November 06 – Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival

This was our third time attending the Rio Grande Birding Festival so you know it must be pretty special. We had another late flight out of Tampa to Harlingen, TX that got us to the hotel at 12:30 am. This doesn’t sound that late but we had a tour at 7:00 am to Sabal Palm the next morning. Five hours sleep is better than no sleep.

We arrived at Sabal Palm Sanctuary and started off at the plantation house before splitting into two groups of 11. The mosquitoes were thick as we walked the trails and boardwalks. We were lucky to be in the group with Jake Mohlmann who spotted a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and recorded the call. Photos and the recording confirmed later that it was actually a Pacific-slope Flycatcher; a mega-rarity for this part of Texas. Of the 57 species with 11 warblers, some of the best included: Olive Sparrow, Bay-breasted Warbler, Least Grebe, Green Jay, Altamira Orioles and a lifer Philadelphia Vireo.

Next stop was Estero Llano Grande State Park which is part of the World Birding Center Network. This is one of our favorite and must do stops where we unfortunately dipped on Green and Ringed Kingfishers, Clay-colored Thrush and Groove-billed Ani. During our two hours of birding we saw 31 species with some favorites that we rarely see outside this area: Inca Dove, Great Kiskadee, Buff-bellied Hummingbird and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. We had awesome looks at a Common Pauraque which is so well camouflaged we would never see it if someone didn’t point it out. You almost feel obligated to stay there until someone else comes up so you can pass it on.

We signed up for the Parrot tour to look for Green Parakeets. The birders pile into vans with the leaders who drive around in urban areas to listen and look for parrots. The leaders keep in touch and everyone comes when the birds are located. We found a nice group of Green Parakeets across from a lawn mower shop with guard dogs that were not happy to have us hanging around. Next chase was for Red-crowned Parrots which took quite a while. We found them in a parking lot but a van drove in and flushed them. Luckily they were found again 10 minutes later with all the chase vans present. We had a celebration dinner at Pepe’s that has the best Mexican food at great prices.

 

We were up early on Sunday, 11/8 for a tour to the famous King Ranch. Can’t think of a better way to spend our 35th wedding anniversary. Our tour of the Norias Division started with grassland birds as it was cold and windy when we arrived. We flushed a few Sprague’s and American Pipits, Vesper Sparrows and Lark Buntings. While riding through the property we saw numerous raptors: five hawk species, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Merlin, and Crested Caracara. The Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl was the bird everyone wanted and we tried for 20 minutes with no response. While looking we did get our best ever looks at Olive Sparrow. The group moved down and Dave Irons heard the unmistakable call 100 yards back where Shawneen Finnegan located the bird to the delight of 40+ birders.

We were down to our last five hours of Texas birding for the year and we only needed seven more species to reach our goal of 500. There were reports of Bronzed Cowbirds in the area but all we saw were Brown-headed Cowbirds. Two more stops with nothing new but we saw another White-tailed Kite. We needed a quick lunch and one of the best options for good Mexican food is at Stripes in the Velero gas stations. Don’t knock it until you try it and it’s something we look forward to every time we are here. We took our taco and chicken lunch to Highway 100 to look for the Aplomado Falcon, a species only found in this area of the US. Success!

Off to two resacas to look for Green and Belted Kingfishers. Lots of Pied-billed Grebe and a Spotted Sandpiper but no kingfishers. Next stop was the Rice Tract Oasis in San Benito hoping for a new sandpiper in the rice stubble. Nineteen species with nothing new but we did find Gadwall, Mottled and Ruddy Ducks and Great Kiskadee. Last stop before the airport was Hugh Ramsey Nature Park for our final try on the Green Kingfisher. The kingfishers will be our second biggest miss for the year. We were pleased to see a nice Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

At the airport we had a delicious dinner of Hot Smoked Salmon and Seafood Cobb Salad at Pappadeaux.  We  were celebrating for two reasons: our anniversary and adding 24 year birds. Only six to go to reach our goal.

Next up: Central Florida and The Keys

Trip : Total Species: 110 Year Birds:  24  Life Birds: 3

2015 : Year Birds: 494   Life Birds: 78

Here’s the list: 2015 Bird List