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2012 Big Year - January
January 2 - Old Military Highway/NABA, Anzalduas Vigil, & Bentsen Palm Drive Ponds
Since I really needed the afternoon to play catch-up (and bake cookies for the guys at work ☺), I decided to do a couple of surveys this morning that included the National Butterfly Garden (NABA), where three rarities (Golden-crowned Warbler, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, and Cassin's Vireo) had been seen lately. A Great Horned Owl was hooting outside the house as I left, and a Harris' Hawk on a light post along the 83 frontage road were nice additions!
This route (a full description and checklist for which is here) starts where Old Military Highway intersects with Bentsen Rio Grande State Park and heads east, up onto a levee, and ends at Anzalduas County Park, which I normally do as a separate survey. It was pretty cold and pretty quiet, but a Cooper's Hawk that likes to hang out by the NABA Garden entrance was new for the year, and while not new, the Black Phoebe now hanging around the bridge over the canal was nice! On the dirt portion of the levee you can look into a distant wetland, where two Snowy Egrets flew by and a Caspian Tern flew overhead. Near Chimney Park a White-winged Dove flew by, and further down in some disturbed area near some old homes, a Field Sparrow peeked out of a bush in response to pishing! The stretch of levee just before reaching Anzalduas County Park (which is okay to bird from, according to the Border Patrol guy I talked to) had a lot of water in the ditch that held multiple Great Blue Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, some Gadwall, a Greater Yellowlegs, and a young Roseate Spoonbill! A Ringed Kingfisher bullied his smaller cousin the Belted off a wire, and a Bronzed Cowbird betrayed his presence with his starling-like song. The Eastern Bluebirds were still along here, and a single Chachalaca flopped out of a tree to take a look.
I was disappointed to discover that Anzalduas was closed, but being a government holiday, that made sense. So like the last time I came by (when it was also closed the day after Thanksgiving), I parked myself on an overlook where you have a great view of the spillway and the field, hoping something good would fly by! Three other visiting birders parked woefully at the entrance for a few moments, then came over and joined me, and we had a fun time spotting stuff; probably the best sighting was a mixed flock of White-fronted and Snow Geese wheeling close overhead (although there was only one Snow in with them)! Another Ringed Kingfisher roared in and landed on the wire, giving great looks (at least from the rear), and the spillway marsh held an American Wigeon as well as another Greater Yellowlegs which I mis-ID'd as a Lesser when it was further out and the bill looked shorter... ☺ A ballet of White Pelicans soared in the distance, and we vainly tried to turn one of the many Turkey Vultures into a Zone-tailed Hawk! We settled for combing through the Western Meadowlarks hoping to find a Sprague's Pipit (didn't happen)...
Greater White-fronted Geese with a token Snow Goose in with them!
Not the most dignified pose, but the left-hand shot shows the distinctive rusty underparts of the Ringed Kingfisher (and if you can't see that, the honker bill gives him away)!
I headed back to NABA after that where I hiked the Walking Trail in search of the rarities, but since they hadn't been seen lately I didn't have high hopes. The winter flock had tons of "Myrtle" Warblers and a few Orange-crowned, but the best birds here were more northern "invaders" that are normally rather tough to get down here: a flock of American Robins! A Sharp-shinned Hawk terrorized the Green Jays, and a young Red-shouldered Hawk claimed the fence at the end of the trail. A flock of soaring Black Vultures had a Cave Swallow in with them, and a 15-minute vigil at the feeders added Clay-colored Thrush and White-tipped Dove to the day list, in addition to the regular Altamira Orioles, Kiskadees, Green Jays, and House Sparrows. Checked to see if the resident Screech Owl was at his day roost (he was), and was shocked to see a Red Admiral and a Monarch flitting around in this cold weather!
Yellow-rumped Warblers (the eastern race known as "Myrtle" Warbler) are abundant "Winter Texans"!
Common and widespread birds, such as this American
Robin, rarely make it this far south, but this winter has seen an
unprecedented number of vagrants from the north, as well as from the west and
Mexico!
Tuck-tuck call notes
with competing Yellow-rumped Warblers, Mockingbirds, Kiskadees, and Green Jays;
the seeep at the end is also the robin.
One of the visiting birders told me about some ponds along Bentsen Palm Drive that they had discovered north of the freeway and near a school, so I headed up there just to check it out, and it was loaded! The ponds were within the confines of a children's home, so I felt a little self-conscious staring at a bunch of ducks that happened to be in line with the kids playing soccer, but added several year birds here including Coot, Blue-winged Teal, Shoveler, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks, Least Grebe, and Lesser Yellowlegs for sure (he opened his mouth and proved it...☺). A shrike on the way home was good for the year as well.
Bird List (species in CAPS are new for the year):
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
Anser albifrons
SNOW GOOSE
Chen caerulescens
GADWALL
Anas strepera
AMERICAN WIGEON
Anas americana
BLUE-WINGED TEAL
Anas discors
NORTHERN SHOVELER
Anas clypeata
Green-winged Teal
Anas crecca
RING-NECKED DUCK
Aythya collaris
LESSER SCAUP
Aythya affinis
RUDDY DUCK
Oxyura jamaicensis
Plain Chachalaca
Ortalis vetula
LEAST GREBE
Tachybaptus dominicus
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN
Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
Great Blue Heron
Ardea herodias
Great Egret
Ardea alba
SNOWY EGRET
Egretta thula
ROSEATE SPOONBILL
Platalea ajaja
Black Vulture
Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
Northern Harrier
Circus cyaneus
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK
Accipiter striatus
COOPER’S HAWK
Accipiter cooperii
HARRIS’ HAWK
Parabuteo unicinctus
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
Buteo lineatus
Red-tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Crested Caracara
Caracara cheriway
American Kestrel
Falco sparverius
AMERICAN COOT
Fulica americana
KILLDEER
Charadrius vociferus
GREATER YELLOWLEGS
Tringa melanoleuca
LESSER YELLOWLEGS
Tringa flavipes
CASPIAN TERN
Hydroprogne caspia
Rock Pigeon
Columba livia
WHITE-WINGED DOVE
Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove
Zenaida macroura
White-tipped Dove
Leptotila verreauxi
Eastern Screech-Owl
Megascops asio
GREAT HORNED OWL
Bubo virginianus
Ringed Kingfisher
Megaceryle torquata
Belted Kingfisher
Megaceryle alcyon
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Picoides scalaris
Black Phoebe
Sayornis nigricans
Eastern Phoebe
Sayornis phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE
Lanius ludovicianus
Green Jay
Cyanocorax yncas
CAVE SWALLOW
Petrochelidon fulva
Black-crested Titmouse
Baeolophus atricristatus
Verdin
Auriparus flaviceps
House Wren
Troglodytes aedon
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Polioptila caerulea
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Regulus calendula
EASTERN BLUEBIRD
Sialia sialis
Clay-colored Thrush
Turdus grayi
AMERICAN ROBIN
Turdus migratorius
Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
Long-billed Thrasher
Toxostoma longirostre
European Starling
Sturnus vulgaris
American Pipit
Anthus rubescens
Orange-crowned Warbler
Oreothlypis celata
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Setophaga coronata
Field Sparrow
Spizella pusilla
Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
Red-winged Blackbird
Agelaius phoeniceus
WESTERN MEADOWLARK
Sturnella neglecta
Great-tailed Grackle
Quiscalus mexicanus
BRONZED COWBIRD
Molothrus aeneus
Altamira Oriole
Icterus gularis
LESSER GOLDFINCH
Spinus psaltria
American Goldfinch
Spinus tristis
House Sparrow
Passer domesticus
73 SPECIES
SO FAR:
102 SPECIES