[texbirds] Re: Old Port Isabel Rd & South Padre (Common Tern??)
- From: "Rex Stanford" <calidris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Mary Beth Stowe" <MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx>, <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 23:30:10 -0500
Hi, Mary Beth and TEXBIRDS readers,
Today (Monday, 07/01/13) we spent the afternoon birding on South Padre
Island (SPI), but what follows is not a full account of what we saw there
today, although we do note that birding there generally was "slow" (but not
disappointing, as you will see). We went to SPI today specifically because
of Mary Beth Stowe's TEXBIRDS posting late yesterday, Sunday, June 30, 2013,
which included three Magnificent Frigatebirds at SPI. Lured by that
enchanting prospect, we eagerly headed to SPI this morning.
Being tired from a long stretch of birding and driving today, we simply
wanted this evening to report that this afternoon between 2:05 and about
2:20 PM we observed three Magnificent Frigatebirds, all viewed
simultaneously from the birding shelter #3 on the boardwalk of the South
Padre Island Birding and Nature Center.
Our first frigatebird sighting was when we headed south on the boardwalk
from the visitor center. At about 2:05 PM, perhaps 10 yards past the first
birding shelter one encounters heading west from the visitor center, Birgit
spotted a single frigatebird soaring gracefully at a substantial altitude to
our southwest. I (Rex) tried to photograph it before it disappeared
somewhere in the sky, but to no avail.
Perhaps 10 minutes later, when we got to birding shelter #3, Birgit almost
immediately spotted three frigatebirds south-southwest of us, again high in
the sky. This time they were generally soaring in a roughly circular
pattern, perhaps riding a thermal created in a break in the thin and
moderately high cloud cover. I quickly got onto them and photographed two of
them, but never was able to get the third in the field of view of the
camera. Indeed, the third frigatebird quickly had disappeared from sight,
perhaps even before I could get the camera on any of them. Perhaps this
third, disappearing, frigatebird was the one we had seen a few minutes
before as it soared alone.
For perhaps five minutes, two of these frigate birds performed a very
graceful, circulating dance in the partly blue, partly cloud-covered, sky.
They were a lovely sight, and we hope these birds might stick around long
enough for others to enjoy them. We watched carefully but never saw them
return later in the afternoon, perhaps because, for some time, the sky
became overcast, perhaps reducing opportunities for soaring on circulating
hot air or, conceivably, in part, their absence might have been favored by
repeated overflights, shortly after our sighting, of a single-engine
aircraft towing a banner advertising an event at a local business. The
frigatebirds, though, undoubtedly had soared at a higher altitude than that
aircraft, so it is possible that the plane's presence played no role in
their apparent absence for the rest of the afternoon.
Last, but not least, we extend our thanks to Mary Beth Stowe for promptly
reporting on TEXBIRDS her encounter yesterday at SPI with three
frigatebirds. Without that alert we would not have had the pleasure of
seeing frigatebirds today at SPI.
Rex and Birgit Stanford
McAllen, TX
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