DAY 1: San Antonio to Brownsville

I have taken poetic license and used Ron Clark's article in the Carolina Bird Club's "The Chat" to bring some organization to these photos and E-bird Checklists from our trip.  I have added to and altered his words a bit.  Thanks Ron!


FIELDS AT KINGSVILLE

"Eight Carolina Bird Club members went to south Texas for a week November 8-16, 2013. After gathering in San Antonio on November 8 and sharing an evening meal, we got a 5:30 AM start on Nov. 9 leaving San Antonio to get to fields below Kingsville, hoping to find roosting Sandhill Cranes and geese before they lifted off for the day. There was a nice group of cranes and about 80 Greater White-fronted Geese We missed Snow and Ross’s Geese, but found a flock of Snow Geese later that day."

E-bird List for El Canelo Ranch, Kenedy Co. TX
E-bird List for Kleberg Co. Tx

These Sandhill Cranes were quite a distance away but visible due to their large size.  Not visible are the many Greater White-fronted Geesse, and a number of Whimbrel.

More Sandhill Cranes with a couple of fuzzy Whimbrel in the foreground.

"Along the interstate we spotted our first of many Crested Caracaras.  Staying on back roads we added more birds to our list as we worked south to Hwy 77."

White Pelicans

Female Vermillion Flycatcher

More White Pelicans

Cowbirds galore! I felt sorry for all the small songbirds that fed these invasive birds.

…and more Brown-headed Cowbirds!  This was only a sampling of the many hundreds we saw. 

I'm not sure about this butterfly.  It may be a Giant Swallowtail that is missing its tails.

These windmills are so enormous that it boggles the imagination.  The tiny square at the bottom of the tower is actually a large store room with stairs.  The road swooped around the windmills but looks like a tiny ribbon.  We saw many dozens of these spread across the Texas low country.

SARITA REST STOP

Sarita Rest Stop produced the first of many Green Jays, and was good for Brewer’s Blackbird.
 E-bird List for Sarita Rest Stop

Brewer's Blackbird

…and another Brewer's Blackbird

Eurasian Collared Dove

HWY 106 AND LAGUNA ATASCOSA NWR

"After a quick lunch in Rio Hondo, with a Curve-billed Thrasher in a brush pile we took Hwy 106 toward Laguna Atascosa NWR, one of the better spots for Aplomado Falcon. While stopped along the road, we noticed a Caracara chasing a falcon. When the dust settled, we found both birds on the ground. The falcon was an Aplomado, which gave us good scope views. The drive also got us White-tailed and Harris’s Hawks, and White-tailed Kite."

E-bird List: Hwy. 106 & Laguna Atascosa NWR, Cameron Co. TX

2 White-tailed Hawks were such beauties and these were the only ones we saw.

Hundreds of Sandhill Cranes came in waves across the sky.  Unfortunately they were in bad light, but I kept trying to capture the masses of these huge birds that filled the sky.

Harris's Hawk:  These spectacular raptors became a common sight across the south Texas skies, but they were all new to me.

LAGUNA ATASOCA NWR

Laguna Atascosa NWR was a huge refuge.  I was overwhelmed by the large impoundments there and watched rather than photographed the birds.

"The lake at Laguna Atascosa gave us many of our waders, shorebirds and ducks, with Reddish Egret and Long-billed Curlew in the mix. A Greater Roadrunner graced the parking lot, but I missed it, and our first Altamira Oriole was spotted in a tree as we drove out."
 

Peacock Butterfly

A beautiful male Altamira Oriole 

Such a handsome oriole but taking photos through a window was the best I could do.

Western Meadowlark

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND

E-bird List: South Padre Is.--Birding and Nature Center, Cameron Co., 

"Heading to the coast the South Padre Island Nature Center offered our only Franklin’s Gull and a late Dickcissel, terns, gulls, wading birds and ducks. This was our final destination in a marathon first day of birding."

Lighthouse on the mainland side of South Padre Island

Bridge to South Padre Island:  We saw more than a dozen Osprey on or around the bridge.

What a view from the Nature Center

A surprise:  a late Dickcissel

Great Egret fishing by the boardwalk

After a long first day of birding in Texas the sun was sinking toward the horizon.

Great Blue Heron

The day ended in Brownsville with shopping at Walmart for lunch supplies.  I liked the Walmart approach to reducing disposable bags.  None were free.  It cost a dollar to purchase a disposable plastic bag or a dollar to purchase a reusable bag.  ….good plan.