Yesterday (Wednesday, 09/02/15) my wife (Birgit) and I visited four sites
in Cameron County: WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (late morning); SOUTH PADRE
ISLAND CONVENTION CENTER (SPI CC) plus bayside shoreline immediately north
(early- to mid-afternoon); TX-48 SOUTHBOUND PULLOUT just past a long bridge
(mid-afternoon); and TX-48 BOAT LAUNCH (late afternoon). Our major focus
was migrating shorebirds, but we also were interested in anything else of
interest that we might find, including, at SPI CC, migratory passerines.
Here are what we deem the highlights of this birding at each of these
sites, along with some comments.
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS: We found few shorebirds: KILLDEER (several),
LONG-BILLED CURLEW (2), and LEAST SANDPIPER (several). This scarcity of
shorebird species might have had something to do with that this particular
area of the county seemingly has had far less rain than some others of its
areas, that the fields, though mainly green, seemed to hold no standing
water, that some had had considerable harvest of turf, and, yesterday, that
farm machines were active on a couple of the fields. There was some
residual water, apparently due to irrigation, in the ditch west of Weaver
Road, and it was there that we found Least Sandpiper, as we often have. The
presence of the Long-billed Curlews, despite the general dryness of the
fields, might have been because this species is known to be able, using its
stout bill, to probe a bit into the soil for food items, even when the
substrate is not soggy, muddy, or beneath standing water. Our big
disappointment was not finding either Upland or Buff-breasted Sandpiper,
the latter having been particularly hard to find in this area thus far this
season. Total shorebird species identified at this site = 3.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND CONVENTION CENTER (SPI CC) plus bayside shoreline
immediately north: First, let us consider the bayside shore north of the
SPI CC (whether viewed from behind SPI CC or from the bayside itself).
Given that shorebird migration presently should be somewhere near its peak,
we found on this shoreline disappointingly few shorebird species and
individual shorebirds: BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (3); SNOWY PLOVER (3); WILSONâS
PLOVER (1); SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (2); PIPING PLOVER (8, at least one
extensively banded, but the glare was so great to allow neither definitive
notation of the banding nor useful photos of it); GREATER YELLOWLEGS (1);
WILLET (several, not studied carefully, but a least one was strikingly the
western subspecies); MARBLED GODWIT (2); SANDERLING (3); SHORT-BILLED
DOWITCHER (8); and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (2). Total shorebird species
identified at this site = 11.
At SPI CC the expected waders and terns were, for the most part, present,
although we did not notice any Black Tern. The highlight wader for us was
WHITE IBIS (2), which were present in the tidal area immediately behind the
CC.
In regard to passerines yesterday, the SPI CC area probably provided the
worst showing we ever have seen there at this time of year and does not
merit further discussion.
TX-48 SOUTHBOUND PULLOUT just past a long bridge: Parking here, which is
just before a second bridge, allows one to look at a lake just west of
TX-48, a spot that, especially with relatively low-level water, often can
provide several shorebird species, including Marbled Godwit and American
Oystercatcher, as well as other birds including, sometimes (but not
yesterday), dozens of White Pelicans. Yesterday the water level was high,
but we found AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER (3) standing atop rocks that abut the
near end of a bridge (to the south of parking), right at waterâs edge;
additionally, GREATER YELLOWLEGS (1) was found foraging in shallow water in
an area that often turns into a sandbar sticking above water level (but not
yesterday). This site usually is substantially better, but a scope is
essential for identifying most of the birds, which tend to be very distant,
near the channel. Total shorebird species identified at this site = 2.
TX-48 BOAT LAUNCH: This was unquestionably the avian highlight among the
sites we visited yesterday, and it provided the highest concentration of
individual shorebird migrants and of Roseate Spoonbills that my wife and I
have seen in many years. There were so many individual shorebirds very
actively foraging (and sometimes fussing) that it was impossible to inspect
all of the birds due to constant movement that created something of a
shorebird phantasmagoria (i.e., a rapidly changing mob scene). Here are our
shorebird finds relative to estimates (or actual counts), but many of
quite a few species are likely to have been missed and thus not counted due
to distance and/or, especially, constant movement intermixed with other
shorebirds such that the scene defied full, accurate counts. Estimates are
based on birds thought to have been reliably identified but with no effort
to make a serious count when numbers were large, due to the circumstances
just noted. First, the shorebirds: BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (4); SNOWY PLOVER
(3, at least); WILSONâS PLOVER (est. 175-200, but this may be conservative;
seemed nearly everywhere in numbers); SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (ca. 20);
BLACK-NECKED STILT (1 only, amazingly!); AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER (2 adults);
GREATER YELLOWLEGS (1); LESSER YELLOWLEGS (1); WILLET (several); SPOTTED
SANDPIPER (1); RUDDY TURNSTONE (est. 95-100; at least one seen almost
anywhere you looked, often several at one spot); SANDERLING (3, at least;
sometimes territorially agonistic [i.e., territorially aggressive with own
kind]); SEMIPLAMATED SANDPIPER (2); WESTERN SANDPIPER (est. 18-20); LEAST
SANDPIPER (2). Total shorebird species identified at this site = 15.
Very worthy of mention in regard to the TX-48 boat launch site yesterday
was that in mid-afternoon 58 ROSEATE SPOONBILLS (by actual count after the
birds had landed) flew into the area and alighted, a truly breath-taking
sight as these gorgeous creatures banked and glided in against the richly
blue sky. Parked near the Roseate Spoonbills on the substrate north of the
channel were BLACK SKIMMERS (est. 75-80), ROYAL TERN (several); CASPIAN
TERN (several), and LEAST TERN (several). Forsterâs terns also appeared to
be present, but we did not focus on them to try definitively to
differentiate them from the rather similar Common Tern, so I will not
comment on numbers. (We had seen two Common Terns shortly before at SPI in
a presently dry tidal area north of Pier 19, so we knew the latter were in
the general area.)
Total shorebird species identified yesterday across all four sites = 20.
Wishing everyone the best of fall-migration birding,
Rex Stanford (Weslaco).
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
