Texas Day 1

Well, we're in McAllen, Texas, now. The flights weren't too long. It was about two and a half hours to Dallas-Fort Worth, and then one hour south to McAllen from there. Still, taking into account the time change, it took the whole day to get here.

Security at LAX was crazy. The line for the American Airlines terminals was probably a good half-mile long, and took a long time to get through. We gave ourselves plenty of time, but it was still annoying. On the first flight, we spent a lot of time familiarizing ourselves with the birds we'll see here in Texas, and had a pretty good time. It was pretty uneventful until the descent, when it got a little bumpy and both Libby and I got air-sick. No time to throw up though, becuase our next plane left half-an-hour after we landed. We just barely got in the back of the line at the last boarding call!

Of course, we were still feeling motion sick when we got there, so we weren't looking forward to getting back up in the air again. Thankfully, we did pretty well on the smooth flight south, and nobody had any trouble with their cookies.

After arriving in McAllen, we rented a car and found a motel (no trouble with either of those, despite not making reservations). Then we grabbed our binoculars and headed out into the nearby residential areas for a quick look-round.

One of the things that we really like about visiting a new area is experiencing not only the new birds, but the new mixture of birds. Even though the most common birds were House Sparrows, Great-tailed Grackles, and White-winged Doves - all birds with which we're well acquainted - the particular mixture was different than California or Arizona would have hosted. In coastal southern California, Great-tailed Grackles are localized residents near bodies of fresh water like lakes in urban parks. Here, they're the most common bird, flying in and out of every tree, long black tails streaming behind. Meanwhile, every weedy patch bursts with active House Sparrows, nary a House Finch to be found among them, unlike in southern California. And White-winged Doves coo syncopatedly from every developed oak, alongside the here less common Mourning Dove.

Meanwhile, the swallows spinning above us were Purple Martins, not Northern Rough-wings like they're apt to be in California. And Inca Doves were feeding right in the middle of a quiet residential street. Along with feral Rock Pigeons and a single Common Ground-dove, we had a good number of doves and pigeons today.

Probably the most outlandish "not in California" moment, though, was when we saw a flock of ducks whirr by overhead. But these flashy and ungainly forms weren't the Mallards we'd expect to see at home, but Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a species we've only seen once in a small flock in Arizona. Representing another example of a species with which we're familiar in a new and suddenly more common niche.

Of course, we do enjoy the new birds that we see. Libby found our first lifer at the country club - a Golden-fronted Woodpecker! This is the southern counterpart to the more widespread Red-bellied Woodpecker, which we've never seen either, and really a fun and pretty bird. It perched in a fairly distant oak, but we were still able to admire its golden nape and fore-crown, as well as its dark barred back. We'll see many more of these, certainly.

Our second new bird was a Couch's Kingbird. It was perched high in a blooming Jacaranda, but its distinctive call revealed its identity. It looks a lot like a Tropical Kingbird, which we've seen in Arizona and California, but sounds quite different.

Tomorrow, we'll explore some of the local wildlife refuges! Adios!