We started early in the morning, and wandered the trails to a tall tree tower, where we watched the sun rise over a beautiful emerald canopy below us.
Libby contemplates the sunrise from the Tree Tower.From the tower, we looked down on singing Long-billed Thrashers and Cardinals, while Kingbirds hawked insects from tall branches in the warm sunlight. It was a nice moment, made nicer by our first lifer of the day winging by above us - a single adult White Ibis on its way north from somewhere in Mexico to somewhere in the United States, above mankind's artificial borders.
After descending, we hiked a trail that took us down to the river to see what was stirring and to peek across the border. That was a great idea because we soon happened upon our first ever Olive Sparrow, a somewhat skulky inhabitant of the underbrush in the lower valley. That was especially rewarding because we had heard them singing the day before from just feet away without being able to see them. Soon we reached the river, and peaking through the thick brush we saw not only Mexico, but our first Green Kingfisher scooting across the river to perch on another bush. This was a bird that Libby's even dreamed about seeing, literally, so we were thrilled!
Other life birds fell quickly as we winded our way back to the visitor's center, with Least Grebes, Stilt Sandpipers, and even another Painted Bunting in some brush along the trail. When we got back to the Visitor's Center, we asked if they had any tips on where to find a Clay-colored Thrush, as it was one of the common Lower Rio Grande Valley specialities we'd yet to find. The friendly lady at the desk had just the place. She took us outside to a group of feeders, and pointed to a grapefruit stuck on a tree. Just sit and wait, she said, it will come to that one grapefruit there. Twenty minutes later, that's just what it did!
We spent some time relaxing at the active feeders talking to other birders before heading out to bird another trail to see what we could find. It was a great idea because pretty soon we found our first big flock of migrant warblers. It hosted lots of beautiful little jewels including our first ever Tennessee Warblers, Yellow-throated Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler.
In the mid-afternoon, we reluctantly left this place, one of the best we visited in Texas, to drive west to Zapata, where we would spend the night. It was about a two hour drive, and pretty uninteresting. Libby got to sleep some of the way, and I passed the hours using our iPod to listen to music and some Chesterton. We arrived around 6:00 in the evening, checked into our motel, and headed to a local Church's chicken fast food joint.
It's only worth mentioning dinner because the place was terrifyingly dirty and poorly run, and the visit was only redeemed because we met a nice Candian trucker who thought we might have been Australian, but that in any case, we definnitely weren't from around those parts. True enough! Another highlight of Zapata, which was a peculiar roadside small town, was that it had a 7st Street. Yes, you read that right.
After that we made our only effort for a little sparrow-like bird called a White-collared Seedeater. We visited a park next to the public library in town with a pond with a lot of reeds in it that had hosted them a week earlier. Unfortunately, though, we didn't find them. We did find a House Finch - our only representative of that species for the entire week!
We ended the day with 75 species, including 14 lifers. View a collection of pictures here: Texas Day Three. The lifers were:
1. White Ibis
2. Olive Sparrow
3. Black-crested Titmouse: a fun and energetic pair of birds.
4. Green Kingfisher: hurrah! Great views at Pintail Lake.
5. Least Grebe: cute
6. Stilt Sandpiper
7. Clay-colored Thrush
8. Chimney Swift
9. Solitary Sandpiper
10. White-eyed Vireo: amazing bird
11. Black-throated Green Warbler: eye-popping!
12. Tennessee Warbler: super common
13. Yellow-throated Warbler: maybe my favorite warbler of the trip - very beautiful
14. Crested Caracara
After descending, we hiked a trail that took us down to the river to see what was stirring and to peek across the border. That was a great idea because we soon happened upon our first ever Olive Sparrow, a somewhat skulky inhabitant of the underbrush in the lower valley. That was especially rewarding because we had heard them singing the day before from just feet away without being able to see them. Soon we reached the river, and peaking through the thick brush we saw not only Mexico, but our first Green Kingfisher scooting across the river to perch on another bush. This was a bird that Libby's even dreamed about seeing, literally, so we were thrilled!
Other life birds fell quickly as we winded our way back to the visitor's center, with Least Grebes, Stilt Sandpipers, and even another Painted Bunting in some brush along the trail. When we got back to the Visitor's Center, we asked if they had any tips on where to find a Clay-colored Thrush, as it was one of the common Lower Rio Grande Valley specialities we'd yet to find. The friendly lady at the desk had just the place. She took us outside to a group of feeders, and pointed to a grapefruit stuck on a tree. Just sit and wait, she said, it will come to that one grapefruit there. Twenty minutes later, that's just what it did!
We spent some time relaxing at the active feeders talking to other birders before heading out to bird another trail to see what we could find. It was a great idea because pretty soon we found our first big flock of migrant warblers. It hosted lots of beautiful little jewels including our first ever Tennessee Warblers, Yellow-throated Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler.
In the mid-afternoon, we reluctantly left this place, one of the best we visited in Texas, to drive west to Zapata, where we would spend the night. It was about a two hour drive, and pretty uninteresting. Libby got to sleep some of the way, and I passed the hours using our iPod to listen to music and some Chesterton. We arrived around 6:00 in the evening, checked into our motel, and headed to a local Church's chicken fast food joint.
It's only worth mentioning dinner because the place was terrifyingly dirty and poorly run, and the visit was only redeemed because we met a nice Candian trucker who thought we might have been Australian, but that in any case, we definnitely weren't from around those parts. True enough! Another highlight of Zapata, which was a peculiar roadside small town, was that it had a 7st Street. Yes, you read that right.
After that we made our only effort for a little sparrow-like bird called a White-collared Seedeater. We visited a park next to the public library in town with a pond with a lot of reeds in it that had hosted them a week earlier. Unfortunately, though, we didn't find them. We did find a House Finch - our only representative of that species for the entire week!
We ended the day with 75 species, including 14 lifers. View a collection of pictures here: Texas Day Three. The lifers were:
1. White Ibis
2. Olive Sparrow
3. Black-crested Titmouse: a fun and energetic pair of birds.
4. Green Kingfisher: hurrah! Great views at Pintail Lake.
5. Least Grebe: cute
6. Stilt Sandpiper
7. Clay-colored Thrush
8. Chimney Swift
9. Solitary Sandpiper
10. White-eyed Vireo: amazing bird
11. Black-throated Green Warbler: eye-popping!
12. Tennessee Warbler: super common
13. Yellow-throated Warbler: maybe my favorite warbler of the trip - very beautiful
14. Crested Caracara
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