Texas Day 2

Well, our second day here in Texas was all that we could realistically have expected it to be, and maybe a little bit more. We saw 16 new birds - the most we've seen in one day's time for a really long time. Not only that, but many of the birds that we saw were birds that we've wanted to see ever since we first cracked open Libby's National Geographic Guide back in our last year of college. Back then, wonderful and beautiful birds like Great Kiskadee, Green Jays and, most of all, Painted Buntings, were the sort of birds you were just amazed existed because of their outlandish colors and patterns.

They do exist, and now we've seen them. All three of the above birds in one day, plus many more, and each a highlight deserving its own post. Of course, I won't go into the kind of detail, but I'll just sort of outline our day, and then list the new birds.

It was actually a little frustrating in the morning because we got a bit of a late start, and then realized upon arriving at our destination that we had forgotten to buy insect repellent. So, off we went to hunt some down, driving down long straight roads and wasting a good half-hour of prime birding time. It's good we got it, though, because the mosquitoes were present, and they were large, and they were voracious. So, interestingly enough, were ticks, apparently, as I picked one up from somewhere. How I managed to do that without going off-trail I have no idea.

Anyway, our main destination for the day was the Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, and it's a great birding destination here in the lower valley. It has the great majority of the lower valley specialty birds, even Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Hook-billed Kite, both of which are rather difficult to find and so we were not surprised to miss them. In general, the place is a fairly large park heavily vegetated by a variety of hardwood trees, most of them fairly short, and filled in with lots of tall grass that's currently dead. It's a brown place right now, but the birds it has fill in the color. Green Jays were common, and Altimira Oriole was impossible to miss. We even saw one of the park's unique Altamira x Auduon's Oriole hybirds. Great Kiskadees called from many tree tops, and the resacas (old oxbows of previous Rio Grande courses) hosted our first Ringed Kingfishers. There's a tram to take you around the roads, and it was nice, peaceful and not too crowded with birders.

It was plenty hot and very bright, muggy and sunny. The roads don't really wind under the canopy of the trees, most of which are not very tall, so you're pretty exposed to the sun the whole time. There was a relieving breeze, though, which we very much enjoyed every time it moved through. Even the visitor's center was quite good for birding, providing us with several lifers, including Painted Bunting! and Buff-breasted Hummingbird. Also, it had our first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, which was quite nice.

After spending about eight hours there, we headed back to McAllen, and stopped by Quinta Mazatlan, an old estate in the city that has a lot of the same birds. We found a lifer there, too, (Carolina Wren) and enjoyed better looks at some of the other specialties. Over all, we had only 48 species for the day, but when one third of those are brand new, that's a lot!

I put up some pictures! Actually, several groups of pictures:

1) Day 1 in McAllen pictures (just a few from our afternoon walk)

2) Day 2 Pictures from Bentsen (my favorite from this set is the Long-billed Thrasher video - check it out!)

New bird list:

1. Great Kiskadee
2. Plain Chachalaca
3. Long-billed Thrasher
4. White-tipped Dove
5. Altamira Oriole
6. Green Jay
7. Northern Parula (our first migrant warbler for the trip)
8. Great-crested Flycatcher
9. Buff-bellied Hummingbird
10. Broad-winged Hawk (migrating by - morning trickle, but probably a little fewer 1,000 passed over Quinta Mazatlan in the afternoon)
11. Anhinga
12. Ringed Kingfisher (Libby picked this awesome bird out for us)
13. Painted Bunting (two seen very well at the visitor's center)
14. Groove-billed Ani (a small secretive group below the hawk watch platform)
15. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (males and probably females at the visitor's center)
16. Carolina Wren (a pair at Quinta Mazatlan)