[texbirds] RGV Birds: Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Long-tailed Duck, Brushline Rd. Sparrows

From: Javier Gonzalez <javsterkayak7@xxxxxxxxx>
To: texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 15:01:38 -0600

Hello Texbirders,
This morning I woke up a bit later than I wanted to and headed over to
Estero Llano SP with hopes of seeing the Gray-crowned Yellowthroat. I was
almost to Estero when I realized that I had forgotten my bins at home!! I
usually keep them in my truck, but I had birded the afternoon before and
I didn't remember that I had left them on the dining room table. There I go
all the way back home for them!

I finally made it to Estero at around 9:45am or so. I got word that the
bird hadn't been seen yet, so I slowly birded my way through the Tropical
Zone towards the stake-out spot. On the way I picked up a *Hermit Thrush*
trashing on the forest floor and a *Yellow-throated Warbler* messing around
in a palm tree.

I arrived at the *Gray-crowned Yellowthroat* stake-out spot where there was
lots of birders awaiting. One man had seen the bird jump into a close by
bush shortly before I got there. We waited about 10 minutes and at around
10:30am the bird jumped up out of the grass and into the bush. Suddenly, if
flew out the backside and onto a bare, young mesquite tree and gave the
crowd some great looks and photo ops at close range! I got there just in
time!!

Feeling lucky, I decided to head north on FM1015 to try to catch up with
the *Long-tailed Duck* that had been found over the weekend at the 1015
pond a couple of miles south of FM490. I found the duck in the very back of
the pond, but I didn't get very good looks since I don't own a scope.

Since I was already way out there I decided to head west on FM490 and check
out some spots on the way home. First, I stopped at the Hargill Playa to
try to find the reported Marbled Godwit, but I dipped on it. Didn't stick
around to bird the playa because a scope is almost a necessity there.

For my last stop I checked out a sparrow spot I had found during the last
CBC off of Brushline Rd. a couple of miles north of FM490. I arrived at
around noon thinking that I might've been a bit too late, but the birds
were still pretty active!
I managed *8 sparrow species* in the 30 minutes I was there! They included:
3 *White-crowned (immature), Vesper, Clay-colored, Lincoln's, Cassin's,
Lark, Savannah, and Grasshopper.* I also heard a *Great Horned Owl* hooting
from not too far.

It was a great morning with lots of Awesome birds!

Great birding to all,
Javi Gonzalez
San Juan, TX RGV


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[texbirds] RGV Birds: Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Long-tailed Duck, Brushline Rd. Sparrows

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