[texbirds] VNC trip to Sacahuistale Flats/Port Mansfield (longish)
- From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 21:06:37 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, all!
Well, the trip was much more productive than I thought it might be with the
high temps and somewhat windy conditions, but we managed to bag four life
birds for Allie, a visiting birder from Kern County California! The rest
of the "Birder Patrol" included MJ Syvertsen, Pat Heirs, Joyce Davidson,
Cheryle Beck, and Lydia Guerra (the new exec director of the VNC). Lydia's
friend Sharon joined us for a bit in Port Mansfield.
After meeting in Raymondville we headed east along SR 186 towards Port
Mansfield with the goal of stopping periodically along the road (Sacahuistale
Flats is basically the "wild" area between FM 1420 and Port Mansfield).
Having thought I lost Pat and Joyce we made an unscheduled stop that just
happened to be next to a retention pond, that just happened to have Allie's
first life bird: several Fulvous Whistling Ducks (along with Black-bellied
Whistlers and a Mottled Duck I didn't notice till I looked at the
pictures...)! We also saw a couple of small larids on the opposite shore that
had us
totally baffled (they looked like Bonaparte's Gulls, but not THIS time of
year!) until a Gull-billed Tern breezed by with a fish and the two "Bonies"
took off after her--boy, baby Gullbills have an awfully small bill! :-)
Subsequent stops gave us nice looks (or "listens") of Dickcissels and
Horned Larks in the agricultural areas, Hooded Orioles by the palms, and
Curve-billed Thrashers, Bewick's Wrens, Verdins, Painted Buntings, and Blue
Grosbeaks in the thorn scrub. A silent Aimophila sparrow popped up on the
fence
in response to pishing, and based on the photos Allie was able to get, we
narrowed it down to her life Botteri's Sparrow! (We heard several later,
thankfully, along with a token Cassin's...) Several Caracaras sat on poles,
and a stop at the canal yielded a Green Kingfisher that I missed, along
with a shy Groove-billed Ani and another lifer for Allie - a young
White-tailed Hawk! (We later saw a knockout adult in with some vultures...)
Pat
spotted a flock of White Ibis that got away before I could see them, and we
raced down the road to get ahead of a thermaling flock of Wood Storks over the
road! Closer to PM Allie spotted a ballet of at least 100 White Pelicans
circling against the clouds!
Once in PM we made our way to the bay access road, but not before getting
sidetracked by several of the resident deer in velvet who were lounging
under an A-frame! :-) Unfortunately the bay access is still closed, so we
meandered around the nearby residential area in order to just peek in the bay,
picking up Sandwich Tern for the day, but also a very cooperative
Long-billed Curlew. The highlight, though, had to be the two little fawns
that
approached our car, along with "mom" (MJ had to quickly close the window
before
she got a wet deer nose in her face)! The whole herd ended up approaching
the other cars behind us!
We picked up Brown Pelicans and a flyover Purple Martin at the canal, along
with what looked like a fishing tournament going on :-), so we headed over
to Fred Stone Park, where some waiting under the shade of a picnic kiosk
yielded fly-by Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers,
and a single Least Tern. Thanks to Pat's scope we were barely able to
make out a Wilson's Plover lounging with the larids! Comedy relief was
provided by a young Great Blue Heron sporting an "Alfalfa Sprout" (those who
remember "Li'l Rascals" will get the joke...)
We called it a day after that, logging 62 species for the morning! Photos
can be seen here:
http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/2013%20Field%20Trips/July/Sacahuista
le%20Flats.html
Bird List (might have missed something the others saw...):
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
Mottled Duck
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
White Ibis
Wood Stork Mycteria americana
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
Wilson's Plover Charadrius wilsonia
Willet Tringa semipalmata
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Least Tern Sternula antillarum
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
White-tipped Dove Leptotila verreauxi
Groove-billed Ani Crotophaga sulcirostris
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
Brown-crested Flycatcher Myiarchus tyrannulus
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Couch's Kingbird Tyrannus couchii
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris
Purple Martin Progne subis
Verdin Auriparus flaviceps
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Olive Sparrow Arremonops rufivirgatus
Botteri's Sparrow Peucaea botterii
Cassin's Sparrow Peucaea cassinii
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea
Painted Bunting Passerina ciris
Dickcissel Spiza americana
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
62 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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