Crazy Arizona Birding Weekend

Last Friday I got off of work, into the car Libby was driving, and went to Arizona with her. It was a fun intense two day weekend in southeastern Arizona. Leaving at 4:30 pm here in California, we drove through the night to arrive in Green Valley around 12:30, retired to our hot motel room for a short 5 hours before getting out of bed with the sun to see some birds.

Our goal was to enjoy a lot of neat birds, and to have a good time, two goals we were able to accomplish with alacrity. We did have a few specific target birds - Rufous-winged Sparrow, Cassin's Sparrow and Botteri's Sparrows in the dry grasslands and desert below Madera Canyon; Red-faced Warbler, Grace's Warbler and Olive Warbler (this last not really being a warbler at all) in the upper reaches of the canyon; and Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Berylline Hummingbird, Elf Owl and Sinaloa Wren to round everything off. We got most, but not all of our targets. However, the ones we were most interested in seeing, we did find. You'll have to read the whole post to find out which!

Anyway, we started the morning in the lower grasslands of Madera Canyon with a Rufous-winged Sparrow (tick!) directly across from the Continental School. We checked the very same school back in December for Rufous-winged Sparrows without any luck, but today it was the only species of sparrow we saw there.

A Rufous-winged Sparrow checking us out.

After we got our fill of the sparrow and a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher that also came in to Libby's pishing, we jumped back in the car and headed uphill to find some more open mesquite grassland to examine for Botteri's and Cassin's Sparrows. After a short detour to check out a dark morph Swainson's Hawk on a telephone pole, we pulled into a little turn between Florida Wash and Proctor Road to look for the sparrows.

We heard some sparrows singing in the distance a short way, but while scanning the other side of the road, a Meadowlark flew by. The form of Eastern Meadowlark resident in this part of Arizona is of the subspecies lilianae, which may be a full species. It's not exactly obviously different, but the amount of white in the tail is noticably more extensive and the yellow on the breast is noticably less extensive. Unfortunately, it was too far away to photograph.

As we were watching the bird, Libby's old roommate Bethany and her husband Wade drove up. We knew they were in the area, and had planned on crossing paths with them on Sunday before heading home, and so were pleasantly surprised to see them. We chatted a bit about what they had seen in Madera Canyon so far, how the weather had been (wet for them!), and then we went over and found a Botteri's Sparrow (lifer #2) with them where our cars were parked. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear or see any Cassin's Sparrows at this spot, so we parted ways with Bethany and Wade and headed uphill while they headed back down to make their way to Patagonia.

The next parking lot up is Proctor Road, where we pulled over to apply sunscreen, pay our fee, and check the mesquite around the parking area for a sometimes seen family of Black-capped Gnatcatchers. We didn't have any luck, but wandering further into the riparian area, we found a beautiful male Varied Bunting illuminated exquisitely by the sun, a charming little Verdin, a couple of male Northern Cardinals, and a whole bunch of Bell's Vireos. None of them cooperated for the camera, but we did capture some images of the charming little waterfall there.

Waterfall near Proctor Road.

By now it was getting warm low in the canyon, and, our goal including a long hike in the upper reaches of these Santa Rita Mountains, we re-entered our car and headed straight for the trailhead parking area. We found that easily enough, having visited it previously, but we did have a little trouble finding the head of our specific trail. While we wandered frustrated and confused, Dusky-capped Flycatchers chased each other from tree to tree, Bridled Titmouse and Black-throated Gray Warblers chortled and chipped, beautiful Painted Redstarts fluttered from tree to tree, and Sulfur-bellied Flycatchers squeaked.

Painted Redstart along the Old Baldy Trail.

Anyway, someone lent us a trail map, we found a few signs, and we got started up the hill. The trail we took is known as the Old Baldy Trail, and it leads up to Mount Wrightson via Josephine Saddle. Our goal was to hike a 6 mile loop around the head of Madera Canyon in the 7,000' elevation range and come down to the same parking lot via another trail. In the upper elevation pine forest, we were hoping to see those warblers I mentioned earlier.

The hike was warm, though tolerable, as much of it was spent in trees and an occasional growing thunderhead would block the sun for a blissful minutes. We wound our way up through through oaks and junipers, passing occasional Ponderosa Pines while enjoying the wonders of nature - both small and large: the majestic edifice of Mount Wrightson pushing itself up to our left, and dozens of iridescent Yarrow's Spiny Lizards scurrying by underfoot.

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Once, a big mixed flock passed by foraging in the middle canopy next to the trail. We found Brown Creepers, White-breasted Nuthatches, a snappy Plumbeous Vireo, and some Hutton's Vireos there. Later, we found good numbers of Yellow-eyed Juncos filling the hillside with their songs, and sometimes hopping along in front of us on the trail. I got some decent pictures of one such bird.

Yellow-eyed Junco

There are a lot of varieties of Juncos in the United States, many of them well marked and easily distinguishable, others a little less marked, and areas where many forms interbreed. For some reason, when all of those groups of Juncos were lumped together as a single variable species known as the Dark-eyed Junco, this single form of Junco with the staring yellow eyes - at the very northern edge of its range in Southeastern Arizona - was kept as a separate species by the official taxonomists in the AOU. While this bird is very distinct from Oregon or Slate-colored forms of the Dark-eyed Junco, it's actually quite similar to the Red-backed and Gray-headed forms of Dark-eyed Juncos that breed in the southwestern United States.

Anyway, we travelled slowly with all the bird watching, and it was 11:15 by the time we arrived at Josephine Saddle, where we had a snack and a rest before pushing on up the Agua Caliente Trail. That didn't go super smoothly, as one washed out switchback turn with a well marked unofficial train coming off of it got us side-tracked. We had to turn around and come back the way we had come before we able to continue on our way. Up in this higher elevation woodland, we were hearing (and seeing) Greater Pewees regularly, seeing occasional Hepatic Tanagers, and the more familiar but still welcome sight of Steller's Jays hopping around in the trees.

But the best part came a little before we had gone half-way along the trail. In one pine growing off the trail below us and to our right, some small birds were foraging among the needles. Stopping to examine the first we could get our binoculars on, we were delighted to see it was an adult male Grace's Warbler (lifer # three!). We were able to enjoy its bright yellow breast and eyebrow at our leisure, before taking our binoculars away to realize the tree was full of small birds. Four or five of were a family of Painted Redstarts, including juveniles lacking their red-bellies, and further examination of most of the others found that we were watching a pair of Grace's Warblers with at least two fledglings, as well. Then a flash of orange in the further branches alerted us to the presence of a single Olive Warbler! (four!)

Invigorated, we continued on our hike, stopping again only briefly in a grove of aspen. This little grove was populated by a vigorous population of "Brown-throated" House Wrens, a distinctive popuulation of the widespread and familiar birds in backyards everywhere. They really are a more uniform dark brown, and their song is more musical and beautiful than our local wrens. They reminded me a bit of short-winded, long-tailed Winter Wrens as well as of our local House Wrens.

After the grove, we moved out onto a dryer north-facing slope toward the Vault Mine Trail. We got half-lucky at one point when I started a single male Montezuma Quail running down the hillside. I got half-looks at the fleeing bird, but Libby only saw its back for an instant, so we're not counting it until we both have decent views of the bird. Montezuma Quail are infamously hard to see, and people we talked to over the weekend generally expressed the opinion that it takes dumb luck to find one, so we'll just have to spend more time in their habitat.

After wrapping around the canyon, there's a junction that takes you straight back down into it. The Vault Mine Trail (Very Steep Trail) lives up to its appelation. At one point, you descend more than 1,000' in .6 miles! Needless to say, our knees and feet were a little sore by the time we reached the canyon bottom. So, at the car, we had wonderfully refreshing ice cold Pepsis from our cooler and a snack of Goldfish Crackers before heading down canyon to go feeder watching.

We enjoyed seeing Nuthatches, Lesser Goldfinches, bright House Finches, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, and Scott's Orioles at the various feeders. At one, an Arizona Woodpecker family was coming into the suet. At Madera Kubo, we waited in vain to see if a Berylline Hummingbird or the local Flame-colored Tanager would come and visit. We heard the Flame-colored Tanager that evening, but were unable to discover it in its dense retreats among the tree tops. It moved around a lot, too, and only sang sparingly, so we didn't have too good of a shot, anyway. Ah well, you win some and you lose some.

Wild Turkeys visited the Santa Rita Lodge feeders, too.

The last thing we did that day, as the light fell in the canyon, was to stand and watch for an Elf Owl to leave its daytime roost in a telephone pole next to the Santa Rita Lodge office. We waited and waited, and the light dimmed and dimmed. Bats fluttered over the assembled crowd of expectant birders and lodgers, but the owl never showed. Later Bethany and Wade told us that the front office explained the birds were finished nesting and were no longer using that pole for the year.

We spent that night in Nogales, about a mile from the Mexican border. In the morning, we were up early and on the road to Patagonia. Our first stop was the road to Kino Springs. We've visited that golf course before, where Tropical Kingbirds are quite easy to find, but this year we were more interested in another shot at Cassin's Sparrows and maybe at the Gray Hawks we had seen nesting in trees there two years ago. Once again, we had a Botteri's Sparrow right by the road, but we weren't able to find a Cassin's. The Gray Hawks weren't there, either, though there still were some big stick nests.

Our next stop was the Patagonia Roadside Rest, famous in birding circles because of the "Roadside Rest" effect named after it. Once upon a time, one rare bird found there led to a slew of other rare birds found by other visitors looking for the first bird. We didn't find anything rare, but we did hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (this is where we once saw our first), Thick-billed Kingbirds, and a first-spring Summer Tanager singing in a tree. We walked up and down the creek a little, and it was nice to see and hear Yellow Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats.

Libby at the Roadside Rest.

Anyway, we got back in the road pretty quickly and pulled into Patagonia well before 8:00. Our plan was to spend a half hour or so looking for the Sinaloa Wren that's been reported there and then head over to the Paton's so that we could enjoy the regular Violet-crowned Hummingbirds that visit there.

The Sinaloa Wren we were looking for is the first documented record of that species north of the Mexican border. The bird has been building nests in the dense riparian vegetation along Sonoita Creek since this spring, and sings incessently and loudly, making it easy to hear. However, because of the dense brush, it can be very hard to see. We weren't very optimimstic about our chances of seeing it, but we felt like it was worth a short, anyway.

When we arrived at the spot, we found a tour group waiting there. They had seen it a couple of times, already, and we could hear it singing as we walked up. One of the guides pointed out where to find the actual nest, which was a big shaggy ball of grasses, and then there was nothing to do but to wait. And, so we did. As we waited, scanning the dense growth from time to time, listening to hear if the Sinaloa Wren song was getting louder, the other guide of the outfit struck up a conversation with us. It turns out it was Jon Dunn, a prominent North American birder - the lead editor of the National Geographic Field Guide, and author of numerous other guides and books. He lives in Bishop, so I asked him how to find Black-backed Woodpeckers in the Eastern Sierra and got a good tip for a location near June Lake. Pretty cool!

Even cooler, though, was that Libby found the Sinaloa Wren (lifer five!) while we were talking. And, thankfully, I got a short look at it, also. Libby saw it fairly well, but my looks were of it silhouetted in the shadows. I was able to see a little of the tail's color, and the proportions and size looked different than a Bewick's Wren, but I'd like to see it again some day. That's quite possible, as Sinaloa Wrens appear to be spreading northward through Sinaloa and it is not unlikely that they will one day be an established species in southeastern Arizona.

After seeing the bird, we pulled up stakes and drove over to the Paton's, where the Violet-crowneds put on a good show. By then, it was getting hot, so we appreciated the opportunity to sit in the shade and enjoy some birds for awhile. Broad-billed Hummingbirds were common, as were Black-chinned. Meanwhile, Inca Doves were singing in the background, Gray Hawks called in the distance, and Blue Grosbeaks were visiting the seed feeders behind us. It was pretty awesome.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird at the Paton's

Nevertheless, we needed to get a move on. We were planning on meeting up with Wade and Bethany at the Beatty's Bed and Breakfast feeders in the Huachuca Mountains, a not-insignificant drive from where we were, and if we got there early enough, we had an opportunity to go for a hike up the hills to look for Red-faced Warblers.

We got there before 11:00, so we elected to head up the trail. The first bit is a dry route around the private property of the Beatty's, but then the trail gently trends uphill through shadowy forest that's a mixture of oak, juniper, sycamore, elder and pine. It's quite lovely.

Upper Miller canyon riparian forest

Anyway, we traveled a good distance, and had used up a good portion of our allotted time, when we started hearing a Red-faced Warbler off the trail. Imitations didn't draw the bird in, though it appeared to be responsive, and so we had to consider whether or not to go off trail to find it. We headed a little bit uphill and ran into some birders coming down. We asked if they had had Red-faced Warblers, and they pointed out the bird were were listening to, and let us know it was quite a distance up the hill before they had run into any more. Furthermore, it turned out there was another trail paralleling ours in the direction of that bird.

We decided to look for the bird we were hearing, and come back down the parallel trail, so we stepped off and into the trees. Only a minute or two later, we found a beautiful Red-faced Warbler (lifer six!) quietly singing and foraging in some trees right above our heads. We were able to wait and watch it for many minutes while it roamed around above us. Even without binoculars, we could see the brilliant scarlet of its head glowing in the canopy.

We felt pretty lucky at this point, so we headed back down the trail toward the parking lot. We got there, and rested our feet while we were waiting for Wade and Bethany. While we were waiting, I saw a branch fall out of a distant tree, writhing. I cocked my head. That's a snake, I thought. Sure enough, it was. It was what appears to be a Sonoran Whipsnake, and we were able to watch it slither its way through the trees a few feet above us. Libby commented that it had a bit of a sinister Edenic feel.

The serpent

Right about then, Wade and Bethany pulled up. As they did, a mixed flock came into the trees near my head and I saw what appeared very much like a Mountain Chickadee, which would have been way out of range. Libby and Bethany checked our respective guides, and found that they may be unrecorded in the Huachucas in the summer, casting doubt on my identification. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but after I got the camera I couldn't find the bird again, and there were more interesting birds awaiting us up at the feeders, which is where we headed next.

The hummingbird feeders at Beatty's are my favorite in Arizona, which is saying quite a lot. They're always crowded with hummingbirds of a dazzling array of species. Last Sunday, we saw eight species of hummingbirds at the feeders: Broad-tailed, Broad-billed, Anna's, Magnificent, Blue-throated, Black-chinned, White-eared and Berylline (ding! that's # seven!).

The Berylline was what I was most hoping to see, and it didn't disappoint, coming regularly the feeders, especially the one only about 6' feet to my left, and even gathering wool at a station set up for that purpose. It's apparently preparing a nest somewhere nearby, which is exciting, as this is really quite a rare bird in the U.S.

The female Berryline Hummer feeding just feet away from me.

We stayed at the feeders a good period of time, watching the hummingbirds chase each other around the feeders as thunder growled in the distance. One of the White-eareds (also very rare) sang from a perch, which was fun to hear. But, time flowed on, and we had a long drive home ahead of us, so we said our goodbyes to the Williams and got in our car to head back home.

The drive home was very hot. When we passed through Phoenix, a roadside sign flashed the temperature as 121 - ridiculous - and the radio put it as tying the old record of 115. Not only that, but the 10 West was closed in Phoenix! With that and heavy road construction near Palm Spring reducing the freeway to only one lane, it took 10 hours to get home.

Lots of pictures, of more hummingbirds, mountains, flowers, bugs, and Libby, are at our Flickr account: Weekend Arizona trip. I recommend checking them out.

List:

1. Turkey Vulture (common everywhere)
2. Cooper's Hawk (Madera Canyon)
3. Gray Hawk (along Hwy 83 north of Patagonia Rest Stop)
4. Red-tailed Hawk (power lines below Madera Canyon)
5. Swainson's Hawk (power lines below Madera Canyon)
6. Wild Turkey (Madera Canyon)
7. Gambel's Quail (Patagonia)
8. Band-tailed Pigeon (heard in Madera Canyon)
9. Eurasian Collared-Dove (roadsides)
10. Rock Pigeon (roadside)
11. White-winged Dove (common)
12. Mourning Dove (common)
13. Inca Dove (Paton's)
14. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard at Patagonia Roadstop Rest)
15. Greater Roadrunner (Patagonia area)
16. Lesser Nighthawk (California, actually - I-10 near Blythe)
17. Violet-crowned Hummingbird (Paton's)
18. Berylline Hummingbird (Beatty's)
19. Broad-billed Hummingbird (Common)
20. White-eared Hummingbird (Beatty's)
21. Blue-throated Hummingbird (Beatty's)
22. Magnificent Hummingbird (Madera and Beatty's)
23. Black-chinned Hummingbird (Common)
24. Anna's Hummingbird (Madera and Beatty's)
25. Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Beatty's)
26. Elegant Trogon (Heard in Madera Canyon)
27. Acorn Woodpecker (Madera Canyon and Patagonia)
28. Gila Woodpecker (Common in lower elevations)
29. Northern Flicker (upper Madera)
30. Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Patagonia)
31. Arizona Woodpecker (Madera and Miller Canyons)
32. Greater Pewee (Upper Madera)
33. Western Wood-Pewee (Madera Canyon)
34. Cordilleran Flycatcher (Madera)
35. Vermilion Flycatcher (Patagonia)
36. Brown-crested Flycatcher (Lower Madera - Proctor Road area)
37. Ash-throated Flycatcher (Dry area in lower Miller Canyon)
38. Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Common)
39. Cassin's Kingbird (Patagonia)
40. Western Kingbird (Patagonia)
41. Thick-billed Kingbird (Patagonia)
42. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (Madera)
43. Bell's Vireo (Madera and Kino Springs)
44. Hutton's Vireo (Madera and Miller Canyons)
45. Plumbeous Vireo (upper Madera Canyon)
46. Steller's Jay (upper Madera Canyon)
47. Mexican Jay (Madera and Miller Canyons)
48. Barn Swallow (Common)
49. Bridled Titmouse (Madera and Miller Canyons)
50. Mountain Chickadee? (Miller Canyon)
51. Verdin (Proctor Rd)
52. Bushtits (Madera and Miller Canyons)
53. Brown Creeper (Madera Canyon)
54. White-breasted Nuthatch (Madera Canyon)
55. House Wren (Brown Throated) (Madera Canyon)
56. Bewick's Wren (Patagonia)
57. Cactus Wren (Santa Rita experimental range)
58. Sinaloa Wren (Patagonia)
59. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (Continental School)
60. Hermit Thrush (Madera Canyon)
61. Northern Mockingbird (lower elevations)
62. Bendire's Thrasher (Kino Springs)
63. Phainopepla (Patagonia)
64. Lucy's Warbler (Patagonia)
65. Black-throated Gray Warbler (Madera and Miller Canyons)
66. Grace's Warbler (upper Madera)
67. Yellow Warbler (Patagonia)
68. Common Yellowthroat (Patagonia)
69. Yellow-breasted Chat (Patagonia)
70. Painted Redstart (Madera and Miller Canyons)
71. Red-faced Warbler (Miller Canyon)
72. Olive Warbler (upper Madera)
73. Summer Tanager (Patagonia)
74. Hepatic Tanager (upper Madera)
75. Flame-colored Tanager (heard at Madera Kubo)
76. Canyon Towhee (Patagonia)
77. Spotted Towhee (upper Madera)
78. Botteri's Sparrow (Kino and below Madera Canyon)
79. Rufous-winged Sparrow (Continental School)
80. Yellow-eyed Junco (upper Madera)
81. Black-headed Grosbeak (Madera)
82. Northern Cardinal (below Madera and Patagonia)
83. Blue Grosbeak (Patagonia and Madera)
84. Varied Bunting (Proctor Rd)
85. Eastern (Lilian's) Meadowlark (below Madera)
86. Great-tailed Grackle (common)
87. Bronzed Cowbird (Patagonia)
88. Hooded Oriole (Madera)
89. Scott's Oriole (Madera)
90. House Finch (Madera)
91. Lesser Goldfinch (common)
92. House Sparrow (hiss)

And that's that... 92 birds and 7 lifers.

New York Day 4

Well, time keeps marching on, and we keep falling further behind in our New York posts. Never mind that it's been a month by now, we'll still stay the course!

That Tuesday, Becca had to go back to work, and to the doctor in the morning. That made it a good time to check out Bill's local "patch" -- a birding term for the park you most commonly survey. For me, it's Creek Park. For Bill, it's Whipple Woods and the Lehigh Swamp.

It was fun to walk around in the woods, which are a wet assemblage of various aged second growth deciduous forest. American Redstarts and Yellow Warblers were the most common birds in the woods, though we also saw Brown Creepers, Hairy Woodpeckers and other forest birds. It was nice to hear the haunting song of Wood Thrushes, but we never saw the cryptic things. The woods were a great place to get out and enjoy a northeastern birding experience. It's completely unlike anything we have out here!

After Becca got back from the doctor, where she learned she didn't have a broken wrist(!), we took the car for a spin out to Owl Woods. This was another really neat place where Yellow Warblers were thick as flies, and though we missed some interesting birds that had been seen there recently, it was fun to check out the migrant trap. The rest of the day we spent checking out the local shoreline.

Lake Ontario is huge, and we went up and down a small section of the shore, staring off into the distant horizon, unable to catch a glimpse of Canada at all. That was an incredible amount of fresh water. At one stop, we found our first Bank Swallows, which was pretty awesome, and we also saw several Mute Swans. These beautiful birds are an introduced pest, but our first American individuals of that European species.

In the evening, we meandered over to the Braddock Bay spit to look for a recently reported Black-billed Cuckoo. We didn't find the bird, but we did find a beautiful sunset!

Libby in the sunset light.

Pictures have been uploaded: New York Day 4.

Lost Creek Trail

Last Friday Libby and I headed up to the local mountains for a bit of a tune up hike before our upcoming backpack trip. We did something similar last year, hiking to Dollar Lake and back through a torrential thunder storm while wearing full packs, but this year we were determined to have a better experience.

In order to achieve that goal, we didn't bring full packs. Neither did we try to go as high or as far, our hike was only supposed to be about 11 miles round trip instead of 12+, and we weren't intending to get above 9,000'. Unfortunately, all of our preparation went for naught, as Libby developed a stomach complaint that turned us back before we had gone more than a couple of miles.

Still, it was nice to get out of the city for a day. The air was cool, pine-scented and clean. The trail we chose is unpopular, so we didn't see any other people the whole time we were on it. It's nice to get into higher altitudes at this time of year, too, as time is turned back a little closer to spring. We saw a wide collection of wild flowers, heard and saw many singing birds, and saw quite a few juvenile Juncos.

The birds were a bit of a condolence. We had good looks of a wide range of montane breeders, representing both pine and oak forests. Some, like Brown Creepers, Mountain Chickadees, Western Wood Pewees, Purple Finches, Western Tanagers, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Mountain Quail, are birds we only see when we visit the mountains or on migration. Others, like Western Bluebirds, Spotted Towhees, Ash-throated Flycatchers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black Phoebe, Acorn Woodpecker and Northern Flicker breed in Orange and lower Los Angeles counties, but were nice to see in this different setting. I even got brief looks at a Townsend's Solitaire and heard a Dusky Flycatcher, though I never got to see it.

I was especially excited to get a picture (though not great) of a female Black-throated Gray Warbler.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Anyway, we didn't have a lot of fun, but we did see some pretty country. It gets me excited for Mammoth in a few weeks!

New York Day 3

OK, back to New York!

Our second day in New York would have been notable no matter what we did during the day because we had pie for breakfast. Yum.

Thankfully, we went out and filled it with other activities, so there will be more to read. If that really is a reason to give thanks.

Our main destination that Monday was Letchworth State Park - renowned both as the Grand Canyon of the East and as home to one of the most diverse assemblages of breeding wood warbler species in North America.

We started the day in the southeastern portion of the park -- and old Civil War regimental parade grounds. This spot is the best area for warblers in the park, and we were not disappointed -- only a minutes after arriving one of us spotted a male Blackburnian Warbler foraging in some tall trees directly above us. Although our brief looks were almost neck-breaking, we were still able to appreciate its breathtaking flame-colored neck.

Not long afterward, we were distracted by a very uncooperative Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. These proved to be quite common in the area, but we spent a long time trying to get a clear look at this secretive individual as it hid in the highest boughs of a cluster of pines. Giving up before we were satisfied due to the restraints of time, we took a short walk around the Parade Grounds themselves to see if we could find any warblers. Nothing much doing there, but soon afterward we found a cooperative male Hooded Warbler. These were pretty common in some of the woods in that area.

After a short walk into the woods, we headed off to the Mary Jemison Trail, which was also supposed to be a fair area for warblers. As we pulled into the parking lot, we were talking about a singing bird, when Becca mentioned casually, "It's that Scarlet Tanager." There it was! That was the bird I probably most wanted to see in New York, and it completely fulfilled all of my expectations. After a brief lunch, we headed off on the trail.

Hiking in New York was a lot of fun. We enjoyed the forest, the dark earth of the trail, trickling streams, and, of course, birds. One highlight was a pair of Winter Wrens that Becca found. We were even privileged to hear them sing! The song was beautiful; it tinkled on for ages, with a more musical and beautiful quality to it than the western Winter Wrens we heard singing in Oregon last year. We also found a pair of Pine Warblers a little bit later in a plantation further down the trail, which were new to us. We didn't see them extremely well, as they were high above us, so that's a bird we'll hopefully be able to see again some day.

After returning to the car, we headed off to check out the park proper. It was spectacular, with yawning vistas and thundering waterfalls. Here's what it looked like:

Upper Falls

Middle Falls

Libby and Middle Falls



Upper and Middle Falls



Lower Falls

You can see why this is worth visiting. It was beautiful.

One last highlight from Letchworth proper was stopping at a Wolf Creek parking lot and finding a fledgling Eastern Screech-Owl perched on a tree trunk nearly on the ground. We've never seen anything like that! The poor little bird was being mobbed by a pair of persistent Robins, and it gazed sleepily up at them with little jerks when they'd swoop in over its head. We were concerned that it might get knocked off into the water below it (doubly so since the creek was rushing directly off a waterfall), but our worries evaporated when it took off and landed in another tree on the far bank a few moments later. Thanks goes to the stranger who found it and tipped us off to its presence.

By the time we'd done all that, it was getting pretty late in the day, so we headed back to Rochester. Of course, we found a way to squeeze a little more birding in, too, via Nations Road. This agricultural area hosts breeding populations of a lot of grassland birds, including Henslow's Sparrows, Grasshopper's Sparrows, and Vesper's Sparrows. We didn't find any of those, though we did see more Bobolinks, Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows. The real highlight was when we stopped by a private wood by the road, where we found a Brown Thrasher, our first ever Eastern Towhee, and Bill and Becca's first ever Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The Cuckoo was especially exciting.

And that's about it - I just need to get this posted! There are more pictures of Letchworth and some pictures of birds on our Flickr for that day: New York Day 3.

Peckham Wedding Weekend

Last weekend it was all party, all the time, as we trekked north for Joe's wedding in Paso Robles.

We drove up right after work, and got back Sunday evening around 8:00. In between, there was wine tasting, wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, games in motel rooms, the wedding, the reception, and more partying!

Wine tasting in Paso Robles was interesting. Libby and I went with Dustin, Katie and their baby Elijah to Castoro Cellars, purveyors of Dam Fine Wine - Castoro meaning beaver in Italian. The wine seemed alright, though we're not experts. We especially enjoyed the Gewürztraminer, though they're much better known for their Zinfandels - which are pretty dry and spicy. Elijah is a very charming little kid, full of smiles and good temper, so it was a pleasure to be around him for a few days.

Joe and Jessica Peckham

The wedding itself went really well. I didn't notice any hitches, everything was beautiful, and the deed got done. Honestly, that's all that's essential, right? It was a bit hot, but thankfully the wedding was at 10:30 in the morning, and a light breeze made it tolerable. Still, we sweated a lot in our tuxes; I don't suppose shorts would have been appropriate attire?

The reception also went well, with dancing and speeching and toasting and caking in all of the appropriate places. The bride and groom looked pleased with themselves, and everyone else looked pleased with them, too.

That evening Libby and I walked to dinner with Phil and Luke at a Thai restaurant in downtown Paso Robles, which was fun. The food was good, the company was better, and we wound down the weekend laughing and reminiscing until late at night.

The next morning we had breakfast with Luke, Lem and Phil before hitting the road for home. That road turned out to be a long one, as we extended it with stops and hit heavy traffic on the 101 - so we weren't surprised by its duration.

Our first stop was at Cerro Alto, which is a campground off the 41 north of San Luis Obispo. This was a great place to visit - it was bustling with bird-life, even in the very middle of the day. While we wandered through riparian and pine woodland -- transitioning on the upper part of the road to pine-oak woodland -- we enjoyed good views of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Wilson's Warblers, and Warbling Vireos. None of these commonly breed in southern California's riparian woods anymore, so it was a lot of fun to see them.

There were two highlights, though - one was a singing male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. These eastern birds are quite rare here, though annual in small numbers as spring migrants in California. Perhaps this bird is lingering through the summer. It was beautiful, and we got a good look at it for a little while before it backed out of sight through some willows.

The second exciting moment was when some imitation Pygmy-Owl toots I was using to attempt to attract some skulking birds got the attention of a real Northern Pygmy-Owl, who tooted back! I was able to solicit another series of calls, too, before the distant bird quieted down. Unfortunately we were unable to actually see this fierce little diurnal owl, but even hearing it was pretty thrilling.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. We had lunch in San Luis Obispo, danishes in Solvang, and traffic in Santa Barbara. We listened to some Chesterton on the iPod, and were happy as clams when we finally got out of the car at home. A good weekend!

There are lots of pictures on Flickr.

New York Day 2!

I woke up our first morning in New York to the incredibly loud sound of upstate New York's dawn song. This sounded to be mostly a choir of Robins, but noting that it was only about 4:30 in the morning (and therefore 1:30 California time), I promptly went back to sleep.

We didn't actually get up until six before loading up the car to head to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Montezuma is one of the better known refuges in upstate New York, and promised good opportunities to see some eastern birds. On the drive over, we reviewed eastern warbler songs, especially Cerulean Warbler, a beautiful sky blue little bird that was a coveted target bird for Libby and me.

Birding started with a quick stop for an Osprey nest along the entrance road before pulling into the visitor center parking lot. Purple Martins zipped around their nest box structure, young Bald Eagles soared up above us, and Song Sparrows sang from neighboring bushes. We spent a good amount of time birding the wooded areas around the visitor's center because several on-line sources listed them as a good place for Cerulean Warblers. We enjoyed seeing many typical birds of the east as we walked, including many Eastern Wood Pewees, Least Flycatchers and Gray Catbirds. Yellow Warblers were common, as they appear to be almost everywhere in upstate New York, and I think I may have heard a Carolina Wren (which is listed as rare on the checklist - I wish we had investigated that song!). We also found a snake, and a pair of Yellow Warblers feeding an over-sized Cowbird chick. That's something I'd never seen before, and it was pathetic to watch these beautiful little yellow birds working feverishly to feed a bird twice their size. You can see a picture Bill took here. Thankfully, we also found a pair of Yellow Warblers feeding one of their own offspring, which was much nicer to see.

Still no Cerulean Warblers, though. After one circuit around the forest, we decided to work our way back up along the road toward the main pond. It was there we finally heard the Ceruleans singing from some large cottonwoods near where the forest ended. As we strained our necks and eyes to get a glimpse of them, and Bill talked to a fellow birder from Rochester, a crow swept into the trees, attracting an instant flock of angry songbirds. This proved to be mostly Warbling Vireos, but among the flock I was able to pick out a beautiful male Yellow-throated Vireo. With a little patience, we were able to relocate it or its mate so that Libby could get a look at it, too. That and a nearby Red-bellied Woodpecker were our first lifers of the day, and the Vireo was an especially nice one.

With our first lifers for the day in the bag, we headed back to the car via the bathrooms, and then embarked on the auto loop. Loops like this are a regular feature at National Wildlife Refuges that we've visited, and are a mixed blessing. On the one hand, they allow you to explore a good deal of area fairly quickly, but on the other hand, it's often difficult for everyone to get a good look at something because of cars' structures. In this case, it was even harder to see birds because the main pool was drawn down. Still, we made a stop at a blind along the edge, and found our first Swamp Sparrows of the trip, only our second ever, a Spotted Sandpiper on top of the blind, and an Eastern Kingbird hawking insects in the weedy pool-bed edge. Another lifer, and a highlight for me because I especially love the Tyrannus flycatchers.

The wildlife drive isn't actually a loop, and its exit dropped us very near to Tschache Pool. We heard and saw an Alder Flycatcher (new for us!) from the nearby tower, while Black Terns fluttered far out in the middle of the pool over the water. It was drawing near to lunch time, now, but we still pressed on. Our next stop was Mays Point, which proved to be the absolute jackpot for Cerulean Warblers. They were loudly singing from several trees in the area, and Bill serendipitously found a silent female gathering nest material from some understory bushes near the boardwalk viewing platform. Unfortunately, we weren't all able to find it before it flew away.

Still, now we knew where they were, but it was late, and we were all hungry, so we had our picnic before trying again. Lunch was awesome, as Bill and Becca had brought a camp stove and hot dogs. They call them hots in upstate New York, though, and they come in red and white, which is kind of interesting. I naturally tried a white one, but couldn't notice a dramatic difference in flavor, perhaps a little sweeter, over the horseradish mustard I'd drenched it in. Awesome.

After lunch we headed back out to the boardwalk to try again for the Cerulean Warblers. In just a minute we were onto a bird slipping into a nearby bush. I didn't get a good look at it, but Libby was able to tell it was a Cerulean! Nice! Unfortunately, only Libby got to see the bird, and we had to yield to the pressures of time and head south to the Finger Lakes area for the remainder of the day.

We spent the afternoon and evening of a very long day touring the Finger Lakes by car. We covered a lot of country, crossing over to the northern edge of Seneca Lake from Montezuma, and then heading south to the northern tips of Keuka Lake, which forms a Y shape. In between those lakes we got to drive through Seneca Falls. Seneca Falls is the birthplace of the woman's rights movement in America, and we saw the preserved remains of the building in which it all began.

Also, all of the towns and all of the countryside in this area of New York is really beautiful. The towns are mostly small and quaint, with pretty main streets and old colonial style homes. In between the towns, woods and farmland march along together. Since it was June, all of the trees and plants were vibrantly green, and most of the farmland had young plants in rows along gently sloping hillsides.

We did take a few stops, though, here and there, to enjoy the area. We had some awesome ice cream at a little road-side stand, and took a little walk along a beautiful creek in another area.

Once, we took a wrong turn that went past a pretty green field. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of black and white flutter off a fence post. Bobolink! We stopped and got out of the car to enjoy these flashy relatives of New World Blackbirds. They were joined by Eastern Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows on the fence posts, too. This was definitely the most exciting new bird of the day, as it was easy for everyone to see and strikingly beautiful, too. We took our time appreciating them before moving on.

I think our next stop after that was for a pie near the southern tip of Canandaigua Lake. We got a great berry pie - the next day's breakfast! For a more authentic taste of upstate New York, we also got a grape tart, which we enjoyed a la mode the next evening (with more pie!).

Soon after, we reached Canandaigua Lake, where we made a brief stop to admire the scenery. In the late evening light, it was beautiful!

By this point, it was getting pretty late. We were making our way toward Cheshire, but when we stopped at a roadside overlook of Canandaigua Lake, I noticed a bird in the nearby bushes that looked a lot like a Field Sparrow. Since we'd never seen one before, we all got out of the car again to look for it. We were able to refind it on the far edge of a little field, but it was far enough away that people weren't really sure that our brief looks at its face were sufficient to identify it. Bill suggested I get the iPod and try taping it in. So, we did. The first bout of song from our speaker drew it magically out of the brush into the field before it dropped down into the grass. A second snippet of song had it up even closer, and we all had great looks at its blank face pattern. That was pretty amazing, but it felt a little like cheating. Playback is a really powerful tool, but it is more intrusive than our normal practice.

Jumping back in the car, we pulled into the cemetery as the sun dipped beneath the hills. This Cheshire grave plot almost certainly holds the remains of some of our very distant ancestors. It turns out that the Rowleys once lived in upstate New York, and the Daniel and Rebecca Rowley who are buried there are probably our great-great-uncles. Unfortunately, the grave stones are in very poor condition, and almost illegible. We tried to decipher a neighboring stone that may also be a Rowley grave, but were unable to.

Then, we headed back home in earnest, with only very short stops at the tip of Canandaigua Lake where we found our first-ever Black-capped Chickadees, and Libby's first-ever wild Beaver!

Pictures are here: New York Day 1.

New York!

We just got back from New York last week, and we're already falling behind on our blog posts about it. In fact, I can't help but noticing that we haven't posted on our blog for ages, which is too bad because it really is a convenient way to keep people updated and to keep a running record of our lives. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that there is enough going on that we can't find the time to post about it?

Anyway, we will post about New York. We arrived on Saturday evening, June 13th, and had to wait while they got the cargo door unstuck on our commuter jet. Rochester's airport is enormous, but as empty and quiet as a ghost town. Still, despite its apparent abandonment it is kept in good repair. Perhaps the city is planning on its fortunes turning around, and I do hope it will be bustling with people some day. Hopefully not as many people as LAX, though, as I wouldn't wish that misfortune on anybody.

Anyway, we spent the day's long twilight (I think the sun set around 9:30 at night) checking out the university, which was in general very attractive, before heading off to Bill and Becca's apartment for some yummy hamburgers. It was good to see them both again. After all, it had been since Christmas 2007 that we had last spent time together.

As we checked out their garden, we even saw a pair of Blue Jays and a scattering of Common Grackles in their yard - both lifers - and our first birds of the trip!

Trip List

The following is an annotated list of all the bird species we saw on our trip to Texas. The taxonomic order is taken from A Checklist of Texas Birds (7th edition). Lifers are in bold. The annotations are based on our daily check-lists - on which we marked where we saw each bird recorded - and my general impression of how many birds we saw at those locations.

1. Black-bellied Whistling Duck (common in most bodies of water)
2. Fulvous Whistling Duck (Estero Llano and Laguna Atascosa)
3. Muscovy Duck (wild birds only seen at Salineno, domestic escapees were common in urban resacas)
4. Mallard (Two Mexican birds at Estero Llano, perhaps at Salineno; domestic birds at a resaca in Brownsviille were our only green-headed Anas of the trip)
5. Mottled Duck (A pair of birds at the South Padre Island Convention Center boardwalk were our only representatives of this species)
6. Blue-winged Teal (Common throughout valley)
7. Northern Shoveler (Uncommon in bodies of water throughout valley)
8. Lesser Scaup (One male was diving at Estero Llano Grande State Park)
9. Masked Duck (Two basic plumaged birds at Alligator Pond at Laguna Atascosa NWR)
10. Ruddy Duck (Laguna Atascosa)
11. Plain Chachalaca (plentiful in lower valley sanctuaries)
12. Wild Turkey (one bird at Laguna Atascosa feeders)
13. Northern Bobwhite (Falcon State Park)
14. Common Loon (one probable loon in basic plumage just off the causeway near Port Isabella)
15. Least Grebe (fairly common in preserves in the lower valley)
16. Pied-billed Grebe (common throughout the valley)
17. American White Pelican (migrating flocks at Estero Llano Grande and Laguna Atascosa)
18. Brown Pelican (common around the Laguna Madre)
19. Neotropic Cormorant (Santa Ana NWR and Fort Brown resaca)
20. Double-crested Cormorant (Salineno, and Fort Brown resaca)
21. Anhinga (Bentsen and Santa Ana NWR)
22. Least Bittern (SPI Convention Center boardwalk)
23. Great Blue Heron (We only saw these from Brownsville to the coast or so, and on the coast itself)
24. Great Egret (Common throughout)
25. Snowy Egret (Very uncommon - SPI + Santa Ana)
26. Little Blue Heron (on bodies of water throughout)
27. Tricolored Heron (on bodies of water throughout)
28. Reddish Egret (on SPI and near coast)
29. Cattle Egret (common throughout)
30. Green Heron (uncommon throughout, even in migrant traps away from water on SPI)
31. Yellow-crowned Night Heron (SPI and Frontera)
32. White Ibis (common around water throughout the lower valley)
33. White-faced Ibis (less common than White Ibis - Estero Llano and Laguna Atascosa)
34. Roseate Spoonbill (We only saw these in the vacinity of Laguna Atascosa, but apparently uncommon throughout the valley, especially near the coast)
35. Black Vulture (Falcon Dam and vacinity and Laguna Atascosa hosted our only representatives of this species)
36. Turkey Vulture (Fairly common throughout)
37. Osprey (Salineno, Bentsen, SPI)
38. White-tailed Kite (Bentsen and Sabal Palm)
39. Mississippi Kite (migrants over Bentsen)
40. Cooper's Hawk (a soaring bird at Laguna Atascosa)
41. Harris's Hawk (the most common resident raptor - perched on roadsides sparingly throughout)
42. Red-shouldered Hawk (in riparian areas throughout)
43. Broad-winged Hawk (hundreds of migrants over Bentsen, Santa Ana and Quinta Mazatlan)
44. Swainson's Hawk (migrants over Bentsen and Santa Ana, as well as along roadsides in that general area)
45. White-tailed Hawk (one bird along the freeway to Port Isabella from Brownsville)
46. Crested Caracara (most common around Laguna Atascosa and Falcon area)
47. American Kestrel (a few birds along the freeway near Zapata)
48. Aplomado Falcon (a non-countable bird at Laguna Atascosa)
49. Clapper Rail (along boardwalk at Convention Center)
50. Sora (at Laguna Atascosa and Convention Center boardwalk)
51. Common Moorhen (common throughout)
52. American Coot (common throughout)
53. Black-bellied Plover (coastal mud-flats)
54. American Golden-Plover (two were just off the boardwalk at SPI Convention Center)
55. Snowy Plover (A few were on the beach just north of the SPI Convention Center)
56. Wilson's Plover (off the boardwalk at SPI Convention Center)
57. Semipalmated Plover (mud flats north of the boardwalk area, off the Convention Center deck)
58. Killdeer (common throughout)
59. Black-necked Stilt (Santa Ana, Estero Llano and SPI)
60. American Avocet (SPI and Laguna Atascosa)
61. Greater Yellowlegs
62. Lesser Yellowlegs (Lesser Yellowlegs appeared to be more common than Greater, and a few were found in all congregations of shorebirds we encountered.)
63. Solitary Sandpiper (Our first Solitary Sandpipers ever were at Santa Ana)
64. Willet (Willets were common near the coast)
65. Spotted Sandpiper (Uncommon - Estero Llano had one or two)
66. Long-billed Curlew (Near the coast)
67. Ruddy Turnstone (Fairly common on mudflats near the coast)
68. Sanderling (Uncommon near the coast)
69. Semipalmated Sandpiper (Most peeps we encountered were Least. Only one clear Semipalmated Sandpiper - off the boardwalk at SPI)
70. Western Sandpiper (A few at SPI)
71. Least Sandpiper (Common throughout valley)
72. Pectoral Sandpiper (SPI)
73. Dunlin (One of the most common sandpipers at SPI)
74. Stilt Sandpiper (Our only Stilt Sandpipers were with Dowitchers at Santa Ana)
75. Short-billed Dowitcher
76. Long-billed Dowitcher (Dowitchers were in every group of shorebirds we encountered. We didn't bother identifying them all, but we definitely had both at SPI)
77. Laughing Gull (Common, especially near the coast, but we even saw some near Falcon Dam)
78. Franklin's Gull (Uncommon as a migrant on SPI - we saw one with Laughing Gulls and a flock flew by off the boardwalk near the Convention Center)
79. Ring-billed Gull (One second year bird in flock of Laughing Gulls near the convention center)
80. Herring Gull (One immature bird dwarfing the Laughing Gulls near the convention center)
81. Gull-billed Tern (Quite common, even a few miles inland)
82. Caspian Tern (SPI)
83. Royal Tern (SPI - apparently more common than Caspian where we were)
84. Sandwich Tern (SPI - apparently rather uncommon - only a few birds on the Laguna Madre)
85. Forster's Tern (Laguna Atascosa)
86. Least Tern (Estero Llano Grande)
87. Black Skimmer (Around SPI)
88. Rock Pigeon (common in urban areas)
89. Red-billed Pigeon (only at Salineno)
90. Eurasian Collared Dove (a few on telephone wires in rural areas, and one seen well at the Sheepshead Lot in SPI)
91. White-winged Dove (Ubiquitous throughout the valley)
92. Mourning Dove (Common throughout)
93. Inca Dove (Common throughout)
94. Common Ground Dove (Uncommon throughout the valley: we met a fellow who was having trouble finding them, but we didn't seem to. We had one in urban McAllen, several at Bentsen, and an incredible bright male at Salineno. Inca Doves did appear to be more common, however.)
95. White-tipped Dove (Common in preserves throughout valley, though easiest to see around feeders)
96. Green Parakeet (Fort Brown)
97. Red-crowned Parrot (Fort Brown - three in the aggregation of Green Parakeets)
98. Greater Roadrunner (Uncommon throughout - we saw them mostly upriver)
99. Groove-billed Ani (A small family group of at least three was around the hawk tower at Bentsen)
100. Eastern Screech-Owl (A single bird sticking its head out of a nest box at Salineno - the birds in southern Texas are of the McCall's race)
101. Lesser Nighthawk (A flock of these were swirling around the shore of the river at Salineno before dawn)
102. Common Pauraque (A single day-roosting bird at Estero Llano Grande)
103. Chimney Swift (Santa Ana and Frontera had some birds overhead)
104. Buff-bellied Hummingbird (Common in the valley and at Laguna Atascosa - we didn't see any up around Falcon Dam, and we didn't see any on the island)
105. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Lots of Archilocus hummingbirds migrating throughout south Texas - probably a little less than half were males, and of the males, all but one were Ruby-throated)
106. Black-chinned Hummingbird (A single male briefly visited a feeder at Estero Llano Grande's visitor center)
107. Ringed Kingfisher (Bentsen and Salineno)
108. Green Kingfisher (Santa Ana and Salineno)
109. Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Common throughout the valley)
110. Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Probably as common as Golden-fronted, though a little less conspicuous)
111. Eastern Wood Pewee (We saw a lot of Wood Pewees at the migrant traps in SPI. The law of percentages alone dictates that one of them, at least, was an Eastern Wood Pewee given that Western Wood Pewees are rare there. None of them vocalized, but one of the birds we saw was very pale and carried its tail at the same angle as its body - a posture more typical of Eastern Wood Pewees than of Western Wood Pewees. So, we're counting it as our life Eastern Wood Pewee.)
112. Least Flycatcher (Our only empid of the trip - perched in a tree near the parking lot at Frontera Audubon. Of the likely species present in south Texas during the period of our trip, this bird's short primary projection, round head and short bill best fit a Least Flycatcher.)
113. Ash-throated Flycatcher (Bentsen and Falcon had this species)
114. Great-crested Flycatcher (uncommon in the eastern valley as a migrant)
115. Brown-crested Flycatcher (uncommon in the eastern valley as a migrant - I had a great look at Frontera of one perched in the same binocular view as a Great-crested Flycatcher. Myiarchus flycatchers in general were quite common during our trip, and we didn't identify all of them to species.)
116. Great Kiskadee (Quite common throughout the valley. I even saw one in our hotel parking lot in Brownsville, and one was in the mangroves near the Convention Center in SPI.)
117. Tropical Kingbird (We had one group of three at the lighthouse in Port Isabella, and happened to hear another twittering on the UT Brownsville campus as we looked for Green Parakeets.)
118. Couch's Kingbird (Very common everywhere.)
119. Western Kingbird (Our first kingbird in Texas turned out to be a Western, and we had a few others - one at Salineno and one in SPI.)
120. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (We didn't see any of these until a pair showed up at Santa Ana on our third day. They were very common on telephone wires along the highway to Zapata, and then uncommon again when we got to Brownsville and its surrounding areas.)
121. Loggerhead Shrike (A few of these birds were on telephone wires on the highways around Zapata, and one was near Laguna Atascosa.)
122. White-eyed Vireo (We only saw one of these, at Santa Ana, and we saw it very well as it sang from exposed branches only a few feet from us. However, despite hearing its song other times, we never got another glimpse of one.)
123. Blue-headed Vireo (Sabal Palm and SPI)
124. Warbling Vireo (Santa Ana and Frontera)
125. Red-eyed Vireo (Frontera)
126. Green Jay (Common in preserves)
127. Chihuahuan Raven (Some were along the roadside around the Falcon Dam, and some were down around Sabal Palm.)
128. Purple Martin (We noticed these high above us in McAllen our first day, but not again.)
129. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (These were common throughout our trip.)
130. Cliff Swallow (Because of the height and speed at which many of the swallows we saw were foraging, we weren't able to definitively identify most of the ones with pale rumps. We saw one Cliff Swallow that swooped in low and close to us at Santa Ana.)
131. Cave Swallow (The cause of our hestancy with Cliff Swallow identification. We saw a few definite birds near a bridge on the way to the Falcon Dam.)
132. Barn Swallow (Easy to identify, these were common throughout our trip.)
133. Black-crested Titmouse (Uncommon in appropriate habitat throughout.)
134. Carolina Wren (Common throughout)
135. Bewick's Wren (We found one along the fence in the preserve at Salineno.)
136. House Wren (We had several probable House Wrens hide from us throughout the trip, but had great looks at one migrant at the convention center.)
137. Sedge Wren (Convention Center boardwalk)
138. Marsh Wren (We had brief looks at one off the boardwalk, where they were very vocal. Eastern Marsh Wrens may be a distinct species from the western birds we have in southern California)
139. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (One at Bentsen)
140. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Santa Ana)
141. Veery (SPI and Laguna Atascosa)
142. Swainson's Thrush (Our first Olive-backed individual: at SPI)
143. Clay-colored Thrush (Robin) (Santa Ana and Frontera)
144. Gray Catbird (Frontera)
145. Northern Mockingbird (Surely, Texas's state bird is well chosen. There are seemingly millions of them.)
146. Long-billed Thrasher (Common and surprisingly easy to see in suitable habitat)
147. Curve-billed Thrasher (Slightly distinguishable eastern subspecies new to us - Quinta Mazatlan and Falcon)
148. European Starling (Common throughout)
149. Tennessee Warbler (One of the most common warblers migrating through)
150. Nashville Warbler (The other most common warbler migrating through. Disjunct nominate subspecies, but it looks a heck of a lot like the ones we have out here.)
151. Northern Parula (A few - Bentsen, Santa Ana, Sabal Palm, Laguna Atascosa and Frontera)
152. Yellow Warbler (One male at Laguna Atascosa)
153. Chestnut-sided Warbler (Males in SPI; an incredible bird in spring plumage)
154. Yellow-rumped Warbler (We had three or four in SPI, most Myrtles but one was a brilliant male Audubon's. That was a nice touch of home.)
155. Black-throated Green Warbler (Santa Ana and SPI)
156. Yellow-throated Warbler (One at Santa Ana; my favorite new warbler for the trip)
157. Palm Warbler (One pale western bird in SPI)
158. Blackpoll Warbler (both sexes in spring condition in SPI)
159. Black-and-White Warbler (Santa Ana, Sabal Palm, Laguna Atascosa and Frontera)
160. American Redstart (Both sexes in SPI)
161. Ovenbird (A single bird seen quite well at Frontera. An odd, but endearing little warbler)
162. Northern Waterthrush (Saw quite a few of these in SPI.)
163. Louisiana Waterthrush (Someone else helped us identify one of these in the grass near the convention center in SPI.)
164. Common Yellowthroat (Heard or seen throughout valley)
165. Yellow-breasted Chat (Santa Ana, SPI and Frontera)
166. Summer Tanager (A migrant pair at Santa Ana were our only pirangas for the trip.)
167. Olive Sparrow (Common throughout the valley)
168. Lark Sparrow (Uncommon in the valley, we saw some at Bentsen)
169. Savannah Sparrow (Uncommon migrant in the valley, and at SPI every day we visited)
170. Lincoln's Sparrow (Uncommon in the valley, but common in SPI migrant traps)
171. White-throated Sparrow (Two, tan-striped and white-striped, at feeders at Laguna Atascosa)
172. Crimson-collared Grosbeak (Single female at Frontera)
173. Northern Cardinal (Common in woody areas throughout the valley)
174. Pyrrhuloxia (Falcon State Park)
175. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (SPI and Laguna Atascosa)
176. Blue Grosbeak (A female at Laguna Atascosa)
177. Indigo Bunting (Common throughout valley)
178. Varied Bunting (A single male at Salineno)
179. Painted Bunting (Males at Bentsen, Santa Ana, and Laguna Atascosa)
180. Dickcissel (A big flock in the mangroves at SPI Convention Center, and then a single bird the next morning in the Convention Center garden.)
181. Red-winged Blackbird (Very common everywhere)
182. Eastern Meadowlark (Common in coastal prairie habitat)
183. Great-tailed Grackle (Very common everywhere)
184. Bronzed Cowbird (Uncommon throughout, except where concentrated around feeders)
185. Brown-headed Cowbird (Uncommon throughout)
186. Orchard Oriole (Common migrant in SPI; also at Laguna Atascosa)
187. Hooded Oriole (Orange-ish eastern subspecies: Fairly common, seemed more common up river, but we also saw them at Bentsen.)
188. Altamira Oriole (Most common at Bentsen, but also at Salineno, Santa Ana and Laguna Atascosa)
189. Audubon's Oriole (Our only Audubon's Oriole was at the Sabal Palm feeders. We looked pretty hard at Salineno, but came up empty. Someone else we talked to later said they found them there a few days later, though.)
190. Baltimore Oriole (Found in SPI and Laguna Atascosa)
191. House Finch (A single female at the pond in Zapata was south of its normal range.)
192. Lesser Goldfinch (Zapata and Frontera - at Frontera we found a beautiful black-backed male.)
193. House Sparrow (Common everywhere, of course)

That's not a bad list since we were focusing on finding new birds, and not building a long trip list. Of our 193 birds, seventy were new, which is more than a third of the birds that we saw on the trip. With such a nice collection of birds, we don't really have anything to complain about. We did miss a few birds that are specialties of the area for the United States: Hook-billed Kite, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Tropical Parula. I feel like the Masked Ducks and Crimson-collared Grosbeaks make up for that, though. I was also hoping for some more migrant warblers, especially Swainson's, but that's kind of outside of our control.

Last Day in Texas

It's amazing how blogging about a trip drags out so long after the trip is over!

Anyway, our last day in Texas was awesome. Our flight out of McAllen was at about 6:00 pm, so we figured we had a good portion of the day available for looking at some birds, and we took full advantage of the opportunity.

Our first stop took us right back to South Padre Island. After all, you never know what might have flown in overnight. It turned out that not too much had, but we still found some new birds out by the boardwalk. Still, one can't complain about Tennessee Warblers and Baltimore Orioles!

After enjoying the migrants, we headed for the boardwalk. The mangroves there are supposed to host Seaside Sparrows, and I was hoping that one would pop up for us. No luck, but as we walked out into the mangroves, we were stopped short in surprise by a teeny tiny little Least Bittern sitting as still as it could to avoid detection. That was a neat find, and a lifer, to boot! This is the smallest of our herons, and cute as a button.

Our first Least Bittern

The tide was lower on this trip out on the boardwalk, so there were a few more shorebirds around. One of them proved to be a stubby-billed Semipalmated Sandpiper, which was yet another new bird. As we walked back to the convention center, we paused to see if we could catch a glimpse of one of the Sedge Wrens that was singing. A little bird flicking through some nearby sedges proved to be just what we were looking for, eventually popping right up and giving great views as it sang.

From there, we made a couple of more trips around the migrant traps. Sheepshead Lot, further south on the island, had some Wood-Pewees, but not much else, so we headed off in the direction of the airport. Before we got there, however, we took a detour to Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco. This is a small private preserve managed by the Audubon society of the area. It hosted most of the regular specialties, but it also had a couple of rare birds hanging around from the winter - a Crimson-collared Grosbeak and a Blue Bunting. Both were females, and both had been notoriously difficult to see during the time we were there. We didn't anticipate actually seeing them, but there were also reports of some nice migrants that might be a little different than the ones we'd seen on the island.

So, we dropped by in hopes of a few migrants and with the small possibility of a mega-rarity. It turned out we got some new migrants, and we got one of the rarities, so it was better than we could have reasonably hoped! One of our first birds out of the car turned out to be a migrant Least Flycatcher, a new bird. A few warblers were gleaning in the nearby trees, and an amazingly cooperative Olive Sparrow hopped out into the parking lot.

Olive Sparrow cavorting in the Frontera parking lot.

We had our lunch first thing after that, admiring Buff-bellied Hummingbirds as they came to nearby feeders, and our last Golden-fronted Woodpeckers as they busied themselves in overhanging branches. After a lunch, we took a stroll around the grounds, where we found one of our biggest warbler flocks of the whole trip. Nothing new in the bunch we could find, though, just 30 or so Nashville Warblers, Black and Whites, and a few Northern Parulas.

After walking all the trails, almost getting lost, and finding our way back to the feeders, we settled in to wait and see what would come in for a drink or dip in a little water feature there. Some people we'd talked to earlier that day recommended spending an hour at the stream as a great way to see a wide variety of warblers. While we waited, we sat and talked to bird photographer who'd flown in from Tustin Ranch to look for the Grosbeak. It's a small world, after all. Suddenly, an olive green streak darted over the water and behind a nearby fence. I goggled at Libby and our new acquaintance. "Could that have been...?"

But neither Libby nor Monte (from Tustin Ranch) had gotten as good a look at it as I. I decided to indulge my gut feeling, and Libby and I got up and walked around the fence into the parking lot area. Again, a large bird flushed, up and over another fence into the thicket. It sure looked a dull green color to me, so we backtracked, and went through another gate to check "the spot" where the Crimson-collared Grosbeak was most often seen, which was in the direction the bird had headed. Standing in the spot, and gazing into the dense vegetation, we simultaneously caught our breath. There it was! Right out in the open, easily visible!

I yelped as quietly as I could to get Monte's attention, and he came scrambling over with a camera. Unfortunately, as he came up, it started slipping down the branches into denser leaves. He got a glimpse of it, but I don't know if he got a picture at the time. He did get a picture, though, which you can view here.

When another group of birders arrived a little bit later, and they also got some brief partial looks at the bird while we were there, but nobody got as lucky as we did while we were there. Sometimes fortune smiles upon you. They seemed to know well what they were doing, though, as they found a few other new birds for us, like an Ovenbird, Red-eyed Vireo, and a Gray Catbird. We took a few more turns around the orchard area looking for the Blue Bunting, but we never found it and pretty soon it was time to head home.

McAllen's airport is really small and I like that. There were no lines for security, and there are only half a dozen gates in the same area. Dallas/Fort Worth, on the other hand, is huge, and we spent three hours contemplating its vastness before taking a red-eye to L.A., picking up our car a little before 1:00 in the morning, and hitting the hay around 1:30 am so I could make it to work at 8:00 in the morning.

Pictures from our last day can be found here: Texas Day Seven.

New birds for the day:
1. Least Bittern
2. Least Flycatcher
3. Semipalmated Sandpiper
4. Red-eyed Vireo
5. Sedge Wren
6. Gray Catbird
7. Ovenbird
8. Crimson-collared Grosbeak

Don't Wake Me; I Plan On Sleeping In

The other night I had the strangest dream. I dreamed about an imaginary bird. A Hummingbird House Sparrow. Or a House Sparrow Hummingbird. Its color and build were that of a House Sparrow, but it was small and flew like a Hummingbird. Jonathan drew a picture of it for me:

I dreamed that this Hummingbird House Sparrow was dive-bombing something defenseless, like a baby or maybe a puppy. Jonathan and I felt compelled to come to the aid of this defenseless creature, and we tried many ways of stopping the Hummingbird House Sparrow. We tried to catch it, but it evaded our grasp. Then we tried hitting it with a stick, but it successfully dodged each swing. Finally, we tried our fists. It turned out that, with careful aim, we could manage a good, square punch each time it came in for another attack. This it did often. Our blows did not seem to injure the Hummingbird House Sparrow at all. It kept coming back. But we were able to keep it from harming the baby/puppy, so we were successful.

I had no memory of the dream when I first awoke. But as I was walking from the car to my classroom a couple of hours later, I saw a House Sparrow hopping in the courtyard, and I chuckled as I recalled the Hummingbird House Sparrow I had punched in my dreams.

Texas Day Six

Our last full day in Texas took us north, and then back east to South Padre Island.

We started the day at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, home to the largest population of Ocelots in the United States. Not surprisingly, we didn't see any, but we still had a good time exploring this enormous refuge.

The drive there was pretty slow, and we didn't enter the refuge until the sun was well up. The definite highlight of the drive was a dead feral pig in the middle of the road that had attracted a pair of Crested Caracaras. Not long after, an Eastern Meadowlark singing on a telephone wire provided a very nice new bird for our life lists.

Crested Caracaras are strange looking tropical falcons that specialize in scavenging.

Once we arrived at the visitor's center and had paid our fee, we wandered over to the feeders to watch Bronzed Cowbirds, Green Jays, and a Wild Turkey join the Chachalaca crowd. There was also a pair of White-throated Sparrows, both white and tan striped, which was nice for westerners like us. A stroll around the grounds via the Kiskadee Trail brought us to a nice mixed flock of migrants that included colorful highlights like a male Painted Bunting, multiple Indigo Buntings, Orioles, and our first Yellow Warbler for the trip. An Altamira Oriole allowed us to get close to it, but I wasn't able to get a picture. Alas!

We decided to start our exploration of the refuge's roads with at rip to Alligator Pond, where a pair of Masked Ducks had been sighted. Masked Ducks are a stiff-tailed tropical duck that only rarely occurs in the United States, so we were hoping they were still sticking around. A short drive and a short stroll later, there they were! They didn't perform any amazing tricks, but they did sit and allow long examination in our scope (too far for pictures, unfortunately), even preening under their wings and exposing their distinctive white wing patches.

We were joined pretty much right away by some other birders, and together we admired the ducks on the pond, as well as a Sora that scurried around on the bank right under our noses! This was by far our best view of a Sora, ever, and we drank in the views of the generally hard-to-view rail. A few migrants popped by for a drink, and one of the other birders pointed out an alligator's head and snout sticking out at us.

An Alligator eyes us from Alligator Pond.

It's funny how all the Alligators we saw were in ponds named after them. Actually, the nature preserves in South Texas generally show little if any creativity when thinking of names. And Alligators aren't the only creativity-draining organisms, as we couldn't seem to find any trails that weren't named after Green Jays or Great Kiskadees, either.

After returning to our car, we decided to take a turn around the park's long auto-tour. This takes you through flooded fields, thorn forest, and right to the banks of Laguna Atascosa, where we hoped to see some Piping Plovers. No luck on the Piping Plovers, but we did enjoy more of the usual south Texas species, and even spied a beautiful Aplomado Falcon. The Falcon cooperatively perched on a yucca (or yucca-like plant) for minutes on end, and we had long and fairly satisfying scope views from a pretty great distance. Aplomado Falcons in Texas are part of a reintroduction program, and so are not considered "countable" by the arcane rules of the American Birding Association due to the population's tentative survival and its unnatural provenance.

After we finished the loop, we headed straight back to South Padre Island to see what the afternoon's migration may have dropped by. The result was many of the same species as the previous day, but with a few notable additions, and this time we brought our camera! Not that we got many of them on film...

As we crossed into the gardens, one of the first birds we saw was a male Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler, a very familiar bird from back home. That was very pleasant. Soon, though, we were admiring our first Palm Warbler and our first Blackpoll Warbler.

Our first Palm Warbler surveys its domain.

Out on the boardwalk, we again enjoyed the assemblage of waders and shorebirds, but this time we were very surprised to see a flock of about 50 birds land in a nearby isolated mangrove. Checking in our binoculars, we were pleased to find that they were Dickcissels, a rather strange cardinal-like bird that spends its winters in South America in large numbers. In fact, just that morning Libby had mentioned that she was hoping to see a Dickcissel! Talk about realized desires.

After enjoying the colorful migrants in the lots, we moved south and scoped a big flock of terns and gulls assembled near the bridge to the mainland. Among the flock we picked out a single Franklin's Gull, a long-distance migrant that passes through Texas every year on their way north, and a few of the terns proved to be our first Sandwich Terns.

That night we dined at a Mexican seafood restaurant in Port Isabel where we were serenaded by a folk singer strumming and singing tunes from Bob Dylan. Our after dinner entertainment was removing ticks, of course.

Here are the new birds for the day:
1. Masked Duck
2. Franklin's Gull
3. Sandwich Tern
4. Palm Warbler
5. Blackpoll Warbler
6. Dickcissel
7. Eastern Meadowlark
Aplomado Falcon (cool to see)

Saturday hosted our highest diversity of species for a day - we had 112 total. That's not bad considering we weren't making an effort to see a high number of species. Pictures for the day can be found here: Texas Day Six.

Texas Day Five

Our first dawn in Brownsville found us scanning telephone wires for crows (none seen, unfortunately) as we made our way to Sabal Palm Audubon Center -- basically the southernmost tip of Texas.

Sabal Palm was the place I was anticipating visiting most eagerly on the trip. Not only does it attract great birds, but its relict Sabal Palm forest has a decidedly tropical character. As you walk the trail, you can gaze up at filtered sunlight streaming through the fronds above and illuminating the tall straight trunks wrapped in vines. It's pretty awesome, and right up there with Santa Ana NWR as the coolest forest we viewed on our trip.

I assume the classic birding pose. Posed, of course. There's no bird above me.

This was our windiest morning of the trip, which definitely affected bird activity. Still, we saw some neat species. Many of the resident specialties came into the feeders, including one that's actually rare this far south in the Rio Grande Valley - an Audubon's Oriole. On the trails, we found our first Black-and-White Warbler and Blue-headed Vireo ever, while also enjoying a spattering of other common migrants.

As the morning wore on, we meandered back to the car to plan the rest of the day. At the time, we were mulling two options. First, we could take a road to Boca Chica beach and look for shorebirds and grassland specialties along the way. Option two was that we could drive out to South Padre Island where almost all of the same birds were possible, plus South Padre Island is known as a famous migrant trap.

The promise of eastern warblers being too hard to resist, we headed for the island. From the freeway, we were able to see our first ever (and, it turned out, only ever so far) White-tailed Hawk perched on a fence. Incidentally, we didn't see a single Red-tailed Hawk the whole trip! Quite a change from California freeways, where they are so common.

We couldn't make it to South Padre Island without a stop at the local lighthouse, however. Port Isabella's light is right off the freeway before you hit the causeway to the island, so it's a natural place to stop for lunch. We took our mid-day repast at its picnic tables and watched Tropical Kingbirds chase each other around on the neighboring telephone wires. And, of course, Libby took some nice lighthouse pictures!

Looking up at the lighthouse.

Incidentally, Port Isabel seemed like a very nice town. I definitely preferred its seaside character to South Padre Island's Vegas-like tower hotels and cut-rate T-shirt shops.

After we finished eating and using "the facilities" (a need that birders constantly must consider) we drove across the biggest bridge in Texas and headed north to the Convention Center. When we pulled in, the parking attendant gruffly redirected us to a neighboring sandy beach for parking. It turns out there was a big motorcycle convention beginning that afternoon, and the parking was all reserved for its attendees. No matter, a little extra walking was a small price to pay for the possibility of eastern migrants. Still, as we walked through the crowd of leather-clad bikers, we kept our expectations low. A local toting an impressively long camera lens had told us in the parking lot that migration was really slow today. Just a few Nashville Warblers and Tennessee Warblers. Oh, and a Palm Warbler. The Palm Warbler would be a new bird for us, but the others we'd seen before quite a bit on the trip.

It turns out a slow day at South Padre Island is nothing to sneer at, leaving us only that much more in awe of a fast one. Just that afternoon, between the Convention Center and the similarly vegetated Sheepshead Lot further south, we had three new warblers: a Chestnut-sided male (Libby's favorite warbler for the trip!), Northern Waterthrush, and Louisiana Waterthrush. We somehow missed the Palm Warbler that day. Plus, the trees were thick with our first Baltimore and Orchard Orioles - in every possible spring plumage - and bringing us to three new Oriole species for the day! Not only that, but Rose-breasted Grosbeaks added their striking colors to the fray, and a subtley plumaged Veery hopped along next to our first Eastern Wood-Pewee. It was fantastic birding, with great views of every species.

A first spring male Orchard Oriole eating an orange in South Padre Island.

Not only are the little woody lots nice, but there's also a great boardwalk that takes you out through some high tidal flats to a strip of mangroves. I was pretty excited to see mangroves for the first time in my life, and even better, there were awesome birds to be seen out there, too. Clapper Rails showed well, something they never seem to do locally for us. We also saw our first definite Mottled Ducks, a very cute group of Wilson's Plover scurrying about on the mud flats, and our first American Golden-plover. And to top it all off, as we were getting ready to leave, two Yellow-crowned Night Herons came swooping into the Mangroves.

By the time we'd gotten our fill of migration, we were pretty tired. If it hadn't been for the most satisfying root beer floats of our lives mid-afternoon at an A&W, we would have been out for the count. Given the root-beery refreshment, however, we were good for one more adventure before we called it a night.

Next stop: parrots! South Texas hosts two established exotic species in large numbers: Green Parakeets and Red-crowned Parrots. Both are native to Mexico only a hundred or so miles south of the border, and thrive in American border urban centers throughout the valley. We have Red-crowned Parrots here in L.A., so we focused on the Green Parakeets. Our destination was a well known roosting site at the University of Texas, Brownsville where the Parakeets proved ridiculously easy to find. Pull into the parking lot in the evening, get of your car, and enjoy the commotion! We were even able to see them coming in and out of their nest holes at a nearby resaca. Plus, we saw some Red-crowned Parrots mixed in with the flock, so we had another bird for the trip!

We finished the day off at Whataburger, and then went home to remove a bunch of ticks we picked up somehow. This was one of our best days! Pictures can be found here: Texas Day Five.

Lifers for the day:
1. Mottled Duck
2. Yellow-crowned Night Heron
3. White-tailed Hawk
4. American Golden-Plover
5. Wilson's Plover
6. Green Parakeet
7. Blue-headed Vireo
8. Veery
9. Chestnut-sided Warbler
10. Black-and-White Warbler
11. Northern Waterthrush
12. Louisiana Waterthrush
13. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
14. Orchard Oriole
15. Audubon's Oriole
16. Baltimore Oriole

On the fourth day of Texas...

My true love gave to me... 90 degree weather and high humidity?

Thursday was a busy day for us, so this post will be pretty long. We drove over 150 miles from Zapata to Brownsville, with multiple stops along the way, had eight lifers and 84 species total for the day. You can skip straight to the pictures here: Texas Day Four.

To get a good start, we were up and out of the hotel room nice and early on Thursday, checking out of a bustling lobby packed with heavy machine operators packing away a warm Tex-Mex breakfast of pancakes and chorrizo. In no time at all we were zipping down the dark and mostly empty two-land highway to our first stop - a good thirty plus minutes away. The goal was to get there early because the guide book said that early morning was the best time to be there for the birds we were seeking.

Our destination was a little town called Salineño, a rustic village off Highway 83 right along the Rio Grande's banks. Its mostly gravel roads converge on a town square crowned with a small Roman Catholic parish. Once you're past the church, the main road softens to hard packed dirt and dips down a hill to the very banks of the river. From a dirt boat ramp you can stand and watch the ripply current flow past. This was a wonderful place, we realized, as we climbed out of our car into a soft subtropical morning. The lapping dark water met close-cropped grass and short bushes under light-green trees on our bank, and dense vegetation on the Mexican side.

Libby admires Mexico.

It's not just beautiful, but famous for the relatively good chances that it gives you to see two birds whose ranges really only brush the United States - Red-billed Pigeons and Muscovy Ducks. Red-billed Pigeons are dark tropical pigeons that perch mostly unseen in the crowns of trees to feed on fruit. Muscovy Ducks are a large and widespread neo-tropical species of duck that has been domesticated (the only source of domestic ducks outside of mallards) and is common in that form in parks throughout the United States. The only place where they exist in their wild form north of the border, however, is on this narrow stretch of the Rio Grande south of the Falcon Dam. The best part of the wild birds is that they're way more beautiful than their hideous domestic off-spring. They're a deep and usually uniform glossy black with less red in the facial skin than their domestic children, and startling white bright wing patches.

A few minutes after we exited our car, another birder pulled up and got out. He came over, and as we watched the river and chatted, we discovered he was a prolific birder who had seen more than 700 birds in North America, but still had not seen Muscovy Ducks. In fact, he had been to this very spot before more than a dozen times and never seen them. That was a little discouraging, to say the least.

In talking about different places he had been, he mentioned spending last winter in Escondido, California, and chasing a Dusky-capped Flycatcher up in L.A. County! So, it turned out he'd seen the Dusky-capped Flycatcher in Creek Park, and we'd even exchanged a few e-mails back then. The birding world is pretty small. At the present moment, he was working on a "big month," an attempt to see as many birds as possible in one calendar month of the year. Having seen about 350 birds so far in April, he had made the trip down to Salineño for a chance at the ducks.

I'll just take a moment to add that serious birders become very persistent in their attempts to see a desired species. Obviously Leo, the birder at Salineño, had been persistent in his pursuit of Muscovy Ducks, but another birder we met over the weekend with almost 700 North American birds on his list spent twelve hours one day while we were in Texas waiting for a "mega-rare" Crimson-collared Grosbeak to show up at a little Audubon sanctuary down the valley. The persistence usually pays off, as both Leo and this other birder got their birds, but it's illustrative of the dedication people pay this somewhat unusual hobby.

Anyway, the river was pretty active that morning. A Green Kingfisher darted around in the low shrubs on the near shore, a pair of Osprey floated above looking for fish, a big Ringed Kingfisher made sallies at fish from trees on the Mexican shore, and we saw an immense and beautiful flock of Cattle Egrets come rowing downriver. The egrets' white plumage was practically luminous in the morning gloom.

And then, finally, I glanced upstream and saw a big black duck with white patches on its wings crossing the river! Leo got on it, and was jubilant, but Libby didn't have time to see it before it flew out of sight. We waited a few minutes, and then two more came flying downstream above the trees on the far shore! Hurrah! Libby and I exchanged high fives (that's how we roll when we see a new bird) and were giddy with glee.

Our hands were still tingling from the high fives when a small flock of heavy dark pigeons came rushing in directly overhead about 20' above us and disappeared upstream. Red-billed Pigeons! This time we had high fives all around the three of us. Our grins were from ear to ear and we exulted in our good fortune. We would have been content with those poor views, but we saw both species again later on as we worked the area's trails, including a great view of a Muscovy Duck flying upstream just a few dozen feet off shore from us. A Canadian birder dropped in around that time, looking for Hook-billed Kites, and he got good looks at the birds, too, though he didn't find Hook-billed Kites in the time we were there. I guess it was a good day at Salineño.

After that, we spent some time walking the trails in the area and found our first ever Eastern Screech-Owl (a distinctive Mexican race that may be its own species) peeking out of a nest box. We also looked hard for Audubon's Orioles, whose small American range excludes the Valley south of Salineño, but we couldn't find anything but Altamiras. We revisited later in the day and found a male Varied Bunting right along the river bank in some bushes, and a flock of migrant warblers in the trees along the river. Varied Buntings are really beautiful little birds, less gaudy than a Painted Bunting, and adorned in a subtle plum-like combination of blue, purple and red.

After getting our fill of Pigeons and Ducks, we headed back upstream to Falcon Dam State Park to see if we could see some fun desert birds, especially Scaled Quail. It was getting hot by that time and the low vegetation of the area didn't provide much relief, so we did most of our birding by car. We did flush a large flock of gray quail, which were undoubtedly the Scaled Quail we were looking for, but we didn't get a good look at them and couldn't refind them in the scrub. We also saw Pyrrhuloxia, Crested Caracaras, Black Vultures, and Curve-billed Thrashers, which are all fun birds that aren't as common in the lower parts of the Valley. Our one lifer here was Northern Bobwhite, not a bird I associate with desert, but a very handsome quail none-the-less.

Also, we found a turtle!

I don't know what kind of turtle this is.

Soon we were on the road again. We made a quick roadside stop for our first definite Cave Swallows swarming around a bridge before unsuccessfully dropping by a small settlement called Chapeño. The feeders there were once famous for offering the possibility of seeing the only U.S. population of Brown Jays, but unfortunately it appeared to be inaccessible due to heavy construction going on down by the river. I think they may have been working on the border fence. Then we stopped once more at Salineño before heading to Roma for lunch. Roma's an old little border town that's sort of run down, but there are some bluffs there you can view the river from. We ate lunch in the local World Birding Center's backyard courtyard while watching Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and Hooded Orioles come to the feeders.

After that we still had quite a few miles to go. We were heading to Estero Llano Grande State Park - near McAllen, the town where we had stayed the first two nights. It has extensive pools and wetlands, and at the time some Fulvous Whistling-Ducks that I thought would be fun to see. Sure enough, when we got there we talked to an employee in the visitor's center who directed us to not only the ducks, but to a day roosting Common Parauqe! Pauraques are a tropical nightjar that we would have otherwise have had to search for at night, but this way, we just had to pop out our eyes thoroughly scanning leaf litter in a small area for about half an hour before we found it. It's incredibly camouflaged, but we would have doubtlessly have found it more quickly if we had merely walked to the other side of the bush to which we were directed.

Can you find the Pauraque?

We also found the Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, and had our best look at wild Mallards for the trip. The "Mexican" Mallards found in southern Texas lack the green heads of their northern relatives, and resemble the southeastern Mottled Duck. We tried our best to turn them into Mottled Ducks, a bird we hadn't yet seen, but we failed miserably.

Our day wasn't quite over, yet, though! It was still only about five or six in the evening, and we headed straight for Brownsville to find a hotel. That turned out to be nearly an hour between the long drive and figuring out which motel to stay at, and we were really hungry by the time we ate dinner. We settled on a Denny's we could walk to from our hotel for convenience, and had the sort of food you'd expect from a Denny's.

The neat thing about our hotel was that it was right on a little resaca that hosted Laughing Gulls, domestic Muscovy Ducks, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, and at night, a secretive nocturnal mammal that I think was probably a Nutria.

List of new birds for the day (we'll do a comprehensive and annotated checklist for all the birds later):

1. Fulvous Whistling-Duck
2. Muscovy Duck
3. Northern Bobwhite
4. Red-billed Pigeon
5. Eastern Screech-Owl
6. Common Pauraque
7. Cave Swallow
8. Varied Bunting

A Texas Wednesday

For our third day in Texas, we went to the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is termed the jewel of the refuge system for its colorful, varied and sub-tropical character. It consists of a large tract of uncut riparian forest along the Rio Grande whose tall trees are draped with long dangling streams of Spanish moss, as well as thorn scrub and still fresh water pools dotted with waterfowl.

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!

Me, the river, and Mexico

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!

Clay-colored Thrush at its favorite grapefruit.

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