A birding day in the valley with Jon. There are some good birds down there 200 miles south; unusual ones, that can’t be found up here around Corpus Christi. Rare or accidental birds. They’re not slam-dunks, but worth looking for. Judy and I are working on our life-list. Jon is working on a Texas Year. We’re only in the first part of February and he’s over 240 birds already. That’s a pretty darn good start. You can check out how he’s doing on his website at http://www.mcintyrebirdingtours.com if you want. Click on 2009 day-by-day.
It was a busy day. A three hour drive from Port Aransas to get us to Sable Palm Grove outside Brownsville to try for the Dusky Capped Flycatcher at dawn. Next, the South Padre Island jetty for the Purple Sandpiper. Then to Estero Llano Grande State Park for the Rose Throated Becard and the Blue Bunting. We got a private guided tour into a restricted area to look for the becard and bunting. Frontera Audubon Center for the Blue Bunting and the Crimson Collared Grosbeak. Anzalduas County Park for the Hook Billed Kite and the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, but the road to the park was closed. We tried the back road around Pepe’s, but that was closed too, so we moved on to Bentsen State Park for the Blue Bunting and the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet.
Our efforts met with mixed success. We didn’t get the Dusky Capped Flycatcher, Rose Throated Becard, Crimson Collared Grosbeak, Hook Billed Kite, or the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet. We did get the Purple Sandpiper, lifer number 489, the Blue Bunting, lifer number 490, and a ton of other great birds though. South Texas specialties like the mottled duck, least grebe, anhinga, black vulture, white tailed hawk, crested caracara, aplomado falcon, common ground dove, white tipped dove, common pauraque, buff bellied hummingbird, great kiskadee, tropical kingbird, couch’s kingbird, green jay, black crested titmouse, clay colored robin, long billed thrasher, tropical parula, olive sparrow, bronzed cowbird, and altamira oriole.
We finished up out north on 10th Street in McAllen for the Green Parakeets at dusk just for fun (and Jon’s year-list). Got them too. Home before ten.
