[texbirds] South Padre Island
- From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2013 18:25:03 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, all!
By the looks of it this morning, I thought I was gonna end up doing more
storm-chasing than birding :-), but it turned out to be a lovely day on the
Island, with only about 15 minutes' worth of a rain-out. Went straight to
the bayside access, where despite the fact that the sun was technically
behind me, the storm clouds blocked it out and the glare from the water gave
the illusion that you were looking into the light. But there was a nice
variety of stuff: lots of Sandwich and Black Terns making noise, along with a
few young Leasts and Forster's. There were lots of Black-bellied Plovers
in transitional plumage, and enjoyed both Semipalmated and Piping Plovers
as well. A Western Sandpiper fed with some Sanderlings, giving a good size
comparison, and the usual contingent of herons was hanging about.
Over at the Convention Centre, the place wasn't exactly hopping, but there
was a nice little pocket of migrants by the water feature that included a
knockout male Canada Warbler, a Prairie Warbler, and several Yellows, along
with a Great Crested Flycatcher and numerous empids (including silent
Traill's-type :-(). A lady and her daughter (I'm presuming) showed up about
the
same time, and the mother caught sight of a Redstart that we both missed!
Swallows were out the yin yang--mostly Barnies but also a few Roughwings
and Banks.
It started raining about then, so I drove over to the Sheepshead Lot where
it was dry (!) and a few things eventually came by: a Northern Waterthrush
had the south side water features claimed while a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
buzzed, and on the other side had a couple of Dickcissels giving their rude
buzz, along with a Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Summer Tanager,
and a couple of female Baltimore Orioles amongst the tons of Collared Doves
and House Sparrows! Back at the Convention Centre boardwalk ran into the
Fullers who had also seen the Julia Heliconian feeding over by the gazebo,
but that was the most exciting thing around! In the marsh had several
Least Bitterns cackling away, a couple of washed out Semipalmated Plovers on
the mudflat, a beat-up White Ibis with a stunningly blue eye, and a first for
my SPI list: a Wood Stork feeding in the pond by the parking lot!
Was gonna stop by the San Benito Wetlands to look for Michael's Purple
Gallinules, but they were getting clobbered by that time (and *I* almost got
clobbered on the freeway in the downpour by a guy who didn't have his lights
on...), so I headed on home. Pictures and recordings are posted here:
http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/2013%20Field%20Trips/September/South
%20Padre%20Island.html
Bird List:
South Padre Island (LTC 034), Cameron, US-TX
Sep 7, 2013 8:03 AM - 11:25 AM
Protocol: Traveling
9.0 mile(s)
Comments: Mostly overcast, w/ about 15 minutes of rain
60 species (+2 other taxa)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3
Mottled Duck 8
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Wood Stork 1
Brown Pelican 15
Least Bittern 3
Great Blue Heron 8
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 5
Reddish Egret 2
Green Heron 1
White Ibis 2
Roseate Spoonbill 1
Clapper Rail 2
Common Gallinule 2
American Coot 3
Black-bellied Plover 10
Semipalmated Plover 4
Piping Plover 1
Killdeer 3
Black-necked Stilt 5
Willet 3
Marbled Godwit 4
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Sanderling 6
Western Sandpiper 5
Least Sandpiper 6
Short-billed Dowitcher 15
Laughing Gull 200
Least Tern 7
Caspian Tern 3
Black Tern 30
Forster's Tern 5
Royal Tern 8
Sandwich Tern 20
Rock Pigeon 5
Eurasian Collared-Dove 20
Inca Dove 1
Ruby-throated/Black-chinned Hummingbird 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher) 2
Least Flycatcher 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Bank Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 50
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Northern Mockingbird 5
Northern Waterthrush 2
Yellow Warbler 7
Prairie Warbler 1
Canada Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 1
Dickcissel 3
Great-tailed Grackle 30
Baltimore Oriole 2
House Sparrow 30
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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