Hi, all!
Arroyo Colorado Audubon member Greg Storms took the Birder Patrol for a
guided tour around Las Majadas Ranch, an historic property that the owners
are planning on developing into a senior housing complex "where bird
enthusiasts and senior residents can enjoy great Texas wildlife." (From
Greg's booklet...) In a little wetland (where they plan on building a
blind) we had both grebe species, and another little wet spot had Lesser
Yellowlegs and a Solitary Sandpiper. They have a resident Barn Owl that
apparently knew we were coming and vamoosed the joint, but also Harris' and
White-tailed Hawks, a low-flying Black Vulture, and a White-tailed Kite back
at the ranch house. According to their website they'll be opening to the
public in January, and sounds like it'll be quite the place!
http://www.lajarra.com/
Afterwards we tootled over to the northeastern access area to La Sal Viejas
to check the ponds where Masked Ducks showed up several years ago, seeing as
there's been so much rain. No Masked Ducks, but we did find several Fulvous
Whistling Ducks and both grebes again, along with a young male Vermilion
Flycatcher. From there we went to lunch at the Boot Company in Raymondville
(don't let the outside fool you - they have great food!), then a few of us
made a stop at the "1015 Pond" east of Delta Lake to look for possible Wood
Storks; we DID have a cackling Least Bittern, a pair of Shovelers in eclipse
plumage, and some cormorants, but that was about it.
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Least Bittern Ixobrychus exilis
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
White-faced Ibis Plegadis chihi
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus
Harris's Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Common Ground-Dove Columbina passerina
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva
Black-crested Titmouse Baeolophus atricristatus
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
Long-billed Thrasher Toxostoma longirostre
Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia
Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Dickcissel Spiza americana
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
54 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
Alamo, TX
www.miriameaglemon.com
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