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South Texas continued

Day 6, Tuesday, Feb. 20th, 2001

We began the day with a morning trip to the Weslaco Wastewater Treatment Plant. After checking in and getting directions, we wisely left our windows closed until we reached the clean ponds to the rear of the plant. We had been told there were both species of Whistling Ducks here, but had no luck in seeing them. However, there was plenty to look at, just no new species of waterfowl nor shorebirds. Had we made the stop earlier in the trip, we probably would have been more greatly rewarded. However, we finally stopped to look at a Loggerhead Shrike, something we'd been seeing on the lines at high speeds. At least we had something to add to our list as we bid farewell to Weslaco.

The ABA Lane Guide to the Gulf Coast area had written about chicken farms off Rte. 77 south of Kingsville and we had been planning to visit the area. But someone else told us that particular guide was outdated and the farms had since closed, so we decided to visit the Boca Chica area instead. Coincidentally, I had just seen a news report about how the Rio Grande River no longer meets the Gulf. People are fighting the efforts to pass through plans for another dam around the Brownsville area and this is one of the reasons.

TX-4 is a long road that passes through various habitats, making the trip quite interesting. Again, many of the reported wetlands had long since dried up, making the birding less than expected. But we saw Chihuahuan Ravens on the phone poles along the way (you really CAN see the white flashes of the underfeathers when the wind blows).

We reached the beach and turned left onto the sand. Apparently, this was the wrong way, but we didn't discover this until we were a couple of miles down the beach. That's what you get for not keeping your directions open in front of you! However, we got a wonderful reward. We saw our second White-Tailed Kite hovering in the air just overhead. We were able to watch him about 3-4 minutes. What a beautiful bird - certainly one of my high points!

We turned around and drove down to the mouth of the river which, true to reports, was about 50 yards shy of the Gulf. Since shrimp lay their eggs in the protected estuary waters, it makes you wonder how this will affect the future of the shrimping industry in the Texas Gulf area.

While eating lunch, I spent time scoping the shorebirds at the river's end. No life birds, but good practice at my shorebird identification - one of the skills I got plenty of practice with during this trip.

On our way back to Tx-77 for an appointment our friends had with a fellow Aquaculturist in Raymondville, we made a quick stop at a couple of resacas in Brownsville on Central Blvd. Good thing, too. One resaca had a couple of Fulvous Whistling Ducks tucked into a corner. The other, behind a restaurant just off the highway, was filled with BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS. A few were even perched on trees at the water's edge. As many times as I've seen this, I just can't get used to it!

We then headed out to meet with the Aquaculturist. He took us along a dike where we added a few new species to our list. The big debate came when a flock of bright pink birds flew directly over the car in the opposite direction and disappeared behind a ridge. We knew they SHOULD have been Roseate Spoonbills, but the immediate impression was that they were something else! Avie said he saw the bills and thought they were Scarlet Ibises. I thought I saw black wingtips and black tipped, heavier downturned beaks and thought they might be Flamingos. Nobody felt they were Spoonbills. But the mystery remains.

We got a tour of a soon-to-open shrimp farm and learned a bit about the Aquaculture process. We had wondered why the birds off the dike were so skittish (they flew off everytime our car approached). Birds are not welcome at shrimp farms. We assumed they were shot at.

On the way back to the highway, the Aquaculturist pointed out a large elklike animal. He later told us this was a Nilgai. Apparently, decades ago, these were imported from India and released into the wild as game animals. They have become a well-established animal in the area.

New species seen:

Loggerhead Shrike
Chihuahuan Raven
Royal Tern
Ring-Billed Gull
Dunlin
Brown Pelican
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Fulvous Whistling Duck
BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCK
Mallard
LONG-BILLED CURLEW
Snow Goose
Red-Shouldered Hawk

Day 7, Wednesday, Feb. 21th, 2001

We checked out of the B&B with a wonderful gift from the owners - two large bags of the wonderful grapefruits from their garden! We put themcarefully on top of all the luggage and said goodbye to Weslaco. Despite recommendations to miss Laguna Atascosa NWR (everything but the Laguna Madre of the Gulf was bone dry), we decided to go there on the off chance that we would see one of the Aplomado Falcons. Just before reaching the entrance to the park, the fields on either side had large groups of SANDHILL CRANES.

Stopping into the visitor center I was less than greeted by one of the volunteers. I'm sorry to say that the man I encountered was one of the rudest, most unhelpful people on our trip! I realize that the system is dependent on the kindness of their volunteers, but this person was not one they should keep!

We drove around watching and listening until we finally reached the Laguna Madre. We spent a while determining that a grebe we saw out on the water was a WESTERN GREBE. We also enjoyed egrets, terns, herons, and ducks. But no Aplomados after checking trees, poles, and other perches, not to mention the skies.

This was the day we needed to drop our traveling companions at Bahia Mar
Resort on South Padre Island for a conference and, all through the trip, we had heard that the Convention Center boardwalk was a must-see stop so, we drove out. True enough, this was a birder's paradise! On the beach were more BLACK SKIMMERS than you could count along with Forster's Terns, a BLACK MORPH SNOW GOOSE, and, on the water tower, a Peregrine Falcon. We were also treated to a REDDISH EGRET dancing in the water to catch some fish.

We waited with a group of people waiting for a just-seen-ten-minutes-ago Virginia Rail and Sora to appear from the opening in the reeds. We were only treated to views of Moorhens and Coots. Despite reports of all the rails, we had no luck.

It was getting late and Avie and I still had the long drive to Rockport ahead of us, so we bid farewell to our friends and hit the road. As it usually happens, we were on TX-77 when we saw our APLOMADO FALCON. He was sitting on a tall snag on the east side of the road a few miles south of Sarita. The "flag" on his chest was unmistakable! I also caught a glimpse of what might have been a FERRUGINOUS HAWK, but I place it on the list with a question mark.

Still stalking the Vermilion Flycatcher, we made a quick stop at the Dick Kleberg Park just south of Kingsville just before dusk. There were no Flycatchers to be found, but we did manage to add a LARK SPARROW to our list before dark.

We stopped at Taqueria Jalisco in Kingsville before driving up to Rockport. I recommend it if you're in the area. Don't forget to order Horchata as your drink (a rice/almond/cinnamon beverage - delicious!).

We checked into the Surfside Motel on Fulton Beach Road and got to bed early. We were waking up at 5:30 am to catch Capt. Ted's boat out to the Whooping Cranes.

New species seen:

SANDHILL CRANE
Little Blue Heron
Red Breasted Merganser
REDDISH EGRET (red and white morphs)
Gull-Billed Tern
Caspian Tern
WESTERN GREBE
Redhead
Greater Yellowlegs
FORSTER'S TERN
Black Skimmer
Peregrine Falcon
BLACK PHASE SNOW GOOSE
APLOMADO FALCON
FERRUGINOUS HAWK (?)
LARK SPARROW

Day 8, Thursday, Feb. 22nd, 2001

We got up early and headed out to the Sanddollar Pavilion to catch Capt. Ted's boat trip out to see the Whooping Cranes. Capt. Ted is gone now,but his son runs the business. We took our scope with us, but the shaking of the boat made it impossible to use (the engine shaking, not the waves). My advice? -- leave your scope behind. It was the overcast, threatening day we'd had. We took our lighter winter jackets, gloves and hats with us. Most people stayed below deck looking out the windows.

Avie and I braved the upper deck the whole time with one of four birders from England on the same trip (whose name, unfortunately, I didn't get). Other people started up top, but moved below later in the trip. On the way out we saw loons, but didn't have the light nor the stability to get their first names. Dolphins accompanied us a bit of the way and we got some great looks at their heads and backs as they swam to the bow and along the side of the boat.

On the way Capt. Ted (Jr.?) pointed out a Bittern flying low across the grass over one of the islands. However Avie, the British birder (expert level), and I all dissented. There was no head on this particular bird, the size and shape were wrong, and the coloration was much too light! After consulting our birding books and using our instincts, we decided it was a BARN OWL hunting over the island! I still wonder if we were looking at different birds.

As promised (or our money back), we came upon a family of
WHOOPING CRANES. The boat was stopped and we were given a more than adequate
amount of time to admire these magnificent birds. The tour narration spoke about the differences between the Texas Whoopers and the Florida Whoopers (human reared vs. Whooper reared, etc.). Some of the talk was a bit hokey, but the information seemed to be solid, though a bit skewed in favor of the Texas Cranes.

While up top, we missed our chance at the doughnuts belowdeck, so we (Avie, I, and the four British birders) had breakfast at the Sanddollar Pavilion. It was good, inexpensive, and we had a chance to share our Sibley's with the Brits, who were duly impressed and expressed their desire to obtain a copy. Avie and I then spent a bit of time deciding what to do with the rest of our day, keeping in mind the threatening skies and the cool temperatures.

We decided to drive out to Port Aransas. The Ferry ride over would be fun (and was free) and the birding there looked promising. After the ferry (and a few more dolphins), we went to the boardwalk area at the Birding Center and didn't pick up anything new other than a ROYAL TERN, which I think was seen before, just not specifically identified. We waited for rails with two birders from Eagle Optics (Ron was one of them) who were there for the weekend's Whooping Crane Festival. No luck, but we discussed birding optics a bit. We asked about putting a protective filter over our Kowa lens and Ron recommended against it. He said it was just a piece of glass that would degrade your image.

We headed off to the jetty and walked all the way out. It's not a pleasant walk, since you're walking over disconnected blocks of pink granite that don't meet and aren't at the same height. There are short breaks with a concrete walkway, but be prepared if you decide to do this. The pelagic birds we hoped for were where they belonged and not over the jetty. But we marveled at the Cabbagehead Jellyfish that were in the water. They're as big as a volleyball and about as thick as leather. They were just rolling around with the water.

We returned to the Sanddollar Pavilion for dinner. Prices were not as reasonable, but we were on the Gulf and the fish and shrimp were fresh and delicious.

New species seen:

BARN OWL
WHOOPING CRANE
Belted Kingfisher
MARBLED GODWIT
Boat-Tailed Grackle
ROYAL TERN

Day 9, Friday, Feb. 23rd, 2001

We checked out of the Surfside at 6am and headed out to San Antonio, stopping at the Calliham Unit of Choke Canyon SP for a final shot at the V. Flycatcher. After driving around a bit to get our bearings, we decided to take one of the trails off the area around the trailer dump station. What a trail it was! The trail was alive with birds and birdsongs. We picked up a Verdin early on. We stopped into a small puddle of water off a side trail and Avie grabbed my arm and pointed up. There, on a prominent branch, was a Great Horned Owl. This was the second in this trip. But this one wasn't in a hole; it was out in the open. We got a good look at it, despite it's moving to a more protected branch when it noticed us.

Along the trail I kept checking the nesting boxes set up on the trees. Sure enough, one of them had the cute face of an EASTERN SCREECH OWL right at the opening. He was quiet, we were quiet, so we were able to move in and get a good look. It was delightful, but there was still no V. Flycatcher.

We came out of the trail by the water area and decided to check along the water before giving up and finishing our drive out to San Antonio. Avie scanned the tops of the cattails by the water and there he was in all his glory - a VERMILLION FLYCATCHER. He kept flying off, catching insects, and flying back to the cattail. Then he flew over to a low shrub and sat there a while before flying off completely. Now it was time to go!

We got into San Antonio with time to spare and spent the rest of the day downtown touring the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and looking for Danny Ferry paraphernalia (S.A. Spurs) for our son (no luck). We caught dinner at a local Vietnamese Restaurant, then checked into our King Spa room at the Clarion Hotel near the airport and spent a half hour in the double jacuzzi - the appropriate reward for a trip filled with delights!

New species seen:

Purple Martin
Verdin
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Black & White Warbler
EASTERN SCREECH OWL
VERMILLION FLYCATCHER

click here for trip list