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Trip Report
Texas
South Texas Tropicals & Whooping
Cranes
February 9th to 17th, 2015
Leader: Michael Hilchey
Day 1 - February 9th
Travel day for everyone. After gathering our things at the airport we headed to Estero Llano Grande
State Park in Weslaco for our first taste
of South Texas Birding! Green Jays,
Clay-colored Thrush, Golden-fronted
Woodpeckers and more welcomed us to
the region. After birding we dropped off
our things at the Alamo Inn, our home
for the next week or so, before heading
to the Blue Onion, a local diner, for dinner. On our way we witnessed a large
truck almost get pummeled by a passing
train!
Day 2 - February 10th
For our first full day in the valley we
headed back to Estero Llano Grande
after breakfast at the lodge. We added
© Dick Harley
more Texas specialties to the list including White-tipped Dove, Plain Chachalaca and Great Kiskadee, Yellow-crowned
Night-Herons in breeding plumage were a special treat, as was everyone’s
favorite Common Pauraque peached in his favorite spot near alligator pond!
Speaking of alligators we found one lurking in the pond with a daring Piedbilled Grebe paddling nearby. After lunch on the deck and a failed search for
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the Gray-crowned Yellowthroat we
headed to the nearby Fontera Audubon Center. Fronter was fairly slow
although Black-crested Titmice put on
a great show at one of the feeders. We
discovered that ALL the areas Turkey
Vultures roost here and are happy to
leave a stinky, poopy trail behind. After
a rest at the hotel in the afternoon we
headed to Harlingen to search for Parrots and Parakeets. We found the Parakeets in their regular jaunt near the
Jack-in-the-Box and watched them for
several minutes. The Parrots proved
more difficult and we ended finding
2 Red-Lored Parrots at the Baptist
Church where normally where are
several hundred. Hopefully we’ll ave
better luck with Parrots in a few days.
© Dick Harley
Dinner was at Joe’s Burgers and Stuff
in Harlingen, where they don’t know how to handle a full house, but they make
a mean sandwich!
Day 3 - February 11th
After breakfast we headed to Bentsen Rio Grande State Park for an old fashioned stakeout. Hook-billed Kite was our target, so we posted up on the bridge
just outside the visitor center and waited Luckily, we we’re only standing
around for a few minutes when the dark-morph Hook-billed Kite was spotted
in the distance headed our way. The bird flew right over our heads and then
off into the distance never to bee seen again. A great start to the day! A quick
bathrooms stop was followed by a walk down to the incredible feeders at
the park. Plain Chachalacas were in abundance as well as a few Altamira Orioles! We walked further down the road to the Green Jay blind where we were
treated to up close views of some of our favorite feeder birds. Lunch was taken at the park HQ while we watched Buff-bellied Hummingbirds at the feeders.
Our afternoon stop was as Azaldues County Park were we had our first look
at the Rio Grande and Mexico on the other side. Birding was slow but we managed to find a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet as well as a regionally rare, Warbling Vireo. In the evening we found ourselves back in McAllen watching Green
Parakeets taking a bath! We went back to the Blue Onion for Dinner.
Day 4 - February 12th
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On day 4 we headed to the
coast! First stop on the coastal flats to look for Aplomado
Falcon. We quickly found a
pair of them flying back and
forth between telephone
poles. We also had great
looks at Cassin’s Sparrow
this morning as well as Harris’s Hawk and Chihuahuan
Raven! Once we made it to
the coast we stopped at Laguna Heights to check out
the board walk behind the
town. Reddish Egrets, Brown
Pelicans, and several species
of Gulls and Terns were our
© Dick Harley
reward. Out on South Padre
Island we visited the convention center and found an abundance of shorebirds
including ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover and more. We also had an impressive gathering of Black Skimmers,
a handful of Roseate Spoonbills and a brief and frightening (they are very
loud) encounter with a Clapper Rail! Next we headed to the jetty, but didn’t
find much, so we took a lunch break at Cap’n Roy’s Seafood for a delicious fish
meal!
On our way home, we stopped at the Harlingen lake to see the hundreds of
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that spend the winter there and we even managed to pick out a Fulvous Whistling-Duck among the crowd. Dinner at Tower
Burger just down the street from the Inn was a great find.
Day 5 - February 13th
We got up early this morning and headed out before light to reach the “upper
valley.” First stop in this dryer region of the valley was Salineno Boat Launch
where we settled in among the other birders, waiting on a pigeon. Ringed Kingfisher, Gray Hawk and Black Vultures entertained us until finally the Red-billed
Pigeon flew past in a flash. Luckily the bird came back around and we even got
some distant views of it perched over the river. After we had our fill of pigeon
we headed up the trail to the feeding station where we were greeted by the
lovely camp hosts and Jake the dog. Hooded, Altamira, and Audubon’ s Orioles came in while we were waiting along with the regular Green jay crowd. A
quick check behind the bathrooms produced an Eastern Screech-Owl keeping
tabs on things from the comfort of his owl box. We then headed up the road to
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Starr County Park where we found
quite a few confiding Pyrrhuloxia
as well as Virden Greater Roadrunner and other desert specialties. A couple more hours in the
car found us in Laredo where we
quickly located a gorgeous male
White-collared Seedeater and
Green Kingfisher to boot! ON our
way home we spotted a couple of
White-tailed Hawks soaring high
above the highway, putting on a
© Dick Harley
show. We also made a stop at the
Brook’s County rest stop where we discovered the long-staying Painted Redstart and his friends the Yellow-throated Warbler and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Dinner was taken at Milano’s Italian near our hotel.
Day 6 - February 14th
Our last full day at in the valley we headed south to Brownsville with our first
stop being Resaca de la Palma State Park. We scoured the parking area for
an hour or so before finding our target species, the male Tropical Parula. He
was putting on a show, singing up a storm and was even nice enough to show
us where the Black-throated Gray Warbler was hanging out. With another
successful chase under our belt we headed to Sabal Palm Sanctuary. On our
way, we stopped and photographed the infamous border fence and a few
critical signs from the locals. At the sanctuary we were greeted by a Great
Horned Owl on her nest in a palm tree just outside the old Victorian visitor
center. The Sanctuary was pretty slow with very few (if any) new birds for the
trip, but lovely views of Green Jays really never gets old. After a cloud of
passing mosquitoes scared us back to the car we went on a wild pipit search
(Sprauge’s Pipit’s to be exact) but had little luck. With a few minutes to spare
we stopped back at Estero Llano Grande and this time were rewarded with
views of the male Gray-crowned Yellowthroat! We found ourselves back down
in Brownsville at dusk watching several hundred Red-crowned, Red-lored and
White-fronted Parrots as they squawked overhead and had their last meal of
the day in a nearby oak tree, while the locals went about their day seemingly
oblivious to the spectacle around them. A great way to end the day! We had
dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, Pepe’s, in Harlingen before heading home
for the night.
Day 7 - February 15th
We decided to spend out last morning in the valley giving the elusive
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White-throated Thrush
one more chance at Estero Llano Grande. We got
there nice and early and
searched all morning. In
the end we saw lots and
lots and lots of Clay-colored Thrushes, a few
American Robins and zero
White-throated Thrushes.
Oh, well, I guess we needed and excuse to come
back! Another great lunch
on the deck at Estero was
followed by a long drive
north to Corpus Christi.
© Dick Harley
The evening held a special treat as we discovered a great new restaurant, just opened in Rockport,
the Groove. Live music and fresh fish, topped off with a bowl of ice cream for
desert!
Day 8 - February 16th
The day of the Whooping Crane! With a storm threatening to cancel our boat
tour we headed to Goose Island State Park in the morning to see if we could
catch up with some Whooping Cranes from land. Thankfully we were very successful with a dozen of these amazing white birds feeding happily in a field
with Sandhill Cranes and a couple of cows. With Cranes ticked off, we headed
to the park campground and boardwalk where we caught up with a Clapper
Rail. We watched from the board walk as the rail ran about directly under our
feet! Back in the wooded area of the park, we got comfortable at the park
host’s feeders and were rewarded with a Harris’s Sparrow along with great
looks at Carolina Wren. It was about that time that the boat captain called to
let me know the trip was off. Luckily we had already seen the Cranes so no
body was disappointed. The forecast had 30 mph winds predicted for the afternoon but it was dead calm at that time so we got back in the car and headed to Port Aransas and the Port A jetty. We never did fine the reported Little
Gull but we had Lesser Black-backed and Bonaparte’s Gulls. About half-way
out on the jetty we turned around and could see the impending cold front on
it’s way from the north. We decided to head back to the car just in time! We
watched as the rain and the wind hit the jetty in front of us. Dead calm went
to 30 mph in the blink of an eye and we could literally see people being blow
out of their chairs 30 feet in front of us while there was no wind on us. When it
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did hit, the temp dropped about 20 degrees, the wind picked up, the rain started and we were very thankful that we were not on a boat! With some effort
we made it back to the car and headed to lunch at a local fish joint. Then we
headed back to our hotel as it was far too windy and cold to do any productive birding. We did, however treat ourselves to another loverly dinner at the
Groove Cafe.
Day 9 - February 17th
Our final day we woke up to find ourselves very much still in a cold front. We
had a brief and chill morning birding before calling it quites. We stopped at the
daily grind, a local coffee shop, and then hit the road headed for Harlingen.
With some time to spare we grabbed lunch to go and went to Marci Fuller’s
residence near Harlingen to unwind, change, eat lunch and go over the checklist one more time. Marci’s lovely home proved a great place to relax at the
end of the trip. After a couple hours we loaded back up and headed to the
airport to say our goodbyes...
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Species List
1
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
2
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
3
Snow Goose
-
Muscovy Duck (Domestic)
4Gadwall
5
American Wigeon
6
Mallard (Northern)
-
Mallard (Mexican)
7
Mottled Duck
8
Blue-winged Teal
9
Cinnamon Teal
10 Northern Shoveler
11 Northern Pintail
12 Green-winged Teal
13Redhead
14 Ring-necked Duck
15 Bufflehead
16 Red-breasted Merganser
17 Ruddy Duck
18 Plain Chachalaca
19 Least Grebe
20 Pied-billed Grebe
21 Eared Grebe
22 American White Pelican
23 Brown Pelican
24 Neotropic Cormorant
25 Double-crested Cormorant
26 Great Blue Heron
27 Great Egret
28 Snowy Egret
29 Little Blue Heron
30 Tricolored Heron
31 Reddish Egret
32 Cattle Egret
33 Green Heron
34 Black-crowned Night-Heron
35 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
36 White Ibis
37 White-faced Ibis
38 Roseate Spoonbill
39 Black Vulture
40 Turkey Vulture
41Osprey
42 Hook-billed Kite
43 White-tailed Kite
44 Sharp-shinned Hawk
45 Cooper’s Hawk
46 Harris’s Hawk
47 Broad-winged Hawk
48 Gray Hawk
49 White-tailed Hawk
50 Red-tailed Hawk
51 Crested Caracara
52 American Kestrel
53 Aplomado Falcon
54 Peregrine Falcon
55 Clapper Rail
56Sora
57 Common Gallinule
58 American Coot
59 Sandhill Crane
60 Whooping Crane
61 Black-bellied Plover
62Killdeer
63 American Oystercatcher
64 Black-necked Stilt
65 American Avocet
66 Spotted Sandpiper
67 Greater Yellowlegs
68 Lesser Yellowlegs
69Willet
70 Long-billed Curlew
71 Long-billed Dowitcher
72 Marbled Godwit
73 Ruddy Turnstone
74Sanderling
75 Least Sandpiper
76Dunlin
77 Short-billed Dowitcher
78 Wilson’s Snipe
79 Laughing Gull
80 Bonaparte’s Gull
81 Ring-billed Gull
82 Herring Gull
83 Lesser Black-backed Gull
84 Caspian Tern
85 Forester’s Tern
86 Royal Tern
87 Black Skimmer
88 Rock Pigeon
89 Red-billed Pigeon
90 Eurasian Collared-Dove
91 White-winged Dove
92 Mourning Dove
93 Inca Dove
94 Common Ground-Dove
95 White-tipped Dove
96 Red-crowned Parrot
-
White-fronted Parrot
-
Red-lored Parrot
97 Green Parakeet
98 Greater Roadrunner
99 Eastern Screech-Owl
100 Great Horned Owl
101 Common Pauraque
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102 Buff-bellied Hummingbird
103 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
104 Ringed Kingfisher
105 Belted Kingfisher
106 Green Kingfisher
107 Golden-fronted Woodpecker
108 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
109 Ladder-baked Woodpecker
110 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
111 Least Flycatcher
112 Black Phoebe
113 Eastern Phoebe
114 Vermilion Flycatcher
115 Great Kiskadee
116 Tropical kingbird
117 Couch’s Kingbird
118 Loggerhead Shrike
119 White-eyed Vireo
120 Blue-headed Vireo
121 Warbling Vireo
122 Green Jay
123 Chihuahuan Raven
124 Tree Swallow
125 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
126 Black-crested Titmouse
127Verdin
128 Carolina Wren
129 Bewick’s Wren
130 House Wren
131 Sedge Wren
132 Marsh Wren
133 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
134 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
135 Eastern Bluebird
136 Clay-colored Thrush
137 American Robin
138 Gray Catbird
139 Northern Mockingbird
140 Long-billed Thrasher
141 Curve-billed Thrasher
142 European Starling
143 American Pipit
144 Orange-crowned Warbler
145 Tropical Parula
146 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
-
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)
147 Black-throated Gray Warbler
148 Black-throated Green Warbler
149 Yellow-throated Warbler
150 Black-and-White Warbler
151 Common Yellowthroat
152 Gray-crowned Yellowthroat
153 Painted Redstart
154 White-collared Seedeater
155 Olive Sparrow
156 Cassin’s Sparrow
157 Chipping Sparrow
158 Vesper Sparrow
159 Lark Sparrow
160 Savannah Sparrow
161 Lincoln’s Sparrow
162 Summer Tanager
163 Northern Cardinal
164Pyrrhuloxia
165 Red-winged Blackbird
166 Eastern Meadowlark
167 Western Meadowlark
168 Great-tailed Grackle
169 Hooded Oriole
170 Altamira Oriole
171 Audubon’s Oriole
172 House Finch
173 Bronzed Cowbird
174 Lesser Goldfinch
175 House Sparrow
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Photos
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*Photos by Dick & Barbara Harley
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Any questions? Feel free to email us at
anytime! info@branttours.com
Cheers and happy birding!
- The BRANT Team
Birding Research And Nature Tours © 2015