Hi, all! The following report is from Norma:
Seven brave souls met for the Saturday Birder Patrol and in spite of cold
winds had a great day of birding. Norma Friedrich led the trip which
resulted in lifers for some of the guest birders.
After introductions all around the troupe moved on to the La Feria Nature
Park. There we braved the cold and wind for a short walk around the front
pond hoping for a king rail. We had to settle for two green herons, two
white-tailed kites and an aerial stream of 34 white pelicans.
Deciding to strictly car bird after that excursion we proceeded to the
Kansas City Road ponds and the Sugar Mill ponds finding the usual ducks,
egrets and herons. After discovering that 4 in the group had not been to
Delta Lakes Park we headed that direction. Norma spotted a Merlin on a clump
in a pasture and did a quick turn around in time for all to view it take
flight.
Both sides of Delta Lake were productive, on the West side of 88 the lake
was shallow with lots of shorebirds. The highlight in the Park were 4
individual male vermilion flycatchers and a female. These were one of the
four life birds ticked for visiting birder Leigh Baker.
But we didn't stop there, we continued up Rio Beef Road for a dose of
pyrrhuloxia, cardinals, OC and YR warblers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, green
jays and titmice. Unfortunately the target Brewer's blackbird was not seen.
Five of the group returned via Raymondville stopping at The Boot Company for
lunch.
57 Birds seen for the morning. Not bad for car birding!
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
White-tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Caspian Tern
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe
Couch's Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Green Jay
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
Norma Friedrich
President
Arroyo Colorado Audubon Society
PO Box 531582
Harlingen, TX 78553
361-676-6416
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Mary Beth Stowe
Alamo, TX
www.miriameaglemon.com <http://www.miriameaglemon.com>
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