Texas trip - Falcon State Park and surrounding area - 21/22 March

The habitat here is much drier than other sites visited so far. Lots of cactus and other prickly things, a birding environment I actually quite like. There are several specials in the area. First up was a Red-billed Pigeon roost in a county park adjacent to the main state park. They were pretty easy to find, but quite flighty. Chapeño is a site on the Rio Grande here that regularly has flocks of White-collared Seedeaters that cross the river. No luck there, though I did watch a Grey Hawk cross from Mexico to the US. Cactus Wren is another local special that I picked up outside the main park in an area with lots of cactus. Other birds included a surprising number of Verdin, Bewick's Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, my first Northern Bobwhites, Black-throated Sparrows, and more Olive Sparrows.

A bridge on highway 83 driving north from the park on the 22nd had a large colony of Cave Swallows.

Red-billed Pigeon. Several found roosting in trees in Star County Park

Pyrrhuloxia. Quite common in the whole area

Bewick's Wren

Cactus Wren. Harder to find than I expected. I finally tracked this down in the very cactusy area behind the Star County Sheriff office.

Black-throated Sparrow. In the same kind of dry habitat as the Cactus Wren

Verdin. Quite a few in the state park itself.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Grey Hawk at Chapeño. I watched it soaring on the Mexican side of the river before it headed across to the US. Yet another illegal immigrant!