Today (Sunday, 08/14/16) my wife (Birgit) and I visited several inland
sites (one of them, twice) in an effort to see migratory shorebirds. A
special target for us today was Upland Sandpiper, which would constitute a
personal first-of-season. Below are listed each of our efforts, the
highlights at each, and the time of visitation at each. It is important to
keep in mind that at both of the sod field sites the grass was quite tall,
so we probably missed many birds and, additionally had only partial views
of many individuals, which often obviated satisfactory efforts at
identification. We have reported in our counts either actual counts of a
species or an estimate of the numbers of a species based on the individuals
seen well enough to feel sure of their identification.
PROGRESO SOD FIELDS (Hidalgo Co.; 10:15-10:45 AM between Baker Rd. and
US-281, southbound travel) from: KILLDEER (18); UPLAND SANDPIPER (3; 2
foraging in field; 1 in flight at south end of the field, constantly
voicing its flight call); PECTORAL SANDPIPER (13; both males and females;
one male was in great breeding condition); and LONG- BILLED DOWITCHER (7,
some with bright breeding plumage). Please note that all of these birds
were found in the long, very green, field on the east side of the dirt
north-south traversal road. When we were about to leave the sod field area,
heading south toward US-281, we were thrilled to see a relatively low-level
overflight of a SWAINSONâS HAWK. CAUTIONARY NOTE: There were two spots
noted today along the earlier specified stretch of the north/south
traversal road where it would appear that there had been substantial
collapse of the substrate followed by human in-fill of the collapsed areas
with dirt. I have been cautioning for some time about the possibility of
such collapse along this canal-side road, due to substrate condition and
vehicular travel. The bigger in-fill siteâa large oneâthat we saw today
appeared to us likely to have been related to a very substantial collapse
of the roadside into the edge of the canal. Such collapse probably does
not, unfortunately, always occur in the absence of travel, but may be
immediate due to vehicular travel across a ready-to-collapse substrate.
What is more, we today encountered notably more rough, deep, dips in the
road than we can recall ever having seen before. We suspect that weather
conditions might have been undermining the substrate of this road. We did
not today travel the stretch of road between Baker Rd. and the floodway
dike to the north, but that stretch can itself have troublesome sections
for travel.
RESACA (or farm pool?) EAST SIDE OF RANGERVILLE ROAD JUST SOUTH OF JIMENEZ
ROAD (Cameron Co.; 11:35-11:45 AM birding from road side): KILLDEER (6);
BLACK-NECKED STILT (1); and LEAST SANDPIPER (15). Afterward, as we traveled
west on Jimenez Road in route to Weaver Road, we saw a BELTED KINDFISHER
(male) in flight over the canal at the âS-curveâ as the road crosses it. We
had seen it in that area on a recent trip, too.
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (Cameron Co.; 11:50 AM-12:30 PM): KILLDEER (20, at
least); GREATER YELLOWLEGS 5); LESSER YELLOWLEGS (19, at least); PECTORAL
SANDPIPER (37); BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER (4; at one point these came over to
the ditch beside the road, but they promptly were scared away by truck
passage!); LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (5; still with attractive color); and
WILSONâS PHALAROPE (1, our personal first of season). Birding here,
especially in the morning, was made difficultâand many birds near the road
put into flightâbecause of what appeared to us to be an effort to get
cotton out of the fields before the rain that has been predicted to occur
in short order. There were several tractor-trailers turning into the cotton
fields west of Weaver Road and several pick-up trucks seemingly were
involved somehow in that effort. IMPORTANT NOTE: If there is substantial
rain, travel on the unpaved roads at both the Weaver Road and Progreso
sites can be treacherous (see, also, note above regarding conditions on the
Progreso sod fieldsâ traversal road).
WEAVER ROAD SOD FIELDS (Cameron Co.; 2:50-3:52 PM): KILLDEER (35, an
estimate and probably very conservative due to even large birds being
obscured by tall grass when they are distant); GREATER YELLOWLEGS (3);
LESSER YELLOWLEGS (110, an estimate that may be conservative); LONG-BILLED
CURLEW (1); LEAST SANDPIPER (2); PECTORAL SANDPIPER (40, an estimate, but
likely quite conservative, given the height of the grass); LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHER (2); and WILSONâS PHALAROPE (45, by actual count). The Wilsonâs
Phalaropes at times tended to bunch together or in two closely adjacent
groups, in something of a long line. Once they were set into the air as a
group, not joined by other species, though a few of other species
simultaneously went into the air; cause of the flight was not seen. A
special treat on the cotton field to the west of Weaver Road was NORTHERN
BOBWHITE (3) and, near the north-most sod fields as we left, a COMMON
NIGHTHAWK overflight. We had noted on our morning visit to this area that a
water pump was running beside the road and that on the rear (most western)
field three large pipes were administering irrigation water to the field
(to their north). We decide to make this afternoon trip in part because we
wanted to see whether the accumulation of this water might have affected
the presence of migrants. Upon arriving at the same water pump on our
mid-afternoon visit, we were delighted to see that the irrigation was still
occurring and that the number of shorebirds had incremented very
noticeably. I would characterize the most distant field and the one
adjacent to it (to the east) as now having notably more birdsâindeed, were
teeming with birds--and there obviously were far more shorebirds than we
could hope to count (not to mention the mobs, in the closer field of
GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE). Avian heads or rear ends were regularly popping up
in many locations in big numbers, and it was a bit frustrating to see this
because it meant that there were far more birds out there than we could
hope to see adequately for identification and, thus, to countâeven if we
had been foolish enough to think that a full-scale accounting of the birds
there would be possible from Weaver Road (and other roads here are private
and should not be entered).
Wishing everyone the best of birding,
Rex Stanford (Weslaco).
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
