Well today and yesterday were our last days in the south Texas area. Tomorrow we start our trek back to the bitterly cold Ohio. Bummer, These last 2 days have been great as we scored many of our targets we had for these 2 days. We focused on Texas specialties that we missed during the first few days and picked up a few other year birds and nice pictures in the process.
We started Tuesday at Sabal Palm bright and early. Main targets were Tropical Parula and Groove-Billed Ani. Trop Par was probably a long shot but this was our best shot at finding one on this trip. No recent reports really. We located a few feeding warblers and a Northern Parula but no Tropical. While walking on one of the trails we heard this call note that seemed interesting. Dan got on the bird first and realized that it was the Dusky-Capped Flycatcher that has been hanging out for a couple weeks now. I got a brief look before it took off. It continued to call in the distance but never showed again so no picture. Dang. Nice pick up though. Hopefully I can get a pic in Arizona later this year. Towards the end of our time here Dan and I decided to hike a different trail and we found 3 Groove-Billed Ani!! A very uncommon to rare bird here in the winter. Finally, a life bird for Dan on the trip! I am very happy for him and that I got to share that one with him. I'm bummed that Shawn missed them though. Oh well, he has them as a life bird already. From here we went looking for Aplomado Falcon at Old Port Isabel Rd. Too bad it was all flooded and we couldn't get there. We did however get to watch a Cactus Wren on a Cactus! It was certainly one of my favorite birds of the trip. I wasn't expecting to see this species on this trip but I'm glad I did. From there we hit South Padre Island and picked up a few more birds but missed the Purple Gallinule. Then we went looking for Aplo Falc again, this time at Laguna. We got some helpful tips from a lady at the nature center who was just licking her lips at the thought of those gorgeous falcons. We walk out there and located a pair of Falcons way out in the stratosphere! After a while they flew in a little closer and allowed for better looks and an IDable picture. Great bird to close out the day!
Wednesday Jan. 7th, our last day in the Valley. We were still missing some important valley birds but we had a good plan to target them. First stop, Anzalduas Park. Right away we get on a Ringed Kingfisher so a brief look before it takes off out of sight and into Mexico. Check. This park had quite a few birds in it including a few gorgeous Vermillion Flycatchers. We located a small feeding flock and Shawn spots a small gray bird, Verdin! Excellent, check. On our way out we spot a distant hawk on a telephone post, Gray Hawk! Check. Next stop, a quick run through at Falcon Dam to pick up Pyrrhuloxia. We check the feeders behind the Rec Hall and find a few of them within a few minutes of being there. Check. We are on a wicked good pace and scoring every bird we wanted to but we still have the 2 most difficult to locate left. First, DeWind's feeders to hope for an appearance by Audubon's Oriole. This bird shows here regularly but is very sporadic in its visits so it might take hours before one shows. We were running out of time and still had another bird to see. Luckily we had a gorgeous bird show after about 30 minutes of feeder watching. Check. (On a side note, these feeders are absolutely incredible. There were at least 15 Great Kiskadee in my sight at one time and a ton of the beautiful Altimira Oriole). Last stop, White-Collared Seedeater. We had no idea how long it will take to locate this code 3 species and we had dwindling light. Maybe a little over an hour left to search for them. We arrive at San Ygnacio Bird Sanctuary where a few have been recently. We walk past the gate and almost immediately get on a White-Collared Seedeater! Check!! We ended up seeing 4 of these cute tiny birds. I still can't believe how easy that was. Fantastic pick up to end the day. Stayed in Loredo tonight and getting up early to head north to Lake Travis in the Austin area where a Brown Booby has been hanging out for a while now. Fingers crossed. I had a fantastic time in southern Texas and we closed out by snagging everything we needed to!
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