Hi, all!
Definitely hitting the law of diminishing returns now, but the only new
species was nothing to sniff at (as you'll see later)! Mira Pellin joined
me today, and we met over at Quintana Sanctuary; I was concerned that we
were gonna get dumped on, as we drove through a pretty good rainstorm on the
way, but it had actually quit by the time we got there, and it was at that
time I discovered that I apparently left my walking stick somewhere!! The
only thing I can figure is that I left it leaning against the car at the
Xerescape parking lot, and I was so anxious to get away from the mosquitoes
that I forgot to throw it in the car! Oh well-there's always Walmart
tomorrow.
Mira had one of those great walkers that doubles as a seat, so we slowly
made our way around the trail; things were very quiet (surprisingly, as I
hoped the rain would have kept some stuff down), but Mira spotted a Northern
Waterthrush, and at the drip with the swing (where I had the frigatebird
yesterday) another guy was seated and waiting, so we chatted a little bit;
all he had seen were flashes of blue (which we also got to see), but a
female Blue Grosbeak did come in. We continued around, where a very
friendly Black-and-white Warbler came in to say hello, and a Pewee showed
off a little. Mira found a lens shade on the ground, so I went back to see
if it belonged to the guy, but he was gone, so I caught up to Mira again
where the only new bird we had was a male Yellowthroat and some Catbirds,
along with the friendly Lincoln's Sparrow who was now singing. I left Mira
at the observation deck while I circled around one more time to see if I
could find the guy, and back at the swing I did see one of his Indigo
Buntings on the ground, having a little scuffle with the Lincoln's Sparrow!
But then a warbler flew into the tree over the trail, and she popped out
long enough to show off her pretty bluish-greenish tint above - Cerulean! I
hurried back to tell Mira, not sure she'd want to go all the way around to
the drip again (the British photographer was off in a flash, no pun
intended), but she did, but we could never refind it (didn't really expect
to, as she had darted off). But the other folks had spotted Black-throated
Green and a Bay-breasted, so there was stuff moving!
The mosquitoes were just as bad (this little repellant clip-on doohickey
that Mira bought didn't work very well), so we decided to head on to
Brazoria, but first she took me down this dirt road to the marshes (on your
way out of Quintana, if you go straight instead of turning right onto the
main highway, you'll be on this dirt road), where a nice young Swainson's
Hawk posed, and we added a few things to the day list, including Sedge Wren,
Eastern Meadowlark, Blue-winged Teal, Coot, Solitary Sandpiper, and I heard
a Painted Bunting on the way out!
Once there at the Discovery Center at Brazoria NWR, Mira joined me in
Diggory and we did the BBS deal around the main drag. My Off wipes had long
since worn off (and I was down to one, so I didn't want to apply the last
one), so we put up with the blood donation. But it was quite productive:
there were tons of White Ibis out there, and the one good look at a
suspicious dark ibis I believe was a White-faced after all (at least I could
see some pinkish on the photos). At one stop I was listening while Mira was
still in the car, and I froze and pointed, and she very calmly announced
what was going through my head - Black Rail! I couldn't believe it! But
the only thing that surprised her was not the "what", but the "when"; she
thought it was a little late in the day for them to be calling!
A subadult Yellow-crowned Night Heron posed nicely (at least until Mira got
her camera out; she accidently turned on the delay button and it sounded
like one of those 24 episodes where the bomb is about to go off.), and at
the shorebird corner where I had the Baird's yesterday, I couldn't find
that, but I did find lots and lots of Stilt Sandpipers, a couple of
Semipalmated coming into breeding plumage, and two Semipalmated Plovers
along with everything else. A nice Pectoral Sandpiper allowed scope views
as well, along with Dunlin. At the turnaround point we had a great view of
the marsh (the lighting was just right) and added knockout gorgeous Roseate
Spoonbills, striking Avocets, four Reddish Egrets dancing away, and three
Shovelers along with the other stuff that was too far away to ID. We had
both about had it with the skeeters, so we abandoned the BBS protocol and
just headed out, adding a pair of Caracaras to the list and a couple of
Eastern Kingbirds.
Kissed Mira goodbye and headed to Port Lavaca after that, and then onward to
scout River Road, a spot that Michael Marsden had been bugging me to check
out! J It's just after you cross over the Guadeloupe River, and it is
indeed a promising-looking road, only it's an "Old Port Isabel" style road,
and I actually had to turn back at about the four-mile mark (and it looked
like it went into private property down the road anyway). But part of it is
actually in the Guadeloupe River WMA, so it's nice to know that there's a
section you can actually access! The wind was really picking up by the time
I scouted, but I could tell I'm nearing home as a Kiskadee sounded off in
the woodland! Added a handful of things for the day (including Bank
Swallows overhead), but a young Swainson's Hawk circling overhead was a nice
end to the day!
Headed back to the BW, and discovered that my friend Norma Friedrich was
also staying at the BW visiting family - what a hoot! (Just happened to
park next to their car.)
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
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
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Green Heron Butorides virescens
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea
White Ibis Eudocimus albus
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Osprey Pandion haliaetus
Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni
Black Rail Laterallus jamaicensis
Sora Porzana carolina
Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata
American Coot Fulica americana
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
American Avocet Recurvirostra americana
Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Willet Tringa semipalmata
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus
Dunlin Calidris alpina
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos
Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla
Long-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus scolopaceus
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Least Tern Sternula antillarum
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
Royal Tern Thalasseus maximus
Sandwich Tern
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
Eastern Wood-Pewee Contopus virens
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Purple Martin Progne subis
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Sedge Wren Cistothorus platensis
Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Northern Waterthrush Parkesia noveboracensis
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Cerulean Warbler Setophaga cerulea
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus
Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea
Indigo Bunting Passerina cyanea
Painted Bunting Passerina ciris
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Boat-tailed Grackle Quiscalus major
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
Baltimore Oriole Icterus galbula
House Sparrow
87 SPECIES
So Far: 267 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
miriameaglemon.com
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