February 08, 2005
Texas madness! Day 2
Still basking in yesterday's glories, we started our day at San Ygnacio in the hope of seeing the Roadside Hawk. Unfortunately the bird, which had been seen for the past three mornings in the first hour of daylight, chose not to show. We decided to spend the next few hours at the Seedeater Reserve in the hope that the bird would fly through again. In the mean time, there was plenty of activity at the feeders, including my lifer Audubon's Orioles.
Also enjoying the oranges was this stunning Altamira Oriole...
... and this Golden-fronted Woodpecker.
The seed was attracting a mixed sparrow flock (including Olive and Swamp), the black-backed form of Lesser Goldfinch, and some larger birds such as Green Jay (what a bird!)
and Long-billed Thrasher.
This Kiskadee adopted a comical pose - was there no room for a second foot on this post?
News came that the Roadside Hawk had been spotted heading back towards San Ignacio. Alison and Marcel headed back uphill to get a better vantage point while I decided to remain in wait of the White-collared Seedeater (that and the hawk would both be US ticks). Bad call on my part, as they saw the hawk, and I didn't! Time was pushing on, and we had a plane to catch, so we decided to head north. This stretch of road held a fine selection of raptors, primarily White-tailed Hawk (a lifer for me), Harris's Hawk, Black and Turkey Vultures, and a good number of Crested Caracaras.
Our last stop before dashing to the airport was a viewpoint over the Rio Grande. Marcel turned up trumps again by spotting a (this time tickable) Muscovy Duck from miles away, while I came across my lifer Mottled Ducks.
All in all, an amazingly productive 36 hours' birding! The Muscovy Duck was Marcel's 700th ABA area bird (his Lower 48 list stands at a tantalising 699). I managed 32 new ABA area birds, including 17 lifers, taking my ABA list to 496. 500 here we come!
Posted by rjhall at February 8, 2005 01:22 AM