Tuesday morning, I checked out Triangle Pond in town, which late in the fall hosted a family of very northern LEAST GREBE. When I took a look, there was only one present, but quite a neat find.
In the afternoon I worked on some business at the Spider House coffee shop, and spent way too long food shopping at Central Market. I made Maggie and Steph a pasta dinner at their house, and then we tried to watch The Invention of Lying, but were bored, so went to bed.
I woke up pretty early on Wednesday to get on the road down to South Texas. I was caught in some pretty bad rush hour traffic going into San Antonio, but was soon out of the insanity. I stopped near Pearsall to check out a couple of farm areas to hopefully get a look at some MOUNTAIN PLOVER that had been seen recently, but it was not to be.
At about 11am, I got into Laredo, and checked out Las Palmas Park along the Rio Grande. Pretty quickly, I was picking up new birds for my trip, such as GREEN JAY, GREAT KISKADEE, GOLDEN-FRONTED WOODPECKER, and RINGED KINGFISHER. The real prizes seen here recently, were the AMAZON KINGFISHER and WHITE-COLLARED SEEDEATER that I was not able to locate. Coming back along a trail, I ran into a border patrol agent, who told me that while the whole area I was in was fine to be walking around in, but where I just came from was "no man's land." When asked what that meant, he said that many people get shot from across the river in that spot, and he would never go there. I think border patrol agents are paranoid and are happy with certain half-truths. Considering they're not allowed to GO to Mexico, how experienced and educated can they be about the issues in that country as it pertains to the trafficking and smuggling at our border. Do they really shoot birders across the river? Are bullets that cheap?
Heading down from Laredo, I stopped at Zapata to try another reliable place for WHITE-COLLARED SEEDEATER, and had similar results. Pretty close by, I got to my destination of the evening- Falcon State Park, which is a reservoir on the Rio Grande that is a popular fishing spot.
Seeing a VERMILLION FLYCATCHER in the tree above site 57, my camping spot for the night was settled. I set up, then birded the area, looking for the recently seen ROADSIDE HAWK. In the process, I came across a HARRIS' HAWK and COUCH'S KINGBIRD, as well as many AMERICAN PIPIT.
I drove to the Falcon Dam before sundown, where I technically left the country, but did not enter Mexico. I birded from the dam, looking for MUSCOVY, as this is one of the few reliable places to see them. Unfortunately, there was little activity besides NEOTROPIC CORMORANT and GREAT BLUE HERON.
I woke up pretty early the next morning to look for the ROADSIDE HAWK and MUSCOVY again, and had no luck. I did find a feeder area in the park, where among many other birds I had seen, a CASSIN'S SPARROW was hopping around. I stopped at Chipeno river park on the way south, and saw no new birds. I was again hoping for some birds I had had luck seeing when I came here for a birding festival in 2008, where I saw MUSCOVY and RED-BILLED PIGEON. Neither were present. At this point, every target bird I've had has come up flat in South Texas.
The next stop was Salineno park, where my luck turned a bit. I didn't see the GRAY HAWK that is pretty reliable on the water here, but at the bird refuge (aka, a bird woman's over-feederified trailer) I saw some great birds. AUDUBON'S ORIOLE, HOODED ORIOLE, ALTAMIRA ORIOLE, OLIVE SPARROW, CLAY-COLORED THRUSH, WHITE-TIPPED DOVE, and LONG-BILLED THRASHER. A pretty productive stop.
I got to McAllen at about 1pm, and stopped at Quinta Mazatlan World Birding Center, and looked around for a couple rarities reported there. Unfortunately it was pooring at this point. I did manage to see their TROPICAL PARULA, but after a few hours of looking , no CRIMSON-COLLARED GROSBEAK.
I headed to Kurt and Frank, my couchsurfing hosts' house at about 4pm, and got showered and clean clothed.
The three of us had a veggie-pita dinner that was really good, and had some wine. I went to bed at about 9:30 to get a good start on today. When I woke up at about 6:30 am, I quickly got ready and headed out to the Bentsen State Park World Birding Center. I got completely soaked looking for the super-rare AZTEC THRUSH with no luck, and in the process, missed the short morning show of a ROSE-THROATED BECARD feeding at the main entrance. I waited about 45 minutes, but it did not come back. I was pretty angry, and left at about 11am.
If I wasn't soaked enough, I went to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge to look for some more birds. I thought it was possible to get GROOVE-BILLED ANI, GREEN KINGFISHER, HOOK-BILLED KITE, COMMON PARAQUE, or others. No. Nothing but mud and water.
I'm not happy right now. That may be because I had Burger King for lunch though.
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