Lower Rio Grande Valley Trip Nets 6 Mega-Rarity Life Birds and 7 More State Birds, Jan. 5-9, 2024, Part 2 of 2

Before retiring in 2018 I would travel to Houston for work about a week a month.  I’d often squeeze in a little local birding time during most of those trips, working on my TX state list and sometimes even my LA list.  But the real attraction was the opportunity to bird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which after all was only an hour plane flight from Houston.  On a number of my trips, I would add a vacation day to chase after some extreme rarity from Mexico (or even farther away).  As a result, I’ve made 14 trips to the LRGV and nearby areas in south TX over the years, with each of the most recent 9 trips targeting a single life bird. 

Fast forward to mid-December 2023 – I started hearing some buzz about rarities being seen in south TX this winter.  I did a quick eBird Needs Alert for TX and was blown away by the number of rarities on the list.  There were no less than 5 mega-rarities that were seemingly quite reliable –

• Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard (first record for TX) at Resaca de la Palma State Park
• Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch – property only accessible by hiring a guide
• Cattle Tyrant (a first for the US) in downtown Corpus Christi

Needless to say, all 5 would be life birds for me.  What an amazing group of rarities!  Plus there were sightings of 2 parrots that I had never seen before - White-fronted and Lilac-crowned.  Although these “exotic” species are countable per eBird rules, they are not countable per ABA and the TX Bird Records Committee. 

And there were more than just potential life birds to pursue.  Although my TX state list was already pretty respectable at 452, there were quite a number of possible TX state birds also being seen.  Key targets included – Long-tailed Duck, Western Grebe, Limpkin, Mountain Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Iceland Gull, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Hermit Warbler.  Another great list of targets!

With all those potential life and state birds it was a no-brainer that I had to give it a try and make my 15th trip to the LRGV.  After all, I’ve taken numerous trips to the Valley for just 1 potential life bird.  Albeit those trips started in Houston instead of western NC.  I found a window of free time in my schedule in early January, and made reservations to fly to TX on the 4th, returning on the afternoon of the 9th, giving me 4 and a half days of birding in south TX.   

All things considered I hoped to find 4 or 5 lifers, and an additional 5 state birds.  That’s quite a step up from my recent trips to the Valley hoping for just 1 target bird.

This post summarizes the second half of my trip.  The previous post summarized the first part of my trip.

January 7 – Corpus Christi and Vicinity and Parrot Search

The plan for the 7th was to travel to Corpus Christi where the key target was a long-staying Cattle Tyrant.  This flycatcher is typically a South American species (I’ve seen it several times in Brazil), which is normally not seen any closer to the US than Panama.  Though there was one being seen in Costa Rica now.  It’s unclear whether the Texas Bird Records Committee will decide to add this species to the state list.  But it’s best to try to see it in the meantime, and then await the Committee’s decision.  Interestingly, eBird already considers it to be countable. 

After (hopefully) finding the Tyrant, my plan was to chase after 3 rare potential TX state birds – Bar-tailed Godwit Iceland (Thayer’s) Gull, and Long-tailed Duck.  All 3 were being seen near Corpus Christi, or along the route back to the Valley.  Then I would get back to Brownsville by sunset to look for Parrots at an evening roost. 

I developed an itinerary that would in theory give me enough time to try for each of my targets and still get in all that driving time.  But that itinerary went out the window when I overslept – I guess I was really tired from my late night with the Owls.  I got out of the hotel an hour later than planned, and spent a lot of time on my drive to Corpus Christi going through the options to get back on schedule.  I ended up deciding to skip my search for the Bar-tailed Godwit.  Although that would be a great bird to see, it had not been reported for 10 days despite multiple checklists in the areas where it had been seen.  Plus I had planned on a lengthy 90-minute search for the bird, so skipping that one would give me more than enough time to find my other targets.

The very tame Cattle Tyrant was being seen in downtown Corpus Christi principally in an area covering one city block.  And one its favorite spots was a blue dumpster near the corner of Water and Lawrence Streets where it would eat flies and other unmentionable insects.  I finally rolled into downtown Corpus Christi at 9:45 and parked near that dumpster hoping for a quick look at the bird, but came up empty.  I took a slow walk around the city block but still no Tyrant.  At one point an employee of one of the local businesses came up to me and said he had seen the bird a bit earlier that morning, so at least it was still around.  By 10 some other birders started to show up and a few of us exchanged phone numbers to spread the news when it was sighted.    

During one slow period I checked my TX Needs Alert for updates and found a report that the Godwit was seen just an hour earlier, and a specific location was given.  That meant I should add the Godwit search back into my itinerary, but would I have time for all my stops? 

It was now 10:30 and still no sightings.  I was standing back at the dumpster when one of the birders I met earlier came by to say she had just found the Cattle Tyrant around the corner.  After a short brisk walk I turned the corner and saw these 2 birders standing in the road up ahead.  That’s the target bird in front of them walking in the road.

I walked a bit closer and got these nice digi-binned shots.

Cattle Tyrant was ABA Lifer #5 and State bird #8 – at least for now pending the TX Committee’s decision.

It turns out that one of the birders with whom I exchanged numbers was the person who re-found the Bar-tailed Godwit that morning.  Before I left I was sure to get very specific directions from him – he mentioned it was on the short rocky jetty at Indian Point Park.  That was 1 of 3 hotspots where it had been sporadically reported over the last month, and was just 10 minutes away.  So I was cautiously optimistic.  But since it took nearly an hour to find the Tyrant I might need to delay my try for the Long-tailed Ducks until tomorrow, unless I could find the Godwit quickly.

After a short drive I parked at Indian Point Park and walked right to the jetty.  I had a couple Willets and a Turnstone, but no Godwits.  It was indeed a very short jetty and there was nowhere for a large shorebird to hide, so I hadn’t overlooked it.  I then turned my attention to a small wetlands close to the jetty that had a Marbled Godwit and a few Black-bellied Plovers, but still no target.  So much for hoping to find the bird quickly.

Just northeast of the jetty was a large impoundment that looked like great habitat.  But that wetlands stretched some 2 miles to the north, and the Godwit had been reported throughout this impoundment.  But since the bird had just been seen on the jetty, maybe it hadn’t gone far.  I set up my scope and started to scan the southern end of the impoundment.  I was especially focused on the larger shorebirds, picking up another Marbled Godwit and a Long-billed Curlew.  Then I came to a large shorebird in the distance that was pale below.  I increased the magnification on my scope and confirmed I had my target Bar-tailed Godwit – creamy white below, lighter brown above, and upturned 2-toned bill (State bird #9).  Here is a crummy distant phone-scoped photo of the bird.  Nice that it picked a spot to be all by itself so it would stand out. 

Bar-tailed Godwits would normally be wintering in Australia or New Zealand, so this is quite a rarity for TX.  I’ve now seen this species in 4 states as a vagrant, along with AK as a breeder.

While I was looking at the Godwit two birders from CO arrived.  They were from CO and said they didn’t know their shorebirds well.  So I not only put them on the Bar-tailed, but also a Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew, and Piping Plover.  Not birds you see in CO very often. 

Since it only took a few minutes to find the Godwit I was now only a few minutes behind schedule – maybe I’d have time for all my targets after all.

And that next target was an Iceland Gull.  This was an adult of the Thayer’s subspecies that was being seen along the John F Kennedy Causeway.  It was always reported at either of 2 fishing piers across a narrow channel from each other.  It seems the bird was looking for handouts among the Laughing Gulls there, and all the posted photographs showed the bird perched on posts at one of the piers. 

I pulled into the parking lot of the first fishing pier, the Cos Way Bait and Tackle, and scanned all the posts.  I had a few Laughing Gulls and a couple Pelicans, but no Iceland Gull.  Then I looked across the channel to the other fishing pier, the Red Dot pier, but again just found Laughing Gulls.  There were also small gull flocks resting in the shallows nearby, but all were still just Laughers.

I guess I might just have to wait a while for the bird to return.  From the Cos Way pier I could see both piers, but I was looking into the sun in order to see the Red Dot pier.  So I decided to drive over there and look back to the north at the Cos Way pier with the sun at my back. 

I drove to Red Dot, and although lighting was much better, I still couldn’t find my target.  The tide was pretty low at the time, and I wondered if the Iceland might be resting on a sand bar somewhere nearby.  I noticed a sleeping flock of gulls a short distance to the northeast beyond this boat.

I pulled out the scope and instantly noticed the third bird from the right was larger than the Laughing Gulls.  It was an adult gull without a hood but had considerable streaking on the head, had a pale back, and a small unmarked bill.  I had the Iceland Gull (State bird #10).  There were 2 other birders there at the time and I was able to get them on the bird as well.  Here’s a distant digi-scoped picture of the bird, of pretty poor quality I’m afraid.

My state bird map of Iceland Gull includes my sightings of both the Thayer’s and Kumlien’s subspecies, as they have recently been lumped into one species.

I was only 30 minutes behind schedule when I headed off so I should have enough time for my entire itinerary.  Especially if my next target, Long-tailed Ducks, were cooperative.  These diving ducks were surprisingly feeding in a shallow saltwater pond in Port Mansfield.  The eBird reports were quite confusing as to the ducks’ exact location, so I reached out to two birders who had recently reported the birds to get directions.  Both gave me directions to a pond just west of the point, labeled as the Port Mansfield Marine Sanctuary hotspot, requiring a short walk to the pond.  But one birder also mentioned they were sometimes seen in a lake east of the point - the Laguna Point Recreation Area hotspot.  He gave me directions to both lakes, so I should hopefully be all set. 

I drove to the small town of Port Mansfield, parking at the corner of Fox and Allen to take the short walk to the pool at the Marine Sanctuary.  But there wasn’t a single duck on this very small pond – just a couple Black-necked Stilts on the bank.  At least it was a short walk back to the car.  I then drove around to the Laguna Point pond.  I did a quick binocular scan and spotted several ducks near the eastern end of the pond.  The first ones I got on were a group of 4 Lesser Scaup.  Then a couple seconds later I spotted the black-and-white plumages of the pair of Long-tailed Ducks (State bird #11).  Here is a picture of the pond – my target birds were in the back below the blue arrow.

Not only were these diving ducks in a shallow pond acting like dabblers.  But they were also very far from their typical wintering range in the northern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and Great Lakes.  TX is now the 6th southern and central state where I’ve seen Long-tailed Duck as a rarity. 

The last stop of the day was an evening Parrot roost at Oliveira Park in Brownsville.  Some recent reports included hundreds of Parrots of up to 4 species – Red-crowned was the most common but there were also a few White-fronted and Violet-crowned which I needed as potential new countable life birds per eBird.  (Though they are not countable per the ABA and the TX Committee.)  And then again, some checklists had few birds and only Red-crowned.  I pulled into the park about 4:45 and found 3 other birders there also waiting for the Parrots.  The birds often don’t come in until close to sunset, which was still an hour away, so we birded the park a bit waiting for the evening flocks to arrive.

Around 5:30 I spotted a large flock of perhaps 100-200 Parrots flying in the distance.  This was looking promising.  But that flock never came to the park.  Finally a flock of about 50 birds flew overhead, circled a couple times, but never landed.  These were mostly Red-crowned but I also picked out at least 2 Red-lored with yellow cheek patches (I’ve already seen this species countable only per eBird), and 2 Yellow-headed (not countable by anyone’s definitions).  Unfortunately that was the end of the Parrot show for that night.  That was quite disappointing, missing both of my targets.  Though at least neither of them are countable per the ABA and TX Committee.

January 8 -  Second Tries for Fan-tailed Warbler and Mountain Plover

This day and the next were designed to be clean-up days to go after anything I had missed from the earlier part of the trip.  And the key miss was the Fan-tailed Warbler.  Since I tried for it on the 5th the bird was seen or heard multiple times on the 6th, but just once on the 7th.  Most sightings were from the original spot on the north side of the resaca, but a couple in the afternoon were from the south side of the resaca.  And there were several heard-only observations, as the bird gave its “tseee” call.  So the bird was still around, and despite its elusiveness, I decided to try for it again on the 8th. 

I arrived at the college campus around 7:30 and was greeted by a stiff wind coming out of the south.  That put the wind right into my face as I stood watch for the bird at its original location.  Soon I was joined by a number of other birders, but once again I couldn’t come up with the bird.  We all wondered if the wind was making it even more elusive than normal.  Then again, at one point I was quite sure I heard the bird giving its “tseee” call several times coming from the brush right in front of me.  I turned to other nearby birders to see if they thought that was the Fan-tailed, but no one even heard the calls.  I wasn’t going to check it off just based on the call notes, especially if no one else heard them.  So after a 4-hour vigil, no sightings by anyone that morning, and seeing almost no other birds, I decided to throw in the towel on the Fan-tailed Warbler. 

The other target that I had missed earlier in the trip was Mountain Plover, which was spotted once again in those same plowed fields the last 2 days.  I had the whole afternoon to try again for these birds, though I had to get there first since it was a hefty drive from Brownsville.  I arrived at the Edinburgh fields at 1:30 and spent the next 3 hours looking for the elusive shorebirds.  I covered 3 times the area I birded on my first trip, and was joined by some other birders who covered some additional area.  We found big flocks of Horned Larks, Mourning Doves, and Western Meadowlarks in the fields, but no Plovers. 

Near the end of my search I spotted a Falcon perched on wires in the distance.  I pulled over to check it out and it turned out to be a Kestrel.  But then I noticed another larger Falcon fly in from the distance.  I first noted it was brown above, and then it passed nearly right overhead giving me a great view of its dark underwing coverts and axillaries – I had a Prairie Falcon (State bird #12).  There was one sighting of a Prairie Falcon in the area 3 weeks earlier, but that was the only other sighting of this rare wintering species in the area this season.  So this species was not on my radar.  And along with sightings of a Merlin and Peregrine that day, it was a nice sweep of the local falcons. 

I only need this Prairie Falcon in 2 more states within its regular range.

January 9 – Third and Final Try for Fan-tailed Warbler

My flight out of McAllen was at 2 PM, giving me the whole morning to bird in the area.  After spending 7 hours trying for the Fan-tailed Warbler and seeing very few birds in general, my first thought was to end my trip at some location that was likely to be a lot more birdy.  Frontera Audubon came to mind - I’ve had great birds there in the past, and a couple rarities were being seen there this winter.  But then I got an email from a birder I met at the Fan-tailed spot mentioning the bird was seen and heard again on the afternoon of the 8th.  I hated to give up on the chance of seeing a life bird, despite the very low odds.  So with some misgivings, I decided to head back to the university campus and give the Fan-tailed Warbler one more try.

The temperatures were in the low 50s when I arrived at the Warbler spot – that’s pretty chilly for a Mexican bird.  So I headed across to the south side of the resaca where the vegetation was in the sun thinking that might be the preferred location for this chilly bird.  Here’s some of that vegetation on the south side of the resaca.

But as I stood there I remembered that birders had the bird at the original north side location at about 5:30 the evening before.  Maybe they were there as the target bird was going to its evening roost, and it might start its day today there as well.  I walked across the bridge to the north side to test my revised theory and there were several birders peering intently into the vegetation.  There had just been a sighting but only by a couple birders.  Darn – I guessed wrong with the feeding-in-the-sunlight theory, but at least the bird was in the area.

I spotted a little movement in the brush, but it was just the resident Wilson’s and Orange-crowned Warblers – undoubtedly the same ones I had seen there several times before.  Over the next hour there were no more sightings.  Had I missed it yet again?

Then about 9 AM I heard the Fan-tailed Warbler’s distinct “tseee” call 3 times coming from the brush.  Surprisingly once again no one else heard it so I alerted everyone.  And just a couple minutes later I heard another call just to the east - the bird must be moving east through the brush.  But still no sightings. 

And then at 10 came word that someone had a sighting of the Warbler a bit farther east.  It turns out there was a trail through the brush that would allow you to stand right in the middle of the thickest vegetation, and the Warbler was passing right through that area.  I got to this spot and almost instantly had the briefest of views of the bird – large for a warbler, with a dark back and long tail.  But that was all I could see.  And then finally at 10:30 I spotted movement down the bank to the resaca and there was the Fan-tailed Warbler – steely gray above, long fanned tail held cocked up a bit with white tips, yellow crown patch, and yellow below with a bit of an orange tint.  After 10 hours of searching over 3 days, I finally had the Fan-tailed Warbler (Lifer #6, State bird #13). What an excellent way to end the trip!  Though I was at the university so long that they almost made me sign up for classes for the spring semester.

Trip Summary

I ended the trip with 162 species, including 6 life birds.  An excellent tally especially compared to my expectations of 4 or 5 lifers.  That allowed me to reach a milestone of 750 for the Lower 48.  I’m now at exactly 750 by ABA’s accountability rules, and 753 by eBird’s rules.  The differences are related to whether several introduced species that I’ve seen are countable.  And my ABA Continental total is 770 per ABA and 772 per eBird.

I was lucky enough to tally 13 state birds, great results compared to my expectations of 9 to 10.  My TX state bird totals are equally as fuzzy.  My TX state list is now at 465 per ABA and 468 per eBird. 

Here is a link to my eBird Trip Report - Lower Rio Grande Valley, Jan 2024 - eBird Trip Report 

As a postscript, I put together this little summary of my 14 prior trips to the LRGV and nearby south TX locations -

·       April 1985 - 21 lifers, including my only ever Tamaulipas Crows

·       April-May 2000 - 12 lifers, including Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, White-collared Seedeater, and Muscovy Duck

·       January 2005 - 4 lifers - Rose-breasted Becard, Green-breasted Mango, White-throated Thrush, and Crimson-collared Grosbeak

·       December 2009 - 1 lifer - Northern Jacana

·       January 2011 - 2 1/2 lifers - Black-vented Oriole, Rufous-Backed Robin, and "Mangrove" Yellow Warbler

·       February 2011 - 1 lifer - Yellow-faced Grassquit

·       January 2012 - 1 lifer - Golden-crowned Warbler

·       November 2013 - 1 lifer - Amazon Kingfisher

·       June 2014 - 1 lifer - Yellow-green Vireo

·       August 2014 - unsuccessful attempt for Collared Plover

·       April 2015 - 1 lifer - Aplomado Falcon

·       August 2015 - 1 lifer - Collared Plover

·       April 2016 - unsuccessful attempt for Blue Bunting

·       February 2018 - 1 lifer - Blue Bunting

And now on my 15th trip in January 2024 – I saw a whopping 6 lifers – Roadside Hawk, Mottled Owl, Prairie Falcon, Gray-collared Becard, Cattle Tyrant, and Fan-tailed Warbler

Lower Rio Grande Valley Trip Nets 6 Mega-Rarity Life Birds and 7 More State Birds, Jan. 5-9, 2024, Part 1 of 2

Before retiring in 2018 I would travel to Houston for work about a week a month.  I’d often squeeze in a little local birding time during most of those trips, working on my TX state list and sometimes even my LA list.  But the real attraction was the opportunity to bird in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which after all was only an hour plane flight from Houston.  On a number of my trips, I would add a vacation day to chase after some extreme rarity from Mexico (or even farther away).  As a result, I’ve made 14 trips to the LRGV and nearby areas in south TX over the years, with each of the most recent 9 trips targeting a single life bird. 

Fast forward to mid-December 2023 – I started hearing some buzz about rarities being seen in south TX this winter.  I did a quick eBird Needs Alert for TX and was blown away by the number of rarities on the list.  There were no less than 5 mega-rarities that were seemingly quite reliable –

• Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard (first record for TX) at Resaca de la Palma State Park
• Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch – property only accessible by hiring a guide
• Cattle Tyrant (a first for the US) in downtown Corpus Christi

Needless to say, all 5 would be life birds for me.  What an amazing group of rarities!  Plus there were sightings of 2 parrots that I had never seen before - White-fronted and Lilac-crowned.  Although these “exotic” species are countable per eBird rules, they are not countable per ABA and the TX Bird Records Committee. 

With all those potential life birds it was a no-brainer that I had to give it a try and make my 15th trip to the LRGV.  After all, I’ve taken numerous trips to the Valley for just 1 potential life bird.  Albeit those trips started in Houston instead of western NC.  I found a window of free time in my schedule in early January, and made reservations to fly to TX on the 4th, returning on the afternoon of the 9th, giving me 4 and a half days of birding in south TX.   

Now for the research…  First I had to figure out how to hire a guide to get onto Santa Margarita Ranch.  My good friend Bill Hooker had just come back from TX and he gave me the scoop – you needed to make a reservation for a daytime trip to try for the Tiger-Heron, and then a second reservation for a nighttime trip for the Owl.  A recent checklist included contact info for one of the guides, so that was easier than expected.  Except that it turned out that even with a 3-week advance notice they had few spaces available on the day trips, and no spaces on the evening trips where they would play calls for the Owl.  I had to reserve a spot on a trip where they don’t play tape, greatly reducing my chances of hearing the Owl. 

And there were more than just potential life birds to pursue.  Although my TX state list was already pretty respectable at 452, there were quite a number of possible TX state birds also being seen.  Key targets included – Long-tailed Duck, Western Grebe, Limpkin, Mountain Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Iceland Gull, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and Hermit Warbler.  Another great list of targets!

All things considered I hoped to find 4 or 5 lifers, and an additional 5 state birds.  That’s quite a step up from my recent trips to the Valley hoping for just 1 target bird.

January 5 – Resaca de la Palma, Greater Brownsville, and First Try for Mountain Plover

The key targets for this day were the Roadside Hawk and Gray-collared Becard at the Resaca de la Palma State Park.  Although I had other targets in the park and the area in general, I would first spend as much time as would be needed to find my 2 life bird targets before chasing those other possible state birds.  The Hawk was most often seen perched or feeding in the dry resaca near the end of the Ebony Trail.  And the Becard was often seen in mixed flocks around the parking lot or by the feeders behind the visitor center. 

I arrived pre-dawn at the park and took a little walk around the area to get my bearings, locating the feeding station and the Ebony Trail, and walking around a portion of the parking lot.  Along the way I heard Screech and Great Horned Owls and a Pauraque – a nice start to the morning. 

A few birders were beginning to arrive, and I introduced myself to one, Jerald Zimmerman, who had my same targets.  Jerald mentioned that one suggested strategy for our targets was to look for the Hawk at the Ebony Trail at first light, then double back to the parking lot to look for those mixed flocks that might contain the Becard.  That certainly sounded like a sound strategy, so we headed toward the Ebony Trail. 

As we neared the end of the short Ebony Trail we got our first look at the dry resaca.  We quickly spotted one of the tree stumps that the Hawk would often use as a perch.  But there was no Hawk.  We turned the corner and got a different angle on the resaca, giving us a view of another stump.  And there was our Roadside Hawk, perched nicely up ahead (Lifer #1, State bird #1).  I got these passable digi-binned photos of the bird.

That was fast!  The bird had become a bit less dependable of late, so it was good to be able to find it so quickly.  And it was still too early for much passerine activity, so it didn’t take time away from our Becard search. 

By now there were at least a dozen birders in the park, most walking around the parking lot with the same target in mind.  We started down the south side of the parking lot but weren’t finding too much activity.  As we neared the end of the lot I heard a nearby birder give a whistle and noticed him pointing up in the trees.  We quickly headed over to him and found a mixed feeding flock dominated by Orange-crowned Warblers.  Eventually we got on our target, the Gray-collared Becard, doing what Becards often do - sitting nearly motionless in the tree above us (Lifer #2, State bird #2).  It didn’t take long for all the birders in the park to get on him as well.  As I always say – “bird the birders”.

The Becard stayed in view for most of the next 30 minutes, always associating with those mixed passerine flocks as they moved around the parking lot.  I took advantage of the sedentary nature of the bird to get these digi-binned shots of the bird.

A bit later our Gray-collared Becard was joined by a female Rose-throated Becard, which was even more cooperative.

I had my two top targets out of the way and it was barely 8 AM!  So now I could focus on my other target seen in the park – Dusky-capped Flycatcher.  This species is normally rare in TX, but for some reason it was being seen in multiple locations in the Valley this winter.  I’ve seen it in AZ in its normal range and as a rarity in CA.  The Dusky-capped at the state park was most often seen and heard along the tram road near the bridge over the resaca.  After just a 5-minute walk we arrived at the bridge and once again had the Roadside Hawk perched nearby.  And just a bit later we heard the distinctive mournful call of the Dusky-capped Flycatcher, and eventually got good views of the perched bird (State bird #3).  It was part of a nice mixed passerine flock that included Least Flycatcher, Western Tanager, and Black-throated Gray Warbler, all nice mid-winter birds for south TX that had been reported recently in the park.

It was only 9 o’clock and I had already seen all my targets at Resaca de la Palma.  Although we could have stayed and birded the park longer, instead Jerald and I decided to head out and try for another of our joint targets - the Hermit Warbler at Buena Vista Cemetery.  This bird had been seen throughout the winter moving through the cemetery with mixed passerine flocks.  Complicating the search was that there were also several similar Black-throated Green Warblers in these flocks.  Some birders were able to find the Hermit Warbler practically right away, while others had mentioned it took them up to 4 hours to find it.

We reached the cemetery after a short 15-minute drive and quickly found a mixed passerine flock.  The flock was dominated by Orange-crowns, with Yellow-throated, Nashville, and Black-and-white Warblers and Blue-headed Vireos mixed in.  Several times we briefly got excited when a Black-throated Green would appear, but we couldn’t turn them into a Hermit.  We spent at least 45 minutes with this flock and eventually decided that the Hermit just wasn’t mixed in this group.  So we headed towards the northern end of the cemetery where the Hermit had been reported a couple times recently.  Here we picked up another flock to search through.  At one point I spotted a bird flying away from me that had white in the outer tail feathers.  And just then Jerald mentioned he had a brief glimpse of a bird with a yellow head.  Finally we both tracked down our bird and had brief looks at the female Hermit Warbler (State bird #4).  The several times I saw the bird it was in juniper trees and not the numerous deciduous trees in the area.  Several posted photos also showed it junipers – that’s got to be more than a coincidence. 

My state bird map for Hermit Warbler is copied in below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the brown-shaded states, MA and now TX, are those where I’ve seen Hermit Warbler as a vagrant. 

There were 3 other birders in the cemetery at the time, but they were at the southern end of the cemetery.  So I walked back to give them a heads-up, and Jerald and I stayed in the area to try to help them re-find the Warbler.  Then a few minutes later Jerald got a text – a Fan-tailed Warbler had just been spotted at the Rio Grande Valley campus of the University of Texas.  He passed along the coordinates and the bird was just 20 minutes away!  We all instantly ended our search for the Hermit Warbler to go after the much rarer Fan-tailed.

The Fan-tailed Warbler had been seen along the northern edge of a resaca on campus.  Luckily classes were not in session so I could park on campus quite close to where the bird was seen, and after a 5-minute walk I was among a half-dozen birders looking for the Warbler.  Included in the group was the person who discovered the bird, and I got all the details of his sighting from him.  This species is notoriously a skulker, and this bird was true to form as it was seen low in poorly lit brush, providing only brief partial views.  There was also a Wilson’s and an Orange-crowned Warbler in the vicinity of the Fan-tailed. 

Here is a picture of the bush in the background where it was seen.

I was there within 30 minutes of the first sighting, and had micro-details on the bird’s location and behavior, so I was optimistic.  But over the next 90 minutes, despite 20 or more birders looking, no one spotted the bird.  Though a couple times I did have the Wilson’s and Orange-crowned in the same bush where the Fan-tailed had been seen.  At 1:30 I decided to call it quits, and moved on to my other targets.  In hindsight it was the right call as the bird was not found again that day. 

I gave my best to Jerald, and headed to San Benito where a Limpkin had been spotted for the last few days.  Since last summer Limpkins have undergone an unprecedented irruption across the eastern US, and TX was no exception.  I had leads on several Limpkins in the area, but the bird in San Benito required only a 2-minute detour from my route, so it was worth a try.  The bird was being seen along Resaca de los Fresnos, just east of the US 77 bridge.  One post mentioned it was on the side of the health care facility. 

When I pulled up to the bridge I pulled into the parking lot for the San Benito Primary Care facility.  I quickly got out and scanned the edge close to the building but did not see any birds.  Was the Limpkin gone or had it moved to another area?  I looked across the resaca and got this view of the extensive scrubby border on the other side.  That’s lots of possible habitat to search!

I started to scan the edge and noticed something in the distance.  I got out my scope and there was the Limpkin, just standing at the edge of the bank as Limpkins often do (State bird #5).   Success - and now I don’t need to pursue any of the other Limpkins in the area.  Here is a phone-scoped photo of the bird in the distance (at the red arrow).

Since last summer I’ve seen Limpkin as a rarity in NC, TN and now TX, along with SC in previous years.  

My last stop of the day was northwest of McAllen in farm fields in Edinburg County where Mountain Plovers had been recently reported.  I’ve tried for this wintering species several times in south TX over the years, but have never come up with them.  The Plovers had been reported at multiple sites in plowed fields over an area covering several square miles, so I would need some luck to find them.  When I arrived in the area I found that same habitat actually covered dozens of square miles.  And the fields were plowed in a way that created furrows that were deep enough for the Plovers to hide in.  Yikes!  I spent an hour scanning the couple fields where most of the sightings were focused, but came up empty.  I hated to end my day with an unsuccessful search, but I was very happy to have found 2 lifers and 3 other state birds that day.

But there was one more highlight on the 5th – that evening I received an e-mail from the Santa Margarita Ranch guides that a spot had opened up to take the evening Owl trip on the 6th.  This one would be using playback for the owl, greatly improving my chances, so I quickly jumped at the opportunity and signed up for that trip.

January 6 – Santa Margarita Ranch

This was my day to take the guided daytime tour of the Santa Margarita Ranch in hopes of finding the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron.  And although recent tours have included other LRGV rarities like Brown Jay and Red-billed Pigeons, my key target was the Tiger-Heron.  The bird had been seen on nearly all the recent trips, but the key issue might well turn out to be in which country the bird is seen.  The bird was always right along the river, and checklists from some trips included close pictures of the bird on the US side, others mention seeing the bird fly across the river (i.e., in both countries), while some have only spotted the bird in Mexico.  Hopefully that wouldn’t turn out to be an issue.

The tour started at 7 AM along a portion of the border wall that was under construction.  Here is a surreal picture of our group next to the wall.

The first stop of the tour was to head to tall bluffs overlooking the Rio Grande River and adjacent broad valley.  There was a bit of early morning fog in the valley as we arrived, obscuring the river a bit, but it was still a nice view from the top of the bluffs. 

Within just a couple minutes someone mentioned that they had the Tiger-Heron.  It was downriver, mostly obscured by fog, and standing on the Mexican side of the river.  The fog eventually lifted providing good but distant views of the bird.  Here are my best 2 phone-scoped pictures of the bird.

But the problem was our target bird was standing firmly in Mexico.  Once it walked 2 steps into the river, but our guide said the border is the deepest part of the river.  GoogleMaps shows the border being roughly in the middle in this part of the Rio Grande.  So even 2 steps into the river was apparently still in Mexico.  I’ve always contended that for counting purposes it’s not where the birder is located, it’s where the bird is located, which appears to be ABA’s rule.  But eBird’s rule apparently goes by where the birder is located.  But it was still early and if the bird flew across the river the issue would be moot.  Here's a shot of most of our group looking down on the Tiger-Heron.

Although there were plenty of other birds in the area, I mostly kept an eye on the Tiger-Heron hoping to see it fly across the river.  Though I did look up at the right time to spot our only Red-billed Pigeons that flew by.  Later I diverted my attention briefly to see the Brown Jays that others spotted in the distance.  The only other time I’ve seen both of these species was my first trip to the Valley in 1985 – 39 years ago (yikes!).  Other nice birds seen from the bluffs included Gray Hawks, all 3 Kingfishers, and a long-staying Limpkin, as well as birds of the desert like Rock and Cactus Wrens and Roadrunners.

We spent roughly 3 hours on the bluffs, and in that entire time the Tiger-Heron only moved perhaps 50 feet up and down the bank always staying right along the water’s edge.  During that time several of us had a nice debate as to whether to count the bird on our US lists.  A later stop on the tour would take us to the river edge a short distance upstream so maybe we would still have views of the bird on US land.

We headed back to our cars and drove a short distance toward the north, and began to take a trail through thick thorn scrub to head toward the river.  Though first we had to go through another one of the gates for the border wall.  The area was rather birdy, with key highlights being a male Rose-throated Becard and a flyover White-tailed Hawk.  We stopped at one point to allow the guides to put out oranges and suet cakes especially to try to attract Brown Jays.  Hopefully they would find it by the time we returned from our walk. 

Eventually we made our way down to the riparian area near the river.  The guides mentioned that often the Tiger-Heron will spend time along a couple small islands in the area.  But despite our best efforts, including wading ankle deep to reach one of the islands, we couldn’t find the bird.  We were now quite a bit upstream from where we saw the bird earlier, so apparently it had chosen to stay downstream that day.  More debate ensued on the countability of the bird we saw well that morning.  I decided to count it, given all the effort I took to try for the bird, and that it was within just 100 ft of the ill-defined border.  After all, the bird doesn’t know where the border is.  Bare-throated Tiger Heron was Lifer #3 and State bird #6 of the trip.

Highlights on the river were 12 species of waterfowl and a Roseate Spoonbill.  Plus a continuing Hammond’s Flycatcher as a rarity and several Morelet’s Seedeaters in the riparian section.  On our way back we stopped by the feeding station but saw no activity – maybe birders on tomorrow’s trip will be treated to activity there.

We returned to the cars at 2 pm with a trip list of 88 species.  A highly productive trip including of course extended views of the Tiger-Heron.

I had to be back to the Ranch at 7:30 that night for the evening Owl tour, which gave me several free hours.  I had thought about making a 45-minute ride to the Falcon Lake where there were occasional sightings of a Western Grebe.  But the most recent checklist from the spot did not include the Grebe, and I figured a couple hours of rest at my hotel might be a better choice.  Along the way to my hotel I spotted a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on the wires – a nice winter bird for south TX.

The nighttime Owl tour was led by the same guides we had in the morning.  I was surprised to see that there were 21 birders in the group – it’s difficult to keep such a large group quiet enough to not spook our target Mottled Owl.  But the leaders were very clear in their instructions to us about the importance of not making a sound, and minimizing the use of flashlights and head lamps.  And as we started back down the same route we took that morning, everyone was truly on their best behavior.  Early in the walk the leaders spotted a silent Screech Owl which is of the McCall’s subspecies.  We got nice views using a spotlight.

After about 20 minutes we arrived at the spot where the Mottled Owl was most often heard.  We stopped and quietly listened – several Screech Owls were calling in the area.  The leaders first played Elf Owl calls, and after a pause played Screech Owl calls.  And within a few seconds the Mottled Owl responded nearby.  We could see it fly in, and then the leaders were able to put the spotlight on it (Lifer #4, State bird #7).  It sat perched nearby for an extended time, and I was able to get this passable digi-binned photo

The guides later played Tiger-Heron calls but got no responses.  But they were successful getting 3 Barn Owls to respond to playback, and an estimated 11 Screech Owls were heard or seen throughout the walk.  Just before returning to the cars we passed through the border wall gate once again.  To say that the wall, and forest nearby, were well-lit would be an understatement.  Wonder what impacts 24-hour lighting has on the vegetation.

I was really tired when I got back to the hotel at 11 that night, but very happy after such an excellent day of birding.

See my next blog post for a summary of the second half of my LRGV trip. 

Harris’s Sparrow, Warren Wilson College, Buncombe County, North Carolina, December 31, 2023

This post came across the local Blue Ridge Birders text group late on December 20th –

       Perfect photo of a Harris’s Sparrow from a checklist today Warren Wilson

I opened the eBird checklist and there it was - a photo of a Harris’s Sparrow at Warren Wilson College, one of my favorite local birding spots.  What a great rarity to chase!  The problem was I was away on a family vacation at the time.  However, I’ve chased quite a number of vagrant Harris’s Sparrows over the years and in most cases birds discovered in winter have remained for an extended period of time.  So I was hopeful this bird would stick around too, at least until the afternoon of the 31st which would be my first opportunity to try for it.

Perhaps the bigger issue was being able to re-find the bird.  The checklist for the initial sighting didn’t provide a specific location, instead just stating the location as “river trail by fields”.  Plus the birder covered a 6-mile-long distance over 3 hours, which was no help as well.  In fact, the River Trail at Warren Wilson is many miles long, and is adjacent to fields in many locations.  But despite what seemed like a long shot, quite a number of birders descended on Warren Wilson the next day, and indeed the bird was re-found and seen by many. 

But the Harris’s location wasn’t pinned down quite yet.  Over the next several days the bird was re-spotted in multiple locations throughout the property, and often associating with different sparrow flocks in those different locations.  As a result, several birders needed multiple visits to find the bird, and others weren’t able to see the bird at all in those initial days.

Then finally on the 30th came the break we all needed.  The local Buncombe County Christmas Bird Count was on that day, and Warren Wilson College was in the count circle.  What a great species to try to add to the CBC tally!  John Koon covered that territory for the count and we were all hopeful he could locate it that day.  And sure enough, John sent out this text that morning –

        Harris’s Sparrow!  In the pigpen past the green pond with a bunch of WCSP and RW blackbirds.  Good looks.

Several others saw the Harris’s there that day.  So maybe this could become the bird’s preferred location.

I had committed to do another CBC on the 31st so couldn’t try for the Harris’s Sparrow until I had completed my territory.  While out counting that morning I checked the reports and the sparrow was once again spotted in the pigpen area of Warren Wilson.  I was cautiously optimistic.

After completing my territory, I drove to the closest public parking spaces to Warren Wilson (at Owen Park), arriving about 12:30.  From there I headed straight to the pigpen area, which even at a brisk pace took 15 minutes or more.  When I arrived, there were 2 birders near the pond – they said they hadn’t found the target bird but there was another birder down the trail also looking.  A minute later I met up with that third birder and he too hadn’t found the bird.  But just then I noticed a lot of movement in one of the pens in the distance – it was a large flock of White-crowns.  Seconds later the other birder said he had the bird.  In a split second I spotted the Harris’s Sparrow feeding on the ground, apparently eating grain spilled from the adjacent feeding trough.  The bird was only in view for about 10 seconds before the whole flock took off into the adjacent brush.  I waited another hour or more for it to return but the sparrow flock seemed to have moved farther down the hedgerow in the distance and did not return.  Here’s a picture of the pig pen area - the Harris’s was in the back of the pen near the blue X.

Good thing I didn’t stop to bird along the walk or I would have missed my target bird.  And I felt a little bad for that other birder.  Apparently it took him 3 days to see the Harris’s Sparrow, yet I was able to see it literally within seconds of arriving. 

Harris’s Sparrow was #325 for my NC state list. 

My statebird map for Harris’s Sparrow is copied in below.  The blue-shaded states are those where I’ve seen this species in its regular range.  The cross-hatched states are those in its normal range where I’ve yet to see it.  And the brown-shaded states are those where I’ve seen Harris’s Sparrow as a rarity.  This species is certainly prone to vagrancy – I’ve now seen it in more states as a vagrant than in its regular range.