Counting down to the end of the year

 

415 year-birds.

 

I was talking to Jon in Corpus about which birds I still needed; there are only a couple within fifty miles of us here in the valley and those are sporadic sightings, nothing dependable.  He offered that if I wanted to drive up there for a day, we could go out together and pick up a few more.  Well that sounded like fun; kind of like a Big Day where we see how many species we can find in one day, except we’re only looking for a few birds I haven’t seen yet this year.  Like a Big Day, but more leisurely.  By the time the day came though, Jon had an itinerary all scheduled out.  I left the house at five am.

 

We started at Pollywog Ponds.  There is a small flock of scaly-breasted munias there.  Not only would that be a year-bird, it would be a lifer!  I’ve never see one of those before.  I’ve looked for them in Houston where there are resident flocks of these little exotics; they don’t really belong here, but without success.  It took two laps around the ponds, but we found them in the brush between ponds one and two!  Year-bird #416!

 

 

Off to the beach on Mustang Island.  Jon has a lesser black-backed gull staked out.

 

 

Got it.  #417.

 

Tried the birding center.  Got both alligators.

 

And a wilson’s snipe.

 

A pied-billed grebe.

 

And a tri-colored heron.

 

But missed on any year birds.

 

A ferry ride, a drive, and looking out across the bay at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge with a scope, we added horned grebe.  #418.

 

Did I mention this was casual?  We had a little time to kill before dusk, so next thing I know, Jon is spotting every snake we pass on the road, dead or alive, and we’re stopping so he can take a picture of it.

 

He identifies and records everything he sees!  He was getting little green snakes and ribbon snakes on and next to the road.  Later at night, I took a snake picture too when we found this cottonmouth!

 

We finished the day at Guadalupe River Delta, watching the sunset over a grass marsh.

 

Listening to a winter wren, #419, snow geese and greater white-fronted geese #420 passing overhead, watching for a short-eared owl to fly over the field foraging for a meal, it didn’t, and just as it was getting too dark to see, the American woodcock flew out from the forest, zig-zagged erratically, and disappeared into the grass.  #421!  A fine way to end the day, with a bird I’ve only ever seen once before in my life.

 

Six birds added to the year list, and one lifer!