[texbirds] Okey D. Luca Park, Van Horn
- From: "Chris Harrison" <sandboa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Texbirds" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 16:06:11 -0500
Texbirders,
After reading Andrew Cores short comments about Okey D. Lucas Memorial Park
in Van Horn a few weeks back, I made a mental note to check it out.
As it turned out, I would be in the Van Horn area last weekend so I was able
to see what migration would produce in this little park. I was not
disappointed. Although there was not a formal drip set up someone had just
finished watering all of the young trees and so there was standing water at
the base of most of the trees. This meant there was a large number of birds
utilizing this limited resource. I didn't anticipate seeing so many
colorful birds in such a tiny little park out in the middle of the West
Texas desert. Sure there were the traditional city park birds such as House
Sparrows, Eurasian Collared-doves, Grackles, and European Starlings but it
also had a nice selection of desert birds and colorful migrants.
I don't think I have ever seen that many breeding plumage Audubon's Warblers
in Texas before. And watching a couple of Common Yellowthroat splashing
around a puddle in the middle town in the desert was a bit strange. I
intended to bird there for 20 minutes or so to see what it might produce and
every time I tried to leave, I ran into something else to make me stay a bit
longer. I ended up spending 90 minutes between 6:00 and 7:30pm.
So if you are traveling west (or east?) on I-10 and find yourself in Van
Horn, give this little park a once over. Worth a few minutes stop at
least. It is at the western end of town across from the convention center
near the Motel 6. Considering the size of this tiny little park and its
position right between the railroad and the highway, it is a pretty good
list. Trains came by a few times and really shook up the brids!
Heres my species list:
Gambel's Quail - 5 birds came out of the desert for the water
Eurasian Collared-Dove - several pairs
White-winged Dove - quite a few
Western Kingbird - 3
Chihuahuan Raven - flyover
Cactus Wren - 1
Curve-billed Thrasher - pair
Northern Mockingbird - 2
European Starling - 4
Common Yellowthroat - 1 or 2
Yellow Warbler - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) - dozens?
Wilson's Warbler - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 2
Lark Sparrow - 3
White-crowned Sparrow - 10
Western Tanager - 1 gorgeous adult
Pyrrhuloxia - 1
Blue Grosbeak - 1
Great-tailed Grackle - 8
Bullock's Oriole - 1 gorgeous male
Scott's Oriole - 1.1
House Finch - many
Lesser Goldfinch - a few
House Sparrow - a few
I didn't include this on my list, but I saw a tanager fly off out of one of
the trees that, if you forced me to commit, I would have called a Hepatic
Tanager. Not outrageous for this area, but certainly not expected at this
elevation (~4000 ft).
Chris Harrison
San Antonio
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