My wife and I walked over to the Frontera Audubon Thicket this morning in an attemp to add a few count week birds for the Weslaco CBC. Of course our first bird was one of the male Crimson-collared Grosbeaks. The Valley total for this mega-rarity is now an incredible nine individual birds. Next a pair of Summer Tanagers refused to let us go by without admiring them. The male even broke into a whisper song.

A bit farther down the trail I found a couple of kinglets and patiently tried to coax something else out of the woods. What I got came as a real surprise. A beautiful east Mexican form of Dusky-capped Flycatcher flew in about 20 meters away. The dark crown, light throat and petite (for a Myiarchus) bill ruled out the more expected Ash-throated or Brown-crested Flycatchers. I felt better when I got it to answer my whistled Dusky-cap “wheer” imitation. Bright rufous edging to the flight feathers, wing coverts and rectrices and light yellow underparts helped contribut to really sharp looking bird. The Dusky-caps that people commonly see in southeast Arizona are so drab compared to their more tropical cousins.

Other interesting birds for Frontera included flyover Gray Hawks (2), Long-billed Curlew and Osprey. Also seen were Yellow-throated, Black-throated Green, Myrtle, Orang-crowned, Hooded, and Wilson’s Warblers, Indigo Bunting, Hermit Thrush and Solitary Sandpiper. I had a good look at what I think was an immature Broad-winged Hawk. It was perched and I was not able to see it in flight. Birding was super and we added several neat birds for the CBC count week