[texbirds] Angelina NF (longish)
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2014 19:36:10 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, all!
Again was wide awake before the alarm went off, so instead of going to
that dicey dirt road first thing, I decided to take the paved road down to
Boykin Springs, stopping every half mile. And what a treat: Chuck-will’
s-widows right next to the car were almost drowned out by the Cardinals, and I
was surprised that even a full hour before dawn you could see the eastern
sky starting to light up! But about two miles in (and in the burned area,
yet), I was pleased as punch to hear the first Bachman’s Sparrow of the
morning! He was in the distance, but I was just happy to get ‘im!
And I thank God a million times over that I came last night to check the
area out, because there was neither sound nor sight of a Red-cockaded
Woodpecker all morning (and besides Boykin Springs, I stumbled upon another
area
north of SR 63 that had several nesting trees, but it was very quiet)! A
pair of Belted Kingfishers rattled over the water, and there were tons of
what I’m assuming were mostly Pine Warblers singing, as I did manage to see
one (Chippies sound identical to my ear, but I didn’t see any of the latter).
I heard some squeaking on the way out where the woodpeckers were the
night before, but this time it turned out to be the Brown-headed Nuthatches
putting up a fuss!
Susan Foster had given me coordinates for a territorial Bachman’s that she
knew about, and since the route I had mapped out went right by that
intersection (I forgot to bring in the map, but I think the two roads were 326
and
327), and sure enough, this one was very close! Couldn’t get him to show
himself (he was probably in plain sight but a little bird waaay up the tree
is next to impossible for me to spot unless he moves) but was happy to get
a very nice recording! Making a turn I was thrilled to see two
Mississippi Kites on a dead tree, and turning yet another corner had a
Black-and-white Warbler singing loudly at another stop! The road left the
Forest and
went through private property at several spots, but hit the swallow jackpot at
the Baptist church with gobs of Purple Martins and Tree Swallows on the
telephone lines!
The road I was on “T”ed with a paved road near a very open field where a
Blue Grosbeak was singing (there were several dead trees, so I was wondering
if a bad fire went through there at some point). Things were quieting
down by then, so I decided to close out the BBS-protocol and just head down to
some of the shoreline spots to see what I could find. The paved road “T”
ed with R255, so I took that north hoping to find Ebenezer Park, but
overshot it and ended up at Overlook Park! It was a lovely view, but
relatively
birdless except for Barn and Rough-winged Swallows and a singing Orchard
Oriole, but a couple pulled in, saw that I was birding, and pointed me to a
road across the street that takes you down to the Angelina River where Bald
Eagles are often seen! I thanked them profusely and headed down, and it
was indeed a lovely scenic view. No eagles, but did have a few Broadies
circling overhead, more Mississippi Kites, and a couple of Great Blue Herons.
Went back up to the overlook to use the facilities and call my boss back
while enjoying a sandwich and trying to solve her problem (something about
crisis management while enjoying a stupendous view of Lake Rayburn that is
very relaxing :-)), then headed to Ebenezer Park. Picked up an Eastern
Towhee that only did a couple of songs before shutting up, and while crawling
around the area spotted a melanistic Eastern Gray Squirrel (I think they get
this far south, anyway—didn’t look big enough for a Fox Squirrel)! Over
at the boat ramp had another stupendous view from a wooded, elevated spit,
where a Baltimore Oriole and Blue Grosbeak were flopping around, but while
scanning over the lake I happened to spot a distant "black in the middle and
white on both ends" blob powering past the fishing boats! Was very glad
to bag the Bald Eagle, even if it was a distant view (and thankfully it was
an adult)!
Only had time for one more peek at the lake from the end of a dicey road,
where all I picked up was a Pied-billed Grebe and a couple of spooky guys
who came tearing over in their boat, probably wondering what I was up to
(there was a beat-up chair there, so maybe they were camping…)! Headed to
Galveston after that, keeping an eye out for Swallow-tailed Kites as I was
driving right through the area everyone says they hang out (Liberty/Dayton area
—BTW, I must have driven in and out of Liberty three or four times!!
Either there are several “Liberties” or the town is laid out really weird…)
Rolled into Galveston with 61 species for the day. BTW, had a parakeet of
some kind fly over the intersection with nesting material in Texas City (I
think it was); anyone know if anything besides Monk Parakeet would be
likely?
Bird List:
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
Neotropic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Mississippi Kite Ictinia mississippiensis
Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Inca Dove Columbina inca
Chuck-will's-widow Antrostomus carolinensis
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon
Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus
Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens
Great Crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Purple Martin Progne subis
Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Cliff Swallow
Carolina Chickadee Poecile carolinensis
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis
Brown Thrasher Toxostoma rufum
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia
Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina
Pine Warbler Setophaga pinus
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Bachman's Sparrow Peucaea aestivalis
Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea
Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea
Dickcissel Spiza americana
Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius
Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
61 SPECIES
So far: 168 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
www.miriameaglemon.com
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