[texbirds] Tiocano Lake & La Feria (longish)
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "MiriamEagl@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 17:31:48 -0400 (EDT)
Hi, all!
He had a nice, small group for the Birder Patrol trip today, consisting of
MJ, Pat, Norma, Cheryle, Sue, Donna, Bert, and myself. After meeting at
the Whataburger (or "Hamburger" according to Sue's IPhone spell-checker ;-))
we all tootled up to Tiocano Lake, where we dipped on John's King Rail but
we had lots of other nice birds, including Roseate Spoonbills, Black Terns,
White Ibis, both flavors of Whistling Ducks, along with almost all the
expected herons. Norma's car had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a bush next to the
road, and eventually all of us heard a Common Nighthawk overhead. We also
had nice looks at Purple Martins and Bank Swallows, and further up the
road Bert spotted a couple of Long-billed Curlews, as well as a pretty
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Donna wanted to take us to an area near her house that had nesting Gray
Hawks, and while we didn't see any from her property, most of us DID see one
soaring over the small suburban road! (There was a guy mowing his lawn
right next to us who started when I slammed on the brakes, all four doors flew
open, and Pat jumped out screaming "GRAY HAWK!!" to the other car--she
figured the door guy probably thought he was about to be kidnapped! :-))
Donna
took us to a canal next to a grove of palm trees where we had Orchard
Orioles, Lesser Goldfinches, a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, a Caracara, and a
fly-away Solitary Sandpiper. We walked through a "flock" of hovering
dragonflies that was a mix of Red Saddlebags and Hyacinth Gliders, and Pat
spotted a
Southern Skipperling along the path. A few people got to see a titmouse
come in to Donna's feeders at her house, but I heard her Hooded Oriole and
Buff-bellied Hummers at least, along with some Green Parakeets in the
distance!
From there we went to Bass Lake RV Park and got special permission to go in
and bird; some of the girls had this spot as part of their territory for
the Harlingen CBC, and it proved to be quite productive: we had great views
of Semipalmated, Least, and Stilt Sandpipers, along with Lesser
Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilts, and a single Wilson's Phalarope. Ruddy Ducks
were
further out in the water, and some young whistling ducks had us stumped
until Bert figured them out for us! :-) A little kitten came to visit us as
well...
It was getting late and I wanted to hit the La Feria Nature Park, so over
we went; Norma took a detour down a side road where we could check out this
field that was full mostly of Killdeer, Starlings, grackles, Redwings, and
Bronzed Cowbirds (got to see one do "The Helicopter"), plus a cavorting
goat kid! At the gazebo at the park, right away Bert spotted a Least Bittern
hiding in the reeds! She finally took off across the water with a grackle
hot on her tail (someone said he actually made contact), and that bugger
seemed to be hunting for her in the reeds the whole time we were there! A
Tropical Kingbird went after a juvenile White-tailed Kite while big brother
came to the rescue! Some Least Terns were batting around, but there were
some "white things" in a hidden pond, and Sue confirmed that you could cut
over and get a view of it, so some of us did so, and were rewarded not only
with a mob of "Gregs and Snegs" and croaking cormorants, but a Wood Stork to
boot! That brought Pat and MJ over with the scope, but the thing had
flown by the time they rounded the corner...
Called it a day after that with 64 species for the morning. Pictures are
posted here:
http://miriameaglemon.com/photo_gallery/2014%20Field%20Trips/July/La%20Feria
%20Area.html
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna autumnalis
Fulvous Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna bicolor
Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
Wood Stork Mycteria americana
Neotropic Cormorant Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Least Bittern Ixobrychus exilis
Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor
Green Heron Butorides virescens
Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Nyctanassa violacea
White Ibis Eudocimus albus
Roseate Spoonbill Platalea ajaja
White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus
Gray Hawk Buteo plagiatus
Black-necked Stilt Himantopus mexicanus
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
Solitary Sandpiper Tringa solitaria
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus
Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus
Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla
Semipalmated Sandpiper Calidris pusilla
Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
Laughing Gull Leucophaeus atricilla
Least Tern Sternula antillarum
Black Tern Chlidonias niger
Forster's Tern Sterna forsteri
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Inca Dove Columbina inca
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Buff-bellied Hummingbird Amazilia yucatanensis
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
Green Parakeet Aratinga holochlora
Great Kiskadee Pitangus sulphuratus
Tropical Kingbird Tyrannus melancholicus
Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Purple Martin Progne subis
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Dickcissel Spiza americana
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius
Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus
Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
64 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
_www.miriameaglemon.com_ (http://www.miriameaglemon.com/)
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