While I was there, I ran into a Florida couple that I had talked to at Quinta Mazatlan the day before. They were going back there again to try their luck at the CRIMSON-COLLARED GROSBEAK again, and it got me interested. So I went back and had no luck finding it over the course of the 45 minutes before they closed. I left there and went to a reliable parakeet roosting area in McAllen, but there were no keets.That evening, I met up with my couchsurfing host Shawn and his son Keyshawn at their house in Brownsville. The three of us went to a grand opening of an artspace downtown, that had a nice spread of food and wine.
The next morning, Shawn and I headed to South Padre Island with a couple of beachcruisers, which are bikes that were pretty easy to operate in the sand. We played some frisbee, and stopped at Sandy Feet's (a couchsurfer and professional sandcastle lesson giver) house, but she wasn't home. We rode up to the island's World Birding Center and walked around. There were some good coastal birds I hadn't seen since I was last in Florida, including REDDISH EGRET, BLACK SKIMMER, and CASPIAN TERN. On the ride back to the car, we stopped at the South Padre Brewing Co. for a beer and nachos. On the way off the island, we pulled over in a part of the expansive marsh to check out some terns, which proved to be the somewhat elusive GULL-BILLED TERN.
Later that night, Shawn's girlfriend Farelly met up with us and we went to a member's only gala for supporters of the Sombrero Festival. Shawn's a member of this particular section of next week's Charro Days in Brownsville, so they had this evening of dancing, lassoing, and food, which was pretty fun. When it got unfun and talky, we checked out a madrigal group performing at UT at Brownsville.
The next morning, I went to the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in search of the BLUE BUNTING that had been seen there over the past week. When I got there around 9am, 10-15 birders had been looking for it with no luck. I joined the search party, and gave up at about 11 with no success. I drove around the fields outside of the refuge a bit, looking at hawks, and eeked out one of the south Texas specialties I was looking for, a WHITE-TAILED HAWK. I also checked out the Hugh Ramsey Park and a supposed Harlingen parakeet roost, with no new sightings.
I drove a couple hours north to Corpus Christi, and in the early evening met up with my Danish couchsurfing hosts Anette-Kjestine and Soren. We had some really good conversation and falafel dinner. This morning I got going at about 7am to check out two rarities on the way up to Austin.
The first was a NORTHERN WHEATEAR that had been reported about a month and a half ago at an Amish farm in Beesville, TX. Soon, after I parked, I noticed the non-breeding plumed bird sitting on a piece of farm equipment, which darted away within two seconds of me looking, and did not return again while I was there. This was a really cool site, as it's only the second reported incident of this bird in Texas. I talked to the Amish man who found the bird, John Borntrager, who was a friendly guy.
The second site I went to was Choke Canyon State Park, where a NORTHERN JACANA had been reported and seen consistently for almost four months. The jacana didn't disappoint. I was able to locate him fairly quickly, and watch without disturbing his feeding behavior. While I was moving to get better shots at him, I scared this guy: 
I think it's a broad-banded water snake, but I could definitely be mistaken. After success on my two bird goals of the day, I ascended back up to Austin where I am now, only a few miles (but also a few days) from where Rosana will be flying in to.
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