Guadalupe Mountains National Park, July 2019

On July 10, 2019July 10, 2019 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reportsLeave a comment

Graces Warbler — Grace’s Warbler at Dog Canyon. A specialty of the southwestern USA, this species only just reaches Texas and can be seen in small numbers in high-altitude pine forests in the Guadalupe Mountains.

What if I told you that, even over the busy July 4th weekend, there is a place in Texas where you can turn up and camp – without making a reservation – at a near-empty campsite in a pristine mountain wilderness, with an 80-mile network of lightly trafficked, breathtakingly gorgeous hiking trails starting just a stone’s throw from your tent?

As unlikely as it may sound, there is such a place – Dog Canyon, located in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The downside is that this Utopia is nearly 800 miles from Houston, putting it out of reach for anything less than a 4-day weekend or for anyone unprepared to do a serious amount of driving.

In essence, you drive to an already very remote spot – Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico – then take a 60-mile dead-end road that loops around the northern edge of the Guadalupe Mountains and at the last minute – two hundred yards before the end of the road – sneaks back into Texas.

Texas NM Border at Dog Canyon — Crossing back from New Mexico into Texas, just a few hundred yards before the Dog Canyon campground.

At Dog Canyon, I was able to combine five of the things I like most: birding, exercise, remote places, long road trips, and being alone. And I don’t care if I sound antisocial – this really was a wonderful experience.

Day One:

I left Houston at lunchtime on Wednesday and headed west, arriving late afternoon at a targeted stop for Varied Bunting. Easter Pageant Hill is located just off i-10 at Junction, in Kimble county, some 300 miles west of Houston. With temperatures still in the high 90s, I wasn’t expecting a miracle, but literally one of the first birds I laid eyes on was a handsome male Varied Bunting singing its heart out from the top of a small tree. This completed my sweep of all 4 buntings (Painted, Indigo, Lazuli, and Varied) in Kimble county in 2019.

Varied Bunting2 — Male Varied Bunting at Easter Pageant Hill, near Junction, Texas.

With a quicker-than-expected result here, I aimed high and decided to try and make the Fort Lancaster rest area before nightfall. This remote spot near Sheffield is a renowned location for the very local Gray Vireo – indeed, it is the only place I have ever seen this species. The sun was already dipping close to the horizon when I arrived at the site, but my luck continued; I soon heard and briefly saw two Gray Vireos here at this picturesque canyon, with the surprise appearance of a flock of Bushtits an unexpected bonus.

Fort Lancaster Sunset2 — Sunset at the Gray Vireo site near Fort Lancaster. This place sums up West Texas for me: wild and remote, empty and (apart from the birds and the wind) silent.

Fort Lancaster Road — Sunset on the road at the Gray Vireo site near Fort Lancaster

I considered sleeping in my car overnight here, which I have done before at this location, but I was feeling full of energy after my success with the birds, so I continued on the long road west.

One thing about car camping in Texas in July is that it is HOT, and my plan was to aim for higher altitudes where the weather was hopefully a little cooler. It was just before midnight when I arrived at the Lawrence Wood picnic area on a remote road in the Davis Mountains, a spooky place in the woods with literally no passing traffic all night, but thankfully, cool temperatures allowing a relaxing night’s sleep in the car.

Day Two:

Morning Coffee — Morning coffee at the Lawrence Wood picnic area in the Davis Mountains.

I awoke before dawn hoping to hear a Western Screech-owl or Mexican Whip-poor-will, but I was out of luck with the night birds here. Daybreak, however, produced a slew of good sightings at this excellent spot, including first-of-the-year Plumbeous Vireo, Western Bluebird, Gray Flycatcher, Hepatic Tanager, Canyon Towhee and Black-headed Grosbeak – which are all common birds in the mountains of west Texas but rare or absent further east. A Hutton’s Vireo was also a year tick and an excellent bonus bird, one which I knew I would be very unlikely to see in the Guadalupe Mountains.

Male Black-headed Grosbeak at the Lawrence Wood picnic area in the Davis Mountains.

Woodhouses Scrub Jay — Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay at the Lawrence Wood picnic area in the Davis Mountains.

Fort Davis Highway — Highway in the Davis Mountains. It really is no chore driving hundreds of miles on roads like this.

I then wasted some time trying to find Lucy’s Warbler at an out-of-range location near Van Horn where a pair had been seen on territory earlier in the season. When I finally arrived at Van Horn a little later, I was dismayed to discover that I was still 170 miles – a 3-hour drive – from my final destination. It was starting to dawn on me that Dog Canyon is a seriously remote place!

I wasn’t complaining about the scenery, though, with the road from Van Horn passing through expansive deserts before climbing up into the Guadalupe Mountains, then crossing over into New Mexico. Dog Canyon is at the far northern end of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a two hour journey by road from the national park headquarters at Pine Springs, or a full day’s hike.

Dog Canyon campsite — View across to my campsite (orange tent!) at Dog Canyon.

I was getting a little nervous as I neared Dog Canyon, because there are just 9 campsites. Reservations cannot be made – the sites are allocated on a “first come first served” basis – and I suspected that the July 4th week would be one of their busiest times of year. However, I needn’t have worried, as I was literally the first person to arrive (although perhaps 5 other campsites were occupied later).

Dog Canyon is a perfect spot; each site is equipped with a camping “pad” and picnic table, and with my pick of all the sites I could select the most shaded one. There is a bathroom with sink and flushing toilet but no shower (although taking a “stand-up” shower at the sink is straightforward enough).

I wandered around the campsite area for the rest of the afternoon, but the weather was unusually hot – even up here at 6,000 feet above sea level – and I didn’t see many birds.

Dog Canyon Indian Meadows — View from the Indian Meadows trail, which is the shortest and most easily accessible trail from the Dog Canyon campsite.

Dog Canyon sunset — Sunset at Dog Canyon.

Day Three:

I am reliably informed that the best way to truly relax on vacation is to have no idea what the time is. Dog Canyon is a great place to follow this philosophy – most of Texas (apart from the far western tip near El Paso) lies in the Central time zone, whereas New Mexico is on Mountain Time, one hour behind. By the time I had driven up from Van Horn, cut through New Mexico, and dropped back into the very edge of Texas again, my phone (and me) were both thoroughly confused. My car clock also changes automatically with time zones, so I had no help there either. I set my alarm super-early to make 100% sure I was up and about before sunrise – which turned out to be a good move because the first thing I heard as I awoke was a Common Poorwill calling from a rocky slope near the campsite.

Loading plenty of food and water into my day pack, I set off on the Tejas Trail up Dog Canyon. I had received some great advice from other birders that the best way to find birds here is by walking in the bed of the canyon itself, not on the trail along the edge. This worked out well, and by the time I had reached the “switchbacks” further up the canyon, I had already amassed a great list including Black-throated Gray and Grace’s Warblers, Cordilleran and Gray Flycatchers, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Mountain Chickadee, and plenty of Western Tanagers and Black-chinned Sparrows.

Graces Warbler2 — Grace’s Warbler at Dog Canyon.

This single-track trail then passes through some open, exposed areas, where the birds were fewer in number but a Zone-tailed Hawk passed overhead. After passing the intersection with the McKittrick Canyon trail, at around 7,700 feet altitude, the Tejas Trail gradually enters forested areas once again; some high-altitude pine forest birds such as Steller’s Jay, Hairy Woodpecker and Dark-eyed Junco began making appearances along here. I got as far as the Tejas Camp, around 7 miles from my starting point, before turning around and retracing my steps back to Dog Canyon for a total day hike of just over 14 miles and an elevation gain of around 2,000 feet.

Bowl View — View of pine trees nestled in The Bowl at the top of the Guadalupe Mountains, as viewed from the Tejas Trail near the turn-off to McKittrick Canyon.

By the time I turned around, it was already early afternoon, and at this altitude the sun is very strong. In remote areas like this, it pays to be hyper-aware of things like drinking water, sun exposure, and exhaustion levels – especially considering that I was totally, utterly and completely alone; I saw not a single person on the trails all day. For some, this would be alarming; for me, it was inspiring and wonderful. We get so few chances to be alone in our busy lives.

I was also constantly aware of the potential threat posed by bears and especially Mountain Lions, both of which inhabit the Guadalupe Mountains in good numbers. I would have loved to encounter either one of those – at a safe distance, of course! – and I spent some time scanning distant ridges and slopes but to no avail.

The birding was still good on the way back, even in mid-afternoon, and the highlight was discovering a family party of Virginia’s Warblers near the top of Dog Canyon – a life bird for me and one of the main targets of my trip.

Day Four:

Having cleaned up on nearly all the Dog Canyon specialties already, I was anxious to try and get into more of the high-altitude pine forest habitat I had just touched the edges of during yesterday’s long hike. From the map, it looked like the best place to do this would be from the other side of the mountain, starting at Frijole Ranch and taking the Bear Canyon trail up to “The Bowl” – a two-mile-wide relict habitat of old-growth pine forest at an altitude of over 8,000 feet above sea level. The Bowl is literally the only place in Texas where certain Rocky Mountain species – Red Crossbill, Pygmy Nuthatch, and sometimes Juniper Titmouse – can be found at the very southern edge of their range.

I packed up my tent in the dark and drove out of Dog Canyon, flushing two Common Poorwills off the road when a few miles into New Mexico. It takes a full two hours to drive around to the opposite side of the mountains; when I arrived at Frijole Ranch the sun was already up and I hiked as quickly as possible so as to make up time and maximize my opportunities to find my target species at the top.

Frijole View — Looking back from the Frijole Trail towards the Frijole Ranch area. The serious climb had not started yet …

A pair of Scott’s Orioles along the Frijole Trail was a welcome distraction from my march, and a Texas year tick, completing the full sweep of orioles in Texas for the year (Baltimore, Bullock’s, Orchard, Hooded, Altamira, Audubon’s and Scott’s).

Bear Canyon trail turned out to be a serious workout. Frijole Ranch, where I parked the car, is located at 5,500 feet above sea level; the point where the Bear Canyon trail arrives at The Bowl is almost exactly 8,000 feet up. Much of that altitude gain takes place in the last 2 miles of the trail, and it was as tough of a hike as I have ever done, anywhere (including the Himalayas!). Canyon Wrens taunted me all the way up, and a pair of Cordilleran Flycatchers gave great views in a shaded, rocky gully.

Cordilleran Flycatcher at the Bear Canyon trail, Guadalupe Mountains NP.

For birders, The Bowl is a kind of fairytale wonderland where it feels like anything can turn up. It is a unique habitat in Texas and also – due to the difficulty of access – one that is rarely visited by birders. There is a real sense that discoveries can still be made up here. It’s a gorgeous place, with the fragrant pines providing shade and the high altitude making for temperatures in the low to mid 70s – even on a July afternoon when the valleys and deserts far below swelter at over 100 degrees.

Bowl Top — View from the edge of The Bowl towards the Guadalupe Peak.

Birding was slow at first, until I discovered an area with lot of bird activity, along the trail downhill from the rusty water tank ….. basically a right turn then a left turn from the top of the Bear Canyon trail. The highlight was a flock of 5 Red Crossbills, likely a very scarce resident bird up here but seldom seen (my sighting was the first record of this species anywhere in the Guadalupes this year).

I also enjoyed views of Audubon’s Yellow-rumped, Grace’s, and Virginia Warblers, and several species that in other areas of Texas are usually only available in winter: Brown Creeper, Dark-eyed Junco, Hermit Thrush, and Spotted Towhee.

Record shot of one of the Red Crossbills I discovered at The Bowl. These birds flew around a lot but – as always with Crossbills – were easily located in flight by their loud calls. I was lucky when one spent a few seconds perched in a nearby pine, allowing me to take this photo.

With dark clouds building, and distant rumbles of thunder, I had to cut short my wandering in The Bowl and start making my way down. Getting caught in a thunderstorm on the exposed reaches of the Bear Canyon trail would have been no joke – dangerous even! – and fortunately I got back to the car before the storm got too close. It took just an hour to get down, compared to almost three hours going up!

View from near the top of the Bear Canyon trail, looking back at the trail winding up the mountainside. Did I mention that this is a seriously hardcore hike?!

Day Five:

I overnighted near Van Horn – thankfully, evening storms kept the temperatures unseasonably low – and before dawn I was checking out the area near Culberson County airport for year list targets Gambel’s Quail, Crissal Thrasher, and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. The quail proved to be easy to find (and completed my sweep of all three Texas quails seen and photographed in 2019), but I drew a blank with the gnatcatcher and thrasher here. However, the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher made it onto my list a little later, thanks to an opportune roadside stop at a washout on the road towards Marfa …. the habitat looked good for this species and my hunch proved to be correct!

Welcome to Marfa — The road to Marfa, a town which has become a hipster hangout in west Texas and is a curious combination of old and new: the ubiquitous Dairy Queen and Napa Auto Parts stores can be found next to cool organic cafes, and old ranch trucks fight for parking spots with new Subarus.

Two out of three isn’t bad, and I continued towards Marfa, grabbing some Presidio county ticks beside the road including Burrowing Owl, Swainson’s Hawk, and Curve-billed Thrasher.

The reason for the detour (and scenic drive) was to take in the long-staying Yellow-green Vireo, which has been singing its heart out in a riverside park near Marathon all summer. This attractive vireo is normally a rare passage migrant on the Texas coast; a summering bird is very unusual. As soon as I arrived at the site and opened the car door, I could hear the bird singing very loudly, and it took just a few seconds to locate.

After that, I hit the road back to New Braunfels, and the following morning to Houston. It’s a long, long way back from west Texas, but somehow the drive never seems too bad …. the speed limit on i10 along here is 80mph, and traffic is always very light, so the miles get eaten up pretty fast.

Logistics:

A four-wheel drive vehicle is not necessary for this trip – there is very little off-road or even dirt-road driving involved. With that said, my Subaru Outback is probably the perfect vehicle for this kind of adventure, with plenty of luggage storage in the back – and the reassurance of high ground clearance and 4WD should it become necessary!

One challenge on long trips like this is eating healthily. Rural Texas is not renowned for healthy roadside eating options – and indeed, in remote areas in the Guadalupes, there is no food available for purchase at all.

I figured that even in my “Coolest” cooler, ice would probably not last for 5 days in July, so I packed only foods that did not need to be kept cool. My healthy pantry contained the following:

Heather’s Choice freeze-dried meals (grass-fed bison chili, Sockeye Salmon chowder, and African Peanut Stew varieties – all of which were delicious).
RX Bars
Larabars
Organic apples
Natural organic peanut butter
Nature’s Choice gluten free crackers
Bumblebee tuna sachets (various flavors)
Organic oats
Single-serving Tetrapaks of organic milk (I would have preferred coconut milk or almond milk, but I couldn’t find any small sizes in the store and it was too late to order online).
Trail mix (raisins, cashews, almonds and walnuts)
Three one-gallon water containers (drinking water for refills is available at Dog Canyon, as well as other trailheads in the Guadalupes).
Freshly ground Bulletproof coffee, with Bulletproof instamix.
Small saucepan
Aero Press coffee maker.

This was the first outing for my new North Face 2-person tent and my Coleman camping stove – both of which were excellent.

I ended the trip on 398 bird species in Texas in 2019 so far …. already ahead of my entire total of 384 for the whole of 2018.

The iconic Prada store, in the middle of nowhere about 20 miles north of Marfa. Hard to pass by without taking a photo!

Spring 2019 at Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary

On May 24, 2019 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reportsLeave a comment

Eastern Whip Poor Will — This Eastern Whip-poor-will, near the cabin on March 22nd, provided many Harris County birders with a rare opportunity to get this bird on their year lists.

In writing this article on May 24th – about a week before the “official” end of Spring – I am leaving myself wide open to having to revise it when a Connecticut or MacGillivray’s Warbler turns up in the last few days of the month! I can only hope!

For background information about the reserve, please refer to my post from last year: Spring at Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary.

Spring 2019 was an excellent one at Edith L Moore. Although I “only” visited the site 58 times between March and May (compared to 76 visits during the same period in 2018), I recorded 101 bird species – 5 more than in 2018.

While April 2019 could best be described as “average” what really set this year apart was a superb run of days in early May. The month kicked off with a Black-billed Cuckoo on May 1st and never looked back, with multiple days in early May when individual observers saw nearly 50 species at the site and the daily species total was often 60+.

In fact, the number and variety of warblers at ELM in early May regularly trumped the famous coastal hotspots, thanks to favorable winds which allowed migrants to overshoot the coastal woodlots and drop in to more favorable habitats further inland such as ELM. Saturday 4th May was perhaps the peak day of the spring, with 26 warbler species noted at Edith L Moore between all observers – the kind of number that would be impressive even at High Island or Sabine Woods!

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler at Edith L Moore, early May 2019.

I saw a total of 29 warbler species here between March and May, which I have classified in rough order of abundance below, based on the number of eBird checklists on which I recorded each species. “Bird-days” adds up the total number of birds and the total number of occasions seen.

Please note that these are only my personal sightings; many other observers regularly monitored avian comings and goings on the reserve during the spring, and their lists include several birds that I did not see at all; their impressions of the abundance of certain species will also no doubt differ from mine!

#	Species	# of checklists	High count	Bird days	First seen	Last seen	Notes
1	Ovenbird	25	10	65	April 18th	May 20th	Common migrant
2	Hooded Warbler	21	8	40	March 18th	April 26th	Common early season migrant
3	Chestnut-sided Warbler	17	5	35	April 25th	May 20th	Common late season migrant
4	Black-and-white Warbler	15	3	23	March 18th	May 10th	Long migration season; waves early and late
5	Magnolia Warbler	13	7	37	April 25th	May 22nd	Common late season migrant
6	Pine Warbler	12	2	18			Resident in area, occasionally wanders onto reserve
7	Wilson’s Warbler	12	2	15	March 16th	May 4th	No birds overwintered in the park this year. Spring passage from March through early May
8	American Redstart	11	5	28	April 25th	May 22nd	Common late season migrant
9	Orange-crowned Warbler	11	3	17		April 10th	Overwinters, with most departing before the end of March
10	Northern Parula	10	3	15	March 27th	May 8th	Seen sporadically throughout the spring
11	Worm-eating Warbler	10	2	12	April 8th	April 30th	Frequently recorded but never numerous
12	Tennessee Warbler	8	4	17	April 23rd	May 10th	A good year for them
13	Kentucky Warbler	8	3	13	April 23rd	May 4th	First bird was later than usual, but common during its peak passage period
14	Black-throated Green Warbler	8	3	10	March 18th	May 10th	Long migration season but never common here
15	Yellow-rumped Warbler	7	2	10		March 27th	Overwinters, and departs early in spring
16	Blackburnian Warbler	7	2	8	April 25th	May 18th	A good spring for these
17	Golden-winged Warbler	6	2	7	April 26th	May 4th	Fairly common for a limited time; a specialty of the site
18	Blue-winged Warbler	5	1	5	April 10th	April 26th	Fewer than in 2018, in contrast to most other warblers
19	Northern Waterthrush	4	2	5	April 25th	May 8th	Infrequently recorded
20	Common Yellowthroat	4	2	5	April 20th	May 8th	Occasional migrant
21	Canada Warbler	4	2	5	April 26th	May 9th	A much better showing than last year
22	Nashville Warbler	4	1	4	April 26th	May 4th	Scarce migrant
23	Bay-breasted Warbler	3	1	3	May 4th	May 8th	An excellent spring for this scarce species
24	Swainson’s Warbler	2	1	2	April 11th	April 18th	What was probably the same bird remained for over a week in April, singing in the Church Gate Marsh area. Another was present in early May
25	Louisiana Waterthrush	1	1	1	March 26th	March 26th	Always scarce here, I saw just one this spring
26	Prothonotary Warbler	1	1	1	April 4th	April 4th	I only saw one, but it was a good spring for this species with fairly regular reports
27	Mourning Warbler	1	1	1	May 4th	May 4th	Two confirmed, multi-observer birds this spring, and a third reported – the first records since before Hurricane Harvey devastated its preferred creekside habitat in 2017
28	Cerulean Warbler	1	1	1	April 13th	April 13th	A bumper spring for this species at ELM with birds seen occasionally from mid April through early May, although I saw just one of them
29	Yellow-throated Warbler	1	1	1	May 3rd	May 3rd	Late individual. This species is always rare here.

Non-warbler highlights of the spring include the above-mentioned Black-billed Cuckoo; a very obliging Eastern Whip-poor-will for one day in March; several Philadelphia Vireos; above-average numbers of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks; and first records for ELM of Bank Swallow and Dark-eyed Junco.

It was an odd spring for thrushes, with lots of Swainson’s and a fair number of Wood Thrushes seen, but no personal records at all of Gray-cheeked Thrush or Veery (although the latter species were both seen by other observers).

Species	# of checklists (out of 58)	High count	Status
Northern Cardinal	58	22	Common resident
Blue Jay	58	14	Common resident
Downy Woodpecker	58	8	Common resident
Carolina Wren	57	13	Common resident
White-winged Dove	56	6	Common resident
American Robin	51	9	Common resident
Red-bellied Woodpecker	49	4	Common resident
Common Grackle	48	50	Frequent flocks in spring
Carolina Chickadee	47	5	Common resident
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	30	8	Common winter visitor
Tufted Titmouse	30	4	Common resident
Cedar Waxwing	26	30	Common winter visitor
Great Crested Flycatcher	26	2	Migrant and summer visitor
Swainson’s Thrush	25	10	Common migrant
Eastern Wood-Pewee	17	6	Common migrant
Pileated Woodpecker	17	2	Fairly common resident
Chimney Swift	16	5	Fairly common summer visitor
Gray Catbird	16	5	Common migrant
White-eyed Vireo	16	3	Common migrant
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	14	6	Common winter visitor
Wood Thrush	14	5	Fairly common migrant, probable breeder in 2018 but no sign of breeding this year
Barn Swallow	12	5	Fairly common migrant
White-throated Sparrow	12	3	Fairly common winter visitor
Baltimore Oriole	11	15	Fairly common migrant
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	10	12	Fairly common migrant; a good year for them
Red-winged Blackbird	10	5	Fairly common winter visitor
Summer Tanager	9	3	Fairly common migrant
House Finch	9	2	Occasional feeder visitor
Red-eyed Vireo	8	5	Fairly common migrant for a limited period
Indigo Bunting	8	3	Much less common than in 2018
American Goldfinch	7	4	Common winter visitor, most departing by end March
Mourning Dove	7	2	Occasional visitor
Broad-winged Hawk	6	9	Occasional migrant
Acadian Flycatcher	6	2	The most frequent empidonax
Blue-headed Vireo	6	2	Fairly common winter visitor
Purple Martin	5	2	Occasional migrant
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	5	1	Occasional migrant
Red-tailed Hawk	5	1	Winters locally and sometimes passes over reserve
House Wren	5	1	One bird overwintered along creek and was seen occasionally
Northern Mockingbird	5	1	Sometimes wanders into the reserve from surrounding suburbs
Black Vulture	4	8	Occasional overhead
Chuck-will’s-widow	4	4	Regular migrant in early April
Mississippi Kite	4	3	Occasional overhead, breeds nearby
House Sparrow	4	2	Occasional feeder visitor
Yellow-breasted Chat	4	1	Occasional migrant
Cooper’s Hawk	3	3	Occasional, unwelcome visitor
Great Blue Heron	3	2	Occasional visitor
Great Egret	3	1	Occasional visitor
Turkey Vulture	3	1	Occasional overhead
Tree Swallow	3	1	Occasional overhead
Hermit Thrush	3	1	Fairly common winter visitor that departs in March
Cliff Swallow	2	4	Irregular overhead
Wood Duck	2	2	Pair on creek on two occasions but no sign of attempting to breed
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	2	2	Irregular overhead
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	1	Irregular visitor
Barred Owl	2	1	Resident on reserve but not often seen
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Willow Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Least Flycatcher	2	1	Irregular migrant
Philadelphia Vireo	2	1	Rare migrant; a good year for them
Warbling Vireo	2	1	Irregular migrant
Scarlet Tanager	1	2	Occasional migrant but scarce in 2019
Black-billed Cuckoo	1	1	First for the reserve since 2013, found by Dennis
Eastern Whip-poor-will	1	1	A one-day bird in March was enjoyed by many observers
Little Blue Heron	1	1	Irregular overhead
Cattle Egret	1	1	Irregular overhead
Yellow-throated Vireo	1	1	Recorded occasionally throughout the spring, but I saw only one
Bank Swallow	1	1	First for the reserve, overhead
Dark-eyed Junco	1	1	First for the reserve, one in March at the south-east marsh
Great-tailed Grackle	1	1	Rare on or over the reserve, but often erroneously reported; almost all grackles seen at ELM are Commons.
Painted Bunting	1	1	Irregular migrant
Dickcissel	1	1	Irregular overhead

Baltimore Oriole refuelling on its way north, May 2019.

Barred Owl Cabin — Barred Owl near the cabin pond. Resident but irregularly seen on the reserve, and often astonishingly approachable.

2018 Texas Year in Review

On February 1, 2019February 1, 2019 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reports2 Comments

Red-cockaded Woodpecker in Montgomery County, December 2018.

One of the many great things about eBird is that detailed information is available at the click of a mouse. You can go over all previous years’ sightings, birding trips, and put together any kind of statistics you feel like.

2018 was my second full year in Texas. Compared to 2017, I was more restricted in range, with no visits to north Texas or the Panhandle, and I ventured no further west than South Llano River State Park, and Lake Amistad.

Still, with 2018 being a great year for rarities, and thanks to an influx of normally scarce wintering birds, I managed to end up with a healthy 384 species seen in the state during the year. I recorded 369 complete checklists in eBird, an average of just over one per day, and finished in 40th place overall in the state rankings.

My overall Texas life list after exactly two years here stands at 455 species, and 97 counties birded.

In the table below, I have listed every county in which I saw more than 50 species in 2018. It was particularly satisfying to claim the number one spot in Comal on the last day of the year, the first time I have ever topped a county ranking list.

Rank	County	Species seen	Total checklists	eBird ranking
1	Jefferson	203	16	9^th
2	Brazoria	192	25	9^th
3	Harris	173	141	28^th
4	Comal	168	54	1^st
5	Chambers	166	10	11^th
6	Galveston	164	29	67^th
7	Bexar	115	8	70^th
8	Colorado	91	9	11^th
9	Hidalgo	86	4	784^th
10	Cameron	70	3	816^th
11	Kimble	68	3	78^th
12	Fort Bend	66	5	67^th
13	Waller	65	6	34^th
14	Aransas	64	3	176^th
15	Val Verde	63	4	37^th
16	McMullen	63	3	31^st
17	Bandera	50	2	50^th

Month by month:

Glaucous Gull at Quintana, Brazoria county, January 2018.

Ross Goose - Blue — “Blue” Ross’s Goose – a very rare color morph for this species, in contrast to the common Blue form of Snow Goose.

Audubons Oriole — Audubon’s Oriole at Choke Canyon, January 2018.

January 2018: Total species seen 209, total checklists 80. Year list as of 01/31: 209

My first five species of the year on a cold, windy morning at Brushline Road in Hidalgo County included Common Pauraque and Wild Turkey. I went on to see over 100 species on the first day of the year – including Tamaulipas Crow at Goose Island State Park!

Other highlights of the month included a rare blue-phase Ross’s Goose in Atascosa county, prolonged views of several Virginia Rails out in the open at Tyrrell Park in Beaumont, two Glaucous Gulls and a midwinter Franklin’s Gull, a hybrid Cinnamon/Blue-winged Teal, and some scarce wintering birds, notably the regular returning Greater Pewee at Bear Creek Park, and a superb Black-throated Gray Warbler in Galveston.

An epic day at Granger Lake resulted in sightings of Mountain Plover, McCown’s and Lapland Longspurs, Short-eared Owl and American Woodcock.

Great Horned Owl, San Bernard NWR, Brazoria county, February 2018.

Glossy Ibis at Lafitte’s Cove, Galveston county, in early spring. This species is rare but regular in Texas, usually among White-faced Ibis.

February 2018: Total species seen 115, total checklists 25. Year list as of 02/28: 222

My Texas birding was limited due to spending 9 days in Costa Rica (where my haul was 328 species including 99 lifers).

Back in Texas, the month was notable (in a bad way) for dipping the famous Elegant Trogon in Landa Park, New Braunfels, on no fewer than three occasions. A Rusty Blackbird nearby was only a small consolation, but both Rock Wren and Canyon Wren together at the Canyon Lake dam was a most useful double as I see these species only rarely in central Texas.

Yellow-throated Warbler, one of the earlier spring migrants – the first birds generally appear in March, and some even overwinter in the very far south of the state.

March 2018: Total species seen 163, total checklists 40. Year list as of 03/31: 248

In mid-month I began my intensive spring coverage of the Edith L Moore nature sanctuary in Houston (full report here). March’s only notable rarity was the pair of Surf Scoters at Frenchtown Road on the Bolivar peninsula, but birding was lively throughout, with several early migrants including Blue-winged and Kentucky Warblers making their way onto my list by the end of the month.

Male Yellow-headed Blackbird near Sabine Woods, Jefferson county, April 2018. A real stunner and not often seen in east Texas.

Male Blackpoll Warbler at Sabine Woods, April 2018. A very scarce migrant in Texas.

Clay-colored Sparrows at South Llano River SP, April 2018.

Golden-cheeked Warbler at South Llano River SP.

April 2018: Total species seen 243, total checklists 89. Year list as of 04/30: 319

April is generally recognized as the best month for birding in Texas, and this month didn’t disappoint with 243 species seen. Rarities comprised a drake Eurasian Wigeon at Katy Prairie, a male Western Tanager in Sabine Woods, and a male Yellow-headed Blackbird near Sabine Pass.

My go-to migrant spot, Sabine Woods, was at times spectacular during the month with the full range of warblers seen including Cerulean, Prairie, and Blackpoll.

I rounded out April with a morning at South Llano River State Park in west central Texas, a fantastic site good for breeding Black-capped and Bell’s Vireos, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Scott’s Oriole, Zone-tailed Hawk and lots of sparrows including smart spring-plumaged Clay-colored Sparrows.

Swallow-tailed Kite near Dayton, Liberty county, May 2018.

May 2018: Total species seen 197, total checklists 59. Year list as of 05/31: 336

In stark contrast to an above-average April migration season, May quickly fizzled out with just a scattering of late passerine migrants seen.

However, there were still some impressive shorebird flocks around early in the month, including Hudsonian Godwit, and Baird’s and Buff-breasted Sandpipers. A flock of Bobolinks and a very late Cerulean Warbler provided sparkle at Sabine Woods, but a Brown Booby at Calaveras Lake in San Antonio was the only bona fide rarity I encountered during the month.

By late May I was reduced to picking at scraps such as breeding Swallow-tailed Kites in Liberty and Brown-headed Nuthatch in Montgomery county.

June 2018: Total species seen 70, total checklists 12. Year list as of 06/30: 338

I barely added anything in June, Texas’s worst birding month, partly due to being out of the country for half the month in France. My quest for Hairy Woodpecker in forested areas north of Houston continued with no success.

July 2018: Total species seen 136, total checklists 25. Year list as of 07/31: 340

A painfully slow start to the month which redeemed itself slightly when shorebird passage got going later on. My July highlight was a distant Red-necked Phalarope at Mitchell Lake in San Antonio.

Wood Stork at Anahuac NWR in August 2018.

August 2018: Total species seen 151, total checklists 29. Year list as of 08/31: 343

Summer seems to last forever in Texas but at least birds start moving through in August. Empidonax flycatchers were in evidence in my weekend yard in Comal with Willow Flycatcher and up to 5 Least Flycatchers present most of the month. An Alder Flycatcher in Fort Bend was an overdue lifer. Late summer is good for Wood Stork in Texas, and I saw them in both Brazoria and Chambers during August.

Morelets Seedeater — Morelet’s Seedeater in Val Verde county. This species has a tiny range in the US but is very common in Central America. It is generally not hard to find in Texas in the correct habitat at a couple of spots along the Rio Grande.

September 2018: Total species seen 160, total checklists 50. Year list as of 09/30: 354

The outstanding visit of the month was a trip to the Rio Grande near Del Rio, an underbirded area with a nice combination of “western” and “southern” species. Year list additions here comprised the newly split Mexican Duck, Ringed Kingfisher, Black Phoebe, Cactus Wren, Hooded Oriole, and the area specialty Morelet’s Seedeater, a bird with an extremely restricted range in the US.

However, perhaps my most memorable August bird was the pristine male Mourning Warbler hopping around on the mud at Mitchell Lake in San Antonio!

Flammulated Owl in Houston, October 2018.

Red-naped Sapsucker2 — Male Red-naped Sapsucker at the Hill Country SNA, Bandera county, October 2018. Considerably further east than its usual range.

October 2018: Total species seen 145, total checklists 21. Year list as of 10/31: 360

Without a doubt, the most spectacular bird of October 2018 for me and many other Houston birders was the totally unexpected appearance of a Flammulated Owl in Sue Orwig’s yard in west Houston. It’s hard to imagine a more unlikely event in birding!

I finally found my lifer Black-billed Cuckoo at Quintana, and also a self-found male Red-naped Sapsucker in central Texas, and enjoyed some above-average fall migration including Cape May Warbler at Sabine Woods.

For part of the month I was on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, which supplied a handful of lifers and some great birding, see report here.

Hook-billed Kite2 — Hook-billed Kite at Santa Ana NWR, Hidalgo county, November 2018.

Masked Booby2 — Masked Booby at Pier 19, Cameron county. This seabird forsook the open ocean for easy pickings at the back of the restaurant here, and became absurdly tame.

Ferruginous Hawk4 — Ferruginous Hawk in Frio county, November 2018.

We found this Virginia Rail at Oliveira Park in Brownsville in November 2018 which had recently met a sad demise. Far healthier ones were seen earlier in the year at Cattail Marsh in Beaumont.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird at Frontera Audubon Center, Hidalgo county.

November 2018: Total species seen 194, total checklists 36. Year list as of 11/30: 377

April wins most people’s award for the best birding month in Texas, but I’m going to opt for November as being a close second. Late fall migrants, as well as big influxes of wintering species with the first cold fronts, make for spectacular birding in pleasant weather conditions.

Standout birds this November included the first Purple Finches of what would prove to be a record-breaking winter for them – with other normally-scarce species such as Black Scoter and Red-breasted Nuthatch also arriving in far larger than usual numbers.

Jason Loghry and I headed to the Lower Rio Grande Valley for my first proper visit this year (not counting the few post-dawn hours I spent at Brushline Road on January 1st), and racked up plenty of great sightings including Masked Booby, Roadside Hawk, and Hook-billed Kite.

In fact it was a spectacular month for hawks, with 16 species seen, pretty much a clean-up of all possible species including Zone-tailed and Ferruginous.

Allens Hummingbird1 — Adult male Allen’s Hummingbird in …. my backyard! December 2018. Bird is still present February 2019.

Terrible photo, great bird – it took about a week for the ID of this exceptionally rare Houston visitor to be confirmed, due to the possibility of it being a Northern/Tropical Parula hybrid. Thankfully the bird showed no hybrid characteristics and was accepted as a pure Tropical to the relief of many Harris county listers!

Male Calliope Hummingbird in New Braunfels, December 31st 2018.

December 2018: Total species seen 164, total checklists 33. Year list as of 12/31: 384

The year ended with a bang with the finding of two excellent local rarities – in fact probably my two best “self found” birds in Texas to date: a Tropical Parula at Edith L Moore, which gave birders the runaround but eventually showed for most visitors; and a male Allen’s Hummingbird which became an increasingly regular visitor to our yard feeders in New Braunfels from mid-month onwards.

Neither of these birds was straightforward; my initial photos of the parula did not exclude a hybrid and it was almost a week until Janet Rathjen obtained the photos that did, while the hummingbird still hasn’t obliged for “spread tail” photos but the all-green back is a clincher and it has been accepted by eBird. It is still present and visiting the feeders regularly as of February 1st.

Another notable hummingbird was the male Calliope Hummingbird in New Braunfels on the last day of the year, which I saw thanks to some “insider info”. This is the regular returning male for at least the last 5 years, but which has not been reported on eBird since 2017 and I had no idea it was still present.

In summary, not quite a repeat of 2017’s 424 species, but a satisfying year nonetheless; I am hoping to make it back to West Texas in 2019 which should once again put the 400 species mark within reach.

Dark-eyed Junco – one of several species present in winter 2018-19 in larger-than-usual numbers in Texas.

Spring at Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary

On July 9, 2018July 9, 2018 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Birding reviewsLeave a comment

Wood Thrush. A common spring migrant at Edith L Moore, and a small number remain to breed on the reserve.

I am fortunate to live and work just a few minutes from one of urban Houston’s most productive migrant-watching locations, the Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary, run by Houston Audubon. This small, mature woodland in the suburbs of west Houston is a renowned spot for migrant warblers in spring, as they pass through Texas in large numbers on the way to their breeding grounds.

The habitat is mostly dense, mature woodland, with a creek along most of the western edge. A handful of open areas – the parking lot, the plant nursery, and the main bridge over the creek – offer glimpses of sky, but mostly this is a spot for patient and quiet stalking through the woods while listening for bird calls. The lack of habitat diversity means it is unusual to see a long list of birds here, and entire families such as sparrows are either very scarce or entirely absent. Moreover, even the site specialties – warblers – are rarely present in large numbers. However, quality far exceeds quantity, and on a good day in spring, ten or more warbler species are possible.

The area around the cabin pond often attracts the widest variety of species, and well-stocked bird feeders cater for the resident birds and sometimes tempt migrants such as Indigo Bunting and Rose-breasted Grosbeak to linger for a few days. Elsewhere, birds are sparsely distributed throughout the woods. Migrant warblers often join the resident Carolina Chickadees in loose, mixed-species flocks, and tracking down the vocal chickadees is a useful technique when warbler-hunting here.

A handful of mulberry trees scattered throughout the reserve attract a range of birds when fruiting. The most obvious one is immediately adjacent to the cabin, above a small pond, and Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Gray Catbird – among other migrants – can be expected here in late April.

A sudden spring shower can produce a mini-fallout, especially in the taller trees around the cabin pond and along the creek, as tired birds take a break from their northbound migration to wait out the rain. Some of them hang around for a few hours, while others disappear immediately once the rain stops. Otherwise, it can be hard to predict when the reserve is going to be “hot”. A promising-looking weather front may produce almost nothing, while a clear day with light winds can unexpectedly bring in the birds. Migrants may drop in at any time of day, and in my experience late afternoon/evening visits are often the best.

This spring, I set myself an intention to visit the reserve at least five times a week between March 15th and May 15th. The data below summarizes all of my visits in the three months from March to May 2018, including a handful of visits made in early March and late May outside of the above-mentioned period. During these 13 weeks, I made 76 eBird checklists, an average of 5.84 visits per week. In peak migration season – mid to late April – I was at the reserve twice a day from Monday through Friday and occasionally at the weekend.

Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary is well-covered in spring by numerous birders, but it is quite possible to see a very different range of migrants to someone else on site at the same time, such is nature of the densely vegetated habitat. In other words, it is easy to miss stuff here! The following 35 species were recorded by other birders during the spring, mostly only on a single occasion, but not by me:

Turkey Vulture
Bay-breasted Warbler
Yellow-throated Vireo
Swainson’s Hawk
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Dickcissel
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Willow Flycatcher
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
Orchard Oriole
Red-headed Woodpecker
Blue Grosbeak
Bronzed Cowbird
Cattle Egret
Philadelphia Vireo
Cerulean Warbler
Great Horned Owl
Savannah Sparrow
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Anhinga
Osprey
Yellow-throated Warbler
Cave Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Eastern Screech-Owl
Swallow-tailed Kite
Peregrine
White Ibis
Prothonotary Warbler
Merlin

I recorded a total of 96 bird species at E L Moore during the spring. The full species summary is below. “5/76 checklists” means I saw a species 5 times out of my 76 visits, and I have also included the maximum count for each bird:

Wood Duck: 3/76 checklists, max count 2. Perhaps tries to nest in tree holes along the creek, but infrequently seen.

Great Blue Heron: 3/76 checklists, max count 1. Sometimes seen along the creek.

Snowy Egret: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single bird at the creek under the main bridge in May.

Little Blue Heron: 3/76 checklists, max count 1. Single adult seen on a few occasions in late March and early April.

Green Heron: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. A single migrant along the creek in May was the only bird seen.

Black Vulture: 6/76 checklists, max count 2. Occasionally glimpsed soaring overhead.

Mississippi Kite: 6/76 checklists, max count 3. Breeds nearby, and sometimes wanders into reserve airspace from the end of April onwards.

Cooper’s Hawk: 5/76 checklists, max count 1. Occasional visitor.

Bald Eagle: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single adult soaring very high above the parking lot in late April. About the 6th or 7th record for the reserve.

Bald Eagle2 — Record shot of the adult Bald Eagle at E L Moore. This photo was taken at around 200x zoom – the bird was extremely high and almost invisible to the naked eye.

Red-shouldered Hawk: 6/76 checklists, max count 2. Irregularly seen throughout the period.

Broad-winged Hawk: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single migrant over the parking lot in April.

Red-tailed Hawk: 12/76 checklists, max count 1. One locally resident individual sometimes seen over parking lot.

White-winged Dove: 73/76 checklists, max count 6. Common resident.

Mourning Dove: 12/76 checklists, max count 2. Presumably resident although much less common than White-winged.

Barred Owl: 7/76 checklists, max count 1. Pair resident on the reserve, although I only ever saw one at a time. Quite regularly seen in April and May on a favored perch above the stream viewed from bridge 4.

Common Nighthawk: 2/76 checklists, max count 3. Common breeder in Houston but infrequently noted on the reserve due to the lack of easily-viewable airspace.

Chuck-wills-widow: 4/76 checklists, max count 1. Most often seen only briefly when flushed. Probably a regular migrant through the reserve and no doubt more common than the small number of sightings would suggest.

Chimney Swift: 43/76 checklists, max count 6. Regularly seen overhead.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird: 8/76 checklists, max count 2. When present, usually seen in trees around the parking lot, or visiting the feeder in front of the cabin.

Belted Kingfisher: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single bird along the creek in early April.

Red-bellied Woodpecker: 51/76 checklists, max count 3. Resident on the reserve.

Downy Woodpecker: 67/76 checklists, max count 8. Common resident.

Northern Flicker: 5/76 checklists, max count 2. Occasional visitor.

Pileated Woodpecker: 22/76 checklists, max count 2. Resident on the reserve.

Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Flicker engaged in a territorial dispute on the large, dead Loblolly tree just across the creek along the western perimeter of the park.

Olive-sided Flycatcher: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single migrant on the large dead Loblolly tree just outside the reserve’s western boundary in late May.

Eastern Wood-Pewee: 8/76 checklists, max count 3. Regularly seen from late April onwards, and perhaps breeds on the reserve.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single migrant in late May.

Acadian Flycatcher: 5/76 checklists, max count 2. The most regularly seen “empid” at E L Moore in April and early May.

Willow/Alder Flycatcher: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Just a single non-calling bird by the oxbow in May.

Least Flycatcher: 2/76 checklists, max count 1. Singles in late April and early May, one beside the cabin and the other at the far south end of the reserve.

Eastern Phoebe: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. An occasional winterer, just the one bird seen during the period in early March.

Great Crested Flycatcher: 20/76 checklists, max count 3. Regularly seen and heard from mid-April onwards, and probably breeds on the reserve.

White-eyed Vireo: 10/76 checklists, max count 2. Occasional migrants throughout the period.

Blue-headed Vireo: 15/76 checklists, max count 3. Lingering winterers and spring migrants seen up to the end of April, often in song.

Warbling Vireo: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. A single migrant near the cabin in late April.

Red-eyed Vireo: 6/76 checklists, max count 2. Regular late season migrant, often in song.

Blue Jay: 75/76 checklists, max count 15. A common and vocal resident.

American Crow: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Single bird in April.

Purple Martin: 14/76 checklists, max count 6. Migrants or local breeders sometimes seen overhead.

Tree Swallow: 5/76 checklists, max count 10. Migrants sometimes seen overhead.

Barn Swallow: 6/76 checklists, max count 1. The occasional migrant noted.

Carolina Chickadee: 70/76 checklists, max count 10. Common resident, highest numbers in May after young have fledged.

Tufted Titmouse: 22/76 checklists, max count 4. Resident breeder on the reserve.

Carolina Wren: 64/76 checklists, max count 8. Common breeding resident.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: 24/76 checklists, max count 5. Winters on the reserve, and lingering birds/passage migrants regularly seen until mid April.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 46/76 checklists, max count 5. Winters on the reserve, and commonly seen until mid April, with a late bird in early May.

Veery: 3/76 checklists, max count 1. Three singles in April. Regular spring migrant in small numbers.

Gray-cheeked Thrush: 8/76 checklists, max count 3. Regular migrant, usually seen on the ground or at fruiting mulberry trees.

Swainson’s Thrush: 16/76 checklists, max count 8. Fairly common migrant in April and early May.

Hermit Thrush: 4/76 checklists, max count 1. Winters on the reserve, with the odd migrant still to be seen later in March and in April.

Wood Thrush: 39/76 checklists, max count 12. Common migrant and probable breeder on the reserve.

American Robin: 38/76 checklists, max count 4. Mainly a wintering bird, although several pairs breed on the reserve.

Gray Catbird: 16/76 checklists, max count 6. Fairly common migrant in April and May, usually seen in fruiting mulberry trees.

Brown Thrasher: 3/76 checklists, max count 1. Usually seen from the boardwalks at the back of the reserve. Status uncertain but perhaps overwinters and possibly even breeds.

Northern Mockingbird: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Surprisingly rare, usually stays in gardens outside the reserve.

European Starling: 2/76 checklists, max count 3. The occasional flyover noted.

Cedar Waxwing: 9/76 checklists, max count 20. Wintering flocks linger until well into April.

Ovenbird: 14/76 checklists, max count 4. One of the specialties of the site which should always be present on a good migrant day in April and early May.

Worm-eating Warbler: 7/76 checklists, max count 1. Regularly encountered from late March.

Louisiana Waterthrush: 2/76 checklists, max count 2. A March and April migrant which should be looked for after rain at the Church Gate marsh, and the wet area in the south-east of the reserve.

Northern Waterthrush: 9/76 checklists, max count 5. The more frequent of the two waterthrushes, and tends to appear a little later than Louisiana.

Golden-winged Warbler: 5/76 checklists, max count 3. A local specialty of the site in late April and early May.

Blue-winged Warbler: 10/76 checklists, max count 2. Regularly seen from the end of March through early May.

Black-and-White Warbler: 12/76 checklists, max count 3. One of the more regular migrant warblers, seen throughout the season from March to May.

Swainson’s Warbler: 3/76 checklists, max count 1. It was a good spring at E L Moore for this unobtrusive species, with two birds in April and one in early May.

Tennessee Warbler: 6/76 checklists, max count 1. An occasional visitor on good migrant days, usually seen high in tall trees near the cabin or along the creek.

Orange-crowned Warbler: 9/76 checklists, max count 2. Winters commonly on the reserve but most birds depart in early March.

Nashville Warbler: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. An irregular spring migrant, apparently more common in fall.

Kentucky Warbler: 5/76 checklists, max count 2. A specialty of the site for those who put in the time and effort!

Common Yellowthroat: 5/76 checklists, max count 1. An occasional migrant at the Church Gate marsh or in bushes along the creek.

Hooded Warbler: 20/76 checklists, max count 3. One of the most regular migrant warblers, seen throughout the spring from March to May but especially earlier in the season.

American Redstart: 6/76 checklists, max count 4. Late season migrant which can be fairly numerous in early May.

Northern Parula: 8/76 checklists, max count 4. Regular migrant especially in April.

Magnolia Warbler: 8/76 checklists, max count 6. Not seen until May, when it is often the most numerous late season warbler.

Blackburnian Warbler: 2/76 checklists, max count 4. Stunning, sought-after migrant which is occasionally seen on the reserve especially in early May.

Chestnut-sided Warbler: 9/76 checklists, max count 3. Along with Magnolia, the most numerous of the late season migrants in early May.

Pine Warbler: 4/76 checklists, max count 1. Sometimes visits the cabin feeders in late winter, and singing birds in spring sometimes seen in mature pines at the far south of the reserve.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle): 4/76 checklists, max count 3. Winters in small numbers on the reserve, but most birds leave early in March.

Black-throated Green Warbler: 3/76 checklists, max count 2. Occasional migrant.

Canada Warbler: 1/76 checklists, max count 1. Normally one of the more frequent and numerous late season warblers in May, for some reason this species was incredibly scarce this spring, with just one bird seen (a male in late April).

Wilson’s Warbler: 17/76 checklists, max count 3. Overwinters in small numbers on the reserve, with lingering birds/passage migrants throughout April, and a very late female calling and seen well in mid-May.

Yellow-breasted Chat: 5/76 checklists, max count 2. Regular migrant. Mulberry trees are a good place to look.

Summer Tanager: 5/76 checklists, max count 2. Regular migrant.

Scarlet Tanager: 2/76 checklists, max count 2. Seen in April in fruiting mulberry trees.

Northern Cardinal: 75/76 checklists, max count 18. Common breeding resident.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak: 9/76 checklists, max count 3. Regular migrant in late April, seen at the cabin feeders as well as on fruiting mulberry trees.

Indigo Bunting: 17/76 checklists, max count 15. An excellent spring for this species, with birds present at the cabin feeders – and elsewhere on the reserve – throughout most of April.

Painted Bunting: 4/76 checklists, max count 1, including a popular and much-admired male at the cabin feeders in April.

Painted Bunting2 — Male Painted Bunting. This bird was so popular among photographers and general visitors that the area around the feeders had to be cordoned off to reduce disturbance.

Baltimore Oriole: 2/76 checklists, max count 2. Several birds at the cabin mulberry tree in April.

Red-winged Blackbird: 9/76 checklists, max count 3. Three wintering females at the cabin feeders in March dwindled to one by late April.

Common Grackle: 56/76 checklists, max count 50. Common resident/spring migrant. Surprisingly the only grackle seen on the reserve, although Great-tailed are resident nearby.

House Finch: 2/76 checklists, max count 2. A pair at the cabin feeders on one occasion in April, and a flyover bird.

American Goldfinch: 2/76 checklists, max count 1. A common wintering bird at the cabin feeders, but just one individual lingered into March.

House Sparrow: 5/76 checklists, max count 1. Singles occasionally at the cabin feeders.

Trogon Dipping

On February 22, 2018February 22, 2018 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reports1 Comment

In the full month since my last update, birding has been steady but not spectacular. I would even have said things were fairly good, were it not for a rather painful “dip” of a mega that showed up pretty much in my backyard in New Braunfels (well, a ten-minute drive away, which is practically backyard by Texas standards).

Late on a Saturday night, a week-old report (complete with photos) of a female Elegant Trogon appeared on the Facebook group “What’s That Bird?”. The Trogon was said to have been photographed in Panther Canyon, which is a scenic, three-quarter-mile long trail adjoining Landa Park close to downtown New Braunfels. I happened to be already in town when the news broke, so naturally I went straight to Panther Canyon at first light the next day. The chances of relocating the bird appeared to be vanishingly small, at best – the report was already a week old, and the bird could easily have moved on. Also, trogons of all species are notoriously hard to find. They spend long periods of time perched motionless, and are usually easiest to locate when vocalizing, which a winter female would most likely not be doing.

It’s kind of an odd feeling to be chasing a bird that you’re pretty sure you’re not going to find. After a couple of hours in the canyon, along with about ten other birders, I called it a day and went up to Canyon Lake instead, where the birding was much more rewarding with both Canyon Wren and Rock Wren within 30 feet of each other along the dam, plus several other goodies including a Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay in trees near the dam, and a group of Eared Grebes on the water.

Canyon Wren on the dam at Canyon Lake, Comal County, February 4th 2018.

It was quite a surprise when news came through late in the day of the Elegant Trogon having been seen in Panther Canyon shortly before dark, and Carlos Ross managed to take some photos which confirmed the presence of this bird beyond all doubt. I happened to have already taken Monday morning off work, so there I was again in the canyon at first light the next day. I could only spare a couple of hours before I had to head back to Houston, however once again the Elegant Trogon didn’t show. Birding in Panther Canyon was proving to be an endurance test because – while the habitat bears a passing resemblance to exciting Elegant Trogon habitat in southeast Arizona – there seem to be very few birds living in there. Chases are always much more enjoyable when there are other birds around to maintain a birder’s focus and interest.

As I stalked slowly up and down the canyon, staring at Trogon-less trees, I was reminded of a chase (in the UK we call it a “twitch”) to see a Buff-bellied Pipit in Lincolnshire on a bitterly cold and overcast day in the depths of winter in about 2003. It was a near four-hour drive to the site, an enormous bare earth field just inland from the coast. A hundred birders lined up along the edge of the field for an eight-hour vigil, in the teeth of an easterly gale, scanning for the pipit. During that time I saw perhaps half a dozen species, and not a whiff of my target bird. The long drive home in the gloom of a winter afternoon was almost a relief after such a miserable day.

Anyway, the Elegant Trogon was refound in Panther Canyon at around 3.00pm, meaning that several of the birders who had been there in the morning had been looking for almost eight hours before locating the bird. Their patience and dedication is highly commendable. The Trogon was seen again on Tuesday (for prolonged periods, naturally while I was at work in Houston) and Thursday, but not on Wednesday and Friday despite plenty of people out there looking. It was always being found in the afternoons, sometimes right before dusk, so on Saturday I spent the last three hours of daylight in the canyon (along with perhaps fifty birders) with no luck. It has not been seen since, but it is possibly still present – there is a high chance the bird is wintering in the area, and either moves elsewhere for prolonged periods, or (most likely) is so unobtrusive that it basically never gets found along the canyon unless it is close enough for birders to almost trip over it. It surely is no coincidence that every time the bird has been found, it has initially been located within a few feet of the trail or even in trees directly above it.

Landa Park did have a consolation prize to offer on Saturday, a female Rusty Blackbird at the lake, an excellent county bird in what seems to have been a good winter for stray individuals of this species in central Texas. I could at least claim THAT for my Comal county list, which at 142 species as I write, is steadily moving in the right direction!

Wood Duck at Landa Park, New Braunfels, February 4th 2018.

My focus this year is on county birding, instead of pan-Texas year listing, and I’ve had several excellent “county days” in the last month. I headed to Brazoria county on January 20th with James Rieman, and we quickly located the long-staying Glaucous Gull on the beach at Quintana, only to watch it fly to the end of the jetty and join an unprecedented second individual on the sea. A prolonged visit to the San Bernard refuge for the rest of the day produced 81 species including an unseasonal Yellow-breasted Chat and nice looks at American Bittern and Ash-throated Flycatcher.

Quintana Beach early in the morning on January 20th 2018.

Jefferson county the following weekend produced 103 species in one day, with my personal highlight being cracking views of several Virginia Rails feeding out in the open at Cattail Marsh near Beaumont. This handsome and retiring denizen of dense marshland vegetation can be a tough bird to see (I didn’t find one at all during my “big year” in 2017), but at this site they appeared to be very bold and unafraid to venture out of cover.

Blue-headed Vireo. I took this photo at Bear Creek Park in Houston, but this species is a fairly common winterer at a number of sites I visit regularly.

I’ve been visiting Edith L Moore reserve in Houston from time to time during my lunch breaks and after work (my office is less than a minute’s drive away), a location which offers plenty of birds in winter near the cabin, but usually belonging to the same range of resident and wintering species with few surprises. However, regular birds here in winter include Wilson’s Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo and Hermit Thrush, while the spectacular Pileated Woodpecker is resident, so it’s always a good location to spend half an hour on a sunny day. I usually take a camera with me, but the one time I didn’t (on a gloomy late afternoon that threatened rain), I had a close and prolonged encounter with a beautiful Barred Owl. It’s been a good year so far for owls, with 5 species already on my year list – Barred, Barn, Burrowing, Short-eared, and no fewer than eight encounters so far with the magnificent Great Horned Owl. Just the relatively common, but often hard to find, Eastern Screech-Owl to go to complete the set of regular east/central Texas owls for the year.

Grasshopper Sparrow at Attwater Prairie Chicken NWR on January 21st 2018.

Golden-crowned Kinglet at Bear Creek Park. This tiny bird is extremely active, and this is the only time I’ve managed to capture a passable photo of one despite numerous efforts!

A Cracking Start to January

On January 16, 2018January 17, 2018 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reports1 Comment

Black-throated Gray Warbler2 — Male Black-throated Gray Warbler at Kempner Park in Galveston – my first lifer of 2018.

Unlike almost every normal person, I spent a rather chilly New Year’s Eve sleeping in my car in a remote parking lot at the entrance to the Sal del Rey reserve in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Shortly before midnight, I was awoken by the flashlights of a Customs and Border Protection patrol. The officers seemed extremely perplexed that I was sleeping in my car in the middle of nowhere, at a time when convention dictates I should have been steaming drunk in a bar or at a house party somewhere. I don’t think they believed my story about being a birder, but in any case after (quite a lot of) questioning they left me alone and I went back to sleep for a few hours, before awakening to a freezing cold and windy dawn of 2018.

Green Jay, a south Texas speciality that is impossible to become tired of. This photo was taken on January 13th at Choke Canyon, although Green Jay also happened to be the very first bird I set eyes on shortly after dawn on January 1st at Sal del Rey.

Let me just say at this point that after such an intense 2017, I had absolutely no intention of year listing again in 2018. Birding often has other ideas, though, and after approximately an hour of birding on January 1st – during which time I racked up some quality birds including Wild Turkey and Common Pauraque – I was already starting to consider the idea. Then I had a chance encounter with an American Woodcock at my second stop of the day, Pollywog Pond near Corpus Christi – this is a species I saw just once in 2017, and not until December 30th!

The Tamaulipas Crow was still hanging around at Big Tree SP in Aransas county, so I stopped in to see that – and by the time I had nabbed both Burrowing Owl and Sprague’s Pipit along the roadside just 200 yards apart from each other in Refugio county, the deal was sealed. It would be a shame to waste such a good start to the year – so I would once again be keeping a Texas year list!

I finished the first day of 2018 at Aransas NWR, where a really nice roll call of birds brought me up to 107 species for the day (and the year). These included 11 Horned Grebes and 3 Greater Scaup in the bay, a pair of Wood Ducks on Jones Lake, and a big flock of Wild Turkeys on the grass beside the entrance gate. I also saw my first ever Bobcat crossing the road just north of the reserve, which although not a bird was comfortably the most exciting of the day’s sightings.

Wilsons Plover — Wilson’s Plover at Texas City Dike, January 6th 2018.

Any Houston-based birder is familiar with birding the “loop” – starting early morning in Galveston, taking the ferry across to Bolivar, and finally spending the afternoon/evening at Anahuac NWR before driving back to Houston. This approach is guaranteed to produce a huge number and wide variety of birds in the winter and migration seasons. On January 6th, I started at dawn on the Texas City Dike, not the most salubrious of birding locations but one which often produces (for my pal James Rieman at least!) regular rare gulls. No unusual gulls for me today, nor even a wintering Common Tern for my troubles despite much searching – but an out-of-season Wilson’s Plover was good to see, and it’s always nice to bag the attractive yet uncommon American Oystercatcher at this site.

It took me two attempts during the morning to connect with Kempner Park’s wintering male Black-throated Gray Warbler, a bird which was well worth the effort – not only was it an outright lifer for me, but also one I had recently missed in Brazoria county. The bird gave excellent views but was extremely active and hard to photograph.

Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary always has some good birds on offer, and today in addition to a wide selection of shorebirds (including the often tricky Red Knot), there were three Bonaparte’s Gulls on the shore, a flock of Horned Larks on the beach, and a Palm Warbler in the dunes.

Bonapartes Gull — Bonaparte’s Gulls (adult and 1st-year) on the beach at Bolivar. Not always a straightforward bird to find, especially on the beach, as it tends to be a species associated with inland lakes in winter.

Anahuac NWR always gives up large numbers of birds, and in addition to finding (or refinding, as it was perhaps the same bird previously reported several miles away) a Say’s Phoebe along White’s Ranch Road, I also saw several Canvasback and a Greater Scaup along with legions of commoner ducks and thousands of geese. After dark, a Barn Owl on a roadside fence post was only my second-ever in Texas and – naturally – my first for 2018.

On Sunday I stayed around West Houston, visiting Katy Prairie, Kleb Woods, and Bear Creek Park, adding year birds including Harris’s Sparrow and Golden-crowned Kinglet. Kleb Woods is a regular wintering location for up to half-a-dozen Rufous Hummingbirds. Very rarely, an Allen’s Hummingbird is found among them, but only once every few years. There is currently a very interesting immature male there with a large number of green feathers on its back in a pattern suggestive of Allen’s. This bird will need to molt a little further into adult plumage (or get caught and inspected in the hand) to confirm the identification, but I am keeping my hopes up for the slim chance of an “armchair tick” at some point in the future.

Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird2 — Possible immature male Allen’s Hummingbird, Kleb Woods, January 7th 2018.

On January 13th I teamed up with Martin Reid and Sheridan Coffey for a spectacular day out in Atascosa, Live Oak, and McMullen counties, halfway between San Antonio and Corpus Christi. We started the day with thousands of Snow Geese, Ross’s Geese, and Sandhill Cranes at a regular wintering location. The sight and sound of these birds at dawn on a cold winter morning stirs the soul, it is incredible and something even non-birders would appreciate. The goose flocks here contain proportionately larger numbers of small, dainty Ross’s Geese compared to the coast near Houston, where almost all the geese are Snow Geese. Among these inland birds, an occasional dark (or “blue”) morph Ross’s Goose shows up. This is a very rare color variation – most Ross’s Geese are pure white, unlike Snow Goose where the dark morph is common. Well, if anyone can find a dark morph Ross’s Goose, it is Martin Reid – and find one he eventually did. Wild geese are very wary but if you approach slowly, and allow them time to get used to you, it is possible to end up fairly close to them, as was the case with this bird:

For the rest of the day, we chased around various locations near Choke Canyon Reservoir. This site is one of the most northerly locations for Valley specialities such as Green Jay, Long-billed Thrasher, Audubon’s Oriole, Cassin’s Sparrow – and even Black-tailed Gnatcatcher on occasion. We didn’t find the gnatcatchers, but did enjoy nice looks at most of the others including no fewer than four Audubon’s Orioles:

Several other interesting birds at Choke Canyon State Park demanded our attention, namely a hybrid drake Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal, an off-season Franklin’s Gull, and a Sora walking around in the open at the edge of the reeds:

Blue-winged-Cinnamon hybrid — Blue-winged/Cinnamon Teal hybrid, Choke Canyon SP, January 13th 2018. This drake shows characteristics of both species, with hints of Blue-winged Teal’s blue head and white loral patch, but Cinnamon Teal’s overall bright chestnut coloration.

Franklins Gull — First-year Franklin’s Gull, Choke Canyon SP, January 13th 2018. Normally, this bird should be well to the south of the US in midwinter.

Sora at Choke Canyon SP, January 13th 2018. A skulking denizen of marshes and reedbeds, and often hard to see, but this one had no qualms about strutting around in the open for all to see (and photograph).

Granger Lake in Williamson county, north-east of Austin, is a huge area containing not only a very large reservoir but also thousands of acres of bare open fields. I spent many hours there in both winter periods of 2017 looking for some of the area’s specialities, especially Mountain Plover and McCown’s Longspur – and indeed have chronicled these often hit-or-miss birding sessions in previous blog posts. One of the big advantages of putting in the time and really getting to know an area is that the birds then become a lot easier to find. My improved local knowledge meant that my visit on January 14th went very smoothly, with all of my main targets seen over the course of a single morning.

I kicked things off with a pre-dawn Short-eared Owl hunting over grassland at the Sore Finger Unit just off FM971. I haven’t seen many “SEOs”, although they are widespread across the Northern Hemisphere, and indeed this was my first in the U.S. It was a true privilege to watch this aerial predator fly on stiff wings over the prairie in the freezing cold of the pre-dawn, and I could not have asked for a better start to the day. Unfortunately my camera was unable to deal with the combination of low light and a moving bird – not to mention finger-freezing conditions – so I was unable to obtain any photos. However I had more luck taking pictures of the two Great Horned Owls also present at this location – my fourth and fifth individual GHOs seen this weekend, quite an amazing number!

On my last few visits to the area, I have easily found Mountain Plovers in the same general location – the megafield just to the west of CR347 and to the south of CR346. So instead of scouring every field through the telescope, it has become a simpler matter of stopping and scanning from one particular spot. The birds are often distant and not always easy to locate, but the morning light is good here and it didn’t take me long to find a small loose-knit group of five Mountain Plovers.

A very long stone’s throw to the north-east, the barest patches of ground to the north of CR346, between the intersection with CR348 and the first farmhouses, have been the best area this winter to find longspurs. I used to try and find flocks of longspurs by chasing all over the area, driving many miles and scanning as many fields as possible – and this generally resulted in failure (and exhaustion). Here, it is necessary just to wait and regularly scan the correct field as well as keep your eyes and ears open for mobile longspur flocks in flight overhead. Several flocks of McCown’s Longspurs, totalling around 60 birds, were in the area today. Myself and Zach Tonzetich spent plenty of time trying to get good views of one of the flocks on the ground, which always returned to the same two areas, but they would constantly fly up without any provocation and didn’t give themselves up for good looks. Nonetheless, we had tickable views of at least two – and maybe more – Lapland Longspurs in with the McCown’s.

Late last year I had located a Winter Wren on territory in the Willis Creek Unit, a wooded area which is accessible from the small parking lot on CR348 just past the creek crossing. Not only was “my” Winter Wren still in the exact same spot today, but his calls were being answered by another territorial bird on the other side of the creek. And I twice flushed an American Woodcock from right under my feet, which showed very well in flight. My three encounters with Woodcock over the last few weeks have been getting progressively better – at this rate I am due a sighting of one on the ground, instead of just flying away from me!

Red-headed Woodpecker2 — Red-headed Woodpecker, Bastrop State Park, January 14th 2018. Not much of a photo, but it’s a great bird. This is a regular site for this rare and local woodpecker in Texas.

There was just time for one more stop on the way home, at Bastrop State Park, a pleasantly scenic area that also happens to be the only reliable spot in central Texas for the attractive Red-headed Woodpecker – and today I was fortunate to locate one without any difficulty.

Lifer: Black-throated Gray Warbler (total 2,245)
USA tick: Short-eared Owl (total 480)
2018 Texas Year List as of January 16th: 187

2017 By The Numbers

On January 5, 2018 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Birding reviews4 Comments

Vermilion Flycatcher, a bird I saw 17 times in Texas in 2017.

Most birders keep lists of the birds they see. World lists, year lists, country lists, county lists, backyard lists – even lists of birds seen while doing something else. Those of us who enter all our bird sightings in eBird find that our lists are effortlessly compiled: eBird automatically keeps meticulous statistics for all the birds we see. With a couple of clicks of the mouse, I can find out which birds I have seen in Harris County this year; how many European Starlings I saw in my backyard in 2015 – and even how I rank against other birders for a particular patch, state, country or year.

With reference to the last category, I must admit to having been fairly obsessive with following the eBird rankings in 2017. I finished the year with 424 species on my Texas year list (although eBird lists me at 425 thanks to an escaped Orange-cheeked Waxbill which I do not count!). This put me at 10th for the year in Texas. Considering that most – or even perhaps all – of the nine birders ahead of me don’t have full time jobs, I feel pretty pleased with my total for the year.

Being a statistics nerd, I used eBird’s extensive records of my birding to compile a full report. The results are below:

Total number of species recorded: 424

This is the total number of species I saw and/or heard within the state of Texas in 2017, including established introduced species.

Total number of species seen: 423

The only bird I heard, but didn’t actually put my eyes on, during 2017 was Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Many birders submit “heard-only” owls and rails on their eBird checklists, but I generally prefer not to include these.

Total number of species seen, excluding non-native species: 410

Some birds live and breed in Texas, but are not naturally occurring. They are usually here as a result of human introductions. These range from the common and ubiquitous House Sparrow and European Starling, to several species of rare parrots in Brownsville. Even after removing these birds, I am still on well over 400 for the year.

Introduced species I saw in 2017 that I excluded from this list:

Egyptian Goose
Ring-necked Pheasant
Feral Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Monk Parakeet
Red-crowned Parrot
Red-lored Parrot
White-fronted Parrot
Yellow-headed Parrot
Red-vented Bulbul
European Starling
House Sparrow
Scaly-breasted Munia

I do not enter obviously feral species such as Indian Peafowl, domestic-type Mallard, and Muscovy Duck on my eBird checklists.

There are several rare formerly naturally-occurring species which became extinct in the wild in Texas, and which have subsequently been reintroduced (Greater Prairie-Chicken and Aplomado Falcon). These would also have appeared on the “introductions” list above, had I seen them during 2017.

Total number of complete eBird checklists submitted: 328

This number excludes incomplete checklists (for example, when I recorded a single bird species incidentally while driving by). My total number of checklists including incomplete ones is in excess of 350.

Total number of counties birded: 75

There are 254 counties in Texas so this might not sound like much, but Texas is a very, very big place!

My birding in 2017 was concentrated in three main areas: Houston and the upper Gulf coast, the San Antonio/Austin corridor (where I spent many of my weekends), and to a lesser extent the Lower Rio Grande Valley. During the year, I made two long trips to West Texas, one in late spring and one in winter. I also made a short winter visit to the Panhandle.

Top ten counties in 2017:

The number in brackets is the number of bird species I saw in each county during the year:

1. Galveston (173)
2. Chambers (145)
3. Harris (141)
4. Jefferson (133)
5. Bexar (129)
6. Brazoria (124)
7. Comal (122)
8. Hidalgo (121)
9. Travis (92)
10. Cameron (86)

Finally, I was able to compile data from eBird showing how many times I saw each bird species during the year. To be precise, this list shows how many checklists I recorded each species on in 2017. The data needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, as I didn’t bird scientifically. For example, I birded one site in Harris and another in Comal many times during the year. Northern Cardinals are very common at both locations and I recorded them on every checklist from these two sites, which is one of the reasons why the number of Cardinal sightings is high. If I had regularly birded a mudflat instead, where Cardinals are absent, I would have recorded Cardinals on fewer checklists but (for example) Western Sandpipers on a lot more.

Also, I was year listing, which means that many target species were spotted only a small number of times. For example, Red-cockaded Woodpecker is easy to find at W G Jones State Forest near Houston, but I only recorded this species on one checklist because I only visited the site on one occasion. As soon as the bird was safely on my year list, I didn’t bother going back.

The list arranged in taxonomic order:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 29
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 7
Snow Goose 7
Ross’s Goose 1
Greater White-fronted Goose 6
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 2
Egyptian Goose 18
Wood Duck 18
Blue-winged Teal 33
Cinnamon Teal 5
Northern Shoveler 27
Gadwall 33
American Wigeon 9
Mallard 12
Mottled Duck 27
Northern Pintail 13
Green-winged Teal 18
Canvasback 4
Redhead 7
Ring-necked Duck 15
Greater Scaup 1
Lesser Scaup 16
Long-tailed Duck 1
Bufflehead 8
Common Goldeneye 2
Hooded Merganser 2
Common Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 9
Ruddy Duck 15
Plain Chachalaca 4
Northern Bobwhite 1
Scaled Quail 10
Gambel’s Quail 1
Ring-necked Pheasant 2
Wild Turkey 6
Common Loon 6
Least Grebe 9
Pied-billed Grebe 40
Horned Grebe 1
Eared Grebe 4
Western Grebe 1
Clark’s Grebe 2
Wood Stork 2
Magnificent Frigatebird 3
Brown Booby 1
Neotropic Cormorant 49
Double-crested Cormorant 44
Anhinga 12
American White Pelican 21
Brown Pelican 47
American Bittern 6
Least Bittern 3
Great Blue Heron 83
Great Egret 83
Snowy Egret 63
Little Blue Heron 38
Tricolored Heron 31
Reddish Egret 16
Cattle Egret 35
Green Heron 25
Black-crowned Night-Heron 13
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 14
White Ibis 53
Glossy Ibis 2
White-faced Ibis 25
Roseate Spoonbill 32
Black Vulture 88
Turkey Vulture 126
Osprey 26
White-tailed Kite 14
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Golden Eagle 2
Mississippi Kite 11
Northern Harrier 45
Sharp-shinned Hawk 6
Cooper’s Hawk 29
Bald Eagle 6
Common Black Hawk 1
Harris’s Hawk 10
White-tailed Hawk 14
Gray Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 39
Broad-winged Hawk 5
Swainson’s Hawk 6
Zone-tailed Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 51
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Ferruginous Hawk 4
King Rail 2
Clapper Rail 4
Sora 2
Purple Gallinule 6
Common Gallinule 23
American Coot 43
Sandhill Crane 10
Whooping Crane 2
Black-necked Stilt 31
American Avocet 12
American Oystercatcher 4
Black-bellied Plover 17
American Golden-Plover 3
Snowy Plover 4
Wilson’s Plover 4
Semipalmated Plover 6
Piping Plover 7
Killdeer 75
Mountain Plover 4
Upland Sandpiper 4
Whimbrel 6
Long-billed Curlew 10
Hudsonian Godwit 1
Marbled Godwit 7
Ruddy Turnstone 15
Red Knot 2
Stilt Sandpiper 11
Sanderling 19
Dunlin 16
Baird’s Sandpiper 1
Least Sandpiper 30
White-rumped Sandpiper 5
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 2
Pectoral Sandpiper 9
Semipalmated Sandpiper 14
Western Sandpiper 13
Short-billed Dowitcher 8
Long-billed Dowitcher 12
American Woodcock 1
Wilson’s Snipe 8
Wilson’s Phalarope 5
Spotted Sandpiper 25
Solitary Sandpiper 4
Greater Yellowlegs 20
Willet 32
Lesser Yellowlegs 29
Sabine’s Gull 1
Bonaparte’s Gull 2
Laughing Gull 61
Franklin’s Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 34
Herring Gull 17
Lesser Black-backed Gull 5
Least Tern 8
Gull-billed Tern 5
Caspian Tern 13
Black Tern 12
Common Tern 3
Forster’s Tern 38
Royal Tern 30
Sandwich Tern 11
Elegant Tern 1
Black Skimmer 14
Rock Pigeon 30
Red-billed Pigeon 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 22
Inca Dove 16
Common Ground-Dove 7
White-tipped Dove 5
White-winged Dove 112
Mourning Dove 135
Groove-billed Ani 2
Greater Roadrunner 15
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 14
Barn Owl 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 5
Great Horned Owl 6
Burrowing Owl 5
Barred Owl 2
Lesser Nighthawk 3
Common Nighthawk 14
Common Pauraque 2
Chuck-will’s-widow 2
Eastern Whip-poor-will 1
Chimney Swift 39
White-throated Swift 3
Blue-throated Hummingbird 1
Lucifer Hummingbird 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 17
Black-chinned Hummingbird 24
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Broad-billed Hummingbird 1
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Belted Kingfisher 32
Green Kingfisher 5
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Acorn Woodpecker 6
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 51
Red-bellied Woodpecker 54
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 40
Downy Woodpecker 82
Red-cockaded Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 15
Pileated Woodpecker 32
Crested Caracara 59
American Kestrel 63
Merlin 5
Peregrine Falcon 8
Prairie Falcon 2
Monk Parakeet 3
Red-crowned Parrot 1
Red-lored Parrot 1
Yellow-headed Parrot 1
White-fronted Parrot 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Olive-sided Flycatcher 3
Western Wood-Pewee 6
Eastern Wood-Pewee 14
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 3
Acadian Flycatcher 6
Willow Flycatcher 1
Least Flycatcher 4
Gray Flycatcher 1
Cordilleran Flycatcher 1
Black Phoebe 2
Eastern Phoebe 81
Say’s Phoebe 14
Vermilion Flycatcher 17
Ash-throated Flycatcher 11
Great Crested Flycatcher 26
Brown-crested Flycatcher 4
Great Kiskadee 8
Tropical Kingbird 2
Couch’s Kingbird 13
Cassin’s Kingbird 5
Western Kingbird 12
Eastern Kingbird 20
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 49
Loggerhead Shrike 76
Black-capped Vireo 1
White-eyed Vireo 42
Bell’s Vireo 10
Gray Vireo 1
Hutton’s Vireo 2
Yellow-throated Vireo 5
Blue-headed Vireo 21
Plumbeous Vireo 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 4
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Black-whiskered Vireo 1
Green Jay 8
Steller’s Jay 1
Blue Jay 80
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay 6
Mexican Jay 3
American Crow 35
Tamaulipas Crow 1
Fish Crow 2
Chihuahuan Raven 5
Common Raven 13
Horned Lark 16
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 17
Purple Martin 31
Tree Swallow 19
Violet-green Swallow 1
Bank Swallow 4
Barn Swallow 82
Cliff Swallow 22
Cave Swallow 17
Carolina Chickadee 94
Mountain Chickadee 2
Juniper Titmouse 1
Tufted Titmouse 16
Black-crested Titmouse 46
Verdin 15
Bushtit 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown-headed Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 2
Rock Wren 3
Canyon Wren 4
House Wren 26
Winter Wren 2
Sedge Wren 11
Marsh Wren 10
Carolina Wren 104
Bewick’s Wren 38
Cactus Wren 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 80
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 6
Red-vented Bulbul 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 85
Eastern Bluebird 16
Western Bluebird 3
Mountain Bluebird 2
Veery 5
Gray-cheeked Thrush 4
Swainson’s Thrush 19
Hermit Thrush 21
Wood Thrush 11
Clay-colored Thrush 4
American Robin 73
Gray Catbird 15
Curve-billed Thrasher 8
Brown Thrasher 12
Long-billed Thrasher 7
Crissal Thrasher 1
Sage Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 149
European Starling 81
American Pipit 15
Sprague’s Pipit 2
Cedar Waxwing 37
Phainopepla 2
Lapland Longspur 4
McCown’s Longspur 1
Ovenbird 12
Worm-eating Warbler 8
Louisiana Waterthrush 5
Northern Waterthrush 10
Golden-winged Warbler 5
Blue-winged Warbler 5
Black-and-white Warbler 21
Prothonotary Warbler 3
Swainson’s Warbler 2
Tennessee Warbler 4
Orange-crowned Warbler 69
Colima Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 5
MacGillivray’s Warbler 4
Mourning Warbler 1
Kentucky Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 34
Hooded Warbler 20
American Redstart 12
Cape May Warbler 3
Cerulean Warbler 1
Northern Parula 11
Tropical Parula 1
Magnolia Warbler 9
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Yellow Warbler 13
Chestnut-sided Warbler 5
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 5
Pine Warbler 13
Yellow-rumped Warbler 80
Yellow-throated Warbler 11
Prairie Warbler 1
Golden-cheeked Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 8
Canada Warbler 9
Wilson’s Warbler 26
White-collared Seedeater 1
Botteri’s Sparrow 1
Cassin’s Sparrow 2
Bachman’s Sparrow 1
Grasshopper Sparrow 6
Henslow’s Sparrow 1
LeConte’s Sparrow 2
Nelson’s Sparrow 1
Seaside Sparrow 2
Olive Sparrow 9
American Tree Sparrow 2
Chipping Sparrow 23
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Black-chinned Sparrow 2
Field Sparrow 11
Brewer’s Sparrow 3
Black-throated Sparrow 12
Lark Sparrow 16
Lark Bunting 2
Fox Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 10
White-crowned Sparrow 32
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1
Harris’s Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 24
Sagebrush Sparrow 2
Vesper Sparrow 9
Savannah Sparrow 46
Song Sparrow 19
Lincoln’s Sparrow 40
Swamp Sparrow 13
Canyon Towhee 6
Rufous-crowned Sparrow 9
Green-tailed Towhee 4
Spotted Towhee 17
Eastern Towhee 1
Yellow-breasted Chat 9
Hepatic Tanager 2
Summer Tanager 16
Scarlet Tanager 5
Northern Cardinal 184
Pyrrhuloxia 14
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
Black-headed Grosbeak 5
Blue Grosbeak 17
Indigo Bunting 11
Varied Bunting 3
Painted Bunting 18
Dickcissel 8
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Western Meadowlark 16
Eastern Meadowlark 42
Orchard Oriole 19
Hooded Oriole 2
Bullock’s Oriole 2
Altamira Oriole 2
Audubon’s Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 7
Scott’s Oriole 4
Red-winged Blackbird 77
Bronzed Cowbird 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 46
Rusty Blackbird 1
Brewer’s Blackbird 19
Common Grackle 19
Boat-tailed Grackle 16
Great-tailed Grackle 128
House Finch 52
Cassin’s Finch 1
Pine Siskin 6
Lesser Goldfinch 36
American Goldfinch 14
House Sparrow 49
Scaly-breasted Munia 2

…. and here it is arranged in order of species abundance:

Northern Cardinal 184
Northern Mockingbird 149
Mourning Dove 135
Great-tailed Grackle 128
Turkey Vulture 126
White-winged Dove 112
Carolina Wren 104
Carolina Chickadee 94
Black Vulture 88
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 85
Great Blue Heron 83
Great Egret 83
Downy Woodpecker 82
Barn Swallow 82
Eastern Phoebe 81
European Starling 81
Blue Jay 80
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 80
Yellow-rumped Warbler 80
Red-winged Blackbird 77
Loggerhead Shrike 76
Killdeer 75
American Robin 73
Orange-crowned Warbler 69
Snowy Egret 63
American Kestrel 63
Laughing Gull 61
Crested Caracara 59
Red-bellied Woodpecker 54
White Ibis 53
House Finch 52
Red-tailed Hawk 51
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 51
Neotropic Cormorant 49
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 49
House Sparrow 49
Brown Pelican 47
Black-crested Titmouse 46
Savannah Sparrow 46
Brown-headed Cowbird 46
Northern Harrier 45
Double-crested Cormorant 44
American Coot 43
White-eyed Vireo 42
Eastern Meadowlark 42
Pied-billed Grebe 40
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 40
Lincoln’s Sparrow 40
Red-shouldered Hawk 39
Chimney Swift 39
Little Blue Heron 38
Forster’s Tern 38
Bewick’s Wren 38
Cedar Waxwing 37
Lesser Goldfinch 36
Cattle Egret 35
American Crow 35
Ring-billed Gull 34
Common Yellowthroat 34
Blue-winged Teal 33
Gadwall 33
Roseate Spoonbill 32
Willet 32
Belted Kingfisher 32
Pileated Woodpecker 32
White-crowned Sparrow 32
Tricolored Heron 31
Black-necked Stilt 31
Purple Martin 31
Least Sandpiper 30
Royal Tern 30
Rock Pigeon 30
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 29
Cooper’s Hawk 29
Lesser Yellowlegs 29
Northern Shoveler 27
Mottled Duck 27
Osprey 26
Great Crested Flycatcher 26
House Wren 26
Wilson’s Warbler 26
Green Heron 25
White-faced Ibis 25
Spotted Sandpiper 25
Black-chinned Hummingbird 24
White-throated Sparrow 24
Common Gallinule 23
Chipping Sparrow 23
Eurasian Collared-Dove 22
Cliff Swallow 22
American White Pelican 21
Blue-headed Vireo 21
Hermit Thrush 21
Black-and-white Warbler 21
Greater Yellowlegs 20
Eastern Kingbird 20
Hooded Warbler 20
Sanderling 19
Tree Swallow 19
Swainson’s Thrush 19
Song Sparrow 19
Orchard Oriole 19
Brewer’s Blackbird 19
Common Grackle 19
Egyptian Goose 18
Wood Duck 18
Green-winged Teal 18
Painted Bunting 18
Black-bellied Plover 17
Herring Gull 17
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 17
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 17
Vermilion Flycatcher 17
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 17
Cave Swallow 17
Spotted Towhee 17
Blue Grosbeak 17
Lesser Scaup 16
Reddish Egret 16
Dunlin 16
Inca Dove 16
Horned Lark 16
Tufted Titmouse 16
Eastern Bluebird 16
Lark Sparrow 16
Summer Tanager 16
Western Meadowlark 16
Boat-tailed Grackle 16
Ring-necked Duck 15
Ruddy Duck 15
Ruddy Turnstone 15
Greater Roadrunner 15
Northern Flicker 15
Verdin 15
Gray Catbird 15
American Pipit 15
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 14
White-tailed Kite 14
White-tailed Hawk 14
Semipalmated Sandpiper 14
Black Skimmer 14
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 14
Common Nighthawk 14
Eastern Wood-Pewee 14
Say’s Phoebe 14
Pyrrhuloxia 14
American Goldfinch 14
Northern Pintail 13
Black-crowned Night-Heron 13
Western Sandpiper 13
Caspian Tern 13
Couch’s Kingbird 13
Common Raven 13
Yellow Warbler 13
Pine Warbler 13
Swamp Sparrow 13
Mallard 12
Anhinga 12
American Avocet 12
Long-billed Dowitcher 12
Black Tern 12
Western Kingbird 12
Brown Thrasher 12
Ovenbird 12
American Redstart 12
Black-throated Sparrow 12
Mississippi Kite 11
Stilt Sandpiper 11
Sandwich Tern 11
Ash-throated Flycatcher 11
Sedge Wren 11
Wood Thrush 11
Northern Parula 11
Yellow-throated Warbler 11
Field Sparrow 11
Indigo Bunting 11
Scaled Quail 10
Harris’s Hawk 10
Sandhill Crane 10
Long-billed Curlew 10
Bell’s Vireo 10
Marsh Wren 10
Northern Waterthrush 10
Dark-eyed Junco 10
American Wigeon 9
Red-breasted Merganser 9
Least Grebe 9
Pectoral Sandpiper 9
Magnolia Warbler 9
Canada Warbler 9
Olive Sparrow 9
Vesper Sparrow 9
Rufous-crowned Sparrow 9
Yellow-breasted Chat 9
Bufflehead 8
Short-billed Dowitcher 8
Wilson’s Snipe 8
Least Tern 8
Peregrine Falcon 8
Great Kiskadee 8
Green Jay 8
Curve-billed Thrasher 8
Worm-eating Warbler 8
Black-throated Green Warbler 8
Dickcissel 8
Fulvous Whistling-Duck 7
Snow Goose 7
Redhead 7
Piping Plover 7
Marbled Godwit 7
Common Ground-Dove 7
Long-billed Thrasher 7
Baltimore Oriole 7
Greater White-fronted Goose 6
Wild Turkey 6
Common Loon 6
American Bittern 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk 6
Bald Eagle 6
Swainson’s Hawk 6
Purple Gallinule 6
Semipalmated Plover 6
Whimbrel 6
Great Horned Owl 6
Acorn Woodpecker 6
Western Wood-Pewee 6
Acadian Flycatcher 6
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay 6
Cactus Wren 6
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 6
Grasshopper Sparrow 6
Canyon Towhee 6
Pine Siskin 6
Cinnamon Teal 5
Broad-winged Hawk 5
White-rumped Sandpiper 5
Wilson’s Phalarope 5
Lesser Black-backed Gull 5
Gull-billed Tern 5
White-tipped Dove 5
Eastern Screech-Owl 5
Burrowing Owl 5
Green Kingfisher 5
Merlin 5
Cassin’s Kingbird 5
Yellow-throated Vireo 5
Red-eyed Vireo 5
Chihuahuan Raven 5
Veery 5
Louisiana Waterthrush 5
Golden-winged Warbler 5
Blue-winged Warbler 5
Nashville Warbler 5
Chestnut-sided Warbler 5
Palm Warbler 5
Fox Sparrow 5
Harris’s Sparrow 5
Scarlet Tanager 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 5
Black-headed Grosbeak 5
Bronzed Cowbird 5
Canvasback 4
Plain Chachalaca 4
Eared Grebe 4
Ferruginous Hawk 4
Clapper Rail 4
American Oystercatcher 4
Snowy Plover 4
Wilson’s Plover 4
Mountain Plover 4
Upland Sandpiper 4
Solitary Sandpiper 4
Least Flycatcher 4
Brown-crested Flycatcher 4
Warbling Vireo 4
Bank Swallow 4
Canyon Wren 4
Gray-cheeked Thrush 4
Clay-colored Thrush 4
Lapland Longspur 4
Tennessee Warbler 4
MacGillivray’s Warbler 4
Kentucky Warbler 4
Green-tailed Towhee 4
Scott’s Oriole 4
Magnificent Frigatebird 3
Least Bittern 3
Zone-tailed Hawk 3
American Golden-Plover 3
Common Tern 3
Lesser Nighthawk 3
White-throated Swift 3
Monk Parakeet 3
Olive-sided Flycatcher 3
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 3
Mexican Jay 3
Bushtit 3
Rock Wren 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
Western Bluebird 3
Prothonotary Warbler 3
Cape May Warbler 3
Blackburnian Warbler 3
Brewer’s Sparrow 3
Varied Bunting 3
Canada Goose 2
Common Goldeneye 2
Hooded Merganser 2
Ring-necked Pheasant 2
Clark’s Grebe 2
Wood Stork 2
Glossy Ibis 2
Golden Eagle 2
Rough-legged Hawk 2
King Rail 2
Sora 2
Whooping Crane 2
Red Knot 2
Buff-breasted Sandpiper 2
Bonaparte’s Gull 2
Franklin’s Gull 2
Groove-billed Ani 2
Barred Owl 2
Common Pauraque 2
Chuck-will’s-widow 2
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Prairie Falcon 2
Black Phoebe 2
Tropical Kingbird 2
Hutton’s Vireo 2
Fish Crow 2
Mountain Chickadee 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown-headed Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 2
Winter Wren 2
Mountain Bluebird 2
Sprague’s Pipit 2
Phainopepla 2
Swainson’s Warbler 2
Cassin’s Sparrow 2
LeConte’s Sparrow 2
Seaside Sparrow 2
American Tree Sparrow 2
Black-chinned Sparrow 2
Lark Bunting 2
Sagebrush Sparrow 2
Hepatic Tanager 2
Hooded Oriole 2
Bullock’s Oriole 2
Altamira Oriole 2
Orange-cheeked Waxbill 2
Scaly-breasted Munia 2
Ross’s Goose 1
Cackling Goose 1
Greater Scaup 1
Long-tailed Duck 1
Common Merganser 1
Northern Bobwhite 1
Gambel’s Quail 1
Horned Grebe 1
Western Grebe 1
Brown Booby 1
Swallow-tailed Kite 1
Common Black Hawk 1
Gray Hawk 1
Hudsonian Godwit 1
Baird’s Sandpiper 1
American Woodcock 1
Sabine’s Gull 1
Elegant Tern 1
Red-billed Pigeon 1
Barn Owl 1
Eastern Whip-poor-will 1
Blue-throated Hummingbird 1
Lucifer Hummingbird 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 1
Broad-billed Hummingbird 1
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Red-cockaded Woodpecker 1
Red-crowned Parrot 1
Red-lored Parrot 1
Yellow-headed Parrot 1
White-fronted Parrot 1
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 1
Willow Flycatcher 1
Gray Flycatcher 1
Cordilleran Flycatcher 1
Black-capped Vireo 1
Gray Vireo 1
Plumbeous Vireo 1
Philadelphia Vireo 1
Black-whiskered Vireo 1
Steller’s Jay 1
Tamaulipas Crow 1
Violet-green Swallow 1
Juniper Titmouse 1
Red-vented Bulbul 1
Crissal Thrasher 1
Sage Thrasher 1
McCown’s Longspur 1
Colima Warbler 1
Mourning Warbler 1
Cerulean Warbler 1
Tropical Parula 1
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Prairie Warbler 1
Golden-cheeked Warbler 1
White-collared Seedeater 1
Botteri’s Sparrow 1
Bachman’s Sparrow 1
Henslow’s Sparrow 1
Nelson’s Sparrow 1
Clay-colored Sparrow 1
Golden-crowned Sparrow 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Audubon’s Oriole 1
Rusty Blackbird 1
Cassin’s Finch 1

From these statistics, a visitor to Texas can get at least some idea of which birds are likely to be relatively easy or difficult to find.

I don’t feel I missed many birds during 2017. I failed to connect with a male Black-throated Blue Warbler in San Antonio early in the year, and I missed a Black-throated Gray Warbler in Brazoria County in fall. Some migrants passed me by in spring, including Alder Flycatcher, Black-billed Cuckoo, and Bobolink. My late May visit to west Texas was too late to connect with some of the migrant western birds such as Townsend’s Warbler, and I also tried twice (but failed) to see a wintering Townsend’s in Austin. I dipped Lucy’s Warbler at the Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend NP on a very windy morning.

Some species I got by the skin of my teeth: many of the migrant warblers I encountered just once (including Cerulean, Prairie, Blackpoll, Bay-breasted and Mourning). Hudsonian Godwit was a one-day wonder in spring, and my Clay-colored Sparrow at Quintana in late fall was down to pure luck after I had missed them at several much more reliable sites in central Texas. Northern Bobwhite and Audubon’s Oriole were both really tricky customers this year with just a single record of each.

Here’s to 2018 and a (slightly) more sedate Texas birding year!

Getting Closer to 400!

On November 29, 2017November 29, 2017 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reportsLeave a comment

Adult Bald Eagle at San Bernard NWR, October 29th 2017.

A handful of nice year birds over the last few weeks have helped me inch slowly closer to my target of 400 species in Texas in 2017. I took full advantage of the first day of “winter” on October 29^th, when temperatures plunged as low as 1C (34F) at dawn, to head down to Brazoria County – my new favorite day trip from Houston.

Anhinga, San Bernard NWR, October 29th 2017.

A crisp, sunny San Bernard NWR was absolutely teeming with birds (70 species logged), with lots of new winter arrivals in on the cold front, including no fewer than 5 species flagged by eBird as needing further description. Notable among these were a female Hooded Merganser and a very late Least Bittern. It was especially pleasing to get an excellent photo of an Ash-throated Flycatcher, showing its distinctive undertail pattern, which although not flagged in eBird is a scarce bird in this part of Texas:

Ash-throated Flycatcher2 — Ash-throated Flycatcher, San Bernard NWR, October 29th 2017.

Late morning I drove the relatively short distance to Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, a lovely, peaceful small reserve which today was well stocked with a great range of late migrants. Outstanding among these was a Clay-colored Sparrow, associating with a White-crowned Sparrow and several Lincoln’s Sparrows. The sparrow flock kept returning to feed on the short grass of the sanctuary pathways but the birds were extremely wary, diving back into cover at the slightest hint of danger, and it took quite some time before I was able to get passable photos to confirm the identification. Clay-colored Sparrow is a migrant mainly through Central Texas, and is very uncommon on the Upper Texas Coast with just a handful of records annually.

Clay-colored Sparrow5 — Clay-colored Sparrow, Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, October 29th 2017.

The following weekend I was back in New Braunfels, and with a report of several Lark Buntings at South Evans Road Lake on the Saturday – just an hour’s drive away – I decided to try for these birds early on Sunday. This was another spot with really high levels of bird activity, and finally I located two splendid Lark Buntings in a bare field alongside the road. Say’s Phoebe was another good one to find here.

I detoured back via Wilson County, as I had never birded that county before, where I grabbed some opportunistic photos of a Peregrine. Shortly afterwards, at about 10.05am, I passed through the small village of Sutherland Springs, one hour and fifteen minutes before Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on a church congregation, killing 26 people. The shooter came from New Braunfels and there was every chance I passed him on the road as I headed back that way. I hope this is as close as I ever get to such a horrifying and tragic event.

A beautiful cool, crisp winter day on November 14^th tempted me to take my lunch hour in Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary, just two minutes down the road from my place of work in Houston. This turned out to be an excellent decision, with a Winter Wren found and photographed at the boardwalk near the cabin. Finally, one of Texas’s tiniest birds was safely on my list – Winter Wren is an uncommon and somewhat tricky-to-find winter visitor to eastern parts of the state. This bird was still present at the time of writing on November 21^st and being seen intermittently for birders trying for it, so perhaps it will remain throughout the winter.

Winter Wren, Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary, Houston, November 14th 2017.

Late in the afternoon of Friday 17th November, news broke of a Sabine’s Gull at Kemah Boardwalk. A less likely birding hotspot can hardly be imagined – this place is a theme park complete with noisy rollercoasters, restaurants and bars, and hundreds of members of the non-birding general public. On the plus side, non-birders do have a tendency to enjoy feeding the birds (despite the posted signs warning them not to!), and when I arrived at the site on Saturday afternoon the Sabine’s Gull was scavenging some easy pickings alongside the local Laughing Gulls. On several occasions, it passed the boardwalk at handrail height, so close I could have reached out and touched it. In any case, it was too close to even get a decent photo with my camera – I probably would have gotten better results with my iPhone – although out of my many attempts there were at least a couple of acceptable record shots:

Sabines Gull4 — Sabine’s Gull, Kemah Boardwalk, November 18th 2017.

Sabines Gull5 — Sabine’s Gull, Kemah Boardwalk, November 18th 2017.

It was something of a relief to get this bird so easily, as gulls can be unpredictable and it was lucky the bird decided to remain for a second day. Sabine’s Gull was an excellent way to mark the milestone of my 400^th species in Texas – and considering the location, there was of course a bar very close by in which to celebrate in the excellent company of my wife Jenna and birding pal James Rieman!

Song Sparrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve, November 19th 2017.

I headed west to the Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve early on Sunday, in the hopes of connecting with Sprague’s Pipit for the year list, as well as having perhaps a 10% chance of seeing one of the chickens that give the reserve its name. The Attwater’s Prairie Chickens here have been relocated from former coastal prairie, and represent the only remaining population of this species in the world. Purists wouldn’t count them on their lists, but according to the ABA they are perfectly acceptable. Anyway, I was spared having to wrestle with any ethical listing dilemmas as I didn’t see a Prairie Chicken. Unfortunately I didn’t connect with any Sprague’s Pipits either. Still, it was a beautiful cold and sunny morning, and sparrows of eight species were begging me to photograph them – including the often-tricky Le Conte’s and Grasshopper Sparrows, which I managed just-about-acceptable record shots of:

LeContes Sparrow — Le Conte’s Sparrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve, November 19th 2017. In my limited experience this skulking species is very responsive to pishing, and this bird jumped straight out of the grass and into a nearby bush as soon as the first “psh psh” escaped my lips. Getting a photo was another matter because the bird invariably kept itself partly concealed by twigs, despite showing well. Very strong early morning sunlight is another obvious factor in this shot!

Grasshopper Sparrow2 — Grasshopper Sparrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve, November 19th 2017. This individual sat up on the fence for ages, but I was just a little bit too far away to get a clear shot.

Vesper Sparrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve, November 19th 2017. Again, not quite as sharp as I wanted, but I couldn’t fault the bird for posing obligingly for several minutes!

Field Sparrow, Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve, November 19th 2017. A much sharper photo, despite the bird being in view for just a fraction of a second.

Finally, it has been a bumper late autumn for birds in the yard of my in-laws’ weekend home in New Braunfels, Comal County. The winter visitors are back, and species counts over a typical 1 to 2 hour birding session regularly exceed 35, with 46 species seen on one morning last weekend.

Zone-tailed Hawk1 — Zone-tailed Hawk, Sleepy Hollow Lane, New Braunfels, November 22nd 2017.

Recent “firsts for the yard” include a long-awaited Zone-tailed Hawk for two consecutive days, hanging out in tall cypresses beside the river; up to 4 Pine Siskins flocking with American and Lesser Goldfinches; at least one Spotted Towhee apparently settled in for the winter in a thicket in the front yard; an extremely late (or overwintering?) Chestnut-sided Warbler; and most bizarre of all – though not countable on my list! – an Orange-cheeked Waxbill, which presumably hopped out of a cage somewhere locally.

Pine Siskin, Sleepy Hollow Lane, New Braunfels, November 22nd 2017.

Spotted Towhee, seen at Sleepy Hollow Lane, New Braunfels on various dates in November.

Finally, a pair of Green Kingfishers on the adjacent Guadelupe River seem to be nest-building in a sandy bank – I wonder what tiny percentage of birders in the US can claim to have this species breeding in their back yard?

White-crowned Sparrow, Sleepy Hollow Lane, New Braunfels, November 22nd 2017 – a new bird for my yard list.

Orange-cheeked Waxbill, Sleepy Hollow Lane, New Braunfels, November 22nd 2017. Unringed and wary, but definitely originating from a cage!

New birds added: Clay-colored Sparrow, Lark Bunting, Winter Wren, Sabine’s Gull, Pine Siskin.

Total Texas 2017 year list: 388

Total Texas life list: 400

Sedge Wren, San Bernard NWR, October 29th 2017. This bird is numerous in Texas coastal grasslands in winter, and although a skulker it responds well to “pishing”.

Indigo Bunting, San Bernard NWR, October 29th 2017.

Franklin’s Gull, October 22nd

On October 28, 2017October 28, 2017 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reportsLeave a comment

Franklins Gull2 — First-winter Franklin’s Gull, San Luis Pass, Galveston, October 22nd 2017.

Today I was on the hunt for Franklin’s Gull, a regular migrant through Texas but not an easy bird to find on the Upper Texas Coast. In spring, it seems to be a case of being in the right place at the right time, as migrants pass through quickly on their way north. On their return journey in late fall, individuals or groups may linger on the coast with flocks of Laughing Gulls.

Reddish Egret, San Luis Pass, Galveston, October 22nd 2017.

The San Luis Pass at the far south-western end of Galveston Island has regular records of this species in October and November, so this seemed to be an excellent place to start looking. I approached from the Brazoria County end, and on the way up the Blue Water Highway I enjoyed a fiery sunrise. The weather was sultry, humid, and completely still, with temperatures already hovering around 80F (27C) by 8.00am – warm for the time of year.

Sunrise2 — Sunrise on the Blue Water Highway, Brazoria County, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

A quick stop at the Kelly Hamby nature trail proved worthwhile, with two Palm Warblers seen well (and one bird photographed). This is an uncommon migrant and scarce winter visitor in Texas. I was getting absolutely ravaged by mosquitoes at this location, so after 15 minutes it was a relief to get back into the car.

Palm Warbler1 — Record shot of one of two Palm Warblers at the Kelly Hamby Nature Trail, Brazoria County, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

I drove a short distance to the San Luis Pass County Park, still on the Brazoria side of the pass. This was a really productive site, with an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull loafing among the Laughing Gulls, and plenty of birds to look at including a lone winter-plumaged Red Knot, several American Oystercatchers, and a Long-billed Curlew. Curiously, all the shorebirds allowed a very close approach – seemingly they are well used to the large numbers of fishermen and other members of the general public also using this site.

Lesser Black Backed Gull — Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (with Laughing Gulls), San Luis County Park, Brazoria County, Texas, October 22nd 2017. An increasing visitor to coastal Texas.

Red Knot2 — Red Knot, San Luis County Park, Texas, October 22nd 2017. This can often be a hard bird to find in coastal Texas, probably reflecting its sharp global decline.

American Oystercatchers, San Luis County Park, Texas, October 22nd 2017. Present in small numbers all along the upper Texas coast, but never common.

Long-billed Curlew, San Luis County Park, Texas, October 22nd 2017. This bird was unusually confiding and allowed a close approach.

I happened to know that just 50 miles to the north, a powerful weather front with high winds and heavy rain was pounding Houston. It was exciting to watch the gradual approach of heavy, pendulous black clouds from the north. Even though I was expecting it, the front’s arrival was very dramatic. One moment it was completely calm, and the next, gusting winds lifted the sand off the beach and whipped up white-tipped waves on the sea. The temperature plunged from 81F (27C) to 64F (18C) in the space of just a few minutes, and lightning started crashing down to accompany the horizontal driving rain.

Galveston Bridge — Arrival of the weather front at San Luis County Park, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

Birding was out of the question while the weather front was doing its thing, so I drove across the bridge onto Galveston and waited it out. As soon as the rain stopped, I wandered around Lafitte’s Cove for an hour, where there was no evidence whatsoever of a front-induced fallout of late migrants. I hadn’t forgotten my Franklin’s Gull quest, so I retraced my steps back to San Luis Pass, this time on the Galveston side of the bridge. There was just one modestly-sized flock of perhaps 40 Laughing Gulls here, and a quick scan did not reveal my target bird. Still, the sun was shining now and conditions were very pleasant, so I lingered in this spot for a while to see if anything turned up. Just before leaving, I had another very careful look through the gull flock, and suddenly I found what I had been looking for – a lone first-winter Franklin’s Gull.

Franklins Gull1 — First-winter Franklin’s Gull, with adult winter Forster’s Tern in the foreground, and several Laughing Gulls, illustrating the size difference, San Luis Pass, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

This was only my second-ever Franklin’s – my first being one at Cheddar Reservoir in England more than 17 years ago – and I have to admit that it didn’t leap out at me the way I thought it would. Sure, it seemed noticeably smaller and “cuter” than the surrounding Laughing Gulls, but this distinction was subtle rather than obvious. With prolonged observation in excellent light, I gradually familiarized myself with the bird and the differences began to stand out more, things like the extensive dark hood, swollen white eyelids, shorter legs, and daintier and less drooping bill than Laughing Gull.

Black-bellied Plover, San Luis County Park, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

With my target bird clinched and photographed, I returned to Brazoria County across the bridge, and as I passed Freeport I spotted a large flock of perhaps 350 Laughing Gulls loafing in a gravel parking lot. Stopping for a quick look revealed at least 4 adult Franklin’s Gulls among their number, so in the end I was able to get Franklin’s Gull at two locations in two different counties – a most satisfying way to pick up a personal Texas first!

Franklins Gull3 — Adult Franklin’s Gull near Freeport, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

Finally, I decided to drop in at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, to see if any birds were active after the passing of the front, now that the weather was once again clear and sunny with much lower humidity than early this morning. I had never visited this site before – it is known to be a hotspot in the spring, and it is certainly prepared with the birds in mind, with several blinds and water holes and a nice variety of trees and bushes for tired migrants in a very compact area.

Beach at San Luis — The beach at San Luis, Brazoria County, ahead of the dramatic weather front on October 22nd 2017.

I spent an hour here and birds were very flighty and elusive, but I eventually racked up a few migrants including an Eastern Wood-Pewee, an American Redstart and a Blue Grosbeak. I’ll be sure to come back to Quintana in spring – like most wooded sites along the Upper Texas Coast it should be a good bet for a large variety of warblers, vireos, tanagers etc.

2017 Texas Year List: 383

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron, Lafitte’s Cove, Galveston, Texas, October 22nd 2017.

Laredo and the Lower Rio Grande Valley, September 23rd-24th

On September 28, 2017September 28, 2017 By birdingaroundtaiwanIn birding, Trip reports1 Comment

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Estero Llano Grande SP, September 23rd 2017.

It’s possible to pack quite a lot into a weekend when you put your mind to it. Late Friday afternoon I drove from Houston to Rockport to meet my old pal Jason Loghry, who I had not seen since I lived in South Korea in 2009-11. After a few hours sleep we headed to Laredo, on the Mexican border. We were at the Max A Mandel golf course by first light on Saturday.

I’ve never birded by golf cart before and it was fun, and after a bit of searching we found our target birds Red-billed Pigeon and White-collared Seedeater, while trying to avoid getting in the way of Mexican gangsters (or so it seemed) who were playing a golf tournament.

Birding by golf cart …. a novel experience!

We also had an interesting bird here that appeared to be a very early Brewer’s Blackbird, a species that does not usually show up in Texas until much later in the fall. However, something about the bird was not quite “right” and after review of the photos (and consultation with local expert Mary Gustafson) we concluded that it was a Great-tailed Grackle that had not yet grown its long tail back after its molt. Apart from the bill being a little chunkier than normal for a Brewer’s Blackbird, it resembled one extremely closely:

Brewers Blackbird3 — Great-tailed Grackle (with a Killdeer in the foreground), Max A Mandel golf course, September 23rd 2017.

Later, we followed the course of the Rio Grande southwards, stopping in at a gorgeous and extremely hot Salineño, where the shade temperature peaked at 107 degrees F (41 degrees C) at 3.00pm. This site yielded distant views of Ringed Kingfisher, several Hooded and lots of stunning Baltimore Orioles, and a scattering of migrants including Olive-sided Flycatcher.

Rio Grande at Salineno, September 23rd 2017. A brutally hot day for late September.

We continued south and by late afternoon we were at Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the best nature reserves in Texas, where we stayed until dark. It was Jason’s first visit to this wonderful reserve and as usual there was an excellent range of species to be seen including the ever-popular stake-outs at their usual spots here – Common Pauraque and Eastern Screech-Owl.

After dinner, we drove out into the boonies and set up camp for the night. By pure chance we ended up camping beside a nature reserve, the Sal de Rey. Eastern Screech-Owls and a Great Horned Owl were calling nearby during the night, and at dawn on Sunday a flock of Lesser Nighthawks hawked insects overhead. Two Royal Terns flew over, very rare inland, and we easily found our target Cassin’s Sparrow (and a photogenic Groove-billed Ani) in this area.

Groove-billed Ani near the Sal de Rey, September 24th 2017.

While it was still early, we drove for 45 minutes towards the coast to a known Botteri’s Sparrow site. It is getting a bit late in the year for these summer visitors, but when we heard one calling briefly, we knew they must still be around. Sure enough, eventually a male started singing, and after much persistence we both managed some good (albeit brief) views of this most skulking of sparrows. It was beginning to get hot and by lunchtime we were on the road back north.

1,000 miles driven, c.110 bird species seen including 7 year ticks, bringing my 2017 Texas year list to 381, just 19 away from my target of 400. A great weekend and wonderful to catch up with my old friend.

Lifer: Botteri’s Sparrow (total 2,228).
USA ticks: Red-billed Pigeon, White-collared Seedeater (total 437).
2017 Texas year ticks: Lesser Nighthawk, Gray Hawk, Ringed Kingfisher, Cassin’s Sparrow (total 381).

Swainsons Hawk — Swainson’s Hawk at the Max A Mandel golf course, September 23rd 2017.

	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	Peter Kavouras on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	marlandphotos on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Hanoi’s Secret Migrant…

	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	Peter Kavouras on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	marlandphotos on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Hanoi’s Secret Migrant…

	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	Peter Kavouras on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	marlandphotos on Independent Birding in Ecuador…
	birdingaroundtaiwan on Hanoi’s Secret Migrant…

Dom the Birder

Tag: Texas