[texbirds-freelists] [texbirds] Re: [texbirds] High Island, TOS Sabine Woods 4/28 and 4/29

From: jgstudio@xxxxxxx <jgstudio@xxxxxxx>
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:54:58 -0600
I too was at WT Jones this morning and had all of the birds Chris saw/heard. 
The Brown-headed Nuthatches and Pine Warblers gave me a bad crick in the neck 
as they were often straight overhead. I did manage a glimpse of Bachman's 
Sparrow before it leaped from a pine bough. A Yellow-breasted Chat filled the 
area with its various loud calls from an uncharacteristically high perch as 
well.

 Went from there to Liberty to see if I could rustle up a Swallow-tailed Kite. 
At about 10:50 the thermal were right for the raptors and I saw four 
Mississippi Kites soaring from Municipal Park. On hunch, I drove west on the 
city streets  and found a historic cemetery with an open field behind it near 
the Trinity River. I immediately saw three Kites interacting and one was a 
Swallow-tailed. It was fun to see how much more agile the STKI was in 
comparison. These birds seemed to be playing.

John Groves
El Paso
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

----- Reply message -----
From: "Chris Warren" <warrech.gcwa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [texbirds] High Island, TOS Sabine Woods 4/28 and 4/29
Date: Sun, Apr 29, 2012 5:37 pm


I know reports from these locations continue to flood texbirds so skip
ahead if you are sick of hearing about this. My wife, I and some friends
spent a great weekend hitting some the hotspots around High Island and
wound up with a great list of 131 species in two days. Few show-stoppers
but still some very good birding.

One highlight was that the TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRD that continues at TOS
Sabine Woods not only has apparently taken a mate with a male (singing)
Northern Mockingbird but was seen on a nest today apparently incubating!!!
I gather that some apparent hybrids have been reported in southern Mexico
but I wonder if these were presumed of if the nesting was actually observed
or if this could be the first documented hybridization between these two
species. Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22884719@N03/

Highlights

HIGH ISLAND:
10 warbler species, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Wood Thrush, Yellow-throated
Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet and Summer Tanager.

BOLIVAR:
Yacht Basin - Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Curlew, Roseate Tern, Common
Tern
Tuna Rd. - Seaside Sparrows, Wilson's Phalarope, Black-bellied Plover,
Wilson's Plover, White-rumped Sandpiper
Frenchtown Rd. - Reddish Egret, Long- and Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's
Phalarope, Semipalmated Plover

WINNIE:
There have been many reports of awesome shorebirding in the area but few
specific locations. We found one report on the board at Boy Scout Woods
that led us to a great flooded field north of Winnie. Take FM 1663 North of
Winnie (124 north from High Island becomes 1663 as it passes under I-10).
FM1663 turns sharply to the west. On the northeastern corner of 1663 and
Bauer Rd is a field that held >50 UPLAND SANDPIPERS. Continuing west of
1663 you will shortly come across a flooded rice field on the south side of
the road. This was, in a word INCREDIBLE! Among the hordes I picked out one
HUDSONIAN GODWIT (male in alternate plumage), Semipalmated, Pectoral, Least
Sandpipers, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover, Long-billed Curlew and
Whimbrels. I was sadly not able to pull out a Buff-breasted but they were
reported from here yesterday as were Bobolinks. There is another flooded
field a few miles east of WINNIE on 73 but the highway is pretty fast here
(a little uncomfortable) and we did not stop.

TOS SABINE WOODS:
TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRD - nesting and apparently paired with a Northern male.
Northern Parula, Northern Waterthrush, Tennessee and Yellow Warbler,
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

W.G. JONES STATE FOREST:
Brown-headed Nuthatches, Red-headed Woodpeckers, more Eastern Bluebirds
than I cared to count, RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS (of course), Pine Warblers,
and I believe multiple singing Bachman's Sparrows (no visual, of course,
and I have zero experience with them).

Chris Warren
Austin, TX

TEXBIRDS help file and Texas birding links at: 
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[texbirds-freelists] [texbirds] Re: [texbirds] High Island, TOS Sabine Woods 4/28 and 4/29

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