Texas, Part 1

[kestrel]

Paul Foth and I spent an amazing week in southern Texas (Nov 30-Dec 7), mostly along the Rio Grande. The weather was characteristically hot and muggy, but good throughout. I think I got more mosquito bites down there then than I usually get in a typical summer up here.

We made two birding stops, near Kingsville, on the way down from San Antanio. Here, we both got our first lifers of the trip, which included Crested caracara and Eastern meadowlark. Other than Paul getting a talking-to from a local rancher, it was a great first few hours of birding.

At Leguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, we were greeted by such local specialties as Green jay, Long-billed thrasher, and Black-crested titmouse:
Green jays by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr
Long-billed thrasher by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr
Black-crested titmouse by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

One of my target species was Black-bellied whistling-duck. At Roloff Park, in Laguna Vista, they were everywhere we looked. Like Mallards, they were on fences and peoples' lawns, and walking through kids' playgrounds.

We started the next day by visiting Sabal Palm Sanctuary, near Brownsville. At this spot, we had Gray hawk, Olive sparrow, and White-tipped dove. I had never seen a palm tree forest before, but that's exactly what this place is. Apparently, the whole Rio Grande estuary used to be dominated by Sabal palms.

One of the doves:
White-tipped dove by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

For me, the non-avian highlight at Resaca de la Palma State Park was seeing several Nine-banded armadillos:
Nine-banded armadillo by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

South Padre Island was absolutely full of birds, including Roseate spoonbill, Tricoloured heron, and Black skimmer.

We ended the day by stopping at a pullout, near a shipping channel. There was a pair of American oystercatchers here, one of which was banded. We also saw a Ruddy turnstone that was missing a foot, but still seemed to be capable of walking and foraging normally.

[paulos]

Thanks for sharing this Joel! Here are a few of mine.

These are the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks mentioned.

A White Ibis, walking down the same street.

An Anhinga from our unsuccessful quest for the rare Social Flycatcher at U Texas in Brownsville.

We spent one evening following a giant flock of parrots around a Brownsville and nearby neighbourhoods. Most were these Red-crowned Parrots, but we also saw Red-lored and White-fronted.

South Padre Island was a blast. There are some great boardwalk trails through coastal marshes and mangroves, as well as mud/sand flats full of gulls, terns and shorebirds. Here's a checklist from the Birding Center boardwalk: ebird.org/checklist/S123412373.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Mottled Duck

Roseate Spoonbill

Tricolored Heron

We found a white morph Reddish Egret doing its hunting dance in a beach puddle. It didn't seem to bother the Willet. (Here's the checklist from the beach:  ebird.org/checklist/S123412461 ).

A Black Skimmer, expressing exactly my feelings after an intensive birding trip.

The aforementioned banded American Oystercatcher.

I wish I had taken some overview pictures of the mudflats near the ship canal. There were thousands of Laughing Gulls mixed with terns, skimmers, egrets, herons, coromorants and innumerable shorebirds. Maybe the ebird list will help you visualize: ebird.org/checklist/S123412703

Here's one adult Laughing Gull and a Ruddy Turnstone.

We tried three times to find an Aplomado Falcon, though weather and time of day probably frustrated our search. Otherwise the Brownsville/S Padre Island excursion was fantastic.

[kenneth2019]

The beach checklist has an extra ). on the ebird.org checklist. Looks like a good trip.

[Chris]

Awesome, part 1 report!

The Armadillo almost looks like he's stretching.