Frontera Audubon Thicket

[antshrike]

Hi all, One of my local patches here in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas is Frontera Audubon Thicket. Frontera, a fourteen acre patch of native brush and wetland, is located in Weslaco about four blocks from our house. Though it's only been open about six years, the park list is up to about 190 species which includes ABA mega-rarities such as Mottled Owl, Crimson-collared Grosbeak, White-throated Robin and Blue Mockingbird. Texas rarites include Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Mangrove Cuckoo and Elegant Trogon. There's always the possiblity of something good at Frontera.

[AndyB]

Hi antshrike, have been to Frontera once to see those grosbeaks - what a great place! And then afterwards, went to see the Mango nearby. Following winter was the robin I think plus a whole load of other goodies in the LRGV Roadside Hawk, Blue Bunting etc. You're in a great part of the states to find the next ABA 1st and why not at Frontera.

By the way, wasn't an antshrike heard in Pharr or somewhere nearby a year or two ago?

[antshrike]

Yes, we had a Barred Antshrike near Harlingen the summer before last. Martin Hagne who runs the Valley Nature Center in Weslaco heard this weird call comming from a bush while he was irrigating his yard in the evening. He was smart enough to record it and he let me listen the next morning. I recognized it instantly having heard them in Mexico. We went looking for it the next day without success. Barred Antshrike was added to the Texas list by TBRC based on this tape. I don't know if ABA has accepted it.

[AndyB]

Wow! Great record. How many other mexican strays quietly slip by the borders down there?

[antshrike]

Probably a lot of stuff goes by unseen. Not too many birders down here are willing to get out there and look. They prefer standing in big groups waiting for for someone else to find the rarity. The only time you see them is during spring migration when the gaudily colored warblers are sitting on the ground where they can find them. God forbid they work for their birds. No, I'm not bitter! At least our winter visitors get out and find stuff.

[AndyB]

Well, I hope you find something before the winter runs out. SE Arizona is doing very well.

[Alex Lees]

Barred Antshrike was added to the Texas list by TBRC based on this tape. I don't know if ABA has accepted it.

Rejected I'm afraid... see here (http://www.americanbirding.org/pubs/birding/archives/vol39no6p24to31.pdf)