[texbirds] Shorebirding (6 sites; Cameron Co.) yesterday (07/31/12)
- From: "Rex Stanford" <calidris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "TEXBIRDS" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2012 22:40:44 -0500
This is being sent again as the first time seemingly did not get through.
Yesterday (07/31/12) we shorebirded six sites in Cameron County and found a
total of 21 shorebird species. For each site we will list below the species
and number of each counted or estimated for each site. The sites are listed
in order of visitation to each, the times of which ranged from mid-morning
to late afternoon.
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (west side of this road, which runs between FM-800
and Jimenez Road): As for shorebirds only GREATER YELLOWLEGS (11, at least)
were found wandering in a very loose group amidst the hundreds of
Great-tailed Grackles feeding voraciously in the grass.
RANGERVILLE ROAD RESACA AREA (resaca west side of Rangerville Road, which is
FM-1479, and just south of Jimenez Road, plus a wet and somewhat watery and
very grassy area just south of the resaca, but on the opposite side of the
road): We were somewhat distracted from shorebirds by having found a very
unexpected Redhead at this site and working to get photos of it, and,
although presence of a given species was noted on site, in most cases the
numbers of shorebird species reported for this site were roughly estimated
from memory after leaving the site. You could say that we "ducked" on
actually counting! The shorebird species found in this area were (numbers
mainly estimates): KILLDEER (3), BLACK-NECKED STILT (8), LESSER YELLOWLEGS
(10), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (1), LEAST SANDPIPER (5), STILT SANDPIPER (8),
and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (7).
RESACA ON FM-510 (SOUTH SIDE) AT TED HUNT ROAD: BLACK-NECKED STILT (est. 3),
WESTERN SANDPIPER (1), STILT SANDPIPER (1), and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (5).
PORT ISABEL RESERVOIR (west side of Holly Beach Road immediately northwest
of Laguna Vista; this road accessed at the city limits sign for Laguna Vista
on FM-510; we think the street sign may be missing): The following were
species seen close enough to the viewing site to be comfortably identified,
but, to the north at this site, hundreds of additional shorebirds were at
distances that made them difficult or impossible to identify as to species:
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (7), BLACK-NECKED STILT (several, widely dispersed),
WILLET (western subspecies; several, widely dispersed), LONG-BILLED CURLEW
(1 in reservoir; 1 at vegetated road margin), SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (7),
WESTERN SANDPIPER (2), LEAST SANDPIPER (5), and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (3).
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- BAYSIDE BEACH NORTHWEST OF CONVENTION CENTER: SNOWY
PLOVER (1), WILSON'S PLOVER (2), SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (1), PIPING PLOVER (2),
LONG-BILLED CURLEW (1), MARBLED GODWIT (10), RUDDY TURNSTONE (3), RED KNOT
(9), SANDERLING (2), LEAST SANDPIPER (est. 14, widely dispersed, often on
upper reaches in dryer areas, but hard to count, often going behind
vegetation), SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER (est. perhaps 25-30, widely dispersed);
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (est. perhaps 35-40, somewhat more numerous yesterday
than short-billed). Those who have trouble differentiating these dowitcher
species might benefit by studying some expert sources and then coming out to
study them in areas such as this where both species often are present.
Yesterday provided excellent opportunities, sometimes for direct,
side-by-side comparison. The estimates above may be quite conservative, for
some of the dowitchers were too distant for any sense of assured species
sorting. It was fun to see two adult male Purple Martins sitting on the
beach. From a distance, before scoping them, we had looked at them as they
sat on the beach and had wondered if they might be Black Terns still in
breeding plumage.
Shorebirding was very difficult at this site yesterday, what with the sun in
the western sky, making viewing difficult from behind the Convention Center,
and lots of residual high-saline tidal water-even as low-tide
approached--from an earlier high tide presumably driven by an approaching
full moon. The residual tidal water made impossible getting a north-side
near-shoreline view of the birds to the south without subjecting our vehicle
to lots of salt water. Forget it!
BOAT-LAUNCH AREA ON HWY. 48: This was our last shorebirding site of the day,
and it brought a startling surprise via a multitude of WILSON'S
PLOVER-perhaps 300-400-that seemed so mind-bogglingly omnipresent that one
felt like "pinching oneself," as they say, to be sure one was not asleep and
dreaming this seemingly outrageous show! I (Rex) sometimes would look away,
perhaps toward the possibly hundreds of BLACK SKIMMERS on a certain
peninsula of sand to the south, and then say to myself, "Noah! It can't be!"
But then I would look around and they still were there, still dashing about
and coming to sudden halts. We have long known that this is one of the most
reliable sites for Wilson's Plover and that one usually sees quite a few
here. We, however, were not prepared for what we saw yesterday. Nearly every
spot where there was sandy substrate near the water seemed covered with many
Wilson's Plovers, all dashing about in search of food and sometimes
challenging others of their own kind or the small calidris sandpipers (see
later) that also were present but in much smaller numbers. Woe to the
fiddler crabs that had the misfortunate of being in the area yesterday! Once
one overcame the shock of seeing this humongous display of long-billed,
high-energy plovers, the whole scene almost made one laugh. Alas, these
birds were deadly serious and undoubtedly hungry, and we had to wonder if
they could find anything like enough food. At first, some such birds, turned
so as to foreshorten the bill, occasionally had us hoping that we might have
found, additionally, some individuals of other ringed-plover species,
especially Semipalmated Plover. That impression always was short-lived as we
looked at the solidly black, long, almost parallel-sided, bills and the very
long, pinkish legs. BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (2) turned up at the boat launch as
the sole-and only expected--representative of the Pluvialis plovers.
As viewed from the east end of the parking area, the entire left side of the
broad shoreline was dominated by Wilson's Plover (plus, in the distance,
dozens of terns not studied carefully or counted as to species), but the
Wilson's show continued on the right side as well. There, however, they
sometimes had to share territory with three species of Calidris sandpipers,
namely SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER (est. 10-12), WESTERN SANDPIPER (est. 18-24),
and LEAST SANDPIPER (probably a few more than the Semipalmated, but hard to
count due to dashing in out, and around, some clumpy grass-like vegetation).
There were fairly frequent territorial spats among the shorebirds present
there. It was comical to watch as one of the Calidris species would dash
away quite some distance from a place of former foraging but, spying another
sandpiper or a Wilson's Plover starting to use that location, would dash
back in threatening pose to challenge the intruder. It was intriguing to see
smaller birds thus successfully challenge bigger ones by a high-speed
approach in a threatening gesture. WILLETS (est. 15) were widely dispersed
around the area, constantly searching for food. We saw one catch and quickly
dismember what appeared to be a crab, which it apparently had bested in a
chase.
For those seeking shorebirds on a very hot summer day around here, we can
hardly imagine a more delightful site than this boat launch area late in the
day (suitable sun angle), at least on days not too busied by
boaters/fisherman, when the tide is low enough to expose considerable
shoreline, and the wind is out of the east. Yesterday, there was a cooling,
brisk breeze off the water, and the light was excellent for viewing the
birds.
Those contemplating a birding visit to SPI and the boat launch area in the
very near future may wish to note that on August 1-5 the Texas International
Fishing Tournament will be held at SPI, and that on August 10-12, the Ladies
Kingfish Tournament will be held there. The headquarters for both will be
the Convention Center. This information was found in the "The Coastal
Current Weekly" (for July 27-August 2), which provides additional
information on these events.
Wishing everyone the best of fall-migration birding,
Rex and Birgit Stanford
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