| |
| |
PERSONAL TRIPS
Texas 02-18-00 to 02-26-00
Our eight day trip to Texas was truly amazing! Here
is a simplified itinerary, highlighting some of the most
productive areas along our 1900 mile course:
Day 1 we landed in Houston and proceeded directly
to Beaumont/Big Thicket (BT)
area north-east of town. Among the goals in this area
were the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Barred
Owl. A tape recording of the owl's call coaxed one of
the birds out of its hiding place, allowing us to get
a nature-show quality view of this magnificent species
from about 40' away.
Day 2 was devoted to the enormous Anuhuac
refuge (ANU) along the coast, but
we added the inland Brazos Bend area at the end
of the day. It was on this day that we had the first of
our many American Alligators!
Day 3 we birded Aransas (AR),
the wintering grounds of the famous and endangered Whooping
Crane. An exciting boat ride across the channel allowed
us to get within 45' of the birds. We ended the day near
Padre Island right on the Gulf.
Day 4 was mostly a driving day, but we managed
to bird the Kingsville (KI)
area a bit, as well as various locations along Hwy 77.
We searched unsucessfully for the ultra-rare Rufous-backed
Robin in Sarita, just south of Kingsville, but
had our first Great Kiskadee as a consolation prize.
Day 5 was simply wonderful! We birded Laguna
Atascosa, Sabal Palms (SP)
and Brownsville and had an almost unbelievable
array of colorful, exotic and completely foreign species,
the best being the very rare Tropical Parula.
Day 6 took us to the hottest spots for Mexican
rarities along the border: Santa Ana, Bentsen
State Park (BSP), Anzalduas
County Park and the little town of Salineno
where we saw the wonderful Brown Jay and ultra-rare Clay-colored
Robin. Other highlights included the Hook-billed Kite,
who left us hundreds of bleached snail shells as evidence
of her presence.
Day 7 we continued up the river to hit other hot
spots such as Falcon State Park (FAL)
and Zapata (ZAP) where we
looked for the rare (and laughably small) White-collared
Seedeater.
Day 8, our last day, was again mostly driving,
but we hit the Eagle Lake area to visit the Attwater's
Prairie Chicken Refuge (ATT),
as well as Jesse Jones State Park in the Houston
Area.
Overall, the trip was a great success, but two days of
high wind and even some rain, kept many of the birds down.
As well, recent dry conditions in the valley meant fewer
rarities along the Rio Grande. Both of these facts discouraged
our famous "power birding", but as I look at the following
list of 198 species, I have to say we did pretty well
anyway... Species shown in red are either very rare, or
non-existent in Northern California. The abreviations
within the parentheses indicate the first location at
which each non-N.Cal species was observed. Many of the
southern Texas species were encountered repeatedly as
we approaced the Rio Grande.
Common Loon
Least Grebe (SP)
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic Cormorant (ANU)
Anhinga (ANU)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron (ANU)
Tri-colored Heron (ANU)
Reddish Egret (ANU)
Cattle Egret
White Ibis (ANU)
Glossy Ibis (ANU)
White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill (AR)
Black-bellied Whistling
Duck (BT)
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Ross' Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Green-winged Teal
Mottled Duck (AN)
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Redhead
Greater Scaup
White-winged Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Black Vulture (BT)
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Hook-billed Kite (BSP)
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Harris' Hawk (BSP)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk (ANU)
White-tailed Hawk (AR)
Red-tailed Hawk "Krider's"
(ANU)
Crested Caracara (KI)
American Kestrel
Merlin
Plain Chachalaca (BSP)
Wild Turkey
Northern Bobwhite (FAL)
Scaled Quail (FAL)
Sora
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Whooping Crane (AR)
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher (AR)
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper (BSP)
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone (AR)
Sanderling
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Common Snipe
Laughing Gull (AR)
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull (SP)
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern (AR)
Sandwich Tern (AR)
Forster's Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Dove
White-winged Dove (BSP)
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove (KI)
Common Ground Dove
(BSP)
White-tipped Dove (SP)
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl (BSP)
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl> (BT)
Paraque (BSP)
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
(SP)
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (KI)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
(BT)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
(BT)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
(SP)
Downey Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker (BT)
Northern Flicker "Yellow-shafted"
(BT)
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe (BT)
Vermillion Flycatcher
(AN)
Great Kiskadee (KI)
Tropical Kingbird (SP)
Couch's Kingbird (SP)
Purple Martin (ZAP)
Tree Swallow
Cave Swallow (ZAP)
Blue Jay (BT)
Green Jay (SP)
Brown Jay (BSP)
American Crow
Fish Crow (BT)
Chihuahuan Raven (BSP)
Common Raven
Carolina Chickadee (BT)
Tufted Titmouse (nominate
race) (BT)
Tufted Titmouse "Black-crested"
(SP)
Brown-headed Nuthatch
(BT)
Cactus Wren (FAL)
Carolina Wren (AR)
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren (AR)
Golden-crowned Kinglet
(BT)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird (BT)
Hermit Thrush
Clay-colored Robin (BSP)
American Robin
Gray Catbird (AR)
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher (BT)
Long-billed Thrasher
(SP)
Curve-billed Thrasher
(FAL)
American Pipit
Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
White-eyed Vireo (BT)
Orange-crowned Warbler
Tropical Parula (SP)
Yellow-rumped Warbler "Audubon's" and
"Myrtle"
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler (SP)
Pine Warbler (BT)
Ovenbird (SP)
Northern Waterthrush
(AR)
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal (BT)
Pyrrhuloxia (FAL)
Indigo Bunting (BSP)
Olive Sparrow (SP)
White-collared Seedeater
(ZAP)
Chipping Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow (FAL)
Lark Bunting (FAL)
Savannah Sparrow
LeConte's Sparrow (ATT)
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow (ATT)
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco "Slate-colored" (ATT)
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark (ANU)
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle (ANU)
Boat-tailed Grackle
(ANU)
Common Grackle (ANU)
Bronzed Cowbird (SP)
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole (BSP)
Audubon's Oriole (BSP)
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Other birds I saw on an August trip to these same areas
in 1998 were:
Magnificent Frigatebird
(AR)
Yellow-crowned Night-heron
(BT)
Wood Stork (AR)
Fulvous Whistling
Duck (ANU)
Purple Gallinule
(ANU)
Wilson's Plover (AR)
Whimbrel
Red Knot (AR)
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper (ANU)
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
(ANU)
Wilson's Phalarope
Gull-billed Tern (AR)
Least Tern
Black Tern (AR)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
(AR)
Groove-billed Ani
(BSP)
Common Nighthawk
(AR)
Chimney Swift (ATT)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
(BT)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
(BSP)
Ringed Kingfisher
(BSP)
Green Kingfisher
(BSP)
Red-headed Woodpecker
(BT)
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
(BSP)
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
(BT)
Acadian Flycatcher
(ATT)
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Brown-creasted Flycatcher< (BT)
Eastern Kingbird
(BT)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
(ANU)
Horned Lark
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Verdin (BSP)
Wood Thrush (ATT)
Red-eyed Vireo (BT)
Northern Parula (ATT)
Louisiana Waterthrush
(ATT)
Hooded Warbler (BT)
Summer Tanager (BT
Painted Bunting (BSP)
Dickcissel (ANU)
Lark Sparrow
Orchard Oriole (ANU)
|
|
|
|
