Texas and the Valley Day 1

     Well I didn't do a post from yesterday and even as I right this one I am starting to realize how difficult it is to come back to a hotel after a long day of non stop birding/driving and then make lists, plan for the next day, go through pics, and then still find the energy to write a blog post. I have been bad about that to start the year but hopefully I can figure out how to do this in a timely fashion and on low energy. There is just soooo much to do here, its incredible. This post will cover the last 2 days and a lot has happened so it might be a long post! Now that we won't be driving through most of the nights I hope to have time and energy to catch up some post regularly down here.

     Jan 3rd, first stop: Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary. The weather report looked iffy for today with rain in the forecast and pretty chilly for Texas (52 degrees haha). Shorebirds, shorebirds, and more shorebirds!! I thought I was in heaven. Shorebirds are one of my favorite groups, probably second behind herons/egrets. Seeing shorebirds in this number in January was awesome! A few life birds were out there on those mudflats like Western Sandpiper and Long-Billed Curlew. There was virtually no light and light rain was on and off but it was good enough. We cruise up on a bird, boom! Mountain Plover! That was the main target for this stop. We couldn't have taken more than 2 steps out of the van when a Barn Owl just started booking it in the field behind us! Score. After this we headed to Anahuac NWR. We had a few birds on our minds to get there but mainly we were crossing our fingers that the rain would hold off!

     We knew that Vermillion Flycatcher had been somewhere at Anahuac for the past week or 2 and of course we wanted to see it. We didn't know where to start to look really though. We pull into the lot, get out and Dan goes "Hey look, Vermillion Flycatcher". Are you kidding me? There was a second bird playing around on the rail on the walkway to the nature center. Well I guess maybe we should start with the Auto Tour now and see what other goodies we can turn up. Most of the usual stuff really until a bird flew over and landed in a bush on the side. Dark Sparrow. A little pishing and he pops out for a second. Seaside Sparrow, bingo baby! Secret little bird who didn't like coming out in the open but with some patience we all got good looks at it. On with the tour. A little while later, Shawn shouts from the back seat about a bittern just standing out in the open across the little water ditch. Crazy! To make it even more crazy, just down the road Dan spotted another American Bittern literally on the side of the road about 15-20 feet from the car. Stupid looks at this thing. I guess you could say we had some fun at Anahuac. After a little convincing, I get Dan to say yes to checking out Bear Creek Park in the Houston area as the last stop to look for Greater Pewee since it won't be too much added driving time.

Why not take a selfie from the car with a Bittern when you have the chance!

     Bear Creek Park was all flooded but the sun came out and it was beautiful! After a little driving around and asking some questions we arrive at the Pewee spot. After about an hour, it starts getting dark but then we pick up on the "Pip pip" call note. A little dark out from any good pics but certainly good looks and this little guy would not shut up! Very good pickup, especially in Texas. Its late now but its time to head to the valley. Finally! We don't arrive until like 11:30 after 6ish hours of driving. 

    

     Jan 4th and my first day in the Valley! We decided to start in Estero Llano Grande. Walk in, White-Winged Dove, Golden-Fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-Backed Woodpecker, Buff-Bellied and Black-Chinned Hummingbird. Its gonna be a good time at this park! We joined up with a little bird hike that was going on with a few other people which was a fun time. It was cool to talk to people about this area and where I was from and how birding is in Ohio. There was another group there also escaping the cold, they were from Minnesota. I was just getting life birds at every turn! Its just like, oh once you're done with that Kiskadee there is an Inca Dove right there and a Pauraque on your right. Oh check out that Green Kingfisher and Yellow-Cronwned Night-Heron. I was doing all I could to keep up haha. 22. That's the number of lifers I got there this morning! Mary G. was with us and while we were there she got a call about a Blue Bunting over at Santa Ana NWR which is where we were planning on going next anyways. 

     No Bunting. Bummer. We did get good birds in the park though while we were searching for it. It is just a difficult bird to relocate since its so secretive. I don't think anybody ever did see it again. We did spend quite a few hours in that park. We got a tip about a Fulvous Whistling Duck in the park so we decided to give it a shot. No luck where it was suppose to be. Dang. We are all pretty tired and hungry at this point. We stopped in the nature to talk to the worker there really quick and he said the duck was found earlier today in a different pond. He said it was about a mile away but you had to walk there. He was wrong.... After a quick fuel, pit stop of poptarts for me, Dan and I decided to trek out there to look for this duck. Shawn stuck back to bird the nature center area. Let me just tell you something, it was much farther than a mile! It took us a solid 90+ minutes of power walking before we got backed to the car, it was at least 5 miles on already tired legs through mud. It sucked. Oh and on top of that, no duck still! Oh well, thats the way it goes. Gotta get up early (really early) so we can make it to Aransas at first light. Hoping for Whooping Crane tomorrow and other goodies! Maybe I'll have energy to post tomorrow too so these long posts don't happen anymore! Year total so far = 174, not too shabby but still a lot more to add while I'm down here! Gonna be a busy 4 more days!