropical Kingbird, then headed west towards Falcon Dam and Zapata. A brief stop along the Rio Grande allowed us to soak up our first views of the real border, as well as views of Green Jay and Long-billed Thrasher. On the way to the hotel we stopped in the grassy Chihuahuan Desert, where we reveled in close studies of Greater Roadrunner, Vermilion Flycatcher, Painted Bunting, and Clay-colored and Lark Sparrows. Our final stop of the day failed to provide the hoped-for White-collard Seedeater, but a male Black-chinned Hummingbird, an American Redstart, and a pair of Chihuahuan Ravens supplied ample compensation.
Our full day upriver was sunny and unseasonably warm, but the heat didn’t slow the birding down a bit. In the Rio Grande canbreaks at Laredo, we quickly connected with four singing male White-collared Seedeaters. Also seen along the river were Ringed and Green Kingfishers, a pair of very cooperative Olive Sparrows, and several Least Terns. After a siesta and an early dinner, we set forth for Salineno, on the Rio Grande just a few miles downstream from Falcon Dam. An enjoyable hour near dusk gave us repeated views of Red-billed Pigeon, scope views of singing Clay-colored Robin and Altamira Orioles, large flights of blackbirds and egrets heading to roost, and a nice migrating group of Mississippi Kites. Just as dusk fell, we enjoyed close studies of foraging Lesser Nighthawks patrolling the riverbanks and several Common Pauraques on the roadside.
A brilliant dawn greeted us on Day Four as we investigated the birdlife of the upland dry deserts around Falcon Lake. White-tailed Kite, Northern Bobwhite, Scaled Quail, Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, Verdin, Black-throated Sparrow, Curve-billed Thrasher, and Bullock’s Oriole all appeared in quick succession and gave excellent views. We were happy to observe both Verdins and Cactus Wrens engaged in nest building, and were also treated to fine views of sunning Greater Roadrunners. A quick trip to the Rio Grande netted a lucky flyby of five Muscovy Ducks.
On our way back down the valley towards Harlingen, a late afternoon stop at the new World Birding Center site in Weslaco provided excellent views of a nesting pair of Green Kingfishers, a roosting pair of Eastern Screech-Owls, and a nice assemblage of waterbirds. We also stopped at a couple of wet fields, and were thrilled to find numbers of Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, Upland and Pectoral Sandpipers, and several American Golden-Plovers.
Although the woodlots and boardwalks of South Padre Island were not awash with migrants on Day Five, there were more than enough birds to keep our interest, and our forays off the island were superlative. We started the day with a hovering White-tailed Kite along the roadside and a gorgeous female Aplomado Falcon on her nest, and ended it with a stroll along the marsh boardwalk of the South Padre Island Convention Center, where we enjoyed two Clapper Rails, nine Soras, and cooperative Least Bittern and Purple Gallinule. The middle of the day was not much slower, with several new migrants such as Scarlet Tanager, Gray-cheeked Thrush, and Blackpoll and Wilson’s Warblers vying with the impressive assortment of waders along the beaches of South Padre. Courting Sandwich and Royal Terns and Black Skimmers were a real treat, and several Common, Caspian, and Least Terns made for excellent tern diversity. Close studies of Short-billed Dowitcher, Marbled Godwit, and Piping Plover were obtained as we worked through some of their key identification features.
But what were likely the best birds of the day were off the island, as we very much enjoyed good views of a group of four Hudsonian Godwits in a coastal marsh, and were lucky to have lengthy views of the two staked-out female Masked Ducks in nearby Laguna Atascosa. Even on this “slow” day for migration, the sight of over 200 Dickcissels moving through a coastal field and groups of orioles feeding at close range formed a lasting image for this year’s participants.
An early start the next morning found us walking into Bensten State Park before dawn. On our short stroll we located a calling Elf Owl and heard several Parauques, a Chuck-will’s-widow, and several Common Nighthawks. After the sun began to appear, we walked farther into the park, where we were surprised by an extremely vocal and cooperative Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet and a pair of Groove-billed Anis. A workshop on the common bird songs of the Lower Valley had all the participants passing with flying colors, and by late morning we were up scanning the skies from the hawk tower. Strong winds kept the numbers to a modest trickle, with 80 or so Broad-winged Hawks and 30 Swainson’s the highlights.
As we left the park, we had fun watching a young Texas Tortoise and the beautiful Blue Spiny Lizards that have found a new home on the brick buildings around the campground. After lunch at a local restaurant, we headed to the World Birding Center in Edinburg, where we had close studies of breeding-plumaged Stilt Sandpiper and several species of herons, a host of butterflies and dragonflies in the gardens, and several species of waterfowl and turtles in the adjacent ponds. A quick stop at a nearby sod farm netted excellent studies of Buff-breasted and Upland Sandpipers, as well as a somewhat surprising Horned Lark. For the rest of the day we wandered the trails of the Frontera Audubon Thicket, and were rewarded with looks at the continuing Crimson-collared Grosbeak, two gorgeous Golden-winged Warblers, a stunning male Chestnut-sided Warbler, and a secretive Black-billed Cuckoo. Just another bird-rich day in the dynamic Lower Rio Grande Valley!
Our last full day in the valley was full of old acquaintances and a few new ones, as well as a wealth of vivid landscapes and several instructive views of similar species side by side. We started in the coastal plain just east of Brownsville, where we quickly found a very cooperative Botteri’s Sparrow on territory. After our success with this enigmatic sparrow, we went to Sabal Palm Sanctuary, an Audubon preserve that contains the only remaining stand of Sabal Palms in the US; the preserve is currently threatened by the border fence project, which could cut the park off from the rest of Texas. We wandered around the preserve enjoying the resident Green Jays, Long-billed Thrashers, Plain Chachalacas, and White-tipped Doves, as well as migrants such as Solitary Sandpiper and Blue Grosbeak.
Before lunch we headed out to the mouth of the Rio Grande at Boca Chica, where high tides and strong onshore winds combined to make the last mile of beach impassable. Driving in the surf, with close studies of beach shorebirds and lines of Brown Pelicans and terns feeding in the high waves, will surely be a lasting memory for this year’s participants. The coastal plain held numerous bodies of water where dozens of Reddish Egrets (including many white-morph birds) huddled out of the wind next to throngs of Snowy and Great Egrets. The comparative views were very instructive, and soon thereafter we had a close study of Western and Eastern Willet together, then of breeding-plumaged Dunlin and Western Sandpiper.
On South Padre, Eastern Kingbirds were a pleasant surprise at the convention center. To round out the day, we revisited the Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco, where we once again found the Crimson-collared Grosbeak and enjoyed a nice side-by-side sighting of bathing Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes and a gorgeous male American Redstart. Just before dark we lucked into a staging flock of Red-crowned Parrots spending the last few minutes of light on roadside wires. We had dinner at a very local and idiosyncratically wonderful Mexican restaurant in Harlingen.
On our last morning we visited Anzalduas Park, south of McAllen. This wonderful park often hosts numbers of migrant songbirds and raptors in spring, and we managed to spot a nice assortment of birds of prey despite the incessant winds. Swainson’s, Broad-winged, Cooper’s, and Harris’s Hawks passed by, as did a foraging White-tailed Kite. Excellent studies of Bank and Rough-winged and Cliff and Cave Swallows were appreciated by all.
A stop at a roadside rest halfway to Corpus Christi was very productive. With two short nature trails and a water feature, this site often attracts a wide range of birds in migration. This time we spotted Wood and Gray-cheeked Thrushes and Indigo and Painted Buntings, and bid farewell to Hooded Orioles, Green Jays, and Black-crested Titmice. A final stop at a settling basin near the Corpus Christi airport gave us our last views of Roseate Spoonbills, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, and several shorebirds and terns. Our last official birds in the scope were a courting (successfully) male Eastern Willet and his intended, and watching him stretch and quiver his glorious black-and-white wings seemed a fitting end to a rewarding trip.
- Gavin Bieber
Updated: May 2009