[texbirds] Old Port Isabel Rd & South Padre
- From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:52:36 -0500 (EST)
Hi, all!
Mary Jane Syvertsen and I had a great time birding the aforementioned areas
yesterday, and cutting to the chase, she was able to get her life
Flammulated Owl!
Back to the narrative, we arrived at the south end of OPIR at sunrise and
did the BBS routine, picking up tons of eastern Meadowlarks, shrikes, and
good numbers of Long-billed Curlews, and I was delighted to hear a Cassin's
Sparrow singing already! Raptors were represented well with Harriers, a
White-tailed Kite, White-tailed and Harris' Hawks, and a possible Peregrine
that was just too far away to ID with certainty. MJ did spot a falcon on a
post down the road, and an initial scope view made me think Aplomado, but as
we got closer it morphed into a Merlin (it had a particularly streaky
belly which made it look like a "cumberbund" at a distance)... She also
spotted a brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher at that little homestead with the
chicken coops, which was my first for that route! The canal had a bunch of
Shovelers, plus our only Great Egret of the day.
Heading up to SPI we were shocked to see the Convention Centre full of
vehicles; the sign said a nature expo was going on! We headed to the Bay
Beach first to look at shorebirds (always a delight to enjoy them from the
comfort of your car), but we had to go a little further north along the beach
to
get them (tide was way out at the time). But get them we did: again, I
had to chuckle at the fact that I was sweating getting the Piping Plover for
the Big Year last year (finally got them in August), and here it was only
February with TONS of 'em on the beach! They were in company with tons of
Semipalmated, too, for good comparison. Several Dunlin were running about,
and was surprised to have only one Sanderling in the bunch! A pretty
flock of Skimmers flew by, and had the usual contingent of larids lounging
around, along with lots of White Pelicans and a few red-breasted Mergansers
out
in the water.
I dropped MJ off at the "migrant trap" in the hopes that someone would
already have the owl staked out, while I went and parked in the Back 40. When
I got back there myself I was shocked to see that Terry Fuller was the only
one there looking for the owl; even MJ had disappeared! (Guess all the
expo attendees were in the building...) He had a blob that he suspected was
the bird, so as he went to get his scope, I also found a blob (turned out
to be the same blob at a different angle), and when Terry returned and got
the scope on it, we concluded it was indeed the owl, as we could make out
fluffy back feathers, and at another angle we could clearly see the
patterning on the wings (couldn't see his face, though). Scarlet showed up
about
that time and without missing a beat got Terry's scope on the bird at another
impossible angle where you could just barely see the vermiculations on his
breast! So, as another Texbirder said at one point, we had enough
"composite" views to convince us that it was indeed the bird and not an
odd-looking chunk of bark! :-) Later we had several people come by and say,
"You
shoulda been here yesterday--it was right out in the open!"
:-P
After that we headed out on the boardwalk, where we wondered aloud if that
American Bittern was still hanging around. A really odd noise turned out
to be a Pied-billed Grebe making some kind of alarm call, I guess, and a
Common Gallinule gave great photo ops! The end of the pier was stuffed with
Redheads, American Wigeon, and Laughing Gulls of course, but we also enjoyed
Little Blue and Tricolored Herons, more Reddish Egrets, and a Marbled
Godwit that came sailing in! On the way back I was about to comment on a
Blue-winged Teal when MJ grabbed my arm and hissed, "There he is!!!" And
there
was the American Bittern in all his glory, sitting right out in the open
in the grassy area to the north, stalking his lunch without a care in the
world! Despite the rarity of the owl, THIS guy was the Bird of the Day for
me!
We poked around the boardwalk a little more, trying to draw out an
obstinate Marsh Wren, but it was time to go before long (and it was starting to
spit to boot). Headed home with 75 species for the morning; man, I love this
place!! :-)
Pictures and recordings are posted here:
_http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/20
13%20Field%20Trips/February/OPIR%20&%20SPI.html_
(http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/2013%20Field%20Trips/February/OPIR%20&%20SPI.html)
Bird List:
American Wigeon Anas americana
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Northern Pintail Anas acuta
Redhead Aythya americana
Lesser Scaup Aythya affinis
Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor
Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
White Ibis Eudocimus albus
Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja
Osprey Pandion haliaetus
White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
Harris's Hawk Parabuteo unicinctus
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
Sora Porzana carolina
Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata
American Coot Fulica americana
Black-bellied Plover Pluvialis squatarola
Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus
Piping Plover Charadrius melodus
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Willet Tringa semipalmata
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres
Sanderling Calidris alba
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis
Herring Gull Larus argentatus
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia
Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri
Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Flammulated Owl Otus flammeolus
Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
American Kestrel Falco sparverius
Merlin Falco columbarius
Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
House Wren Troglodytes aedon
Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Orange-crowned Warbler Oreothlypis celata
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata
Wilson's Warbler Cardellina pusilla
Cassin's Sparrow Peucaea cassinii
Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
75 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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