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!

Texas trip - Santa Ana NWR - 21 March

Santa Ana is one of my favourite spots on the Rio Grande with a wide variety of habitats, plenty of not overly-maintained trails and loads of birds. The birding started at the HQ with a Clay-coloured Thrush coming to the feeders at 8:00am. Plain Chachalaca were also present there, as was a Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

I joined a guided walk with one of the volunteers, and it was excellent. The guide knew her stuff, particularly the calls, which was a real boon. The walk produced a host of good birds, with highlights being; Northern Beardless Tyrranulet, Olive Sparrow, Verdin, Swainson's Hawk, Green Kingfisher, Cinnamon Teal, American Avocet, Solitary Sandpiper, Hooded Oriole and Altamira Oriole.

White-faced Ibis

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Harris' Hawk

Olive Sparrow

Verdin

Wilson's Snipe

Long-billed Dowitcher

American Avocet

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Black-crested Titmouse

Rio Grande Leopard Frog.

Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake

Texas Spotted Whiptail

Texas trip - Estero Llano Grande State Park - 20 March

This small park is an absolute beautywith a wide variety of habitats and excellent birds. I only spent an afternoon there, but managed to find a lot of great things including a roosting Common Pauraque along one of the trails, with a Curve-billed Thrasher nearby. The main pond had White-faced Ibis along with Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Roseate Spoonbill and White Ibis. The hummingbird feeders attracted a Buff-bellied Hummingbird.

Common Pauraque. This roost site has had one of these birds (the same individual?) for many years, and finding this was a matter of accurate map-reading. Nonetheless it's a spectacular creature

Least Grebe

Couch's Kingbird

Inca Dove

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Blue-winged Teal

Curve-billed Thrasher

 Roseate Spoonbill

Texas trip - South Padre Island - 20th March

South Padre Island is a strange mix of over-developed beach resort and migrant trap. There are a couple of small patches of habitat that are being managed to benefit birds, and cash in on birders who seem to be the only people apart from Spring Break students and conference attendees that seem to come here. There wasn't much at the small patch of mangrove and reed bed that comprises the reserve. Best birds were; the half dozen or so Pectoral Sandpipers on the main scrape, a similar number of Redhead in the same spot, a Reddish Egret feeding in the shallows just past the mangroves.

Just north of the reserve is a patch of beach where it's possible to approach quite close to a roosting flock of terns, with a few waders scattered along the shore. This was more interesting. The bulk of the birds were Black Skimmers and Royal Terns, but there were a few Cabot's Tern (recently split from Sandwich Tern) and one Caspian Tern. The waders were mostly Dunlin, with a few Short-billed Dowitchers and a Marbled Godwit.

Cabot's (Sandwich) Tern. One bird appears to be offering the other a fish, possibly a mating ritual.

Caspian Tern

Dunlin

 Marbled Godwit

Short-billed Dowitcher

Texas trip - Laguna Atascosa - 19/20 March

Next stop was Laguna Atascosa NWR, close to the southern tip of Texas, and home to a host of tropical species that only just creep into the US in this area.

The area around the HQ has a series of trails, and the birding was easy and pleasant. The dawn chorus provided by the Plain Chachalacas was truly raucous.

Like all the reserves I visited the staff of volunteers load up a variety of feeders with bird blinds attached. The birds have obviously come to appreciate this bonanza, and it certainly makes photography easier! The most spectacular bird here is the absolutely beautiful Green Jay, with Altamira Oriole coming in a close second. Other good birds here included Long-billed Thrasher, an out-of-range Bullock's Oriole, White-tipped Doves, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and Black-crested Titmouse. Every power line had a range of perched flycatchers, including Great Kiskadee, plenty of Couch's Kingbirds, and a couple of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. The raptors were mainly Crested Caracara, with one Harris's Hawk.

On the dirt roads themselves were a couple of Greater Roadrunners, and a pair of Northern Bobwhite flashed past the front of my car on the way out.

Green Jay

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Plain Chachalaca

 Great Kiskadee

Great-tailed Grackle

 Altamira Oriole

Bullock's Oriole

Long-billed Thrasher

Greater Roadrunner

Crested Caracara

Texas trip - Aransas NWR - 19th March

This year's Spring Break destination is Texas so see old friends. With Fi only able to take a week's holiday, I got a free week's birding holiday in Texas! Watch out Rio Grande here I come! First stop was Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where the headline bird is Whooping Crane. The bulk of the wild population (310 out of about 440 birds) winter in the Aransas area. They were easy to locate, but hard to see well as they were about a mile away over the marsh. I eventually got good flight views, and serviceable, but distant photographs.

Other good birds in the reserve included Pyrrhuloxia, Merlin, American Kestrel and Crested Caracara.

The trails from the park HQ led through some nice habitat down to some saltmarsh areas, and it was here that I found singing Sedge Wrens, among the various other birds. In this area I also had both Marsh and House Wrens, as well as Sora, Belted Kingfisher, Neotropic Cormorant, and a range of waterbirds. Along the trail were several ponds and in the one closest to the HQ was a Least Grebe.

In the fields outside the park on the way out were flocks of American Golden Plovers with a few Pectoral Sandpipers mixed in.

Other wildlife included an Eastern Hog-snouted Snake, Feral Pigs and plenty of White-tailed Deer.

 Sedge Wren

 Least Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe

Whooping Crane

Green Treefrog

Eastern Hog-snouted Snake

American Woodcock in Central Park - 17th March

A cold snap hit New York this week, seemingly catching a large group of migrants unawares. This included plenty of American Woodcock which were reported from all over the city. One birder saw a group of over 20 huddled along the Loch in Central Park! I got in early to try and document this for myself, but with only limited success. I found one bird snuggled up under a park bench in The Ramble, but couldn't find any others at all. Presumably the survivors of the blizzard had moved on, or back?

American Woodcock

Fox Sparrow