Birding the Big County

Jay Packer called me and invited me to join him for a day of birding in Taylor County and offered to host me for a couple of days to bird the area. I of course said yes and we picked some dates.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Lake Abilene

Jay thought that my All County Year would be a great tie in for his Taylor County Big Year. Jay is trying to bird every day in Taylor County with a goal of 250 species for the year. He is also raising money for a nature park at Abilene's best birding location, Kirby Lake. Jay is a great photographer and writer, you should check out his blog and even better make a pledge for the Kirby Lake Nature Park. https://bigyear.reporternews.com

Part of the appeal of this trip for me was a chance to bird the Big County, and area where I had a block of 14 counties I have never birded in and to the best of my knowledge never have even passed through. I wanted to start my birding day in Palo Pinto County the east most county in this block that was new to me. It just so happens that Possum Kingdom State Park is in Palo Pinto County so I was thinking meeting my goal of 47 birds in the county should be pretty easy too. Then I would bird the lower strip of counties I needed on my way to Abilene.

Things didn't work out as planned though. Instead of leaving at say 3 am and arriving at the park about 9 am, I wasn't able to leave until about 7 am because I had been on an unsuccessful chase the day before and had gone 20 hours on 4 hours of sleep. I got a full nights sleep and left at 7 am and arrived at about 2 pm instead (rush hour traffic and I birded a little at picnic areas on the way.

I tallied up bird in nine new counties for the year on the way. Finally I made the turn onto Park Road 33 about 1:30 pm almost to Possum Kingdom State Park. Basically all of PR33 is in the neighboring county, Stephens County, and it was very good to me, netting me 24 species for the day and the bird of the day for me, Western Bluebirds.

The State Park was kinda dead, yielding only 16 species of birds. Adding some species on my drive though the county I got Palo Pinto County to 24 species. Ok for mid afternoon, but not close to my goal of 47 average per county.

I pressed on through Stephen's County, wishing I had some time to stop and bird at Hubbard Creek Lake, it looked good. I pressed on through Shackelford County just making 6 species. Heading in to Abilene I pass briefly though Jones County and log Eurasian Collared-Dove for a single in the County to get it one the map, but failed to find a bird in Callahan County. I added 13 new counties for the year bring my total of counties I've recorded something in for the year to 62.

Day 2 of the road trip was all about Taylor County, Jay and I made a bit of a big day about it and started at Lake Abilene with Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Just a few things on the lake, but we were off and running. Between the lake and the park proper we found the first raven of the day starting a day long debate on raven ID in the county. I don't think we ever decided on the ID of a raven that day even though we saw many during the day. Raven ID is certainly a problem in the Big County.

We finished the day with 93 species, pretty good for a seat of the pants big day. Jay got 3 new ones for his Big Year, Cave Swallow, Lark Bunting, and Lesser Yellowlegs. Highlight of the day for me was Mountain Bluebird.

Day 3 was going to be a big one for me, I wanted to attempt to reach 14 counties in a day and get back to Abilene in time to go to the Big County Audubon meeting with Jay.

Ferruginous Hawk, Crosby County

My first new county of the day was Fisher County, with 16 species driving through. On to Kent, Dickens, Crosby, and a bit of Floyd County. In Crosby and Floyd you really feel the change from the Big County to the Texas High Plains. Right away I had a bunch of Mountain Bluebirds, a Prairie Falcon, and a Ferruginous Hawk.

This was my western limit of the day and I made my turn to the east getting my first bird in Motley County at 12:53 pm. Where has the time gone I thought. Motley and Cottle Counties went smoothly, but I traveled miles of Foard County with no birds. I was afraid of missing birds in the county so I took a loop on an unpaved county road. A couple of miles of that road and nothing still. Then right before I hit the pavement I see a flock in a field. I scan and wow, there are about 100 Mountain Bluebirds in the field. That field and a productive picnic area and I hit 13 species before I leave the county.

Mountain Bluebird, Foard County

I cross into Baylor County and check my timing, its getting late and my original route is really too tight on time I think. I had allowed for this to happen by getting my west most counties out of the way first so it wouldn't be a too hard to pick them up on my way out of town. I turned west in Baylor County and headed for Knox County, then Haskell and on to Abilene, picking of some more birds in Jones before meeting Jay for the meeting. Not what I was hoping for my day but I did log birds in 12 new counties for the year and set up for a good day tomorrow to finish off the Big County.

Day 4, headed home the long way. I make a beeline fore Stonewall County. I can't really resist stopping to bird at picnic areas, and the US83 Aspermont Picnic Area is a good one, its right on the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River. I wasn't able to stay long, I had miles to go and it was well 20 degrees. I had 14 species in as many minutes. There is a fair amount of birdable area there too.

Another great stop in the county was FM1263 at the Salt Fork of the Brazos River. Besides being very scenic I found 13 species here.

Salt Fork of the Brazos River

On to King County then I turned to the east for the final run home. Throckmorton and Young finished my targets counties for the day. Young County was good to me with 23 species and I pressed the home button on the GPS at 1:45 pm.

My GPS Overloads picked a route that went through several new counties for year. By sunset in Leon County I had logged birds in 12 counties for the day bringing my total to 85 counties for the year.

Next week I'm going to try and finish off my last block in east Texas, then I have to figure out how to get into the Panhandle soon.

My old man has like this ultimate set of tools, I can fix it!

Started off Wednesday morning heading for the Rufous-backed Robin in Uvalde County. I had my Egg McMuffin, my coffee, a full tank of gas. Life was good. Due to construction, my exit in San Antonio to US90 was moved and I missed it. My GPS overlords suggested the next exit and take the second right. Simple enough.  I exited got over put on my turn signal and started my turn...

... Wham!!! I got hit from behind. A guy on the feeder slide into me when he braked. I think it was likely just bad luck on his part, a slick patch on the road.

My thought at first was that I could continue on to Uvalde and get the bird, I could just rip the broken pieces off. It took 90 minutes to get a police officer out to take the report, 10 minutes with the officer and I was clear to go.

Turns out I had two problems, I could not get the tailgate to close anymore, and when I climbed back into the drivers seat I found my seat has twisted about and inch to the right so it was tipped. I'm thinking the "box" of the vehicle was twisted now. While it drives ok, I don't think this road trip is continuing. I will have to chase another day. We'll see if I'm getting a new car now.

East bound and down, loaded up and birdin'

White-throated Sparrow, Wood County

Well not really east, more north from Houston. Anyway, last week I headed north into east Texas to start the big push to bird all counties this year. I left home with 3 counties under my belt. My first stop was Montgomery County. Montgomery county is an embarrassment for me. Its adjacent to my home county but in the 12 years I've been county listing I only has 92 species in it. Just 8 more to go. I checked the eBird targets and it showed 32 targets with more then 5% so this should be a snap. I headed for Lakeside Park in the Woodlands. Thirteen species I needed were reported the day before.

I arrived about 8 am and got to 98 in just 15 minutes. Unfortunately It took me close to an hour more to to find European Starling and House Sparrow to make 100. Oh the indignity of having to have House Sparrow as my 100th. Anyway time to head out to meet Bob White who I was going to bird with the next day. By the time I left the county I had logged 43 species for the day in the county. I need to average 47 per county to reach my goal of 12k ticks for the year. A second visit when breeding birds are in or during migration should do the trick. These counties within a day trip of home need to all be at 100 plus by the end of the year.

On to Walker County, a county I have birded very little. I think only drive through birds on my way through on I45. I hit Huntsville State Park. It was slow, but I did manage a trifecta of nuthatches in one tree, Brown-headed, Red-breasted, and White-breasted Nuthatches. Twenty species and I hit the road, I needed to meet Bob at noon at Ratcliff Lake in Houston County. I picked up a few birds in Trinity County on the way and passed the best place name I've seen in some time, the East Prairie Possum Walk Cemetery.

I was 5 minutes away and Bob called, Ratcliff Lake was closed due to the government shutdown! We logged a few birds at the gate and headed for Mission Tejas SP. The state park was pretty dead too. Between the two stops and road birds we managed only 21 species.

We hit the Caddo Mounds in Cherokee County. Cherokee County only yielded 17 species. Our last stop of the day was Lake Nacogdoches, That got me to 18 species in Nacogdoches County. A six county day and I was off and running at 9 counties for the year.

Bob and I left early planning to be at Lake Bob Sandlin at first light, on the Camp County side. It was birdier today (some sun sure helps). We ticked off 24 species and crossed the lake into Titus County. Between the Boat ramp and Lake Bob Sandlin SP we knocked out 43 species in the County

We did some road birding in Franklin County for 19 species. We headed for White Oak Creek WMA in Morris County. White Oak Creek like many of the waterways in east Texas was out of its bank, better than a half mile wide. We were able to bird a little around one access point for 29 species.

We headed for Red River County and did a short road loop through the county for 27 species. We then birded through Bowie County for 17 species. On to Cass County, a new one for me and we found 12 species as we passed through.

Tiny Marion County was next, another new one for me. We planned to bird Buckhorn Park on Lake O'The Pines. Unfortunately like many Corps of Engineers Parks these days its only open to RV'ers spending the night. I guess the lady at the gate felt sorry for us though, she let us in since we were only planning to stay a short time. Here we found the bird of the trip, a Pacific Loon.

The day was getting away from us as we entered Harrison County at 3:54 pm, needed to be a drive through only county for five species.

Panola County was next and the last east Texas County I had never visited. The Beckville Picnic Area and some road birds made 23 species in the county. Part of our drive was County Line Road, we logged eight species in Rusk County on the other side of the road. That made 11 counties for the day, and 20 over all for the year for me.

Sunrise at Mineole Nature Preserve, Wood County

Bob was under the weather the next day and headed alone to start in Wood County at the Mineola Nature Preserve. I got there at 7:15, but the gates don't open until 7:30. I logged 10 species while I waited for someone to open the gate. The Mineola Nature Preserve is a gem, I found 41 species in 90 minutes. By the time I left Wood County I had 47 species and finally made my target in one county.

Next on my itinerary was Lake Gilmer in Upshur County. Road birding and the park on the lake got me to 31 species in the county and I headed out. In Gregg County I managed 19 species in an hour and even stopped for lunch. The Whataburger in Longview is across the street from the Redneck Rockstar Boutique and Spa in case you were wondering.

I stopped at CR244 Marsh in Smith County for 17 species and headed south. Except for a brief stop at Ellen Trout Park in Lufkin for Angelina County I logged birds from the Highway. I completed the road trip with Angelina, Polk, and San Jacinto Counties.

I was at 28 counties birded this year. A paltry average of 24 species though. I figure by the end off the year I should have all the counties within 2 hours of home at 100 or more and that could be as many as 20 counties. That will help a lot with the average.

Next week I drive across Texas.

The Full Beto

Yesterday I announced my intent to bird all counties in Texas in 2019. I called it "The Full Beto" referring to Richard "Beto" O'Rourke's brag of visiting all Texas counties during his US Senate campaign. Man did I step into it with that. A small number of subscribers howled foul that I was getting political with that. Good lord, a tongue-in-cheek reference to a failed political stunt is hardly political. Its a good thing I didn't mention Mexico was going to pay for my gas!

Anyway; from what I can tell no one has actually done this. Just to keep it interesting I'm going to see what mark I can set for total county ticks. Total county ticks is the total of the species in each county, i.e. if I see Northern Mockingbird in all 254 counties that counts for 254 ticks. The biggest total annual Texas tick total I know of is a bit over 11,700 so perhaps 12,000 should be the goal for that? Wait, that's 47.2 species per county average! is that doable? Lets see!

Somewhere I recall seeing that the average distance across each county in Texas is 60 miles. So that makes it about 15,240 miles to visit each Texas county. I did 45,000 miles in my 2017 big year so that seems totally doable. 

To reach 12,000 county ticks I will need actually bird in most counties, I need to get close to that 47.2 birds in each county. In 2017 I recorded birds in 150 counties and average 34 species per county. I did make the century mark in 14 counties and 50 or more in 34 counties. I recorded only one species in ten counties. Many of those counties I know I traveled through multiple times, can't let that happen again!

Of course the weather has been bad the first two days of the year. Lets hope tomorrow I get a chance to chase a Rufous-backed Robin in Uvalde County

Varied is the Spice of Life

Varied Thrush

I was all set to head for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in twenty for hours. I planned to bird some counties on the way. At 12:45 pm I saw a report of a Varied Thrush at the National Butterfly Center in Mission. I decided to stay with my original plan and head for Goliad County but would check and see if the Thrush was relocated.

I left Houston about 7:15 am after a quick run to the post office. About 120 miles down the road I saw a report that the thrush was seen again. Recalculating... I plotted a course for the National Butterfly Center, ETA 1:15 pm.

I get there and there are only 2 people there. That's actually a good sign. If no one was seeing the bird there would be people stacked up waiting, especially with lot of birders in the valley for the festival.

A few birders wonder up, they saw it just before I go there. It's disappointing to just miss it but its still a good sign.

Huck Hutchen's showed up and we are chatting. I notice a couple who had been there photographing something. I keep chatting even though I think "I should go see what they are photographing".

They motion us over and "I think it was just here, but it flew behind the bush" They showed us photos and yes that was it. Arg!!!! Its about 2 pm.

We keep a watch, Huck watching the water feature, I keep a watch where its been seen twice in the last half hour. Huck says several times "Come on David find this bird"

At 2:30 a bird flies in from behind me and lands in a tree pretty high. That's it! Anti-Big Year Bird 10 and Texas bird 554! I call everyone over and blast away with the camera. I manage only 100 shots in the two minutes it was there before it drops from sight.

I hang out hoping for another chance for more photos. More birds have gathered over the next hour with the bird not making an appearance. I leave at 3:30 wishing all of them luck.

Blue and Purple

Purple Sandpiper
Point Comfort, TX

On Thursday February 15 I was scheduled to give my talk on the Monotypic Families of Birds at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen. A Blue Bunting was found there on December 30 and since Quinta Mazatlan is was not open the next day I didn't get to chase it for my Big Year. It was still present and now it counts for my Anti-Big Year.

I got there early for my talk and joined a half dozen people on watch for the bunting. I ran into an old friend and we were chatting it up; catching up for a good 40 minutes. My friend had to leave and I moved back over to the main crowd and a couple asked me "Did you see it? it was just here". Doh! maybe tomorrow.

I did my talk and it went well. I got back to Quinta Mazatlan the next morning and there was a couple and third guy there waiting on the bird. After a bit the third guy excused himself to got find a restroom. A large group of Red-winged Blackbirds came in and were noisily chowing down. Suddenly the male of the couple jumped up and started clapping, making all the Red-wings fly off and of course absolutely everything else. I snapped at them "Don't Do That! you scare off everything when you do!" We sat in silence for a bit. The the other guy came back (he was traveling with the couple). The Red-winged Blackbirds drifted back in. Now the guy jumps up clapping! I blew up! I think I might have actually been yelling a little when I said "Don't do that, you're going to ruin it for everyone!" He tried to explain the blackbirds would eat all the seed. I told him the blackbirds and bunting had been existing together for 60 days, The blackbirds weren't going to bother the bunting. In fact the bunting likely uses the blackbirds as an early warning system. If the blackbirds flush, likely nothing is coming out of cover. The woman growled to me "Who died and left you boss"

I almost answered "David Daulphin! that's who" My mentor and great friend David passed away a few years ago, but I could just imagine how he would have reacted to these folks. I have no doubt he would have gone to the office and asked that they be escorted out. I once sat next to him when he told the County Judge from Jefferson County to leave Chambers County and leave the good people of Chambers County alone at a Fish and Wildlife Service open comments meeting. Ah fond memories. I held my tongue, realizing anything else would likely lower my odds of getting this bird.

A Coopers Hawk slashed through at waist height. It got really quit now.

About an hour late I got to call out there it is! It was standing under some bushes, sun making it light up bright blue in places. Blue Bunting was Anti-Big Year Birds #3  I tried to get others on it. Not many did. The clapping threesome didn't I know.

I relocate it from another angle, only really able to see the tail as it perched in the bushes. It disappeared before others could get on it. I tried to relocate it for another 20 minutes before I decided to head out and look for county birds on the way home.

Right as I almost got to Refugio I saw a post that Bob Friedrichs had found a Purple Sandpiper in Point Comfort on the edge of the old causeway. I called Bob right away and found out her was headed back there for pictures and would likely beat me by a few minutes. I rerouted south from Refugio on 774 and was only 44 minutes away according to my trusty GPS.

Bob called me back as I was coming into Port Lavaca to tell me he was back on the bird. I got there in less than 10 minutes. The bird was really close too. I grabbed by camera to shoot some pics and my battery was dead! Still Purple Sandpiper was Anti-Big Year Bird #4. I pulled away and put a fresh battery in the camera and shot close to 300 pics of the bird.

Two review species on the same day 240 miles apart, that's a good day!

Boomerang

On February 2 my friend John O'Brien text me an asked if I was up for a chase for a bird I had already seen. John wanted to chase the Snowy Owl in Odessa, then look for Sagebrush Sparrow. I know the best spot for Sagebrush Sparrow in the state I told John. After getting the go ahead from my ever indulgent wife Donna we set 3 am as the time to leave.

John picked me up at 3 am and we trekked across Texas for the second time less than 10 days for me. We made Odessa before noon and we logged the Snowy Owl at 11:51 into eBird. We jumped on the road setting a course to Dell City and Williams Road, the best place I know for Sagebrush Sparrow.

We passed through Winkler County a new one for me, county 208. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to go through Wink, the boyhood home of Roy Orbison.

By 4 pm CST we were on the Dell City loop, Along the east west portion of the road (FM1576) you can find Sagebrush Sparrow without much trouble and we found at least 7, getting John a technical lifer. He had seen Sage Sparrow before the split and certainly both Bell's and Sagebrush, but had never noted on a list the subspecies so has never counter Sagebrush Sparrow until now. It took us 13 hours and 723 miles but we got both target species. We spent the night in Fort Stockton making our total day 923 miles.

The next morning we birded Imperial Reservoir (from the gate) where there was an impressive amount of waterfowl. We also hit the Fort Stockton Waste Water Treatment Ponds and headed east towards home. John was willing to indulge me in passing through Schleicher County to make 209 counties for me but just 9 species on our drive through.

Elegant Trogon
New Braunfels, TX

Stopping in Junction for a bite to eat on the way home I find the report of the Elegant Trogon in New Braunfels. It came through the Facebook Group "What's this Bird" and was a week old sighting. I told John we could make that diversion and it wouldn't actually cost that much time. We decided though not to press our luck with arrival times we had promised since the bird had not been confirmed recently. It turns out the bird was relocated that evening and we could have likely seen it.

I grew up in New Braunfels and started birding right in Panther Canyon where the Trogon was found. I was in town the day it was found for my dad's birthday. I woke up that day less than a quarter mile from that bird!

Lots of good reports on Monday so I headed for New Braunfels. I called my mom and said "surprise! my next rare bird chase is in New Braunfels and I would be visiting again. I left for New Braunfels Tuesday morning at about 7 am and pulled into Landa Park at 10:30 am.

Lots of folks I know on vigil at the chase site. I find Dennis Cooke and Dan Jones, the two birders I spied across the freeway to locate the Snowy Owl in Odessa. The nature of the birds I will be chasing this Anti-Big Year make me think this won't be the last time I run into these guys at a stakeout.

We spread out on the trail. At 12:21 Dennis calls me that he has the bird and I relay it to Dan and we all converge down the tail on the bird. I get to spend close to 40 minutes watching it feed and getting many photos Elegant Trogon is Anti-Big Year Bird #2 and Texas Bird 548.

I bid everyone good-bye and head to my parents house. Using GPS coordinates from my photos I measure the distance as 1024 feet from my boyhood bed room!

I end my adventures that day with watching the Falcon Heavy test launch of the Tesla Roadster and Starman into space. Its been a pretty darn good day!

Anti Big Year

Ok, chasing birds is more than addicting for me. I can't do a Big Year every year, the marriage and wallet just can't take it. So 2018 will be an Anti-Big Year, I will try and get as many birds that I can that I did not get in 2018. I left only three non-review species on the table in 2017; Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Bridled Tern, and Red-faced Warbler. Other than those it will be review species only for chasing.

The Storm-Petrel and Tern are covered by an early Pelagic, that might have to be a Tuna fishing trip. Red-faced Warbler is my Texas nemesis. Its the only non-review species I've not seen in Texas. The TOS Handbook of Texas Birds lists the spring migration dates for it as April 20 - May 16, and the fall window is July 23 - September 15. The two best sites to check for the Red-faced Warbler are the Chisos Mountains and the Davis Mountains. The Davis Mountains Preserve doesn't have a spring open day that works for that window, but the fall open house does. So my plan is a trip to camp in Boot Springs in the spring. and maybe a second in the fall in conjunction with the Davis Mountains Preserved Open Weekend August 10-12, 2018. Hopefully this year I won't tear up my knee.

Snowy Owl Odessa, TX

January 23, 2018 a Snowy Owl hit eBird in Odessa. Pictures and everything, definitely a good bird. The report was a week old though so I waited with a half formed plan in my mind. The next morning I got word via Facebook that the bird was good, about 9:45 am. I text my wife that it was a good bird and she replied "what's the plan?" I replied that I should be on the road by noon, overnight in Odessa, get the bird in the morning and home for dinner the next day. Her response is it won't take you that long to get on the road. No it won't! I did a quick calculation and I could perhaps make it before dark. Booked a room in Odessa, a change of cloths and grabbed the birding bag. On the road at 10:28 ETA exactly sundown.

My GPS overlords routed be through Austin. Austin at 1 pm is not a go fast zone. I lost time and my ETA was now well after sundown. Have to make up some time. In Llano I gassed up quickly. This was a new route for me so I picked up birds in several new counties as I made my best time possible.

El Gallo from the High Plains branch of the Secret Underground Birders (S.U.B.) messaged me that he was on the way too and we arranged to meet up. Richard Hermosillo also messaged me that he was on the way. They of course beat me by hours and kept urging me to hurry up. I was going as fast as I felt safe. Counties clicked by, McCulloch, Concho, Tom Green, Coke, Sterling, Glasscock, and finally Ector and the outskirts of Odessa. So close but the sun was on the horizon. Richard and El Gallo where still trying to stay on the bird, but it flew and they where searching for it.

Snowy Owl at night, Odessa, TX

Totally dark now I met up with El Gallo, we decided to make a quick look around and call it a night. I pulled into the church parking lot where the bird was seen originally. Richard called me that he had found it perched on top of a restaurant. El Gallo and I raced over. There she was perched on the peak of the building. Snowy Owl Anti-Big Year Bird #1! It was also my 547th Texas Bird. We watched it hunt for a while and eventually I manager a poor but recognizable picture pushing my camera to its limits.

El Gallo and I decided to split a room for the night. I already had reservations that suited El Gallo, cheap! We had dinner and a couple of beers and headed for the hotel. We picked up my car and I got to the hotel well after El Gallo. I guess my first clue that it was a dump was the price. Hotels in the Permian Basin are expensive, like $300 a night for a Best Western. This place was less than $80 but a national chain at least. My second clue was El Gallo was able to check in as me using a credit card with his name on it. My third clue was the woman in the lobby who was complaining the toilet in her room had no seat and the the two people at the front desk were mystified why that was a problem.

I headed up the stairs because the elevator was out of order. covered in mud from work boots I guess. The room was everything the clues suggested it would be, Old tired bed linens, conduit and wires hanging from the ceiling, inept water damage repairs. Oh well I was tired and the bed at least seemed clean.

Cactus Wrens, Crane County

The next morning I got out early and found the owl again by finding the birders. From where I saw it last night I could see two birders with scopes looking at it across the highway back by the church. I hurried over and captured some good images. I racked up a few Ector County birds for my county list and started the trek home, This time the GPS overlords suggested a route south to I10 and down through several new counties for me. The birding was fun and I managed a few good photos and pushed the number of counties I've recorded birds in to 205 counties.

End Game

The year was winding down and opportunity was slipping away. I had to make a final push and see what I could do.

With really only one totally free day left for me in the year I headed to Galveston. Of the none review birds left on my list two would be possible in Galveston. My plan was to hit East Beach then cross over to the Bolivar Peninsula and head around the bay checking all the gull spots for something unusual.

Brown Booby
Texas City Dike

I decided to start my day at the Texas City Dike since it can be a good gull spot and is best early. It was just after sunrise and almost right away I found a Brown Booby! It appeared to have an injured wing. I called the Texas City Animal Control and they said they would come pick it up. About 30 minutes later the Animal Control Officer arrived and she and I looked for it but it had disappeared. I hope that means the bird wasn't really injured.

I got to East Beach about 10 am. Lots of gulls there and a lot of large gulls. The lyrics of the popular birding song "I like big gulls and I can not lie" ran through my head. I scanned through them and found nothing unusual. I noticed lots of ships on the move in the channel and some had good size gull flocks behind them. On the Freeport CBC seawatch we have occasionally have had a jaeger come in with a ship in bound. A ship was making its way inbound many be once every 20 minutes. I see maybe 1 ship a year on the Freeport CBC so a couple of hours here could equal a decade of the seawatch in potential activity. I headed to the end of the seawall where I could have a good view of the channel.

I set up at the Fort San Jacinto Historic Point as the historic marker there call it. It turns out its a very good seawatch spot. The channel comes pretty close to the point and you get a pretty good view with the scope of the passing ship's gull flocks. I see a lot of dark first year Herring Gulls, more than I saw roosting on East Beach and Boddecker Rd telling me I was at least seeing different gulls. It wasn't too long before a Lesser Black-backed Gull made an appearance. Lots more Herring Gulls.

After a couple of hours I saw a small gull in a flock and the dark underwings jumped out at me. I could see the I could make out a small cap and an ear spot, and most importantly no white triangle on the wings. This had to be a Little Gull, Year Bird 503.

Parasitic Jaeger
Left of the Buoy

I figured my good luck for the day was used up, that's two really good birds in a day. Off in the distance I could see another ship inbound. I decided to stay until it passed. As the inbound ship passed another ship outbound two flocks merged. A very dark bird jumped out at me. It was ring-billed gull size and darker then any juvenile Herring Gull. It had a lighter belly and a more narrow tail than the gulls. I could only make this bird into one thing, Parasitic Jaeger and Year Bird 504. I tried a photo, but its just a dark dot way out there.

Two more days left in the year for me. Who knows what could turn up. It would take some fancy footwork on my part to get to some birds now. I have left only two non-review species left on the table. If I get something else this year, its going to be a great bird.

The Man from Uncle

I got some teaser photos while I was getting a tire repaired of a Black-legged Kittiwake I still needed. It was in an exclusive marina. Not just anyone could get in. Bummer is all I could say. I thought maybe sometime this week I could go to public areas near by and hope the bird comes by.

If you've followed my big year you know sometimes the shadowy Secret Underground Birders (SUB) reach out to help me with my big year. SUB is not always in the main stream (They are very upset with adding Hawaii to the ABA list I hear), but they have a soft spot for listers.

I get a call from the Man from Gulls (I'll call him the G-man) in SUB. He knew of my need for a Kittiwake and it just so happens that his Uncle was the Commodore at this marina and he could get us in. I had 45 minutes to get to the location though.

When the phone rang I was about to leave the house to help my wife at her company install a server at her company. I should say my VERY understanding wife who I love VERY much and begged off to go chase another bird (she is very relieved that there are only 12 days left in the year).

Black-legged Kittiwake

I made to the rendezvous with the G-man. The Commodore escorted us to the Marina leading the way in a Cadillac the color of the deep blue sea. The guard at the gate jumped with a snappy salute and allowed us entry when the Commodore approached.

We where in. The Commodore left us to our search and went on to attend to the multiple tasks always awaiting a Commodore of his status. We picked a starting point and started looking at gulls. Not too many around, mostly Brown Pelicans.

Way off on a piling a lone gull sat. I put binoculars on it and I thought maybe. The G-man put more fire power on it with his scope and confirmed this was our target. Black-legged Kittiwake was Year Bird 502.  The bird was amazingly tame. I got pretty close without the bird seeming the least bit alarmed. Photo's all around!

Tomorrow morning the server gets installed. Anymore birds to chase will have to wait until at least Friday

Just too Easy

Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Sanderson, TX

Just about 4 pm yesterday  Lee Hoy sent me a message that there was a Violet-crowned Hummingbird in his yard in Sanderson, TX. Lee also graciously offered me use of his guest house. I started the logistic calculations in my head. If I leave at 4 am I can be there at noon, that woukd give be all afternoon too find it. I'll have to skip the San Bernard CBC (I would definitely miss the gumbo). Yes that would work.

I got to bed early but for some reason I woke up early at 1:30 am. I tossed and turned for an hour before I decided too leave early for Sanderson. An hour head start and I made the 479 mile drive in great time and pulled into Lee's driveway about 10:30 am. I grabbed my camera and binoculars and made a quick pitstop (I drank a lot of coffee on the way!).

As I came back outside I heard and saw a large hummingbird with amazingly loud wingbeats fly over my head and land in the mesquite tree over my head. I got glass on it. All white below, thick red bill with a black tip. Violet-crowned Hummingbird was Year Bird 501! This is one was just too easy.

I realized I could make it home before too late and still make the CBC tomorrow! I hung around till noon and headed for home, but not before snagging a picture of the red T-rex on main street Sanderson. I was just recently reading the not only was it possible that T-rex was a feathered dinosaur, it almost certainly was feathered, could it be counted as 502?

500 Gold at the end of the Rainbow

I got word late Saturday afternoon that Shepdawg had found a Golden-crowned Sparrow at Lake Palo Duro. Lake Palo Duro! I was just there three days ago! Lake Palo Duro 676 miles from my house and ten and half hours drive.

The next morning I got a positive report at 8 am of the bird, actually two birds. Last night I thought Tuesday would be my first chance to chase it. Now I started to formulate a faster plan. If I gave up going to a beer dinner (serious business a beer dinner) and left around midday and spent the night in Pampa I could get a reasonable night sleep and get to the sight close to sunrise on Monday morning.

I got out of town about 12:45 pm a little later than I wanted but still ok. Other than getting rerouted to a surface street in Fort Worth because I missed an exit because of the sun glare I made the 600 mile drive without incident and made the hotel in Pampa a little after 10 pm.

With a sunrise of 7:45 am I was able to get breakfast at the hotel and get on the road for sunrise. Just me and school buses on the road as the sun peaked over the horizon. I have to admit, the panhandle does grow on you after a time.

I pulled into the park by the lake right after sunrise at 7:45 am. The hill where the sparrows were being seen was still in shadow. I had set my GPS to the exact spot Shepdawg had found it. I drove up and saw it was a small line of trees with a log pile behind it. A few small trees lead back into a small ravine.

I had been listening to the call notes in prep for this for a couple of hundred miles. To my ears the call of a Golden-crowned Sparrow sounds much like a Savannah Sparrow and the White-crowned is more of a "plink" and the Golden-crowned a "seeeep". When I got out of the car I will swear I heard that call. The only birds I located was a small group of Dark-eyed Juncos.

Golden-crowned Sparrow
Lake Palo Duro

I watched the sun sweep across the hill in the space of a few seconds. Sparrows started popping up now. A group moved down to the lake shore and I followed. White-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrow. A fair number of American Tree Sparrows. Boy this is the place for for American Tree Sparrow this year.

I worked flocks up the hill and back down. The tumbleweeds slowing my roll, sometimes chest high. I worried that I would have to consider a heard only bird.

After about 35 minutes a bird perched up and I could see it was a chunky bird with no white supercillium. I got glass on it and it turned toward me and I could see the golden crown! Golden Crowned Sparrow was Year Bird 500! Now that's a milestone. I hit 400 species for the year on April 26. It took 229 days for the next 100 birds.

I followed the bird around for a few minutes getting pictures. At one point I thought I had three birds in view at one. Now looking at my pictures I'm not so sure. I'm reasonably certain I was photographing this bird and could hear that "seeep" call note off to my right. All my certain pictures are off the initial bird though so I don't know how many were actually present.

Northern Shrike
Lipcomb County

This chase was 1,410 miles for me. Here's the funny part, Another Golden-crowned Sparrow was found at Warbler Woods near San Antonio, just about 200 miles away. It would have been easier, but I have to admit, 33 hours to the panhandle and back makes a much better story and it's hard to get tired of American Tree Sparrows, Northern Shrikes, and Rough-legged Hawks.

I planned to stop by Lake Marvin and prospect for Trumpeter Swan, but Joe Fischer was there that day ahead of me and had no swans so I headed south via US83 and birded a little in the four counties I still had not been in for the Panhandle, picking up a Northern Shrike outside of Canadian.

Aud the Dinosaur 

You do see some interesting things driving across Texas, like Aud, the Canadian Dinosaur. If it was at least a theropod I might find a way to count it as 501, but alas Aud is a Sauropod and likely cold blooded and unfeathered unlike theropods.

I'm still pushing my count, there are a little more than two weeks left in the year and Christmas counts start this week. I could certainly pick up a few more rarities and I still have three realistic non-review species, Parasitic Jaeger, Black-legged Kittiwake, and Little Gull. A big year is not over until January 1!

Almost there.

Lapland Longspur
Year Bird 499

Bob Friedrichs and I continued our panhandle trip last week. On Wednesday morning we found our first group of longspurs. As it turned out my target wasn't too hard, I was soon able to tick Lapland Longspur as Year Bird 499. I took lots of in flight photos and got some ok flight photos for documentation.

Northern Shrike
Lake Palo Duro.

Bob needed some birds for the year in Texas so we headed up to Lake Palo Duro for Northern Shrike and American Tree Sparrow. I'd never been to Lake Palo Duro and big water is always interesting in the Panhandle. When we got there almost the first bird we found was Northern Shrike. We spent a few minutes letting it make its rounds while we waited for a photo opportunity.

We continued and checked a line of brushy trees and sound a found a flock of American Tree Sparrows. These birds were not this easy back in January when I was chasing them!

Our plan was to work our way up to Texline and bird Thompson Grove in the morning. one the way Bob wanted to check a site where a few weeks ago Rusty Blackbirds has been found. We pulled up and the site was pretty dead. A few juncos and a pair of Great Horned Owls present. I lectured on how Rusty Blackbirds wouldn't stay in a site like this. Then I heard a squeaky call and three Rusty Blackbirds popped up in view. Amazing. a few miles way at a similar site we found another dozen Rusties.

American Tree Sparrow
Thompson Grove

The next day we made the Thompson Grove east of Texline in Dallam county at sunrise. The car thermometer read 8 degrees. Once the sun warmed things up sparrows got active. American Tree Sparrow was easily the most common. We figured more than 20 birds present. Oh and another Northern Shrike.

Heading back into Dalhart we saw and estimated 50 Common Ravens. We saw several groups up to eight. I'm kicking myself now. I wonder of these ravens are part of the montane invasion. Could there have been a Black-billed Magpie out there waiting to be found? We looked as we drove but made no active search. I feel like that was a mistake.

Making tracks we made Lake Arrowhead near Wichita Falls with enough light to look for a Red-necked Grebe. Not much grebe action on the lake, but Bonaparte's Gulls were present in numbers. From a park on the east side of the lake I saw a small gull that seemed to have dark underwings and no white triangle. Bob could not locate the bird though when he looked. It was getting dark and the bird was distant. We raced to the dam hoping the bird was heading that way but we found only more Bonoparte's. Did I find a Little Gull? it would be bird 500 for the year. I replayed what I saw over and over in my head. I looked a videos of Little Gull in flight with Bonoparte's. I would need to think on this one.

I would drive 1200 miles...

Last week Bob Friedrichs and I planned a trip to the Texas Panhandle to look for longspurs. I still need Lapland Longspur for the year and Bob need all the other panhandle ones and a few other specialties of the panhandle. Of course a Green-breasted Mango showed up Saturday afternoon at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen.

Since the bird was being seen Sunday and the site was open special for it on Monday we changed plans slightly. We would leave two hours earlier and try to get to Quinta Mazatlan by 9 am. That meant I would leave my house by 3 am and meet Bob at 5 am in Palacios.

That part of the plan worked. We made it to the site by 9:15 am. Of course Bill Sain informed me as soon as we got there that the bird was seen at 8:30 am briefly. It looked like from the reports from the day before that the bird came in about every 60-90 minutes. No reason to panic yet. We settled in for a good old fashion stakeout. There was a good crowd there and lot of friends I knew so it was a party.

Green-breasted Mango
Quinta Mazatlan

At about 10 am someone said "there it is" The crowd went wild, well quietly wild. It did sound like a presidential press conference with cameras. Green-breasted Mango was Year Bird 497. It hung around for 5 minutes and was gone. Time to fly, Pampa our destination was 11 hours away. We were on the highway by 10:25 am I noted.

About the time we got almost to Alice, TX about 100 miles north Eric Carpenter sent me a message asking if I had heard about the Tundra Swans at the Fort Worth Nature Center. A little back and forth with Eric and some discussion between Bob and I on logistics and we decided to divert to Fort Worth for the night. We couldn't make it before closing but could be there when they opened at 8 am Tuesday morning.

On the way to Fort Worth I got a report from Eric Clum that a kayaker spooked the birds deep into the marsh. No one relocated them before closing. We could only cross our fingers and hope for the best.

By the time we got to our hotel I had covered 880 miles. Bob drove 760 of those. As we settled in Bob checked his eBird alerts and saw that there was a Pacific Loon at Lake Benbrook. That wasn't far and we could check it at sunrise and still make the Nature Center in good time.

We got to the lake nice and early and started scanning around the dam area where it was seen. No loons at all. We had basically decided to move and check around the point when Bob saw something he wanted to get a better look at. Sure enough, there was the Pacific Loon for a Year Bird for Bob. We headed for the Nature Center, just 19 minutes on our eBird checklist.

Tundra Swans
Fort Worth Nature Center

We made it to the Nature Center by 8:30 am. We birded for the swans for about 60 minutes when I got a text message from Bill Edwards that he had the swans. We hurried over to Bill's location and there they were feeding calmly in the marsh. Tundra Swan was Year Bird 498. Time to fly. We hoped to make it in range of longspurs before it got dark.

We made it to Lake McClellan with about 20 minutes of light. No luck on the longspurs reported there, but we did pick up some Mountain Bluebirds for a new Texas bird for Bob.

We made our hotel in Pampa about 6 pm. We have covered 1250 miles since I left my house Monday at 3 am. Tomorrow we're going to find some longspurs!

Luck of the Irish

I am part Irish, my grandmother's maiden name was O'leary from Chicago afterall. I'm due some good luck. I had planned to stay home Tuesday morning but running through my email I saw an eBird alert from my friend John at Sabine Woods that he had a late Eastern Whip-poor-will the day before. I can't pass up a make up opportunity so close to home and jumped in the car and headed out.

Between Winnie and Port Arthur it started to rain pretty hard, hard enough that I considered pulling over. Driving about 50 MPH I surfed on. Then right in front of me a dumpy, rounded winged no tail bird with a long bill flew across the road. I guess ponding water flushed it. American Woodcock was now Year Bird 495! I'll take good luck when I can.

I got to Sabine Woods a little after 9 am since its close to two hours from my house. As I was gathering up my gear John pulled up and said "I thought I might see you here". Indeed, my last chance for this bird for sure.

Late Broad-winged Hawk at Sabine Woods

We check the area where where he had the bird the day before. No luck. Then a bird calling confused me, it seemed so out of place. I asked "am I hearing a Great Kiskadee?" John  confirmed one had been present since July and was being at least heard regularly on the adjacent property. Pretty cool and a new county bird for me.

We kept looking. Hermit Thrushes and Golden-crowned Kinglets being very vocal. We flushed a nightjar, but the size and all dark shape clearly showed it to be a Chuck's-will-widow. John remarked that could be the latest Chuck's record for Sabine Woods.

We looped the place, covering a mile by eBird. No luck. John had to leave and I was alone and decided to make another pass through the southwest corner. This time a small nightjar flushed from a chest high branch. I got a glimpse of pale tail corners. I got a five second look at it perched and it had a gray crown. Then it was gone. Now that was lucky, a late Eastern Whip-poor-will as Year Bird 496! add in the woodcock and this been a great day!

So that leaves just Tundra Swan, Parasitic Jaeger, Little Gull, and Lapland Longspur as realistic Non-review birds left. Greg Cook has been up in the Panhandle finding what seems like a lot of Lapland Longspurs so that's a good possibility to chase next. So little time left, but the year is not over until January 1st.

Epilogue - so Thanksgiving evening I was sitting in the backyard enjoying the mild evening with the family and low and behold an American Woodcock flies over. Crazy how that happens

The Grind

Slim pickings right now. Just not many birds to find. The montane invasion out west seems to have leveled off and the Tamaulipas Crows in the Rio Grande Valley so far have not been the vanguard of an eruption from the south. No choice but to grind on looking for the six remaining non-review species that I feel like I have a chance for.

Monday November 20th had me heading east to check a site in Chambers County that usually yields walk up American Woodcocks for the Old River CBC. Damn my luck the county is "improving" the park and that area was full of heavy equipment. No reason to stop.

Great Horned Owl
Hooks Woods, High Island TX

I worked my way down the coast, cruising through Anahuac NWR just because. I hit Hooks Woods in High Island next and worked the back area where the Bolivar Peninsula CBC sometimes gets American Woodcock. No luck but I did flush a Great Horned Owl.

On the Bolivar Peninsula I found a shrimp boat in close and caught up to it and started scanning the decent sized gull flock behind it. I must have scanned at least 50 boats like this year. This time there was a larger bird that looked darker chasing through the Laughing Gulls. I watched it for sometime looking for a definitive view. The belly was definitely paler and it was definitely darker and larger than the Laughing Gulls. Finally I was able to see what I needed, the pale in the underside of the primaries that let me call this a Pomarine Jaeger for Year Bird 494. Onward

Rollover Pass had birds but nothing uncommon for the day, more terns than gulls. On Tuna Road at the now giant hole that swallowed by car in March I was able to see my first of season Bonoparte's Gull chasing a barge in the Inter Coastal Canal. That might be a strategy for Little Gull in my end game, posting up on the canal and watching the flocks behind barges. They seem to have large number of Bonoparte's and maybe a Little Gull would join them.

Barn Owl
Bolivar Flats

When I passed the Barn Owl box on the way to the Bolivar Flats I could see the resident owl's head sticking out. With a scope I could see something small and light moving around behind it, so I'm guessing there are owlets in the box too, or at least one.

Other than a flyby gull that I thought could have been the Great Black-backed Gull from last week there was nothing rare on the flats. I did find a load of Piping Plovers, 18 in total and 6 of them were banded.

"White-over-Green" banded in 2012 on the Bolivar Flats

I've been having a good time looking for banded Piping Plovers and have found several. I report all of them if I have enough information and have started a spreadsheet to track them. If there are numbers on the leg flag I try my best to get it, but you can't always see it. Click here to see my spreadsheet.  I'm hoping my spreadsheet will help identify bird if you can't read the number on the flag (not all flags have numbers either) So far my oldest bird is a 5 year old bird.

Time to head home. I'll be back on the coast soon.

Hook Me Up

View from the tower

I'm running out of birds. I started the week with just seven non-review species that I have realistic chances of getting. I need a bunch of review species to pop up in these last six weeks of the year. For those who don't know what I mean by a review species lets review. From the Texas Bird Record Committee Bylaws "In general, the Review List will consist of species that have occurred within Texas and adjacent ocean four or fewer times per year in each of the ten years immediately preceding revision of the Review List. By majority vote of quorum at a meeting, the Committee may, as it sees fit, add other species to the Review List, such as those whose identification is difficult."

If my math is correct there are 488 species on the non review list. These are the birds known to occur in Texas and don't meet the criteria above. It means those are the birds that with a little luck you should be able to get and should expect to get. So far four have slipped by me and I don't think I have a chance to make up.

In the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) the top of the list is Hook-billed Kite. I have already put in about 3 half days looking. Hook-billed Kite is regular but unpredictable in the RGV and you either have to get luckyor just put in the time and pay your dues for it.

Friday morning I had about an hour on the Santa An NWR Observation tower with when conditions got rainy and foggy enough that I figured no raptor in its right mind would be up and about. I came down from the tower and got word a few minutes later of the Tamaulipas Crows at the Brownsville Landfill.

Saturday morning I was back with no luck, Better weather but not great weather. A local school group joined me on the tower led by the ranger. Fascinating to see how excited they were to have a view of Mexico. Some confessed to having never seen Mexico. Most confessed to having never seen the existing border wall. It was good to be reminded how lucky I am to get to see so much of Texas.  Too soon I had to head for the festival.

Green Jay
Estero Llano Grande SP

It was foggy again and I started the day at Estero Llano Grande State Park nearby waiting for the weather to improve. Just the usual suspects but a great place to while away the time. Weather improved and I headed for Santa Ana NWR making it to the tower a few minutes after 9 am. Plenty of festival folks about to keep me company. It actually got sunny and I had a fair number of raptors up and about. Plenty of distant raptors to study. Cooper's Hawk, Northern Harrier, and White-tailed Hawk. Harris Hawks have kinda paddle shaped wings and I got hopeful on several distant Harris Hawks until their distinctive white rump showed.

I had been alone about an hour and I would have to leave soon. A distant rapture soared. I got the scope in it. No white on the rump ruling out Harrier and Harris Hawk. Broad paddle shaped wings eliminated accipiters and harrier, Rounded wings eliminate most buteos, especially the White-tailed Hawks that had been around. Add in the pointy looking head, the forward thrust of the wings beyond the head and it really adds up to one thing. Hook-billed Kite was Year Bird 493. Another bird that I can only feel a great sense of relief to get

.

Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival Field Trip
Santa Ana NWR

So now there are six non-review species left for me in the state. Tundra Swan, American Woodcock, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Little Gull, and Lapland Longspur are what's left on the plate for me. Call me if you find them!

To the Dump, to Dump, to the dump dump dump...

Tamaulipas Crow
Brownsville Landfill

The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival in Harlingen has a habit of turning up some rare birds. There was no doubt in my mind its where I needed to be this week.

Sunday before the festival got going on Wednesday a pair of Tamaulipas Crows were found on South Padre Island. By the time I made it to Harlingen on Wednesday the pair had been sighted twice more on the mainland, always miles apart but each time closer to the Brownsville Landfill. The Dump as birders affectionately call it was until the 1990's the only reliable spot to see these crows. But they disappeared from there and haven't been there for more than a decade.

Wednesday I drove slowly around the neighborhood they were last seen in. For some reason the Foghat song "Slow Ride" got into my head only with new lyrics "Crow ride, They ain't easy..." No luck on the crows.

Aplomado Falcon
Old Port Isabel Road

Thursday morning before the festival and went back out. After my crow ride through the neighborhood I cruised a bit down the Old Port Isabel Road. This is the classic spot to see Aplomado Falcon. This never happens to me, but today a pair of Aplomado Falcons perched on the fence right next to road and I had my camera ready. I soaked up as many shots and they would tolerate. No crows and it was time too head to the festival.

Since there had been no reports on Thursday of the the crows I decided to spend some time looking for Hook-billed Kite at Santa Ana NWR. I was the only one there at sunrise, not  a car to be seen. I was on the tower shortly after 7 am. Weather continued to degrade, getting foggier and wetter. Spooky no one around yet, not even border patrol. After an hour and slowly wetter and wetter conditions I called it quits. I headed to Estero Llano Grande SP to kill some time under cover on the deck.

Dump Selfie

As I was pulling in to the parking lot I got a message that the crows were at the Brownsville Landfill. Crow Ride, Take it Easy (the the speed that is). To the Dump, the dump, to the dump, dump, dump! I made it to the Dump about 10:15 am. The birds had disappeared a few minutes before I had arrived. I decide it was a party and hung out with 50 if my newest closest crow fan friends. The crowd slowly dwindled and after 2.5 hours it was just two of us there.

Getting close to the 3 hours mark Jesse Huth showed up to make it three.  I commented to Jesse his fresh eyes would help. Jesse had not been there 10 minutes when he said "Is that it on the fence" Sure enough, there on the fence was one of the Tamaulipas Crows for Year Bird 492. A second popped up into view. We got the word out and we waited for folks to return. After an hour I handed the crow baton to someone else and headed to the festival.

Alert readers may note that this should be year bird 293, but I'm showing 292. Too many questions are coming up on the Costa's Hummingbird and I just don't feel good about having it on the list, so I'm dropping my count by one. With some luck another will show up.

Here Chickie chickie chickie

Attwater's Greater Prairie-Chicken

Greater Prairie-chicken is one of the weirder birds you can count in Texas. In 2014 the ABA checklist committee decided that Greater Prairie-Chickens at the Attwater's Prairie-Chicken National Wildlife Refuge are countable. So this is a gimme bird, sorta.

There are two ways to see this bird. One is to drive the newly expended tour loop at the refuge and hope to get lucky. The new loop is very good, but eBird shows you have about a 10% chance of seeing a prairie-chicken on the loop. I've made about 7 trips this year with no luck. My last trip through in October someone reported one about an hour after I was there.

The other way to see one is to sign up for the tour the refuge gives the first Saturday of the month. You have a much better chance of seeing a chicken on this tour. There were two tours left this year and I was able to get on the November tour. Its not a sure thing but your odds are much greater than 10%

I got in about midnight from my trip to the panhandle. The tour meets at 7:45 am so I got less than 6 hours of sleep after I got back from my panhandle trip. On way my car started making a loud dragging noise. I pulled over and investigated. On my way home from Canyon an 18-wheeler threw some tread in front of me and I hit it. I didn't think any harm had been done, but now I could see it had damaged a plastic guard under the front of my car. It seemed mostly intact but had come loose and was dragging. I pulled it off and threw it in the hatchback hoping I could reattach it later.

On the tour I ended up in the back of the van. A big year doesn't require a spectacular view, just an identifiable view so no problem.

The tour is really not a birding tour although the tour does try and find Prairie-Chickens. It is more about the effort to restore and preserve the native prairie there. What you get to see is pretty spectacular if you have an eye for prairie. The new expanded tour loop is good, but this is even better.

We had been going a while and a hawk was called a Red-tailed and flew close. I realized the was wrong the large white wing patches proved it was a Ferruginous Hawk, a new county bird for me.

We continued. Finally the we spied my target. Out the front windshield was a lone Greater Prairie-Chicken for Year Bird 492. I got some poor shots out from the back. At this point they are all good!

After the tour I headed home, ready for a long nap! Next week is the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and with some luck I can get a few more birds there

You Win Some, You Lose Some

A member of the Tribe forwarded a report of a Varied Thrush in Canyon, TX that was found by Ray Matlack. Ray is the director of Texas Wild, https://www.facebook.com/TexasWildEdu. He was looking out the back door right as he had to go give a class lecture and saw the thrush and was able to get a few shots of a male Varied Thrush. How cool is that?

Red-breasted Nuthatch

As luck would have it, I had been introduced to Ray just a few weeks ago by a mutual Facebook friend. I reached out to Ray and he extended me an invitation to camp out in his back yard and look for the thrush. Of course this was the last game of the World Series and I  had to cut my evening short and get some sleep, still I dozed with the TV on and actually woke up in time to see the last out of the game and see the Astro's win.

Up at 3:30 am and in the car by 3:45 I was on the road to Canyon, 635 miles the GPS said. I topped off the tank and grabbed a burrito at Buc-ee's in Madisonville. Until the sunrise somewhere navigating around the Metroplex I was cursing the Astros, feeling the lack of sleep. After the sunrise I felt better.

West of Fort Worth I  started to move through counties I had never birded before and started racking up some new county birds as I drove. Wichita, Wilbarger, Hardeman, Childress, Hall, and Donley all new counties for me to pass through in the daylight and I added some ticks to my Century Club totals. The Century Club and SirusXM radio are what keep me alert on a big year drives.

I arrived about 2 pm and Ray showed me the lay out. I pulled up a chair and settled in for a wait. Not much activity, I only tallied 5 species by 5 pm. I was beat and arranged with Ray to return in the hopefully more active morning. I drove around the neighborhood trying not to look suspicious as I peeped into everyone's yard with no success. I headed to my room and fell asleep early.

Sunrise was 8.04 am so I could sleep in to 7 am. I felt woefully out of shape as the college regional crossfit games were in town and the the breakfast room at the hotel was filled with super fit college kids.

Back at Ray's after a quick drive around the neighborhood again I settled in. Things were pretty slow until recess at the Elementary School across the street. When the wild indians came out to play it pushed a lot of robins into Ray's yard. No thrush yet though.

Red-tailed Hawk, Hall County

I tried playing some Varied Thrush calls. One time when it stopped I heard what sounded like a response, but only one. I tried again and there it was again! I thought it might be about to come in. I tried again and I realized one of the teachers across the street has a whistle that sound remarkably like a Varied Thrush, waa, waa, waaaaa.

I called it quits about noon and bid Ray good bye and thanked him for the opportunity. You win some and  you lose some. I told Ray if it was a guarantee you'd get the bird every time it wouldn't be so much fun to chase.

It was a long drive home, but I had a date with an Attwater's Prairie-Chicken to keep tomorrow!