[texbirds] Starr County
- From: MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 18:42:45 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, all!
Had a fantastic morning out at Salineno and Falcon State Park this
morning! Got to Salineno at dawn and spent an hour there, with glorious
morning
light and wonderful, mild temperatures! The target Red-billed Pigeons flew
by after about 15 minutes, and while no Muscovies showed up, other
highlights included both Ringed and Green Kingfishers, a Gray Hawk, a couple
of
Caspian Terns along with a small flock of Black Terns (my first for that
site), and several Groove-billed Anis making a fuss across the way. I was
also
surprised to hear a Great Horned Owl hooting away!
Drove down the Dump Road after that in search of Black-tailed Gnatcatchers,
and MAY have had a candidate, but he didn't give me a good look, and he
didn't give the diagnostic hissing call (a recording of what he DID say is on
the photo page, below), so I let that one go. A lovely little
Black-throated Sparrow sat up on a bush and sang, though, and a couple of
Cactus Wrens
duetted like a couple of old Model T's starting up! Upland Sandpipers
were flying overhead in both places, as were Dickcissels.
The scale said I needed some exercise :-P, so once at Falcon SP I actually
hiked a couple of the nature trail accesses and picked up another target
bird, a calling Ash-throated Flycatcher, while a scruffy but still stunning
Pyrrhuloxia sat right up in the sun! Stopping along the road in the car as
per usual added a posing Roadrunner in the primitive camp area, and the
mystery of absolutely no vehicles parked by the boat ramp on this fine Sunday
morning was solved when I drove down by said boat ramp and saw how low the
water level was! Everyone was out by the shoreline and fishing FROM the
shore, including egrets and terns, but the best was a resting flock of 14
Black Skimmers out on a spit along with other terns, gulls, egrets, and
cormorants! At least one Least Tern (no pun intended) was batting around
giving
its diagnostic call; evidently they're quite rare here as well.
The Butterfly Garden was nuts with butters--sulphurs of several species
were abundant, and old friends I hadn't seen in awhile included a Nysa
Roadside Slipper, White-patched Skipper, Clytie Ministreak, and Common Mestra
(photo ops this week sure made up for none last week)!! Another Pyrrhuloxia
sang from the shade at point blank range as well. One last romp around the
picnic area added a juvie Vermilion Flycatcher (was hoping for Daddy, but he
never showed...)
Headed home after that with 65 species for the day! Photos and recordings
can be viewed here:
http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/2013%20Field%20Trips/August/Starr%20
County.html
Two EBird lists follow:
Salineño (LTC 080), Starr, US-TX
Aug 11, 2013 7:15 AM - 8:55 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.3 mile(s)
Comments: Includes an hour vigil at Salineno plus the Dump Road
53 species
Plain Chachalaca 2
Northern Bobwhite 2
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 12
Cattle Egret 30
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Gray Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Upland Sandpiper 3
Laughing Gull 1
Caspian Tern 2 Two birds together; by the vocalizations it appeared
to be one growling adult and one squealing immature. Photos taken: adult
had mottled black crown, heavy red bill with black tip.
Black Tern 6
Red-billed Pigeon 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
White-winged Dove 30
Mourning Dove 9
Inca Dove 2
Common Ground-Dove 3
White-tipped Dove 1
Greater Roadrunner 1
Groove-billed Ani 8
Great Horned Owl 1
Ringed Kingfisher 2
Green Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 7
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 3
Crested Caracara 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 4
Couch's Kingbird 10
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo 4
Green Jay 4
Barn Swallow 3
Verdin 2
Bewick's Wren 7
Cactus Wren 5
Northern Mockingbird 8
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher 1
Olive Sparrow 2
Black-throated Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 4
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Dickcissel 8
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle 6
Orchard Oriole 3
Bullock's Oriole 3
Altamira Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 20
Falcon SP (LTC 084), Starr, US-TX
Aug 11, 2013 9:02 AM - 11:51 AM
Protocol: Traveling
8.7 mile(s)
46 species
Northern Bobwhite 12
Neotropic Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 1
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 8
Tricolored Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 7
Upland Sandpiper 3
Laughing Gull 20
Least Tern 1 At least one bird - high-pitched "ki-deek ki-deek"
vocalization diagnostic
Black Tern 2
Forster's Tern 15
Black Skimmer 14 Birds were on a spit out in the lake with other
gulls, terns, cormorants, and egrets; skimmers obvious by black upperparts,
white underparts, and black-tipped uneven orange bills. Birds were spaced
well enough for easy counting.
Eurasian Collared-Dove 4
White-winged Dove 2
Mourning Dove 1
Inca Dove 4
Common Ground-Dove 4
Greater Roadrunner 3
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 6
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Crested Caracara 5
Least Flycatcher 1
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 1
Brown-crested Flycatcher 3
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 3
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 5
White-eyed Vireo 4
Green Jay 1
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Verdin 9
Bewick's Wren 8
Cactus Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 25
Long-billed Thrasher 4
Olive Sparrow 7
Black-throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Pyrrhuloxia 7
Eastern Meadowlark 3
Great-tailed Grackle 5
Orchard Oriole 2
Hooded Oriole 1
Bullock's Oriole 5
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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