I receive eBird reports every day, telling me what is being seen throughout Texas on a daily basis. There have been several birds that I have wanted to see that have been showing up on those reports. I actually went looking for several of them when I went down to the Rio Grande Valley with Steve last month. So I decided to go down there this weekend and try again. I had a 2 day weekend to get down there (400 miles away), bird and get back.. I decided to drive down after work on Thursday. Google said that the trip to Zapata would take 6 1/2 hours, but I got there at 12:30. The first target for my trip was the Brown Jay at Salineno that I missed last time. I left Zapata for Salineno without remembering to get gas. I was halfway to Salineno and realized that I had 25 miles left in my tank and had to decide if I should turn around or continue to Salineno or even bypass Salineno and go directly to Roma, which was another 10 miles down the road. I decided to chance it and go to Salineno first.
I got to Salineno at 7:00 and there were four other birders down at the river birding and waiting to go to the feeders at 8:00. While waiting, highlights included Ringed and Green Kingfishers and Chihuahua Ravens.
Chihuahua Raven
I walked back to the feeders at precisely 8:00 and found the caretaker of the property filling the feeders with seed and putting out fresh oranges. Before he had a chance to put out the Brown Jay’s favorite food, peanut butter, the Jay showed up and started on the oranges. He was shy and would flush or be chased off by other birds so would go from orange to orange until a Cooper’s hawk flew through. While he was gone, the caretaker put out the peanut butter and he eventually returned and grabbed a ping pong ball sized glob of peanut butter and took off. Eventually he came back but a Border Patrol helicopter flew overhead for a good 5-10 minutes and the birds took off. I had seen what I was there to see and decided to go to Frontera Audubon Society Preserve to look for the Golden-crowned Warbler.
Brown Jay
Brown Jay
Audubons Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Great Kiskadee
I got to Frontera and encountered Sandi Wheeler, Treasurer of TOS (Texas Ornithological Society), who I met at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in 2010. She remembered me, and my full name, I recognized her but could not remember from where. She was birding with 4 other birders from San Antonio and they had just seen the warbler a few minutes before and were leaving for Estero Llano Grande. She gave me the rundown of where to look and I walked straight the area. As I turned a corner, I flushed a bird that was right around the corner and above my head. Three birders were on the bird and one thought that it was the warbler. I have my doubts, because I was told that the bird stayed down close to the ground. I also was interested in the Ovenbird that was being seen in the same area. I had been told the last time that I was there that the warbler was usually part of a mixed flock. While looking for the ovenbird, I found both Long-billed and Curv-billed Thrashers as well as a Hermit Thrush, a Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and lots of Orange-crowned Warblers. Unfortunately, it was so dark in there that I could not get decent shots of most of them, although a nice Lessor Goldfinch sat in the sunlight for me to get a nice picture.
White-eyed Vireo
Lessor Goldfinch
A Buff-bellied Hummingbird defended its’ feeder from a Ruby-crowned/ Black-crowned hummer.
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
I found the Ovenbird and got a couple of shots of it when I saw movement just above him. I identified it as the Golden-crowned Warbler and called over the other birders before I could get a picture of it. It went deep in the underbrush and I never saw it again. I hung around for a half hour and decided to go to Estero Llano Grande to see if I could find the Rose-throated Becard.
Ovenbird
I got to Estero Llano Grande and ran into Sandi again. They did not see the becard and were moving on. I spent the rest of the day looking for the becard and again missed it. I have spent at least 6 or 7 unsuccessful days looking for this bird while it has been seen on a regular basis. I did get to add some birds to my state list, so that my eBird reports will be shorter. I saw all three teals, Vermillion Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird and a personal favorite, Common Paraque.
Green-winged Teal
Gadwall
Vermillion Flycatcher
Common Paraque
Curve-billed Thrasher
Brown Creeper
A Rufous Hummingbird and a Juvie Broad-tailed Hummingbird were in the Tropic Zone within 20 yards of each other, the Rufous on a feeder and the Broad-tailed based on an Orchid Tree across the street. I could not get a decent picture of either. There was a Red-tailed Hawk patrolling the area the becard was usually seen, so I never saw it, but it has been seen since I was there.
Red-tailed Hawk