[texbirds] VNC's Wild Goose Chase
- From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:19:00 -0500 (EST)
Hi, all!
Yesterday's (1/26) VNC field trip was a blast! We had a caravan of eight
vehicles (four from the east and four from the west :-)) and we met
somewhere in the middle along Monte Cristo Road in thick fog which thankfully
burned off quickly! Intelligence reports stated that the geese and cranes
were
coming off Delta Lake first thing, so we all headed up FM 1015, and were
soon treated to skeins and skeins of geese and cranes flying right overhead,
with a few White Pelicans thrown in! It was glorious! The highlight for
many were definitive looks at Ross' Geese within the Snows (where were they
last year?! ;-)), and the Whitefronts were a lifer for MJ at least! We
then headed up to the little pond "behind" Delta Lake that's usually been
empty whenever I've visited it, but that morning it was just crammed with
stuff, including Spoonbills, dowitchers, both stilts and avocets, both
yellowlegs, and several duck species!
We also stumbled across a couple of burned cane fields with their attendant
White-tailed Hawks and Caracaras, and one plowed field had a Sprague's
Pipit, another lifer for many! We also had nice looks at Horned Larks,
American Pipits, and the ubiquitous Western Meadowlarks. One participant had
spotted a Say's Phoebe early on, and a Belted Kingfisher posed in some
greenery that made HIM look a little green!
A quick romp around Delta Lake County Park yielded a Vermilion Flycatcher
hanging around the playground plus the expected warblers, but not much else
of note seeing as the wind was picking up. We stopped at the parking area
along FM 88 that bisects the lake and saw (probably) the same spoonbills we
had seen earlier, since they vamoosed while we were there, plus a Spotted
Sandpiper and several Black-crowned Night Herons, along with another Belted
Kingfisher. Pat then led us to the famous Hargill Playa, where we had
close encounters with some Sandhill Cranes! A hidden pond along Bucy Road
had a couple of pelicans, but that was about it.
Most everyone was tuckered out by then, but when I mentioned Brewer's
Blackbird, Larry and Linda definitely wanted to go after that (lifer), so they
and Pat along with Merle and Karen in another car and MJ, Joyce, and myself
in Bippy headed up to the Rio Beef Feedyards and thankfully found a pair
close to the road! On the way back down Rio Beef Road Pat spotted some ducks
in another hidden pond, and two female Ring-necked Ducks turned out to be
lifers for MJ as well!
Photos and recordings are posted here:
_http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/VNC%20Field%20Trips.html_
(http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/VNC%20Field%20Trips.html)
Bird List (hope I remembered everything; let me know if I overlooked
something!):
Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
Snow Goose Chen caerulescens
Ross's Goose Chen rossii
Gadwall Anas strepera
Mottled Duck Anas fulvigula
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Green-winged Teal Anas crecca
Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris
Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis
Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
Neotropic Cormorant
American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
American Coot
Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
American Avocet Recurvirostra americana
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus
Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Common Ground Dove
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
American Kestrel Falco sparverius
Eastern Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Green Jay Cyanocorax yncas
Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris
Verdin Auriparus flaviceps
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
American Pipit Anthus rubescens
Sprague's Pipit Anthus spragueii
Orange-crowned Warbler Oreothlypis celata
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta
Brewer's Blackbird Euphagus cyanocephalus
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird
Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria
House Sparrow
72 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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