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9 May Anzalduas & NABA [Mary Beth Stowe ] 8 May Estero Llano Grande [Mary Beth Stowe ] 6 May Bell's Vireo @ Falcon State Park [MiriamEagl ] 5 May Harlingen Area [Mary Beth Stowe ] 1 May do not open "Contract Award Details" - pure spam [Barbara Passmore ] 1 May Sacahuistale Flats & Port Mansfield [Mary Beth Stowe ] 30 Apr River Roads [Mary Beth Stowe ] 29 Apr Laguna Atascosa 4/28 [Mary Beth Stowe ] 29 Apr Red-billed Pigeon @ Bentsen [Mary Beth Stowe ] 25 Apr Sabal Palms [Mary Beth Stowe ] 24 Apr Santa Ana & Frontera [Mary Beth Stowe ] 23 Apr Anzalduas, McAllen Sewer, Edinburg, & Estero Llano [Mary Beth Stowe ] 22 Apr South Padre Island [Mary Beth Stowe ] 21 Apr Anacua Levee, Zacatal, & McAllen Sewer Ponds [Mary Beth Stowe ] 18 Apr Edinburg Wetlands & Monte Cristo [Mary Beth Stowe ] 17 Apr Prairie Warbler @ Quinta Mazatlan [Mary Beth Stowe ] 16 Apr Santa Ana NWR [Mary Beth Stowe ] 15 Apr Anzalduas & NABA [Mary Beth Stowe ] 15 Apr Nine counties, 4 days, and lots of birds in Florida [Bob Carroll ] 14 Apr Estero Llano Grande SP [Mary Beth Stowe ] 12 Apr Falcon Parks [Mary Beth Stowe ] 10 Apr Harlingen [Mary Beth Stowe ] 9 Apr Cannon Loop [Mary Beth Stowe ] 8 Apr Old Port Isabel, Palo Alto, & Los Ebanos Preserve [Mary Beth Stowe ] 7 Apr Boca Chica & WT Robin [Mary Beth Stowe ] 4 Apr Santa Monica Wetlands/Longoria Unit [Mary Beth Stowe ] 3 Apr LRGV NWR - El Sal Del Ray [Mary Beth Stowe ] 1 Apr Wild Turkey @ Sacahuistale Flats [Mary Beth Stowe ] 31 Mar Laguna Atascosa [Mary Beth Stowe ] 28 Mar Brownsville Area [Mary Beth Stowe ] 27 Mar Monte Cristo Tract/Edinburg Wetlands [Mary Beth Stowe ] 26 Mar Surf Scoter @ Adams Gardens Reservoir [Mary Beth Stowe ] 25 Mar Fork-tailed Fly & Sabal Palms [Mary Beth Stowe ] 24 Mar River Roads [Mary Beth Stowe ] 22 Mar Bentsen Bird Walk [Mary Beth Stowe ] 21 Mar South Padre Island [Mary Beth Stowe ] 20 Mar Anacua Levee [Mary Beth Stowe ] 18 Mar McAllen/Weslaco [Mary Beth Stowe ] 17 Mar LRGV NWR La Sal Tracts [Mary Beth Stowe ] 14 Mar Old Isabel Road/Palo Alto [Mary Beth Stowe ] 13 Mar Harlingen Area [Mary Beth Stowe ] 12 Mar Santa Ana NWR [Mary Beth Stowe ] 11 Mar Boca Chica Tract [Mary Beth Stowe ] 10 Mar Sacahuistale & Port Mansfield [Mary Beth Stowe ] 7 Mar Falcon Parks [Mary Beth Stowe ] 5 Mar Anzalduas & NABA [Mary Beth Stowe ] 4 Mar Short-eared Owl @ Llano Grande [Mary Beth Stowe ] 29 Feb Laguna Atascosa NWR [Mary Beth Stowe ] 28 Feb Bentsen SP [Mary Beth Stowe ] 27 Feb Dusky-capped Flycatcher [Mary Beth Stowe ] 25 Feb Rio Bravo/Zapata Loops [Mary Beth Stowe ] 22 Feb Los Ebanos Loop [Mary Beth Stowe ] Subject: Anzalduas & NABA From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 18:45:54 EDT Hi, all! Made the rounds at Anzalduas CP this morning; highlights include a Ringed Kingfisher, a family of Rough-winged Swallows in the middle of the road, both Cliff and Cave Swallows on the wires on the opposite side of the park, and a Groove-billed Ani in the back section. Also had a very noisy Great Crested Flycatcher, making me feel like I was back in Michigan! J The resident Black Phoebe called while I was shooting a teeny tiny little moth that was quite elegant! Here's the pic if you want to take a stab at the ID: _http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Anzalduas.htm_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Anzalduas.htm) ...and some photos of the swallow family: _http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Since I was short on time I didn't stop along Old Military Highway like I normally do, but the corn field just east of NABA was loaded with Dickcissels! NABA itself was quite birdy, with not one but TWO singing Clay-colored Robins, and a few leftover migrant warblers including a knockout Blackburnian (they seem to like that set of trees along Military Highway at the end of the "walking trail")! Also enjoyed a pair of anis loping along the trail before taking flight. The lep highlight was two Zebra Heliconians, one near his "plaque", and the other along the Walking Trail very near where the Erato showed up a few months ago. For those masochists I had another mystery geometer for your enjoyment: _http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20NABA.htm_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20NABA.htm) Two separate bird lists follow: Location: Anzalduas County Pk (LTC 068) Observation date: 5/9/08 Number of species: 46 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3 Plain Chachalaca 3 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Neotropic Cormorant 1 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 2 Snowy Egret 1 Tricolored Heron 2 Turkey Vulture 3 American Coot 2 Rock Pigeon 8 White-winged Dove 6 Mourning Dove 4 Inca Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 4 Greater Roadrunner 1 Groove-billed Ani 1 Ringed Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 12 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 2 Black Phoebe 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 4 Great Kiskadee 9 Couch's Kingbird 7 Western Kingbird 2 Green Jay 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 17 Bank Swallow 2 Cliff Swallow 90 Cave Swallow 8 Black-crested Titmouse 3 Verdin 2 Northern Mockingbird 9 European Starling 10 Olive Sparrow 1 Lark Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 2 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 20 Great-tailed Grackle 17 Bronzed Cowbird 19 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Lesser Goldfinch 3 House Sparrow 12 Location: NABA International Butterfly Park Observation date: 5/9/08 Notes: This route also covered the Old Military Highway for 2.5 miles east of NABA Number of species: 34 Plain Chachalaca 3 Turkey Vulture 1 Laughing Gull 3 Mourning Dove 6 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 2 Groove-billed Ani 2 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Empidonax sp. 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 3 Couch's Kingbird 4 Western Kingbird 2 White-eyed Vireo 1 Green Jay 1 Cliff Swallow 10 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Clay-colored Robin 2 Northern Mockingbird 7 Long-billed Thrasher 4 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Magnolia Warbler 1 Black-throated Green Warbler 2 Blackburnian Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 2 Dickcissel 9 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Eastern Meadowlark 1 Great-tailed Grackle 7 Bronzed Cowbird 3 Altamira Oriole 1 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)Subject: Estero Llano Grande From: Mary Beth Stowe <miriameagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 16:30:07 -0400 Hi, all! Had a terrific morning at Estero Llano, beginning as always along the dirt road south of the river, where a young Roseate Spoonbill was the first highlight of the day!? Other regulars included Blue-winged Teal, Avocets, BN Stilts, both whistling ducks, and Great Egrets.? Up on the levee had several singing Dickcissels down near the eastern gate along with some Western Kingbirds, but there were plenty of wetlands up there with plenty of waders: one spot was stuffed with Snowy Egrets and a handful of Little Blues and a token Tricolored.? Green Herons occupied some of the other areas, and a couple of Horned Larks tuned up along here as well.? There were several Common Nighthawks calling, and one came by close at eye level!? Swallows were well represented all morning, and an ani flew across the levee at one point. At the park birded the Green Jay Trail first, where a Wilson's Warbler was still hanging around.? Also had a mystery geometer moth; those of you who like a challenge can take a look at this little guy here: http://www.miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Estero%20Llano.htm Ran into Jim Booker and another ranger at the observation deck, and unfortunately the Hudsonian Godwit had left, but there was still a mob of Stilt Sandpipers with about a dozen dowitchers!? While Jim was gone I heard what I assumed was a Beardless Tyrannulet (several times), but later when I mentioned it to Huck, he said they had heard the bird as well but weren't convinced it wasn't the local very talented Mockingbird, so I let that one slide.? A Least Bittern called, and Huck told me later that two had been visible.? Viewing the pond from the boardwalk I was able to add a Semipalmated Sandpiper along with several Leasts.? Near the gazebo a Cassin's Sparrow popped up, giving great looks at its scaly back, and up on the Levee Trail I had another ani, plus a young Swainson's Hawk that appeared to come straight at me before pulling up! Enjoyed the crowd of whistling ducks, Least Grebes, and Neotropic Cormorants at Dowitcher Pond for awhile (missed the Least Terns that Huck said hung out there), then headed for Alligator Lake, where there appeared to be a colony of both Neotropic Cormorants and Snowy Egrets (and the former were making rude noises as well)!? Dipped on the kingfishers, but on the way out I flushed a fat brown body that, after noticing the screech owl box over my shoulder, was probably said screech owl, and after talking to Huck about it, I feel comfortable calling it that (they had been hanging out in that area, but he hadn't seen them for several weeks). Hiked the Camino de las Aves after that, picking up Bewick's Wren and tons of Common Ground Doves.? The connector trail had both an Eastern Wood Pewee and a Great Crested Flycatcher; lots of Brown-cresteds were around as well, along with Couch's Kingbirds.? I decided to try that new trail to Kiskadee Pond, which was quite lovely, but didn't pick up anything new (great look at a pair of Long-billed Thrashers, tho...) I was pretty shot after that, so headed back to the building, where I ran into Huck.? On the way out I heard a Mourning Warbler sing and call from the bushes near the hummingbird feeders, but unfortunately he only sang once; I was initially going to let that one go, but the more I thought about it, I couldn't think of anything else it could have possibly been with that burry song (unless it was a Mac ;-)). Bird list: Location: ? ? Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (Weslaco)(LTC 054) Observation date: ? ? 5/8/08 Notes: ? ? Also had 3 Archilochus sp. and a possible Northern Beardless Tyrannulet--some thought it could have been a Mockingbird. Number of species: ? ? 84 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck ? ? 67 Fulvous Whistling-Duck ? ? 12 Mottled Duck ? ? 6 Blue-winged Teal ? ? 14 Plain Chachalaca ? ? 21 Northern Bobwhite ? ? 5 Least Grebe ? ? 9 Pied-billed Grebe ? ? 1 Neotropic Cormorant ? ? 45 Least Bittern ? ? 1 Great Egret ? ? 6 Snowy Egret ? ? 59 Little Blue Heron ? ? 8 Tricolored Heron ? ? 1 Cattle Egret ? ? 3 Green Heron ? ? 4 White Ibis ? ? 1 Roseate Spoonbill ? ? 1 Turkey Vulture ? ? 2 Swainson's Hawk ? ? 2 Common Moorhen ? ? 10 American Coot ? ? 26 Killdeer ? ? 5 Black-necked Stilt ? ? 13 American Avocet ? ? 2 Spotted Sandpiper ? ? 3 Lesser Yellowlegs ? ? 2 Semipalmated Sandpiper ? ? 1 Least Sandpiper ? ? 7 Pectoral Sandpiper ? ? 1 Stilt Sandpiper ? ? 73 Long-billed Dowitcher ? ? 16 Laughing Gull ? ? 1 Gull-billed Tern ? ? 6 Rock Pigeon ? ? 3 White-winged Dove ? ? 28 Mourning Dove ? ? 44 Inca Dove ? ? 4 Common Ground-Dove ? ? 20 White-tipped Dove ? ? 9 Yellow-billed Cuckoo ? ? 2 Groove-billed Ani ? ? 3 Eastern Screech-Owl ? ? 1 Common Nighthawk ? ? 7 Buff-bellied Hummingbird ? ? 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker ? ? 18 Ladder-backed Woodpecker ? ? 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee ? ? 1 Great Crested Flycatcher ? ? 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher ? ? 7 Great Kiskadee ? ? 11 Couch's Kingbird ? ? 6 Western Kingbird ? ? 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher ? ? 1 White-eyed Vireo ? ? 7 Horned Lark ? ? 2 Purple Martin ? ? 3 Bank Swallow ? ? 9 Cliff Swallow ? ? 5 Cave Swallow ? ? 7 Barn Swallow ? ? 25 Black-crested Titmouse ? ? 2 Bewick's Wren ? ? 3 Northern Mockingbird ? ? 10 Long-billed Thrasher ? ? 8 Curve-billed Thrasher ? ? 1 Yellow Warbler ? ? 1 Mourning Warbler ? ? 1 Common Yellowthroat ? ? 4 Wilson's Warbler ? ? 1 Olive Sparrow ? ? 7 Cassin's Sparrow ? ? 1 Lark Sparrow ? ? 1 Northern Cardinal ? ? 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeak ? ? 1 Dickcissel ? ? 6 Red-winged Blackbird ? ? 118 Eastern Meadowlark ? ? 5 Great-tailed Grackle ? ? 76 Bronzed Cowbird ? ? 2 Brown-headed Cowbird ? ? 4 Hooded Oriole ? ? 1 Lesser Goldfinch ? ? 4 House Sparrow ? ? 12 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX www.miriameaglemon.comSubject: Bell's Vireo @ Falcon State Park From: MiriamEagl <miriameagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 15:32:47 -0500 Hi, all! Birded Falcon State and County Parks this morning, and just after chatting with Fran and heading down to the picnic area, had a singing Bell's Vireo just as you enter the area! Boy, that brought back memories of the riparian woodlands in San Diego! After I ran back to tell Fran about that, the summering Groove-billed Ani literally flew in to say hello, and a breeding-plumaged Chipping Sparrow landed on the fence, which I guess is rather late for this species. Over at the county park, a female Vermilion Flycatcher was bullying both Mockingbirds and Curve-billed Thrashers with a vengeance, so perhaps she had a nest nearby (the male was singing several yards away). The sky looked pretty mean, but for the most part I avoided rain (Fran told me that it could be pouring in Roma and dry as a bone at Falcon, and that's exactly what happened--I got to Roma and the sky opened!!). Other highlights included a Caracara that came sailing in along the entrance road and went right for a fairly fresh dead thing, LOTS of Curve-billed Thrashers (eBird flagged my count of 11, so I brought it down to ten and it liked that better ;-)), and a couple of pairs of Bobwhite in the camping area. We had been talking about the lack of White-eyed Vireos that day, but I just happened to get one at the 11th hour in the campground! Least Terns were calling down by the lake, and Bullock's Orioles were all over. Bird List: Location: Falcon SP (Starr Co.)(LTC 084) Observation date: 5/6/08 Number of species: 59 Northern Bobwhite 4 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 4 Snowy Egret 3 Turkey Vulture 8 Osprey 1 Harris's Hawk 1 Crested Caracara 3 American Coot 17 Killdeer 5 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Greater Yellowlegs 1 Least Sandpiper 3 Laughing Gull 5 Least Tern 2 White-winged Dove 9 Mourning Dove 16 Common Ground-Dove 1 Greater Roadrunner 3 Groove-billed Ani 1 Chimney Swift 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5 Vermilion Flycatcher 2 Ash-throated Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 7 Great Kiskadee 7 Couch's Kingbird 3 Western Kingbird 1 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 8 White-eyed Vireo 1 Bell's Vireo 1 Green Jay 1 Bank Swallow 2 Cliff Swallow 3 Barn Swallow 4 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Verdin 6 Cactus Wren 10 Bewick's Wren 8 Northern Mockingbird 29 Long-billed Thrasher 2 Curve-billed Thrasher 10 Olive Sparrow 7 Cassin's Sparrow 4 Chipping Sparrow 1 Lark Sparrow 3 Black-throated Sparrow 5 Northern Cardinal 8 Pyrrhuloxia 11 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Great-tailed Grackle 44 Bronzed Cowbird 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 10 Hooded Oriole 3 Bullock's Oriole 10 House Sparrow 9 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX www.miriameaglemon.comSubject: Harlingen Area From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 18:06:18 EDT Hi, all! Birded Hugh Ramsey and City Lake Parks in Harlingen this morning; highlights at Hugh Ramsey include a couple of Groove-billed Anis, a Green Heron along the arroyo, what sounded like a Bullock's Oriole in the same area, both specialty kingfishers, a single Mississippi Kite flying low, and two lovely Magnolia Warblers. Also had a first-year Tennessee Warbler that wasn't as white towards the vent as I would have liked it to have been, but after reading up on it I learned they can still look pretty yellowish back there. Curve-billed Thrashers and Buff-bellied Hummers were pretty friendly at the feeders. The City Lake had its usual mob of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Laughing Gulls, with token cormorants of both species and a couple of coots. Had a couple of strange moths in the ladies' room at High Ramsey which I'll post to the butterfly group, but if anyone's curious they can be viewed here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Harlingen.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Harlingen.htm) Bird Lists follow: Location: Harlingen Arroyo Colorado (Ramsey Park) WBC (LTC 026) Observation date: 5/5/08 Notes: Also had one female Archilochus hummingbird Number of species: 43 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 9 Plain Chachalaca 9 Green Heron 2 Mississippi Kite 1 Laughing Gull 16 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 White-winged Dove 25 Mourning Dove 14 Inca Dove 3 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 3 Groove-billed Ani 2 Chimney Swift 8 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 8 Ringed Kingfisher 1 Green Kingfisher 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 15 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 7 Great Kiskadee 6 Couch's Kingbird 1 White-eyed Vireo 3 Purple Martin 3 Barn Swallow 10 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Verdin 2 Carolina Wren 7 Bewick's Wren 4 Northern Mockingbird 7 Long-billed Thrasher 4 Curve-billed Thrasher 3 Tennessee Warbler 1 Magnolia Warbler 2 Olive Sparrow 14 Northern Cardinal 5 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Painted Bunting 2 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Great-tailed Grackle 35 Brown-headed Cowbird 3 Bullock's Oriole 1 Lesser Goldfinch 3 House Sparrow 20 Location: Harlingen City Lake (LTC 025) Observation date: 5/5/08 Notes: Windy conditions Number of species: 19 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 45 Muscovy Duck (Domestic type) 1 Neotropic Cormorant 1 Double-crested Cormorant 1 Snowy Egret 5 American Coot 2 Laughing Gull 80 Rock Pigeon 2 White-winged Dove 10 Mourning Dove 1 Chimney Swift 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2 Great Kiskadee 1 Tropical Kingbird 1 Purple Martin 1 Northern Mockingbird 9 European Starling 3 Great-tailed Grackle 20 House Sparrow 9 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)Subject: do not open "Contract Award Details" - pure spam From: Barbara Passmore <bkpass AT BELLSOUTH.NET> Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 11:49:29 -0400 Although we get worlds of spam, I delete it and add the senders to the blocked list. If possible, do not open the message entitled "Contract Award Details." Barbara Passmore, ListownerSubject: Sacahuistale Flats & Port Mansfield From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 15:52:56 EDT Hi, all! Birded Sacahuistale Flats and Port Mansfield this morning under mostly cloudy and very windy conditions; highlights along the road route include lots of beenting Common Nighthawks well into the morning, gobbling Turkeys, singing Botteri's Sparrows (along with the ubiquitous Cassin's), and a "Northern" Oriole that sounded more like a Bullock's to me, but I couldn't get a visual. I'm positive I heard the "whipple-a whip" call of an Upland Sandpiper in one of the ag areas, but noticed that eBird has taken it off the list already, so since the field was close to some scrub forest where it COULD have been a Brown-crested Flycatcher (I've noticed they can make a very similar sound), I let that one go. Other highlights included two "tornadoes" of Franklin's Gulls, each one having around 100 birds each, and a flyover Roseate Spoonbill. A stop at a little canal yielded a Green Kingfisher and immature Black-crowned NIght Heron, as well as some Cliff Swallows possibly utilizing the overpass (although the checklist implies that they don't nest near the coast). There was also a pair of the wild feral antelope that occurs in the area (Nigali? something like that...). Pulled up to the nature trail in Port Mansfield and was greeted by a herd of White-tailed Deer! Despite the south winds, a few migrants were still hanging around, including a Bay-breasted and Hooded Warbler. I was surprised that eBird flagged the latter (had to go into the "rare birds" page to find it, then confirm it), as the checklist considers them "common" on the coast. But I might have had a real rarity: a very rufous thrasher went zipping into the scrub, then gave me a very brief look before taking off again (not enough to get a good look at the face). But the bird was Veery-rufous, and overall seemed paler than the Longbills I've seen, so it MAY have been a Brown. But without a better look I didn't want to say definitively. Fred Stone CP had some cooperative shorebirds, including breeding-plumaged Ruddy Turnstones and a Black-bellied Plover. Both Least and a single Semipalmated Sandpiper were at my feet, and out in the "dunes" area had a couple of Gull-billed Terns and three Wilson's Plovers, along with the reliable Cassin's Sparrow. Both bird lists follow: Location: Sacahuistale Flats (LTC 013) Observation date: 5/1/08 Number of species: 58 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 25 Mottled Duck 4 Wild Turkey 2 Northern Bobwhite 12 Great Egret 3 Tricolored Heron 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Roseate Spoonbill 1 Black Vulture 2 Turkey Vulture 11 Harris's Hawk 5 Crested Caracara 6 Willet 1 Laughing Gull 79 Franklin's Gull 200 Least Tern 1 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Mourning Dove 21 Inca Dove 2 Common Ground-Dove 1 Greater Roadrunner 3 Common Nighthawk 12 Green Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 13 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 8 Brown-crested Flycatcher 13 Great Kiskadee 8 Couch's Kingbird 2 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 White-eyed Vireo 4 Green Jay 1 Horned Lark 2 Cliff Swallow 3 Barn Swallow 10 Verdin 2 Cactus Wren 3 Bewick's Wren 4 Northern Mockingbird 16 Long-billed Thrasher 5 Curve-billed Thrasher 2 European Starling 8 Olive Sparrow 10 Cassin's Sparrow 14 Botteri's Sparrow 7 Lark Sparrow 17 Northern Cardinal 12 Pyrrhuloxia 1 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 32 Eastern Meadowlark 18 Great-tailed Grackle 55 Bronzed Cowbird 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 24 Hooded Oriole 6 Bullock's Oriole 1 Altamira Oriole 2 Lesser Goldfinch 1 House Sparrow 20 Location: Port Mansfield Observation date: 5/1/08 Notes: Also had an Archilochus hummingbird of unknown species Number of species: 47 Brown Pelican 1 Great Blue Heron 4 Tricolored Heron 2 Turkey Vulture 6 Black-bellied Plover 2 Wilson's Plover 3 Killdeer 1 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Willet 9 Lesser Yellowlegs 5 Whimbrel 2 Long-billed Curlew 4 Ruddy Turnstone 8 Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 3 Dunlin 3 Laughing Gull 52 Franklin's Gull 30 Gull-billed Tern 2 Caspian Tern 1 Royal Tern 5 Eurasian Collared-Dove 1 Mourning Dove 12 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 2 Loggerhead Shrike 1 Purple Martin 2 Barn Swallow 7 Bewick's Wren 1 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 1 European Starling 2 Bay-breasted Warbler 1 Hooded Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 1 Cassin's Sparrow 1 Lark Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 1 Pyrrhuloxia 1 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Eastern Meadowlark 2 Great-tailed Grackle 39 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Baltimore Oriole 1 House Sparrow 6 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)Subject: River Roads From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:19:33 EDT Hi, all! Birded the River Roads this morning (basically from Roma west to Falcon Heights) and had a very productive time: the road to Fronton had several "western" specialties, including Scaled Quail, Black-throated Sparrow, and a pair of Lesser Nighthawks batting in the distance. At the end of River Road a Clay-colored Robin popped up, plus a nice Ringed Kingfisher seemingly battling with a Great-tailed Grackle over tree space! Salieno was perhaps the highlight, however: as I shared the bank for 15 minutes with a couple of young fishermen, a large flock of Double-crested Cormorants flew by, and with them were three large white-winged ducks that I just wrote off as Black-bellied Whistlers (I was busy counting the corms), but then realized after the fact that I should have taken that "second look", as they're not the only large white-winged dark ducks in this neck of the woods! Thankfully an individual Muscovy went powering upriver about ten minutes later! Another birder had been hiking the trail and thought he had a Red-billed Pigeon, so he had returned to his car to retrieve his scope; the duck came by after he left, so I'm hoping he spotted it! On the way to Chapeno another couple from New York stopped who were trying to find the old RV Park, so I had them follow me over, as unless you know exactly where this place is, you're apt to get lost! We crawled past the barking dogs and parked by the office, stuffed some money in the "Iron Ranger", and headed down to the picnic tables, where we were immediately attacked by these little micro moths (they calmed down after awhile, though...)! It was rather quiet while we were there, except for an Osprey that tried to catch lunch but failed, and a pair of dark ducks that sparked the Mottled vs. Mexican discussion; these birds looked pretty uniform above, so I called them Mottled. Just before I left I heard another Clay-colored Robin call; unfortunately it took off before we could locate it. They were going to hang around for a few, but on my way back up the hill I kicked up a Savannah Sparrow on the ground and a Chipping Sparrow in a tree, along with another upset titmouse couple with food! Back at the top I got distracted by two female-type Yellow-headed Blackbirds in a tree with two Bronzed Cowbirds! Headed back to Roma Bluffs, and was shocked to see the place closed when I thought the only day it was closed was on Mondays! I found out that it's a one-woman office, and if she has to go to a meeting or something, that's all she wrote. So the lady next door very kindly gave me her number so that next time I could call the day before and make sure the doors would be open before coming out! I was really looking forward to exploring that butterfly garden, but the consolation prize was my life Olive-clouded Skipper in the parking lot! The only pic I got is here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Roma.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Roma.htm) Bird List: Location: River Roads Driving Route Observation date: 4/30/08 Number of species: 65 Muscovy Duck 1 Mottled Duck 2 Plain Chachalaca 3 Scaled Quail 1 Double-crested Cormorant 31 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 11 Green Heron 1 Black Vulture 4 Turkey Vulture 7 Osprey 1 Harris's Hawk 1 Crested Caracara 5 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Rock Pigeon 4 Eurasian Collared-Dove 2 White-winged Dove 18 Mourning Dove 8 Inca Dove 1 Common Ground-Dove 2 White-tipped Dove 2 Greater Roadrunner 1 Lesser Nighthawk 2 Chimney Swift 2 Ringed Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 12 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4 Ash-throated Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 7 Great Kiskadee 8 Couch's Kingbird 16 Western Kingbird 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 7 White-eyed Vireo 2 Green Jay 4 Purple Martin 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3 Bank Swallow 3 Cliff Swallow 10 Barn Swallow 4 Black-crested Titmouse 4 Verdin 2 Cactus Wren 10 Bewick's Wren 9 Clay-colored Robin 2 Northern Mockingbird 19 Long-billed Thrasher 5 Curve-billed Thrasher 2 European Starling 2 Olive Sparrow 4 Chipping Sparrow 1 Black-throated Sparrow 2 Savannah Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 9 Pyrrhuloxia 8 Painted Bunting 3 Red-winged Blackbird 40 Yellow-headed Blackbird 2 Great-tailed Grackle 36 Bronzed Cowbird 6 Brown-headed Cowbird 40 Hooded Oriole 4 Bullock's Oriole 2 Altamira Oriole 3 House Sparrow 33 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Laguna Atascosa 4/28 From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:17:27 EDT Hi, all! Sorry for the late report, but ran out of time... The weather was cold and windy along General Brant Road (and the road itself was a challenge--Jip was covered by the end of it...), but the front brought (or kept down) lots of wonderful migrants! Had Grasshopper Sparrows and a Sedge Wren singing near the Big Refuge Sign along with a single Dickcissel, but at the canal about a mile or so down from that had a rail "clapping" that didn't seem to be accelerating enough to be Clapper, yet didn't seem steady enough to be King; being a fresh-water marsh I would assume King, but I'd love some feedback from those who know better than I do! Another puzzle was a group of ten largish shorebirds that went batting by, but with the wind at gale force all I could make out was a slender jizz (long legs and bills, and rather pointy wings), pale white wing stripes (not nearly as bold as a Willet's), and white tail bases; my gut reaction was Hudsonian Godwit, but my understanding is that even ONE bird would be rather rare here, much less a flock of ten! But I wasn't willing to say definitively with that shaky look. A small flock of Indigo Buntings was more expected! While on the loop the volunteer rangers (Bob and Carol, I believe their names were) caught up with me and said there was a tremendous fallout at the visitor's center, so I thanked them and hurried on along! Had a few mini-fallouts even along the tour road, with a flock of 15 Baltimore Orioles near Redhead Ridge, and at one "corner" where there's a gate before the final leg had an American Redstart, Northern Parula, and Red-eyed Vireo in a little group. In the bay were several spoonbills, White Ibis, Reddish Egrets of both flavors, and plenty of shorebirds, most of which looked to be dowitchers and Dunlin. Had a couple of peeps that if you held a gun to my head I'd call Westerns, but I wasn't sure... Osprey numbers were way down from other times, with only two birds that I found, but one was RIGHT by the road, with his attendant Laughing Gull, of course! Also had a flock of Franklin's sail by, and a Clapper Rail for sure grunted out in the "stuff". The seasonal wetlands were indeed wet after the rains, and in one spot found three Wilson's Plovers along with Willets and Blackbellies. A single Marbled Godwit reminded me of my previous home! :-) I had been trying to link up with a local birding couple named Rex and Brigit, and we finally did back at the visitor's center, where they were already enjoying the show! Before we actually ran into each other (phones weren't working there) a Wood Thrush bounced by near the photo blind, and a very cooperative Empid that even after studying Sibley I have no clue what it is; pictures are posted here (along with a few of the other goodies): _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Over by the main office a group of about ten Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were pigging out, and along Kiskadee Trail I had two each of Black-and-white and Magnolia Warbler, plus a Northern Waterthrush and a couple of Swainson's Thrushes. This is where we finally touched base, and these two are superb spotters: they found a Veery hiding away in some roots that I NEVER would have seen! We also kicked up a Pewee, Chestnut-sided and Tennessee Warblers, and another Red-eyed Vireo. Brigit was delighted with the songs of the Roadrunners nearby! Over at the Pavillion they found another waterthrush (I only heard it--thought it was a Blue Grosbeak at first...) Unfortunately we didn't have much time to chat as I had to run back for a doctor's appointment, but it was a terrific morning out with great company at the end! Bird List: Location: Laguna Atascosa NWR (LTC 024) Observation date: 4/28/08 Number of species: 95 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 4 Mottled Duck 1 Plain Chachalaca 11 Northern Bobwhite 4 Great Blue Heron 2 Great Egret 5 Little Blue Heron 1 Tricolored Heron 2 Reddish Egret 9 White Ibis 11 White-faced Ibis 10 Roseate Spoonbill 20 Black Vulture 3 Turkey Vulture 7 Osprey 2 White-tailed Kite 1 White-tailed Hawk 1 Crested Caracara 2 Clapper Rail 1 King Rail 1 Black-bellied Plover 12 Wilson's Plover 3 Semipalmated Plover 2 Spotted Sandpiper 3 Solitary Sandpiper 1 Willet 31 Upland Sandpiper 1 Long-billed Curlew 3 Marbled Godwit 1 Ruddy Turnstone 3 Western Sandpiper 3 Least Sandpiper 2 Dunlin 70 Long-billed Dowitcher 160 Laughing Gull 42 Franklin's Gull 9 Least Tern 1 Gull-billed Tern 11 Royal Tern 4 Mourning Dove 40 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 11 Greater Roadrunner 6 Common Nighthawk 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 24 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5 Eastern Wood-Pewee 3 Empidonax sp. 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 1 Great Kiskadee 1 Couch's Kingbird 2 Eastern Kingbird 1 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 Loggerhead Shrike 1 White-eyed Vireo 16 Red-eyed Vireo 3 Green Jay 15 Horned Lark 1 Purple Martin 2 Barn Swallow 1 Black-crested Titmouse 3 Verdin 8 Carolina Wren 2 Sedge Wren 1 Veery 1 Swainson's Thrush 2 Wood Thrush 1 Gray Catbird 2 Northern Mockingbird 23 Long-billed Thrasher 26 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Tennessee Warbler 1 Northern Parula 1 Chestnut-sided Warbler 1 Magnolia Warbler 2 Black-and-white Warbler 2 American Redstart 1 Northern Waterthrush 2 Common Yellowthroat 7 Summer Tanager 1 Olive Sparrow 16 Cassin's Sparrow 4 Lark Sparrow 3 Grasshopper Sparrow 3 Northern Cardinal 23 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 15 Indigo Bunting 12 Dickcissel 1 Red-winged Blackbird 411 Eastern Meadowlark 51 Great-tailed Grackle 29 Bronzed Cowbird 10 Brown-headed Cowbird 8 Baltimore Oriole 20 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Red-billed Pigeon @ Bentsen From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:23:52 EDT Hi, all! Although not nearly as exciting as the Lucifer Hummer, I had a singing Red-billed Pigeon along the Kiskadee Trail this morning, heard best just south of the blind, and also by the restrooms at the east(?) end of Acacia Loop (the end closest to the park exit). John Yochum and Jose Urita (did I get your last name right?? :-P) came out as soon as they could and both heard it well; unfortunately we couldn't spot the thing. Other non-avian highlights include one of the Giant Toads out on the road: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc .htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/ Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc.htm) and a gorgeous Roseate Skimmer also along Acacia Loop: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Bentsen.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Bentsen.htm) Gotta run, so here's the full bird list (from walking the whole loop, plus the Hawk Tower): Location: Bentsen-Rio Grande Val. SP WBC (Mission)(LTC 069) Observation date: 4/29/08 Notes: Red-billed Pigeon rather rare at this location; was confirmed by two additional birders. Number of species: 54 Mottled Duck 2 Plain Chachalaca 31 Pied-billed Grebe 6 Neotropic Cormorant 1 Least Bittern 2 Great Egret 1 Little Blue Heron 3 White-faced Ibis 4 Turkey Vulture 5 Gray Hawk 1 Sora 1 Common Moorhen 2 American Coot 40 Black-necked Stilt 2 Laughing Gull 2 Red-billed Pigeon 1 White-winged Dove 73 Mourning Dove 9 Inca Dove 1 Common Ground-Dove 3 White-tipped Dove 26 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3 Groove-billed Ani 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 8 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 35 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 9 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 3 Brown-crested Flycatcher 7 Great Kiskadee 6 Couch's Kingbird 26 White-eyed Vireo 4 Green Jay 15 Bank Swallow 4 Cliff Swallow 5 Cave Swallow 6 Barn Swallow 5 Black-crested Titmouse 4 House Wren 1 Clay-colored Robin 2 Northern Mockingbird 20 Long-billed Thrasher 6 Yellow Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 12 Northern Cardinal 15 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 24 Great-tailed Grackle 51 Bronzed Cowbird 10 Brown-headed Cowbird 12 Hooded Oriole 1 Bullock's Oriole 2 Altamira Oriole 5 House Sparrow 4 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Sabal Palms From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:43:12 EDT Hi, all! Had a wonderful last morning with my San Diego friends; while they started the day in Brownsville looking for parrots, I had a repeat of Santa Ana in that I got to Sabal Palm before the gate opened! :-P But managed another Common Nighthawk that way, plus cracking views of a Bobcat! (The others evidently saw the kitten later!) Once in, my plan was to bird the Native Trail, then join the gang for the rest when they got there. I forgot to ask the gal at the visitor's center (I think it was Janice), but almost the whole Native Trail area was burned, yet I wondered if that was the controlled backfire the firefighters set to combat the wildfire, as none of the benches or signage was destroyed, and while there was some scorching, it didn't look like the whole forest was cremated as in the recent fires in San Diego. Even so had some nice birds: lots of the usuals, but also a singing Blue Grosbeak, distant Bobwhites, and a flyover Ringed Kingfisher with food in its beak! At the resting spot at the far end Momma Titmouse came in to her nest with a nose full of food, quivering her wings! On the way back three gulls flew over that looked like Herrings to me (as opposed to Ringbills), as they lacked a clear tail band. I managed to make it to the resaca before the gang showed up, picking up a singing Least Flycatcher on the way. Another couple had spooked a Green Kingfisher at the pond that DID have water in it (caught the tail end heading away), and they had seen both Painted and Indigo Buntings further on, so when the gang arrived, we kept an eye out. Some of us did indeed get a glimpse of a Painted shooting into the "stuff", but it never came back out. A Long-billed Thrasher was more cooperative, however, and entertained everyone by using a branch as a "teeter-totter"! Phil spotted a Catbird, but I missed that one... We swung around to the Vireo Trail where it was pretty quiet, but when we cut down the Oriole Trail a beautiful Magnolia Warbler gave the group fleeting glimpses! A few minutes at the Oriole Blind yielded a pair of Solitary Sandpipers and two Lark Sparrows that came in for a drink. From there we made our way to the Big Blind which was much more productive: aside from the tons of Coots and lesser number of Moorhens, Gadwall, and Least Grebes, we had a really beat-up Mottled Duck that sparked some discussion of Mottled vs. Mexican, and in doing some research John Top discovered the "black mark on the gape" field mark for Mottled, which this one had, and was a new clue for me! A single Ruddy Duck snoozed in the center of the pond, and a pair of Blue-winged Teal showed off every feather very nicely. Comedy relief was provided by the Red-eared Slider that crawled out of the water onto a log already occupied by another turtle, who got pushed out of the way by the newcomer! We were quietly joined by Wayne from Frontera, and was delighted to finally meet Dan Jones and JD Cortez! (Hope it won't be the last time! :-)) After that Phil was just gonna "loop the loop" for awhile looking for migrants, so I finished up my survey and others went their own way. I ran into Jeannie Anderson from the SD group over along the Vireo Trail cutoff, and she showed me a photo of an Indigo Bunting she had just seen (but didn't come out for me, naturally)! Another Green Kingfisher whizzed in while we sat there, but unfortunately landed on the back side of the stump! Jeannie had discovered their "new" trail, so since I had never taken it, we did so, and discovered a new little pond where I sat for five while Jeannie continued on. Didn't kick up anything out of the ordinary along the Forest Trail except something I swore was some kind of exotic bug on a tree trunk by the way it was moving, but turned out to be a leaf... Back at the visitor's center we hung around the feeders where chachalacas, Green Jays, White-tipped Doves, Bronzed Cowbirds, and the occasional Buff-bellied Hummingbird kept everyone glued! I wandered over to the butterfly garden after awhile where the only things I could kick up were a Tropical Checkered Skipper and a Reakirt's Blue, but just before we left a Black-necked Stilt flew over for the morning! Topped off our time together with a marvelous Mexican lunch in Brownsville! Thanks again to Phil for the meals :-D and the great company had by all!! Bird List: Location: Sabal Palm Sanctuary (LTC 042) Observation date: 4/25/08 Notes: In addition, one Gray Catbird and one Indigo Bunting was observed by other members of the group. Number of species: 60 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 17 Gadwall 8 Mottled Duck 3 Blue-winged Teal 6 Northern Shoveler 1 Ruddy Duck 1 Plain Chachalaca 14 Northern Bobwhite 2 Least Grebe 14 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 1 Cattle Egret 1 Green Heron 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Turkey Vulture 2 Osprey 1 White-tailed Kite 1 Swainson's Hawk 1 Common Moorhen 5 American Coot 40 Killdeer 1 Black-necked Stilt 1 Solitary Sandpiper 2 Laughing Gull 7 Herring Gull 3 Rock Pigeon 6 White-winged Dove 4 Mourning Dove 27 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 9 Common Nighthawk 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4 Ringed Kingfisher 2 Green Kingfisher 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 24 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 7 Least Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 11 Great Kiskadee 9 Couch's Kingbird 18 White-eyed Vireo 4 Green Jay 8 Barn Swallow 1 Black-crested Titmouse 12 Carolina Wren 11 Northern Mockingbird 7 Long-billed Thrasher 8 Magnolia Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 6 Olive Sparrow 16 Lark Sparrow 4 Northern Cardinal 9 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2 Blue Grosbeak 1 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Great-tailed Grackle 7 Bronzed Cowbird 4 Brown-headed Cowbird 5 Baltimore Oriole 1 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Santa Ana & Frontera From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:00:59 EDT Hi, all! Joined up with the San Diego gang again, starting at Santa Ana. I got there pre-dawn with the bright idea of listening for night birds, but forgot that the gate doesn't open till dawn... Did get a silent nighthawk batting over that I'm presuming Common at this point. Heard a Gray Hawk in the parking lot, and hung around the feeder area until the rest showed up. Once all reunited, I wanted to take them on the Willow Lake Trail but we got sidetracked onto the Chachalaca Trail by a Black-crested Titmouse! While we were there we checked out the lake, which was pretty quiet, but we did have a Least Grebe and a couple of Gadwall for the day (some whistling ducks fled, but we saw plenty later). In the area where I've found Clay-colored Robin in the past we happened upon an Altamira Oriole nest in the making, so that was a hit! Over at the hawk tower a pair of Harris' posed nicely, and a Beardless Tyrannulet called "right there", but we never could get on the thing before it flew to places unknown. We eventually made it over to Pintail Lakes, where we ran into Carolyn, the Santa Ana volunteer, taking a couple of our group around (they had gotten separated so just decided to take the docent-led walk and learn about more than just the birds), and they had found an ani! Thankfully the rest of us got good looks at another pair on the way back (had this other couple not been shooting them we probably would have passed right by them). Back at the lakes we had a nice show of Little Blue Herons, both ibis, an Anhinga, and a couple of Neotropic Cormorants. Unfortunately the Ringed Kingfisher was a no-show, but we enjoyed chatting with "Salieno Cheryl" who was doing a waterfowl count with her hubby! A threatening thunderstorm sent us back to the visitor's center; once back there I saw the flash of lightning and said, "Boy, THAT was close!" Everyone else said, "WHAT was close?" BANG!!! The reaction was better than that "face in the boat" scene from "Jaws"! :-D Once recovered the group delighted in a pair of Olive Sparrows singing at our feet, and some of us went up on the levee to look for raptors, where we indeed spotted Swainson's, Broad-winged, and Sharp-shinned Hawks. We spent the rest of the morning hanging around the feeders where the Redwings had moved in, but we also enjoyed Buffbellies and a single male Indigo Bunting. One of our party had stayed behind to shoot, and she was the only one that got the Clay-colored Robin hanging around the picnic area! We went our separate ways for lunch and then reconvened at Frontera Audubon; I beat them there by about a half hour so just slowly made my way down the trail, sitting for five at each bench. Had a handsome "Black-backed" Goldfinch at the water feature, Tennessee and Yellow Warblers near the citrus grove, and a Yellow-breasted Chat near the stagnant pond. Kicked up a male Painted Bunting on the trail, which I unfortunately was not able to relocate for the crew when they showed up. It was getting pretty warm, so we spent a goodly amount of time at the feeding station where the Chachalacas and House Sparrows entertained us, but got good looks at Inca and White-tipped Doves, plus a pair of Cardinals and a Black-crested Titmouse. We checked the lake, but no night herons, and checked the dead palm, but no parakeets, so we just dragged ourselves around the trails, missing both the anis and Clay-colored Robin that another couple had just seen. The consolation prizes were two Catbirds, a Baltimore Oriole, and more chats (I had had a female Hooded earlier). Karen had again hung out at the water feature while the rest of us knocked ourselves silly in the heat, and was able to shoot what looked like a Philadelphia Vireo! From there we crashed on the benches or on the deck; some folks found a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, while others of us pointed out the Chimney Swifts flying by, in between trying to rescue a female Archilochus hummer who had flown into the visitor's center... Both bird lists follow: Location: Santa Ana NWR (LTC 059) Observation date: 4/24/08 Number of species: 59 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 10 Gadwall 2 Blue-winged Teal 2 Northern Shoveler 1 Plain Chachalaca 10 Least Grebe 1 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Neotropic Cormorant 2 Anhinga 2 Great Egret 2 Snowy Egret 2 Little Blue Heron 5 Tricolored Heron 1 Cattle Egret 10 White Ibis 5 White-faced Ibis 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Harris's Hawk 2 Broad-winged Hawk 4 Gray Hawk 1 Swainson's Hawk 1 American Coot 1 Killdeer 1 Black-necked Stilt 4 Laughing Gull 1 White-winged Dove 10 Mourning Dove 5 Inca Dove 2 White-tipped Dove 2 Groove-billed Ani 2 Common Nighthawk 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 20 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 8 Great Kiskadee 5 Couch's Kingbird 10 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 White-eyed Vireo 5 Green Jay 3 Bank Swallow 2 Barn Swallow 1 Black-crested Titmouse 3 Marsh Wren 1 Northern Mockingbird 2 Long-billed Thrasher 5 European Starling 1 Common Yellowthroat 5 Olive Sparrow 10 Northern Cardinal 3 Indigo Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 15 Great-tailed Grackle 20 Bronzed Cowbird 5 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 Altamira Oriole 2 Baltimore Oriole 1 House Sparrow 8 Location: Frontera Audubon Ctr (LTC 058) Observation date: 4/24/08 Number of species: 36 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 17 Plain Chachalaca 20 Snowy Egret 1 White-winged Dove 30 Inca Dove 10 White-tipped Dove 5 Chimney Swift 5 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 7 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 7 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 2 Great Kiskadee 8 Couch's Kingbird 3 White-eyed Vireo 3 Black-crested Titmouse 3 Carolina Wren 6 Gray Catbird 2 Northern Mockingbird 2 Long-billed Thrasher 3 Tennessee Warbler 1 Yellow Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Yellow-breasted Chat 4 Olive Sparrow 3 Northern Cardinal 4 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Painted Bunting 4 Red-winged Blackbird 1 Great-tailed Grackle 10 Bronzed Cowbird 1 Hooded Oriole 1 Altamira Oriole 1 Baltimore Oriole 1 Lesser Goldfinch 5 House Sparrow 15 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Anzalduas, McAllen Sewer, Edinburg, & Estero Llano From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:24:33 EDT Hi, all! This was the first full day of the San Diego Audubon trip to the Rio Grande Valley, so we covered a lot of territory today! Met at Anzalduas first, where we heard the Beardless Tyrannulet but couldn't pin him down. Everyone's first Green Jay posed nicely on a pipe, and everyone was duly impressed that the Rio Grande (and Mexico) was "right there"! We spent most of our time in the back section where we got good views of Couch's Kingbirds and Brown-crested Flycatcher together, chorusing Chachalacas, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, and for most of us a heard-only Groove-billed Ani (one participant got a fleeting look). A quick stop at the sewer ponds yielded many of the same birds I had Monday, plus the tour's first Cave Swallows, and the three young Swainson's Hawks right where I left them! From there we zipped over to Edinburg Wetlands (after getting turned around; I was leading the pack but I had never come up from the south before...), where the crew had stunning looks at a cooperative Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Curve-billed Thrasher. Javier came by while we were checking out the North Lake (the Audubon's Oriole had been seen that morning but he aluded us once again); there we had Least Grebe and the usual crowd of egrets and teal and "swimming rails". On the way to the South Pond Phil Pryde (our leader) found us a couple of Diamondback Water Snakes! The regular crowd of Neotropic Cormorants was hanging around the South Lake, along with four Black-crowned Night Herons and a pair of Fulvous Whistling Ducks, and the Gull-billed Terns put in an appearance on the way back to the visitor's center, as well as a showy Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. The token mammal was a very cooperative Mexican Ground Squirrel! Pictures of the snake and the squirrel (you have to scroll down to the mammal section for that one) are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc .htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc.htm) I did a butterfly snoop while the others wandered until the prescribed leaving time, and besides a Fatal Metalmark, discovered after looking at the pictures that I had a Horace's Duskywing, a life lep! Those pics are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Edinburg.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Edinburg.htm) From there we raided the Subway on University, then headed over to Estero Llano, checking out the river first. The Avocets were still there, along with four distant White Pelicans, but the prize for many was the snoozing Black Skimmer! Had additional Stilt Sands there as well. In the park a Lark Sparrow posed on the fence near the entrance, and a couple of Savannah Sparrows hid in the shade on the other side of Ibis Pond. At the feeders everyone was thrilled with the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird that came in to spar with the Buff-bellied, and in Dowitcher Pond we added Black-bellied Whistling Ducks to the list. Alligator Lake wasn't as productive as it apparently was that morning: we added White Ibis and Cattle Egret, and got a better look at a Green Heron, but nothing more exotic except a Long-billed Thrasher that gave a very brief view. I needed to vamoose after that, but on the way to the car I heard a Green Kingfisher ticking from the foliage! The four bird lists follow (numbers are approximate as I was concentrating more on showing people birds than keeping an accurate count...) Location: Anzalduas County Pk (LTC 068) Observation date: 4/23/08 Number of species: 26 Plain Chachalaca 6 Great Egret 1 Turkey Vulture 3 Osprey 1 Killdeer 1 White-winged Dove 5 Mourning Dove 2 Groove-billed Ani 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 10 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 1 Great Kiskadee 2 Couch's Kingbird 5 Green Jay 2 Purple Martin 1 Barn Swallow 1 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Marsh Wren 1 Northern Mockingbird 5 Common Yellowthroat 1 Olive Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 1 Red-winged Blackbird 3 Great-tailed Grackle 30 Bronzed Cowbird 3 Location: McAllen Sewage Ponds (LTC 066) Observation date: 4/23/08 Number of species: 19 Blue-winged Teal 10 Great Egret 1 Swainson's Hawk 3 Black-necked Stilt 5 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 5 Stilt Sandpiper 10 Long-billed Dowitcher 2 Rock Pigeon 1 White-winged Dove 5 Mourning Dove 5 Great Kiskadee 1 Purple Martin 3 Cave Swallow 5 Northern Mockingbird 3 Northern Cardinal 1 Great-tailed Grackle 10 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 House Sparrow 5 Location: Edinburg Scenic Wetlands WBC (LTC 061) Observation date: 4/23/08 Number of species: 28 Fulvous Whistling-Duck 2 Gadwall 2 Blue-winged Teal 10 Northern Shoveler 1 Ruddy Duck 1 Least Grebe 5 Neotropic Cormorant 30 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 2 Green Heron 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron 4 Common Moorhen 5 American Coot 30 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Gull-billed Tern 4 Rock Pigeon 3 Mourning Dove 5 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 2 Great Kiskadee 1 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 Northern Mockingbird 5 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Yellow Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 1 Great-tailed Grackle 20 House Sparrow 3 Location: Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (Weslaco)(LTC 054) Observation date: 4/23/08 Number of species: 34 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 10 Blue-winged Teal 5 Least Grebe 1 American White Pelican 4 Neotropic Cormorant 2 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 5 Cattle Egret 1 Green Heron 1 White Ibis 1 Common Moorhen 6 American Coot 5 Killdeer 1 American Avocet 2 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Stilt Sandpiper 5 Long-billed Dowitcher 1 Black Skimmer 1 White-winged Dove 10 Common Ground-Dove 3 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Green Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5 Great Kiskadee 5 Purple Martin 5 Cave Swallow 5 Northern Mockingbird 5 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Common Yellowthroat 1 Lark Sparrow 1 Savannah Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 1 Great-tailed Grackle 20 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: South Padre Island From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:35:43 EDT Hi, all! Had a wonderful morning with San Diego buddy Alice Debolt out at SPI, starting at the Sheepshead Lot, where it was rather quiet at first, but shortly things livened up with a Yellow-breasted Chat, a knockout male Scarlet Tanager, and a "Christmas Tree" full of Indigo Buntings! A single female Painted was in with them, and a moulting Baltimore Oriole tried to bully a female Cardinal off a grapefruit (which Alice had put out beforehand)! A Black-and-white Warbler worked the trees while this was going on, and a female Orchard Oriole had me fooled into thinking it was a Blue-winged Warbler at first (they're small, but not THAT small)! A pair of Tropical Kingbirds chittered near the wires, sparring with a pair of Scissortails. From there Alice took me to a couple of spots she sometimes checks for migrants, including Scarlet's neighborhood where I at least heard a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and the little plot of woods where our other San Diego buddy Tony Merceica sets up his photo blind, where we had a Wilson's and Tennessee Warbler, plus a Curve-billed Thrasher whistling rudely at us. Then we headed over to the Convention Center, where several other birders/photographers were circling the trees trying to glimpse some leftover migrants; I was pleased to be able to add Redstart (singing his "Please please send me E-mail!" song), Northern Parula, Warbling Vireo, and the real prize--a male Blackpoll Warbler to the list! We serendipitiously ran into Richard Griebe, who joined us as we poked along the boardwalk. It was great hearing both Sedge and Marsh Wrens singing together, which sparked a conversation about the possibility of splitting the Marsh Wrens, as they truly do sound a LOT different here than the western birds! At the end of the boardwalk Alice had been telling us about the rudeness of Alloicious (sp?) the Alligator who lunged at her and roared, only to find out that people had been feeding her chickens (feeding the alligator, not Alice), and she had come to expect a free meal from passers-by! Back in the mud was a Killdeer and what we thought were Semipal Plovers at first, when we suddenly realized we were looking at baby Killdeer! I was commenting that this was the first time the Moorhens hadn't been at our feet, but Alice pointed out something even better: a Least Bittern! He even decided to come out and put on a show, which sent Richard literally running back to his van for his camera! Pictures (along with a brazen Great-tailed Grackle) are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Along the other boardwalk a pair of amorous Clapper Rails called and mated right out in the open, and a Tricolored Heron in high breeding plumage oohed and ahhed some visiting birders with its bright blue bill! At the very end were colorful White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, and a female Redhead sitting on what almost looked like a Muskrat mound or something! The Larid Flock had its usual contingent of Laughers, Skimmers, and Royal and Sandwich Terns, plus various flavors of shorebirds (Dunlin coming into breeding plumage were especially nice). A Reddish Egret flew by, and the whole group took off when an Osprey decided to bomb them just for fun! I wanted to access the ocean side of the beach before we all met Tony's wife Peggy for lunch, so we zipped down to the end of the road to look at the dunes, then zipped into one of the beach access points and picked up several courting Least Terns, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstone, and Brown Pelicans sailing by. After a wonderful lunch at Naturals, I dropped Peg off at the Convention Center where Tony was hanging out (he thought it was gonna be the "Girl's Club" for lunch and didn't realize that Richard and Alice's other half Chuck was gonna join us) and we sat and chatted for a few, adding Yellow Warbler to the list. Said list: Location: South Padre Island WBC (LTC 035) Observation date: 4/22/08 Number of species: 72 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 11 Mallard 2 Mottled Duck 3 Blue-winged Teal 3 Redhead 3 Brown Pelican 30 Neotropic Cormorant 1 Least Bittern 2 Great Blue Heron 7 Great Egret 1 Snowy Egret 2 Tricolored Heron 6 Reddish Egret 1 Cattle Egret 60 Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 White Ibis 3 Roseate Spoonbill 3 Osprey 1 Clapper Rail 4 Common Moorhen 2 Black-bellied Plover 2 Killdeer 5 Willet 10 Ruddy Turnstone 17 Sanderling 15 Western Sandpiper 5 Least Sandpiper 2 Dunlin 10 Laughing Gull 47 Least Tern 10 Royal Tern 25 Sandwich Tern 3 Black Skimmer 46 Rock Pigeon 11 Eurasian Collared-Dove 10 White-winged Dove 1 Mourning Dove 3 Inca Dove 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 5 Great Kiskadee 2 Tropical Kingbird 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 Warbling Vireo 1 Tree Swallow 1 Barn Swallow 14 Sedge Wren 1 Marsh Wren 2 Northern Mockingbird 5 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Tennessee Warbler 1 Northern Parula 2 Yellow Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 5 Blackpoll Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 American Redstart 2 Common Yellowthroat 2 Wilson's Warbler 1 Yellow-breasted Chat 1 Scarlet Tanager 1 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Indigo Bunting 8 Painted Bunting 1 Red-winged Blackbird 14 Great-tailed Grackle 48 Brown-headed Cowbird 6 Orchard Oriole 2 Baltimore Oriole 4 House Sparrow 21 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Anacua Levee, Zacatal, & McAllen Sewer Ponds From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:41:06 EDT Hi, all! Birded the levee down around the Anacua Tract of Las Palomas this morning; got there much earlier than anticipated, but my reward was a beenting Common Nighthawk! Two pairs of Tropical Kingbirds were being territorial, and it would be that way pretty much along the whole 15 miles, causing eBird to flag the number! :-D I was disappointed that I found no migrants at the two trailheads, but did have my only Caracara of the day there. At the levee I headed west to the little "station", and since the road was so dicey decided not to do that little stretch any more. But curiosity won out and instead of backtracking to where I initially got on the levee, I decided to head north on a connecting levee (seeing as it bordered some good habitat) to see where that went. Felt a little funny as this one went pretty close to some homes and a ranch (even ran into a couple of guys walking their dogs), but DID stumble upon a tiny little resaca that had a Solitary Sandpiper and a Moorhen, in addition to a couple of coots! In the woods Altamira Oriole and White-tipped Dove were both new for the route. So was White-winged Dove, even though they were out the wazoo this time! I got all turned around back there, as I thought I was heading back east but the position of the sun shot that theory, and the levee eventually dumped out on US281 just west of Santa Maria. So I backtracked down to the WMA then went east at the levee as usual. The little wetlands had water this time, along with Least Grebes, a Stilt Sandpiper, and Black-necked Stilts. Other highlights at various stops along the route included two Baltimore Orioles, my FOS Summer Tanager, another calling Upland Sandpiper, and several Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, also new for the route. Raptors were thin (it was pretty much overcast the whole time), but caught a White-tailed Kite doing a display flight, which was nice to see! Chachalacas were tuning up at various points, and flushed a couple of Bobwhite that made a funny grating sound (obviously an alarm call) which I had never heard! Lots of Barn and Rough-winged Swallows were heading north as well, and I was surprised to still have Lincoln's Sparrows around this late! Even had a Buff-bellied Hummer chitter from the woods! A stop at the Zacatal Resaca was productive as always; whistling duck numbers were way down, but the nicest bird was a fresh, pink Franklin's Gull! Other special birds there included a White-faced Ibis and Tricolored Heron, plus both grebes, BN Stilts, BW Teal and Shovelers, and a Spotted Sandpiper. A singing Yellow Warbler was the only migrant I could kick up. I wanted to check the McAllen Sewer Ponds before the gang from San Diego came to town, and lo and behold, there was actually water in the first pond! And along with it were lots of stilts (both the Black-necked and Sandpiper kind), plus a single male Wilson's Phalarope, what I felt comfortable calling a Semipalmated Sandpiper (little dinky bill with a pretty obvious eyepatch), several Least, and a single Baird's, plus a couple of dowitchers. An American Goldfinch called happily during all of this! I'm thinking that mystery hawk I had last week over on the Cannon Loop may have been a young Swainson's, as an identical raptor was here on the telephone wire, and when it flew, the pattern below looked more like a young Swainson's than a young Redtail to me. After circling the pond I explored another dirt road on the way out that had a Cactus Wren singing, and found a recently killed nighthawk that looked like a Lesser to me, but I would welcome feedback; pictures are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) The three bird lists follow: Location: Anacua WMA (LTC 051) Observation date: 4/21/08 Number of species: 55 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 13 Plain Chachalaca 9 Northern Bobwhite 3 Least Grebe 4 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 3 Snowy Egret 2 Turkey Vulture 1 White-tailed Kite 1 Swainson's Hawk 1 Crested Caracara 1 Common Moorhen 1 American Coot 2 Killdeer 1 Black-necked Stilt 4 Solitary Sandpiper 1 Upland Sandpiper 1 Stilt Sandpiper 1 Rock Pigeon 2 White-winged Dove 45 Mourning Dove 29 Inca Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 2 Common Nighthawk 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 17 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 3 Great Kiskadee 18 Tropical Kingbird 26 Couch's Kingbird 14 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 White-eyed Vireo 12 Green Jay 2 Horned Lark 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 39 Barn Swallow 39 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Carolina Wren 5 Northern Mockingbird 11 Long-billed Thrasher 9 European Starling 2 Common Yellowthroat 27 Summer Tanager 1 Olive Sparrow 7 Lark Sparrow 4 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 6 Red-winged Blackbird 90 Great-tailed Grackle 191 Bronzed Cowbird 18 Brown-headed Cowbird 24 Altamira Oriole 1 Baltimore Oriole 2 House Sparrow 9 Location: El Zacatal (LTC-052) Observation date: 4/21/08 Number of species: 25 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 40 Blue-winged Teal 4 Northern Shoveler 7 Least Grebe 1 Pied-billed Grebe 5 Snowy Egret 1 Tricolored Heron 1 White-faced Ibis 1 Common Moorhen 1 American Coot 60 Black-necked Stilt 8 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Franklin's Gull 1 White-winged Dove 2 Mourning Dove 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1 Tropical Kingbird 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Northern Mockingbird 1 Yellow Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 2 Red-winged Blackbird 2 Great-tailed Grackle 30 House Sparrow 3 Location: McAllen Sewage Ponds (LTC 066) Observation date: 4/21/08 Number of species: 21 Blue-winged Teal 6 Great Egret 1 Harris's Hawk 1 Swainson's Hawk 2 Killdeer 1 Black-necked Stilt 16 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 4 Baird's Sandpiper 1 Stilt Sandpiper 17 Long-billed Dowitcher 2 Wilson's Phalarope 1 Rock Pigeon 1 White-winged Dove 2 Mourning Dove 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1 Cactus Wren 1 European Starling 3 Great-tailed Grackle 3 American Goldfinch 1 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Edinburg Wetlands & Monte Cristo From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:21:48 EDT Hi, all! Visiting San Diego birder Richard Griebe joined me on today's excursion, and truth be told, had he NOT been with me, I might have canned the trip! It was dry when we set out, but we hadn't gotten a mile up Ware Road when it started pouring! Not wanting to negotiate a dirt road in the rain, we agreed to head over to Edinburg Wetlands and see if perhaps it was dry there and do that first. Thankfully the gate was open when we arrived, but it was still spitting, windy, and cold, so we bundled up (or at least I did; Richard braved the elements with what he had) and made the rounds. A Buff-bellied Hummer chittered and gave a brief view in the sheltered bushes, and a Long-billed Thrasher poked along the curb on the main trail by the north lake. We scanned the water and I was shocked: not ONE Black-bellied Whistling Duck!!! That's usually where I send people to see 'em!! We did manage to see Coots and Moorhens, BW Teal and Shovelers, and three Black-crowned Night Herons across the way (plus two Least Grebes that Richard spotted--they were so close that I had overlooked them!). The big south lake had a great show, though: a mob of Neotropic Cormorants (at least THEY were consistent), a few Stilt Sandpipers hanging with the dowitchers, some Least Sands, BN Stilts, and the real treat, a young Roseate Spoonbill! Both Forster's and Gull-billed Terns hung out on a stick, and across the lake were more ducks and a load of herons of various sorts, including several Cattle Egrets. Circling back I spotted a small bird with black upperparts, pale underparts, and a lot of white in the wings, and I thought, "No way! That CAN'T be a seedeater way out here!!" It turned out to be a "Black-backed" Lesser Goldfinch with more white in the wings than normal, and whose yellow looked white at first in the lousy light! We stopped at the center and met Javier, and he showed us where the Audubon's Oriole usually hangs out (but we didn't see him today). On the way out a bright chirp betrayed the presence of a bright Yellow Warbler! The rain had let up, so we headed back to Wallace Road to do the Monte Cristo Tract, and at the first stop we saw how parts south of us were getting clobbered! The wind hadn't abated (and the big trucks were going lickety split along that road--I saw how it paid to get it done first thing in the morning), so hearing things was tough, but we managed to pick up lots of "field birds" such as Horned Larks and Lark Sparrows, in addition to the ubiquitous icterids. At one stop we flushed an Uppy Sand who gave his little warble, and near the north end of the road had two singing Cassin's Sparrows. Sapo Lake had some nice birds despite the traffic, including three White Ibis, the resident Anhinga, and a handful of Least Terns! I was surprised to see half a dozen Willets lined up on a branch, when I'm used to seeing them on the beach or in the fields near the coast! Here we also had both Couch's and Tropical Kingbirds, as well as my first Brown-crested Flycatcher for the route. We had a good show of raptors as well, with two each of Swainson's and White-tailed Hawks (the latter were both immatures), and both vultures along with the caracaras. It was getting late coming back along Bryan, so we scooted along, stopping only at the little wetland there where a Lesser Yellowlegs yelled and a couple of Mottled Ducks jumped up. We celebrated with a wonderful Chinese buffet at Sun Palace on 10th where Richard treated me to lunch (he's one of those disgusting ;-) people who can clean out the whole buffet and not gain an ounce...), then said our goodbyes! Despite the weather, we were very happy with the day's list! Location: Edinburg Scenic Wetlands WBC (LTC 061) Observation date: 4/18/08 Notes: Cold, windy, and drizzly--pretty miserable! Number of species: 39 Gadwall 2 Mottled Duck 2 Blue-winged Teal 40 Northern Shoveler 40 Least Grebe 7 Neotropic Cormorant 30 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 4 Snowy Egret 8 Tricolored Heron 1 Cattle Egret 15 Black-crowned Night-Heron 4 Roseate Spoonbill 1 Common Moorhen 8 American Coot 8 Killdeer 1 Black-necked Stilt 4 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 10 Stilt Sandpiper 5 Long-billed Dowitcher 30 Laughing Gull 2 Gull-billed Tern 5 Forster's Tern 2 Rock Pigeon 3 Mourning Dove 3 Common Ground-Dove 1 Chimney Swift 2 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3 Great Kiskadee 1 Cliff Swallow 1 House Wren 1 Northern Mockingbird 2 Long-billed Thrasher 5 Yellow Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 1 Northern Cardinal 2 Great-tailed Grackle 20 Lesser Goldfinch 1 Location: Monte Cristo Tract (LTC 062) Observation date: 4/18/08 Notes: Windy Number of species: 46 Mottled Duck 4 Blue-winged Teal 5 Least Grebe 1 Neotropic Cormorant 5 Anhinga 2 Great Egret 1 White Ibis 4 Black Vulture 1 Turkey Vulture 2 Swainson's Hawk 2 White-tailed Hawk 2 Crested Caracara 2 American Coot 30 Killdeer 4 Willet 6 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Upland Sandpiper 2 Least Sandpiper 1 Least Tern 6 Gull-billed Tern 1 Mourning Dove 38 Common Ground-Dove 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 4 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 1 Great Kiskadee 8 Tropical Kingbird 3 Couch's Kingbird 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 White-eyed Vireo 1 Horned Lark 18 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Barn Swallow 6 Bewick's Wren 1 Northern Mockingbird 3 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Common Yellowthroat 6 Olive Sparrow 3 Cassin's Sparrow 2 Lark Sparrow 21 Northern Cardinal 4 Red-winged Blackbird 460 Great-tailed Grackle 50 Brown-headed Cowbird 20 House Sparrow 8 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Prairie Warbler @ Quinta Mazatlan From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:28:13 EDT Hi, all! That was definitely the highlight today; QM was the last of three places visited this morning, and by that time the wind was horrendous, so everything was hanging out in the little sheltered butterfly garden! In addition to the Prairie, also had a Nashville, Black-and-white, Wilson's, and Baltimore Oriole as well as the sparrows and doves hanging out at the feeders. "Sharpened" pics of the warbler can be viewed here (camera had trouble focusing...): _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Started the morning at Frontera Audubon, where a weird-looking grackle at the water feature by the deck morphed into a Groove-billed Ani! (A real grackle also showed up later...) For some reason on past trips I had totally overlooked the big pond that's on private property next to the trail (what a backyard) that had two young White Ibis and a pair of Blue-winged Teal! Near the Sabal Palm grove a pair of Green Parakeets screeched overhead then attached themselves to a dead palm (looked attractive for a nest site if it isn't already)! The feeding area had its contingent of Chachalacas (which were also "singing" in quadrophonic--I teased Gloria about them waiting for her to open the place up before starting the concert, as before that point there was not a peep from them), plus Cardinals, doves of various sorts, and a very friendly Olive Sparrow. The pond had a pair of Yellow-crowned Nighties, but was pretty quiet otherwise. Black-bellied Whistlers were constantly flying over, as well as Chimney Swifts. A young male Ruby-throated Hummer made an appearance over by the pond, and at the little watering hole ran into Wayne where we chatted a bit; one thing I discovered to my delight is that on Fridays they DO open at seven, so we "during-the-week" birders do have an opportunity to get here early! Headed over to Valley Nature Center after that, where several school groups were having a big time both inside the center and out! Thought it was funny to have "Nashville, Tennessee" Warblers hanging out together near the cactus patch! :-) Lots of Chachas and doves at the feeding station, but nothing out of the ordinary. A large but silent Myiarchus showed up that had a nice pale base to the lower mandible, so I called it a Great Crested. A Brown-crested called in the parking lot. Last stop was Quinta Mazatlan, where the wind had really picked up, so things were pretty quiet; I was truly surprised that not much seemed to be going on at the feeding stations, especially since they had several fresh, juicy-looking grapefruits out! As I mentioned, the highlights were the migrants at the butterfly garden. At one point I could have sworn I heard a Green Kingfisher "tic-ticking" away, but without any water around I was dubious. Following the sound, however, brought me to a huge water hazard at the golf course next door, but since I couldn't spot any kingfisher I let that one go... Buff-bellied Hummers were in good numbers today, but especially here. Other birds I picked up here for the day included Curve-billed Thrasher and Pyrrhuloxia. Bird lists for all three locations follow: Location: Frontera Audubon Ctr (LTC 058) Observation date: 4/17/08 Number of species: 36 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 13 Blue-winged Teal 2 Plain Chachalaca 25 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2 White Ibis 3 Laughing Gull 1 Rock Pigeon 15 White-winged Dove 9 Mourning Dove 2 Inca Dove 10 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 10 Green Parakeet 2 Groove-billed Ani 1 Chimney Swift 4 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 7 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 5 Great Kiskadee 7 Couch's Kingbird 3 White-eyed Vireo 2 Green Jay 2 Purple Martin 1 Black-crested Titmouse 4 Carolina Wren 2 Northern Mockingbird 3 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Nashville Warbler 2 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 6 Northern Cardinal 8 Red-winged Blackbird 3 Great-tailed Grackle 18 Bronzed Cowbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 House Sparrow 5 Location: Valley Nature Ctr. (LTC 057) Observation date: 4/17/08 Notes: Very windy conditions Number of species: 21 Plain Chachalaca 9 White-winged Dove 7 Mourning Dove 1 Inca Dove 2 White-tipped Dove 8 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 3 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 1 Great Kiskadee 6 Purple Martin 6 Carolina Wren 2 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Tennessee Warbler 2 Nashville Warbler 3 Northern Cardinal 6 Red-winged Blackbird 21 Great-tailed Grackle 4 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 House Sparrow 11 Location: Quinta Mazatlan WBC (McAllen) (LTC 063) Observation date: 4/17/08 Notes: Extremely windy conditions Number of species: 25 Plain Chachalaca 4 White-winged Dove 16 Inca Dove 4 White-tipped Dove 1 Chimney Swift 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 8 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6 Couch's Kingbird 2 White-eyed Vireo 1 Green Jay 1 Northern Mockingbird 3 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Nashville Warbler 1 Prairie Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Wilson's Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 3 Northern Cardinal 2 Pyrrhuloxia 1 Red-winged Blackbird 15 Great-tailed Grackle 8 Bronzed Cowbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Baltimore Oriole 1 House Sparrow 40 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Santa Ana NWR From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:52:54 EDT Hi, all! Had a very pleasant morning at the refuge today; winds didn't kick up until later in the morning, where they actually rocked the hawk tower! Kicked up a troupe of Peccaries early on, and unless the same bird followed me all around the big loop, had a grand total of five Beardless Tyrannulets! Also early on flushed a nightjar that showed a longish, very dark tail with lots of white (looked like outer tail feathers as opposed to tail corners), so I'm presuming Pauraque. Migrants included a noisy Great Crested Flycatcher at the "Willow Lake Culvert" (where I also had a waterthrush of some kind calling but wouldn't come out), a small group of Northern Parulas and Nashville Warblers where the Pintail Lakes Trail heads back into the woods towards the center, and a Yellow-breasted Chat between Pintail Lakes and the Rio Grande. Raptors included a Red-shouldered Hawk batting by, a single Broadwing blowing overhead, a Harris' at Pintail Lakes, and a calling Gray Hawk near the boardwalk along the Willow Trail. Had a large group of Cattle Egrets at the lakes, as well as a single Yellow-crowned Nightie. Had a kingfisher sweep with both Belted at Green at the culvert (Green was at the River as well), and the resident Ringed at Pintail. A few lingering Shovelers and Lesser Scaup were also still hanging around. A beautiful group of BB Whistling Ducks was hanging at the Willow Lake overlook on the Chachalaca Trail, and said trail certainly lived up to its name as the Chachalaca pairs bantered back and forth! Pics of one of them are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Lizards were out in force, too, so I finally set up a special page for reptiles and mammals, which can be viewed here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc .htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Reptiles%20Etc.htm) A sit at the center feeders for five brought in an 11th-hour Clay-colored Robin, and a stroll through the butterfly garden kicked up a Buff-bellied Hummer. The only leps I could get on were a Celia's Roadside Skipper and a Laviana White Skipper. Bird List: Location: Santa Ana NWR (LTC 059) Observation date: 4/16/08 Notes: Also had an Archilochus hummingbird and a waterthrush sp. Number of species: 65 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 32 Gadwall 7 Mottled Duck 5 Blue-winged Teal 16 Northern Shoveler 8 Lesser Scaup 3 Plain Chachalaca 19 Least Grebe 7 Pied-billed Grebe 3 Neotropic Cormorant 2 Great Egret 9 Little Blue Heron 2 Tricolored Heron 1 Cattle Egret 15 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1 Turkey Vulture 3 Harris's Hawk 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Broad-winged Hawk 1 Gray Hawk 1 Common Moorhen 5 American Coot 11 Black-necked Stilt 2 Spotted Sandpiper 3 Forster's Tern 4 White-winged Dove 11 Mourning Dove 11 Common Ground-Dove 2 White-tipped Dove 5 Common Pauraque 1 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 1 Ringed Kingfisher 2 Belted Kingfisher 1 Green Kingfisher 3 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 27 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 9 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 5 Great Crested Flycatcher 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 13 Great Kiskadee 13 Couch's Kingbird 25 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 White-eyed Vireo 8 Green Jay 9 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2 Barn Swallow 5 Black-crested Titmouse 9 Carolina Wren 10 House Wren 1 Clay-colored Robin 1 Northern Mockingbird 8 Long-billed Thrasher 8 European Starling 3 Nashville Warbler 4 Northern Parula 2 Common Yellowthroat 8 Yellow-breasted Chat 1 Olive Sparrow 17 Northern Cardinal 4 Red-winged Blackbird 30 Great-tailed Grackle 31 Bronzed Cowbird 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 4 Altamira Oriole 3 House Sparrow 5 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************Need a new ride? Check out the largest site for U.S. used car listings at AOL Autos. (http://autos.aol.com/used?NCID=aolcmp00300000002851)Subject: Anzalduas & NABA From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:27:07 EDT Hi, all! The gate guard wouldn't let me sneak into Anzalduas before eight this morning ;-) so decided to kill time by getting that stretch of Old Military Highway between FM 1016 and Bentsen done, then going back to bird NABA after doing Anzalduas. Just had the usual Valley suspects; the highlight was a singing Blue Grosbeak on the way back to Anzalduas! Had a couple of brown shorebirds fly in that I suspect might have been Uppy Sands (they were too small to be curlews), but I just wasn't sure. Did have the day's only Cattle Egrets along here, though. Anzalduas was quite birdy, although I couldn't kick up any migrants. The Beardless Tyrannulets were calling right at the four-way stop and elsewhere throughout the park, along with lots of White-winged Doves. I ran into a birding tour, and had my brain been functioning I would have had them point out THE tree they found the roosting Eastern Screech Owl in, as I realized later that just perhaps the gang coming in from San Diego next week might just wanna see that one... :-P I later found some good trees in the general area they pointed me to, so maybe we'll refind him... They had found a Clay-colored Robin in the same grove, and as we chatted a Broad-winged Hawk flew overhead! Oh, and one of the guys asked me why I named my car Jip, and enough people have been curious that I'll spill the unexciting beans: his original California plates were 4JIP714, and the name stuck... From there I headed into the back area, where I actually DID kick up my own Clay-colored Robin (giving the usual skulking views)! While I was out of the car a young Swainson's Hawk flew over, and I was thinking about the post yesterday about the Mississippi Kite show over at Santa Ana and was wondering if a similar show might happen here, when suddenly, there they were! A flock of about 30 birds wheeled around and then came right overhead! During the course of this the odd Broadwing would sail over, but there were no big kettles that I saw. The dam had a few egrets and a lingering pair of American Wigeons, but hundreds of swallows swooped around the dam; those I could get on were all Cliff. Three Neotrop Corms were also there, as well as a Spotted Sandpiper. While I was back looking for the owl roost I heard the Gray Hawk the group had seen earlier, and also kicked up a gorgeous little black-and-white moth, which I actually found in the Kauffman guide (and later found an English name for on BugGuide): a Zebra Pyralid! Pictures are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Anzalduas.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Anzalduas.htm) A quick look at the marsh on the way out only added Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, and Coot to the list. Scared up a pair of Little Blue Herons at the gate, and a buteo passed in front of me at the corner, bringing back memories of the Zone-tailed Hawk at that exact spot last time! It was clear across the field by the time I jumped out of the car, but it turned out to be an adult Swainson's... Headed back to NABA, where I had the place to myself; leps were scarce, of course, but had some interesting birds. White-tipped Doves were at the picnic table where the Mexican Bluewing usually hangs out, and when I pished after five minutes I was practically attacked by a Buff-bellied Hummer and a Lincoln's Sparrow! Kicked up a pair of Nashville Warblers at the far end of the Walking Trail, and a commotion in one of the trees I walked under turned out to be a pair of silent (!) Chachalacas. A pair of Long-billed Thrashers pranced around near the center, and a Curve-billed came out as well. Thought I was gonna dip on the required Common Ground Doves, but spotted them just as I started the car up! Both bird lists follow: Location: Anzalduas County Pk (LTC 068) Observation date: 4/15/08 Number of species: 47 American Wigeon 2 Blue-winged Teal 2 Plain Chachalaca 2 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Neotropic Cormorant 4 Great Blue Heron 1 Great Egret 7 Snowy Egret 2 Little Blue Heron 1 Turkey Vulture 13 Mississippi Kite 30 Broad-winged Hawk 4 Gray Hawk 1 Swainson's Hawk 2 American Coot 9 Killdeer 2 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Laughing Gull 1 White-winged Dove 11 Mourning Dove 7 White-tipped Dove 2 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 19 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 5 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 4 Brown-crested Flycatcher 2 Great Kiskadee 6 Couch's Kingbird 4 Green Jay 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Cliff Swallow 100 Barn Swallow 6 Black-crested Titmouse 3 Marsh Wren 1 Clay-colored Robin 1 Northern Mockingbird 10 Long-billed Thrasher 1 European Starling 2 Common Yellowthroat 6 Olive Sparrow 2 Lark Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 4 Red-winged Blackbird 208 Eastern Meadowlark 4 Great-tailed Grackle 128 Bronzed Cowbird 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 2 House Sparrow 9 Location: NABA International Butterfly Park Observation date: 4/15/08 Notes: This survey includes a three-mile stretch of Old Military Highway between FM 1016 and Bentsen SP Number of species: 36 Plain Chachalaca 4 Cattle Egret 9 White-faced Ibis 11 Killdeer 3 White-winged Dove 2 Mourning Dove 10 Common Ground-Dove 3 White-tipped Dove 2 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 3 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 9 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4 Brown-crested Flycatcher 2 Great Kiskadee 8 Couch's Kingbird 16 White-eyed Vireo 1 Green Jay 2 Cliff Swallow 30 Cave Swallow 20 Black-crested Titmouse 2 Bewick's Wren 1 House Wren 1 Northern Mockingbird 12 Long-billed Thrasher 4 Curve-billed Thrasher 1 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Nashville Warbler 2 Common Yellowthroat 2 Olive Sparrow 5 Lark Sparrow 3 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 5 Blue Grosbeak 1 Red-winged Blackbird 20 Eastern Meadowlark 3 Great-tailed Grackle 83 Bronzed Cowbird 2 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850)Subject: Nine counties, 4 days, and lots of birds in Florida From: Bob Carroll <gatorbob23 AT YAHOO.COM> Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:48:25 -0700 Before I give you the details, I want to thank a number of people who gave me invaluable advice about birding hotspots in the nine-county area of southwest Florida we birded last weekend. Ron Smith, Dave Goodwin, Brian Ahern, David Simpson, Rex Rowan, Tina Mossbarger, and Susan Daughtrey all came through with great ideas and suggestions. There are two reasons why I love county listing. I see places in my adopted state that I never would have visited, and I come into contact with some of the best and kindest people I’ve ever known. Here’s the short version: Nine southwest Florida counties (Charlotte, Collier, De Soto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Lee and Sarasota) in four days (April 5-8) with 124 species including one lifer (Snowy Plover at Siesta Key beach), and 473 total county ticks. Many of you will want to stop reading here, but if you’re curious, here are the details of our four days. We actually left Gainesville, Florida, on Friday after work and drove to the Fort Myers area stopping only for dinner at an exit in Manatee County. That was a little stroke of luck because I picked up eight county birds in the parking lot of Applebees including the trips only House Finch. With two other species added in Hillsborough, we started the trip with 10 new county ticks that felt like a bonus and a good omen of things to come. We started out on Saturday morning at sunrise at Bunche Beach, just south of Ding Darling in Lee County. I had been told that this was an overlooked gem and that’s what it proved to be. There were few people and a greater variety of shorebirds and waders than we would see a day later at Ding Darling and they were within a step or two of us. We walked north along the beach to a cove that held hundreds of birds including a few Roseate Spoonbills, Western and Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, Turnstones, Dunlin, Sanderlings, etc., all of the usual egrets and herons, and more Gannetts than I’ve ever seen on one day. We totaled 28 species in an hour-long stop. Next we headed south into Collier. I had wanted to visit Tigertail, but the tight schedule and the need to cover three counties in one day kept us further north. Instead, we stopped at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park. This was nearly the opposite of Bunche – more people and significantly fewer birds. We had read that the best spot for shorebirds was to scope the beach from the observation tower at the north end of the park. However, the trees around the tower have grown to such an extent that the view of the beach was negligible. We got what we could and headed inland. Our next stop was Corkscrew Swamp. The biggest surprise for us was that the swamp is bone dry. We found one muddy area not much bigger than a small bedroom, and it was dominated by a lone gator that was enjoying the mud. Still, we had some luck – a male Painted Bunting at a feeder (first left after the paved path) and a singing Black-throated Green Warbler (gorgeous!). We left Collier feeling slightly disappointed with 53 species. Next we headed into Hendry where we did mostly roadside birding along CR 846, 833, and 832. We had hoped to stop at Dinner Island on CR 833 but the gates were locked so we continued on to Okaloacoochie and drove some of that area in the dimming light. I’ve since learned from Vince Lucas that the Dinner Island gate only appeared to be locked. I’ll make a better effort to open it next time before I drive away. Ultimately we ended up in LaBelle where the best restaurant in town closed at 8:00PM on a Saturday night! We finished Hendry with 41 county ticks for the day (including our first of many Crested Caracaras) with a day list of about 70 (not counting heard birds which I don’t count because I’m so lousy at it). I felt much better about the day when I added up the tally and realized I had picked up 122 county ticks for the day and had broken the 5000 barrier. We started Sunday at Ding Darling – my first visit there – and it was everything I had hoped for. We spent lots more time than we should have driving around and walking the trails so we had to forego all other Lee County birding and head north. Ding Darling produced 31 new species for the county including our only Spotted Sandpiper of the trip which was kind enough to land nearly at our feet. Also among the new were Red-breasted Mergansers and about a half dozen beautiful Prairie Warblers. Next we headed into Charlotte County and Babcock-Webb WMA. Perhaps it was the late afternoon heat and the sound of gunfire from the shooting range, but the birds were reluctant to come out to play. Still, we coaxed over 30 species out of their hiding spots in a relatively short visit. They included some new trip birds such as Eastern Towhee, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Pine Warblers. We heard a few Bachman’s Sparrows, but none came out to see us, so no tick for me. Before we could go on to Glades County we made an unscheduled stop that was absolutely worth the cost in time. We stopped at a convenience store to watch the US Air Force’s Thunderbird team put on an unforgettable display of flying. The jets screamed over us so close that we could see the pilots in their seats and feel the vibration in the air. They flew in formations of 3, 4, and 6 planes that were incredibly tightly packed together. The show defies description. All I can add is that the next time they’re in Florida – go see them. You won’t regret it. On to Glades County and what was to be our most difficult birding. It was already late in the day and thunder storms and lightning surrounded us. Our goal was Fish-eating Creek, but we didn’t reach there until quite late and the weather kept us from walking the trails. Instead we headed into Moore Haven thinking to pick up some “city birds.” What we found was a really pleasant surprise. On a hunch, we crossed the bridge heading east out of the city but took the first right off the bridge, curling back to the canal along a cane field. We then took the first left and parked along the ditch. This turned out to be a great little spot! We scored White-winged Doves, Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, Common Yellowthroat, Purple Martin, Gray Catbird, and a fly-over Ring-billed Gull. That little bonanza as the sun set brought us the 34 in Glades. For the day, we scored 81 species seen and 97 new county ticks. While our totals were low, we were happy. Ding Darling was magnificent, the air show incredible, and a male Painted Bunting a few feet away in the dying light with thunder and lightning in the distance was a great way to end the day. On Monday morning we started out at Englewood Beach and Stump Pass State Park. The former filled with people rather quickly. We saw a nice variety of shorebirds and waders but nothing new for the trip. Stump Pass is a small park that we heard about from a local resident. It was a nice little gem with lots of beach to walk and few people. At Englewood we were thrilled to find a Common Loon in something very close to its summer plumage. We also picked up Royal, Caspian, and Sandwich Terns, the last two being new for the trip. At Stump Pass we saw Green Heron, Red-breasted Merganser, and a nice variety of shorebirds, but nothing new. We left Charlotte County with 24 new species for the day and a total of 56. Our next planned stop got delayed a bit by an unexpected stop at a place I’ve never heard of before – Manasota Scrub Preserve. It is at the SW corner of Manasota Beach Rd. and CR 776. It’s a very small area, but we picked up a few nice surprises here including our only Eastern Kingbird of the four days. We also found Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, White-eyed Vireo, and Pine Warblers. Nice surprise. Next we drove north to Siesta Key Beach Park in Sarasota County. My expectations were low here because the parking lot was packed. The birds didn’t seem to mind all of the people, however, and we found lots of beach birds to admire. Here we got our best terns of the trip – Royal, Sandwich, Common, Forster’s, and Least – numerous Black Skimmers, and my only lifer of the trip, six wonderful Snowy Plovers about five feet away. They were too close to use our bins, so we kind of stared at each other until they realized how uninteresting people are and wandered away. Fantastic! Next, it was on to the Celery Fields. Way cool. This was a great stop, and only time constraints made us leave. In a very short time we saw Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Wood and Mottled Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Coots, Moorhens, and Pied-billed Grebes. There were American White Pelicans in the distance and above us were a Bald Eagle and a Red-tailed Hawk. Meanwhile, Meadowlarks sang from the field across the street from the gazebo. I’m sure there was much more to be seen, but time was slipping away, so we headed out for a quick stop at Mayakka State Park. Continuing the pattern of previous days, the late afternoon birding was sparse at best. We added only a Northern Parula and a Black-and-white Warbler to the county list. We left Sarasota County with 74 species for the day and headed toward Arcadia and De Soto County. On the way to Arcadia we saw our first Wild Turkeys of the trip, two or three Red-headed Woodpeckers, Tree Swallows, Purple Martins, and several Swallow-tailed Kites – always a beautiful sight. Our next stop for the day was in De Soto County at a small park along the Peace River on the north side of SR 70 in Arcadia. The trees here had lots of birds, mostly your every day park type but each a new tick for the county. We tallied Blue Jays, Downy Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, Northern Parula, and Palm and Black-and-White Warblers. Finally we went to a restaurant in front of the Holiday Inn Express (a Chili’s, I think). Before we went in we checked the retention pond behind it and scored a Green Heron and some Red-winged Blackbirds. That ended our third day. It was a good one with nearly 90 species on our day list and 126 county ticks. Our final day started with a frustrating search for what the DeLorme calls NE Roads St. It is actually called NE Roan St. Once there, we had a very enjoyable morning doing roadside birding and picking up the trip’s first seen Bachman’s Sparrows. Among the other birds found there were a Pileated Woodpecker, a Swamp Sparrow, two Eastern Towhees, several Ground-Doves and a Blue-headed Vireo. We finished up our stay in De Soto with a swing along CR 760 which is southeast of Arcadia and then heading east along SR 70. Our final tally for De Soto was 29 new ticks for the day bringing our total to 57 – not bad for the small amount of time we spent there. We were on to Highlands County next. Our first stop was near the Archbold Biological Station where we picked up our second Red-eyed Vireo of the trip and our only Florida Scrub Jays. Then we headed off to the area around Lake Placid, particularly around the boat ramp on the western edge of the lake. Here we added White-winged Dove and Forster’s Tern to our county lists. Eventually we made our way to Lake Jackson and Highlands Hammock State Park which – true to form for this trip – was nearly birdless in the mid and late afternoon. Still, we added a Tufted Titmouse, a Carolina Wren, and a few common warblers. We decided to call it quits in Highlands and took SR 66 west toward Zolfo Springs, birding a bit along the way. We ended up with 44 species for Highlands and little hope that we could find anything unusual in Hardee as the day began to fade. Boy, were we wrong! If memory serves, it was Ron Smith who suggested we check out CR 664 west of Bowling Green. In the last hour of daylight, we started along the road until we saw a small pond on the north side as the road took a sweeping turn to the right. Thank goodness we stopped, because we had all missed the large pond on the south side. There was a Moorhen in the northerly pond, but by then we had turned our scopes to the south. There were American White Pelicans, Black-necked Stilts, Blue-winged Teal, Caspian Terns, a Forster’s Tern, Mottled Ducks, an Osprey, an Anhinga, Cormorants, and Snowy and Great Egrets. Then a half-dozen Roseate Spoonbills flew in as well as a single Sandhill Crane. One Ring-billed Gull flew overhead and dozens of Meadowlarks sang in the field in front of us. Back across the street we noticed some Black-bellied Whistling –Ducks in the northerly pond. Wow, we thought, what a great way to end the trip . . . but we weren’t finished yet. A bit down the road was another pond to the north with about 40 dowitchers, a few Greater Yellowlegs, and some Least Sandpipers. And a Black Skimmer. A bit further along the road we found a building that must be a community center or perhaps a church. In front and on top of one of the telephone polls was a Great Horned Owl being harassed by Blue Jays. A few hundred yards away we encountered a Northern Bobwhite out for a stroll along the road. It was time to turn around and head toward home, but we decided that there was enough light to justify one last stop. We went back to the original ponds, but just before them we turned north onto what I think was called Pool Road to scope from a different angle. There we found the last bird of the trip – a Sora, just visible in the last bit of light (thank heavens for that distinctive shape and lovely yellow bill). Our last day netted us 81 species and 118 county ticks. Our final tally included 124 species, 473 county ticks, and more laughs than we could count. Since I moved to Florida in 1982, I’ve come to love this state. Since I took up county listing, I have really come to appreciate its beauty as I’ve explored 66 of our 67 counties looking for birds. Get out and see Florida, folks, it’s a jewel – and I haven’t even gotten to Monroe County yet! Bob Carroll Gainesville Florida County Listers’ Website www.geocities.com/gatorbob23 I hope you love birds too. It is economical. It saves going to heaven. Emily Dickinson US poet (1830 - 1886)Subject: Estero Llano Grande SP From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:02:18 EDT Hi, all! Had a wonderful morning at the park, but started birding along the south side the river along the dirt road, picking up many Avocets, Long-billed Dowitchers, Coots, a few Moorhens, Black-necked Stilts, a Black-crowned Night Heron, and a single White Pelican. Birding the levee padded the list with ag-related birds such as Eastern Meadowlark, Horned Lark, and Upland Sandpiper. One of the little wetlands along the levee had a Gull-billed Tern batting around, a single Gadwall, and a couple of Little Blue Herons. A couple of Harriers scoured the fields, and a Cooper's Hawk blasted out of the vegetation by one wetland. In the park, a group of White Ibis in every conceivable plumage dined on the crayfish, and the dowitcher flock had a few Stilt Sandpipers in with them, some coming into breeding plumage! Lots of swallows were moving through--mostly Barns, but samples of all the others species as well except for Tree (and that was probably there, too, and I just overlooked it...). One of the highlights was stumbling upon a HUGE flock of ducks on Dowitcher Pond, which included both Whistling Ducks (it was nice to see the Fulvous), Shovelers, Mottled Ducks, and Blue-winged Teal. A pod of eight Least Grebes sat in the middle as well, and a Least Bittern gave its rail-like call from the reeds. Grebe Marsh had the resident Green Kingfisher, and had an "ask and you shall receive" moment when I was wondering if I was ever going to stumble upon any migrant warblers, and suddenly a "seep" revealed a fleeting look at a Tennessee Warbler, and a Prothonotary that followed me halfway to Alligator Pond! Said Alligator was basking on the shore showing all his teeth, and at the overlook had a couple of Green Herons and Neotropic Cormorants to add to the list. On the Camino de las Aves, a five-minute sit up on the levee was rather quiet until a Red-crowned Parrot flew over! A Harris' Hawk claimed one of the telephone poles, and a swing around the loop added Tropical Kingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Common Ground Dove, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, and Bewick's Wren to the list. On the way back a Lesser Yellowlegs had joined the lineup at Dowitcher Pond, and enjoyed a couple of Buff-bellied Hummers at the feeder (also had had an Archilochus of some kind whiz by earlier). On the way out was entranced by a Mockingbird that whipped off at least 16 other species in the time I was along that path! That was one of those times you wished you had a tape recorder! Other critters included Texas Spotted Whiptail and Rosebelly Lizard, and while leps were pretty sparse, did manage to kick up another Cyna Blue in the parking lot! Bird List: Location: Estero Llano Grande SP WBC (Weslaco)(LTC 054) Observation date: 4/14/08 Notes: Also had an Archilochus Hummingbird, species unknown. Area covered also included the south side of the river and the levee. Number of species: 79 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 108 Fulvous Whistling-Duck 30 Gadwall 1 Mottled Duck 7 Blue-winged Teal 9 Northern Shoveler 13 Plain Chachalaca 12 Northern Bobwhite 2 Least Grebe 10 Pied-billed Grebe 2 American White Pelican 1 Neotropic Cormorant 2 Double-crested Cormorant 5 Least Bittern 1 Great Egret 2 Snowy Egret 1 Little Blue Heron 2 Green Heron 2 Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 White Ibis 8 Turkey Vulture 4 Northern Harrier 2 Harris's Hawk 1 Sora 2 Common Moorhen 6 American Coot 20 Killdeer 4 Black-necked Stilt 10 American Avocet 11 Spotted Sandpiper 3 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 Upland Sandpiper 1 Least Sandpiper 21 Stilt Sandpiper 12 Long-billed Dowitcher 95 Laughing Gull 1 Gull-billed Tern 1 White-winged Dove 18 Mourning Dove 64 Inca Dove 2 Common Ground-Dove 10 White-tipped Dove 4 Red-crowned Parrot 3 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2 Green Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 20 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2 Brown-crested Flycatcher 2 Great Kiskadee 12 Tropical Kingbird 1 Couch's Kingbird 7 White-eyed Vireo 1 Green Jay 2 Horned Lark 1 Purple Martin 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 11 Bank Swallow 6 Cliff Swallow 4 Cave Swallow 6 Barn Swallow 22 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Carolina Wren 1 Bewick's Wren 2 House Wren 1 Marsh Wren 3 Northern Mockingbird 16 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Curve-billed Thrasher 2 Tennessee Warbler 1 Prothonotary Warbler 1 Common Yellowthroat 14 Olive Sparrow 1 Lark Sparrow 4 Lincoln's Sparrow 2 Northern Cardinal 3 Red-winged Blackbird 186 Eastern Meadowlark 6 Great-tailed Grackle 69 House Sparrow 15 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850)Subject: Falcon Parks From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:34:21 EDT Hi, all! Birded Falcon State Park and environs this morning as opposed to during the week, mainly because Fran Bartle was throwing her first annual Butterfly Fest, and I wanted to be sure to catch it! She's done a fabulous job on the garden, which is now in essence completed with benches and beautiful interpretive signs, and she gave some of us a guided tour, pointing out the various host plants and special native plants that are all but extirpated in the Valley. Unfortunately it was too cool and breezy (and dry) for leps (most interesting thing was a Southern Dogface that went fluttering by), but she DID show us her "Pipevine Swallowtail Nursery" where several of the caterpillars were munching away, and some had made their way up under the awnings of the rec center and had even pupated! Pics are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Falcon.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/TX%20Butterflies%20Falcon.htm) I got there early to bird and added several new species to my Falcon list right away: a "pinking" Blue Grosbeak, a serenading Cassin's Sparrow, and a shy Chachalaca behind the old restroom! Several Bullock's Orioles showed themselves (some of them sure sound different here than in San Diego), and while I think the "weekend warriors" made an impact on what birds might have been by the lakeshore, the regulars (Coots, Laughing Gulls, Snowy Egrets, etc.) were still there. One of the picnic areas had a convention of caracaras and Turkey Vultures down by the water's edge inspecting something! A lingering Vesper Sparrow was poking along the road, and at the boat ramp were several kinds of swallows flying overhead, including Bank. The big "Bird Viewing Area" in the campground had several Bobwhite, and a couple of Bronzed Cowbirds bullying the Redwings and Brownheads. The photo blind at the Rec Center had its attendant Redwings and Grackles, of course, but a Green Jay, Cactus Wren, another Bobwhite, and both thrashers came in for a visit. A big miss was Black-throated Sparrow (although one had been seen by a British tour group earlier), and an even bigger miss (that I didn't even know about until Fran and Jim Booker told me about it later) was the group of Black Skimmers that have been hanging around lately! Other critters included a Texas Spotted Whiptail back at the Butterfly Garden. Photos of some of the birds are posted here: _http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm_ (http://miriameaglemon.com/photogallery/Rio%20Grande%20Valley%20Birds.htm) Took a quick swing through Starr County Park and had some Chihuahuan Ravens, several Lark Sparrows, and a kingbird that had me leaning towards Western, but I couldn't get a definitive view in the poor light. Chatted with a birding tour from Canada who had just visited the River areas and had gotten Muscovy Duck amongst the regulars, so they were a bunch of happy campers! Bird List: Location: Falcon SP (Starr Co.)(LTC 084) Observation date: 4/12/08 Number of species: 53 Plain Chachalaca 1 Northern Bobwhite 10 Double-crested Cormorant 2 Great Egret 3 Snowy Egret 17 Tricolored Heron 1 Black Vulture 2 Turkey Vulture 4 Osprey 2 Crested Caracara 4 American Coot 21 Killdeer 1 Laughing Gull 6 Ring-billed Gull 1 White-winged Dove 5 Mourning Dove 10 Inca Dove 1 Greater Roadrunner 4 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 7 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4 Vermilion Flycatcher 1 Ash-throated Flycatcher 2 Great Kiskadee 8 Couch's Kingbird 3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 White-eyed Vireo 1 Green Jay 4 Chihuahuan Raven 3 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Bank Swallow 1 Cave Swallow 2 Barn Swallow 2 Verdin 4 Cactus Wren 6 Bewick's Wren 3 Northern Mockingbird 38 Long-billed Thrasher 1 Curve-billed Thrasher 8 Common Yellowthroat 1 Olive Sparrow 5 Cassin's Sparrow 2 Vesper Sparrow 1 Lark Sparrow 12 Northern Cardinal 6 Pyrrhuloxia 13 Blue Grosbeak 1 Red-winged Blackbird 63 Great-tailed Grackle 58 Bronzed Cowbird 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 16 Bullock's Oriole 4 Altamira Oriole 1 House Sparrow 6 Mary Beth Stowe McAllen, TX _www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/) **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolcmp00300000002850)Subject: Harlingen From: Mary Beth Stowe <MiriamEagl AT AOL.COM> Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:58:54 EDT Hi, all! Visited Hugh Ramsey and Harlingen City Lake Parks this morning; the wind was horrendous, but it was sunny and otherwise beautiful. Highlights at Hugh Ramsey include my FOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling across the arroyo: it was singing the slow, deliberate "cou, cou, cou," rather than the rapid roll I'm familiar with, so I needed to check Stokes on that one! :-) I thought I heard a Blackburnian Warbler sing, but it didn't sing again, and the wind and cacophony made it difficult to pick things out. No parrots today, but when I ran into Christine on the Ebony Trail, she told me about some Groove-billed Anis that had been hanging around, but unfortunately I dipped on them. At the far eastern (?) end of the park was a Ringed Kingfisher along the little tributary, and a pair of Blue-winged Teal came tearing into the resaca while I watched! The Cattle Egret was a flyover at the entrance, and a Black-and-white Warbler sang while I was at the car. Nothing but a female grackle came in to the feeders, but I could hear the Buff-bellied Hummers zipping around. Over at City lake Park, I finally got smart and parked in the library lot so I could walk right up to where the birds always are over by the dam, and had the usual Laughing Gulls, Coots, and BB Whistlers, along with a single Forster's Tern coming into breeding plumage. Checked the flock carefully but couldn't pull out any odd gulls. Liberty Gardens was pretty quiet due to the wind, except for the ubiquitous grackles, redwings, White-winged Doves, and Mockingbirds. Came home early due to a doctor's appointment, and a very bad accident in that construction zone along 85 was a graphic reminder to take it easy along there! Bird lists: Location: Harlingen Arroyo Colorado (Ramsey Park) WBC (LTC 026) Observation date: 4/10/08 Number of species: 40 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 30 Blue-winged Teal 2 Cattle Egret 1 Killdeer 1 Spotted Sandpiper 1 Laughing Gull 10 White-winged Dove 9 Mourning Dove 7 Common Ground-Dove 1 White-tipped Dove 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Chimney Swift 2 Buff-bellied Hummingbird 4 Ringed Kingfisher 1 Golden-fronted Woodpecker 9 Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1 Brown-crested Flycatcher 4 Couch's Kingbird 5 White-eyed Vireo 3 Green Jay 1 Cave Swallow 4 Black-crested Titmouse 1 Verdin 2 Carolina Wren 3 Bewick's Wren 2 House Wren 2 Northern Mockingbird 7 Long-billed Thrasher 2 Curve-billed Thrasher 5 European Starling 2 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 1 Olive Sparrow 12 Lincoln's Sparrow 1 Northern Cardinal 5 Red-winged Blackbird 4 Great-tailed Grackle 14 Brown-headed Cowbi |