Once Upon a Time in What was Old Mexico.

Started Friday with two major targets, Crissal Thrasher and Gambel's quail. Our first stop was the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. Both birds were found along the canal as we drove up to the park. Gambel's Quail was a lifer too. Those two plus the Harris Hawks made for year birds 203 before got to the parking lot.

We spent the next couple of hours walking the trail at Rio Bosque. Rio Bosque is built on land that surrounds the old channel of the Rio Grande River. In the 1930's the river was channelized and straightened and a new International Boundary was set. Most of this park is on land that was in Mexico 80 years ago. The park goes right up against the border wall now.

Due to construction the wetlands have not been flooded yet for the winter. In fact water has been scarce the last few years and the park has not had much water. Our day list shows that, Gambel's Quail, Crissal Thrasher, Verdin, and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher are not wetlands species. For many the highlight was the pair of nesting of White-tailed Kites.

Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is build right against the border wall in El Paso Texas

We also had many Cooper's Hawks there for species 204.

After the park we went to the Jonathan Rogers Water Treatment Plant. The settling ponds there were absolutely packed with ducks.  We counted 16 species of waterfowl including new year birds Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal for 206 species for the year. Other good stuff there where Common Merganser, Redhead, Ross's Goose and American Avocet.

Our next stop was Lake Asacarte Park and more of the same species. While there I ran into John Berner who mentioned he was headed to a stakeout Lewis's Woodpecker. I begged off the field trip and bummed a ride with John. Less that 20 seconds after getting to the sight we found the Lewis's Woodpecker I'm a cottonwood. Species 207.

While searching a neighborhood in the upper valley of El Paso for a Band-tailed Pigeon, I got offered a tour of some of the neighborhood hotspots by Jim Paton. he took me to the Keystone Heritage Park where Yellow-headed Blackbirds were coming in to roost in numbers for species 208 for the year.

So was this a Baird's Sparrow

One of John's target birds for the trip was Baird's Sparrow and who can say know to stomping around in the grass when its 28 degrees? Actually by the time we got around to stomping through the grass the temperature was up into the high 40's so not that bad.

Our target Baird's Sparrow habitat, site of the first bird we flushed.

So we spied a likely stand of grass out on 118 in the Davis Mountains that we saw a good number of sparrow in, Chipping and Rufous-crowned mostly. We walked down one side of the road, then crossed over headed back to the car through the grass on the other side of the road.

Bingo! a sparrow flushed from the grass. White-tail corners, streaky back, very pale, like the color of the dried grass. It flew and dove in the grass, kinda typical of Ammodramus sparrow behavior. We were able to flush this bird two more times not really getting a better look, but not finding anything to contradict Baird's Sparrow.

So was this a Baird's Sparrow?

We tried another site, no luck. We continues down the road, turning south on 166 and about a mile and quarter south we found another good looking stand. Very quickly we flushed another bird. This time I was ready with the camera, but the bird was faster and while I took many shots I didn't get much bird. Left is the most bird like shot. It looks much dark here than it did in the field.

So did we have two Baird's Sparrows today? We did have two very Ammodramous acting sparrows, that were light colored, with streaked backs, white tail corners, very cryptic, in the right kind of habitat. Something to think about, but it didn't make the year list. Funny I looked at my copy of Beadle's Sparrows of the United States and Canada: The Photographic Guide before this trip and said to myself "naw you won't need that".

It was a good day for me in terms of meeting my goals. I did get my target of 11 new year birds and reached 200 species.

Western Bluebird of Happiness - Lawrence E Woods Picnic Area - Davis Mountains

You never get chances like this to photograph a Lark Bunting!

Western Meadowlark - "Does this fence post make me look fat?"

Where the Rubber Doesn't Meet the Road...

Clark's Grebe at Lake Balmorhea, TX

Today was the start of the big west Texas trip as part of the TOS meeting in El Paso. my friend John O'Brien and I left Houston at 1 am and headed west on I10. 10 am found us pulling into Balmorhea, TX. We gassed up for the rest of the day and headed for Lake Balmorhea, Almost immediately we found a Clark's Grebe coming only a few feet from the car. Over the next few hours we dug up as many birds as we could here, with an adult California Gull being perhaps the best bird. There were no Western Grebes we could find, a disappointment. We spend quit a lot of time looking through spotting scopes with no luck.


Over all it was a cold a dreary day, by the time we left the area it had risen to 35 degrees by 1 pm, the warmest we would see all day.

John scans Lake Balmorhea at just above freezing from the dam

Turns out Lake Balmorhea is NOT where the rubber meets the road, at least not when you drive the road opposite the same at Lake Balmorhead. Take a look at that tire, we a rind of more than an inch of sticky, slippery mud on the tires. I felt like Hermann Munster walking in my boots in similar condition. 

Finally heading for the Davis Mountains we decided to make a quick stop at the Wild Rose Pass Picnic Area. The place was very birdy, with three towhees, Green, Canyon, and Spotted Towhee; and three wrens, House, Rock, and Canyon; Scaled Quail, and several species of sparrows. We counted 23 species in just a 20 minute stop.

Two Dark-eyed Junco Subspecies in the Davis Mountains

When we finally made it The Lawrence W Woods Picnic area on 118, it was 3 pm and really quit. I mean, no sound at all quit, no vehicle noises, no wind noises, and no bird noises. We beat the bushes for a while and managed several new year birds for me, and found a large number of Chipping Sparrow and Dark-eyed Juncos coming to seeps along the creek. 

I got a lot of good pictures today. I can't say enough about how I'm loving this new Canon EF 300mm F4 IS lens I got right before Christmas. 

Today added 25 species to my total for 2015, bringing me to 189. I'm crossing my fingers that I get to 200 tomorrow. The game plan is to hit the Lawrence E Woods Picnic area again early, maybe stop in at the state park for their feeders, then head for El Paso via the Valintine. We're going to bed after 20 hours on the road and birding with dreams finding a Baird's Sparrow.

Secret Underground Birders or SUB

When you try to do big things sometimes people you never expected reach out to you to help. Friday afternoon I got a call from an agent of SUB, the Secret Underground Birders, let's just call him "Feather Throat". He told me to follow the birdseed. He told me a Silver-backed Wup-de-do was being seen at an undisclosed location in the yard of a man recently retired form "The Company". This man valued his privacy but if I wanted to see the Silver-backed Wup-de-do he would pass my name on to Mr. X who would  arrange a meeting with the mysterious gentleman.

I agreed to the conditions and a few minutes later I got the following text message. "Will meet you at 8 am Sunday.  Come into the Smallville HEB and park in the lot near the gas pumps. I will be in a black SUV.  See you there". I confirmed the meeting.

I left early Sunday after stopping at Huc-ee's for a cup of joe and a taco. I arrived about 30 minutes early and settled in to wait for Mr. X. Right on time the SUV pulls up beside me and Mr. X tells me "Grab your stuff and I'll take you to the bird".

Mr. X told me the gentleman doesn't want any trouble but was willing to help and again reiterated that if I knew what was good for me I would not reveal the location and identity of anyone involved. Mr. X seemed like a guy who could make that a reality.

After winding along back roads in the rain and cold for some time we came to a guard on the side of the road. A few words were exchanged with Mr. X and we were permitted to pass.

We arrived at stately house. Mr. X relayed that the gentleman would not be joining us but we were going to stand under the large tree and wait for the Silver-backed Wup-de-do to. Did I mention it was 45 degrees and that it was raining pretty hard, and there was lightning?

We spent the next 40 minutes making small talk about what happens in SUB. Turns out SUB works on a need to know basis only and most SUB agents don't know much other than their feathered charges. Each drop of rain seemed to drum on my new Frogg Toggs rain gear. With little fanfare Mr. X said "It's here" and there it was, the Silver-backed Wup-De-Do preened and posed for a couple of minutes then slipped away. It was over but I had ticked off review species number 2.

(Parts of this story are true, I did have a cup of coffee and a taco on my wait to the meeting, and it was raining and 45 degrees under the tree, and I did pick up a review species and a new life bird for my big year this morning. I did get some pictures of the Silver-backed Wup-de-do, when I get the all clear I'll post the pictures. Special thanks to some thoughtful people who made this happen for me today).

A note about the year so far, even though its only day 11 of the year, its been raining almost every day I've had the chance to bird. I picked up some new rain gear recently and I can't be more pleased with my Frogg Toggs. This rain gear is a breathable but at a fraction of the cost of any other breathable rain gear I've priced. I got a complete rain suite for about a third of the price of a GoreTex jacket. I've been completely try in them the whole time.

Woo are you...

So today I decided to try and knock off the rest of my "Eastern" owls. So up at 3:30 am, out of the house by 4 am, and on site in Chamber's County by 5:20 am. I routinely owl this area for the Bolivar CBC and so I have some favorite sites, but that's with special permission to be in Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge before it opens. The refuge is not open to birders until 1 hour before sunrise. Sunrise today was 7:15, so I was not able to enter the refuge until 6:15 am today.

At about 5:20 am I pulled up to the entrance road on FM 1985. The plan was to work FM 1985 until the refuge was open at 6:15 am right at the entrance there was a Barn Owl on a fence post. Owl species 2 for the year. I had about a dozen owls on FM 1985 on December 18, 2014 along this road, but that was under excellent conditions and starting about 90 minutes earlier. Barn Owls go to bed early and start to get hard to find an hour before sunrise. Conditions were also not great, wet and cold with no moon. Over the next 45 minutes I was only able to find one Eastern  Screech-Owl, but hey, that was owl species number 4.

When it became time to enter the refuge I headed in and set up about 30 minutes before sunrise at the northern end of the Yellow Rail Prairie with the scope and started scanning.By sunrise I had found 3 Short-eared Owls working over the prairies.

Most of the time there is a Great Horned Owl roosting in the Jackson Prairie Woodlot, but not today, So I dipped on the easiest owl, but I'm not sweating that yet, lots of opportunities for Great Horned in the next 11.5 months!

I had to be Liberty Texas at 10 am, so I had only until 9 am to look for the Anna's Hummingbird in High Island. By the time I made it to High Island I only had 15 minutes to look for it! Fortunately the bird made a brief appearance five minutes after I got there. I waited until I had to leave with no opportunity for picture I'm afraid.

After my meeting in Liberty, TX it began to rain and so yawning from lack of sleep I headed home.

Still not a bad day with 4 out of 5 target birds found.

Tomorrow's targets, Greater Pewee, Allen's Hummingbird, and Rufus Hummingbird.

End of my CBC Season

Yesterday (1/4/2015) was the New Braunfels CBC. Sparrows were a focus and I did pretty well. I was able to knock out most of my winter "central Texas" sparrows and I can start target birding for some of the tougher ones close to hope. Another great bird was Zone-tailed Hawk, a bird that could be ellusive depending on were I am during the breeding season.

December 2014-January 2015 Henslow's Sparrow in eBird.org

Ammodramus sparrows are a big hole I need to fill quick. I still need Grasshopper, Baird's (Review Species), Henslow's, Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrow. Baird's and Henslow's will be a hard nut to crack. Henslow's is scarcer than usual this year, There is only on report in Texas for this season and its in Henderson County and what looks like private property.

eBird.org's new Target Species tool I think will be very useful this year. It allows you to put in a location and month and it will give you a list of prioritized targets from most likely to unlikely for the location and month for your year list. Sounds very handy for not forgetting something and prioritizing my birding.

January Sites for Common Gallinule in eBird.org

For example I will have some time in Chambers County next Saturday morning. The top 5 species on the eBird target list for my year list are: Common Gallinule, Blue-winged Teal, White-faced Ibis, and White-tailed Kite. You can click on the map link and get a map of the sites the bird has been reported from.

The other tool that I will be using a lot is the Texas Ornithological Society Birdseye App. This FREE app will show you what species have been reported to eBird.org near you. There are both iOS (iPhone) and Android versions. It will even give you a map to where the birds have been reported.

So after the CBC season I'm at 148 species. Not impressive for 4 days in Texas, but I was trying to lay down a decent "base" for the rest of the month. Next weekend I'll be hitting some target species east of Houston, especially owls. I shouldn't have much trouble with Barn, Great Horned, and Eastern Screech-Owls. Sunday I will likely be looking for the Greater Pewee in Bear Creek Park (Harris County). Let's hope for good weather.

Getting Started...

Since it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to spend my time running up a list of Upper Texas Coast birds that will be here all year long I've started out the year working on quality and not quantity. As of this moment I'm at 123. Unfortunately A few things have fizzled out, but there are some successes.

January 1, 2015 I got out and went looking for gulls. The targets were Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gull, Thayer's Gull, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, and California Gull. All of these birds had been seen by a group I was in on December 30, 2014. There is a landfill at Cedar Point in Chambers County that attracts large numbers of gulls and a lot loaf in the area around the landfill. I decided to try and locate some these goodies. The landfill was closed for the holiday and there were very few gulls around. I only located Lesser Black-backed Gull of the targets, and this has essentially become a "trash bird" where ever large gull congregate. I picked up nothing I can't go out and get on demand in the area during the winter. I'm going to chalk it up to paying my dues on time with gulls.

Old River CBC 1/2/2015 3:30 pm fog and drizzle, 45-50 degrees

January 2, 2015 and I was out on Lost River on the Old River CBC at 5:30 am in a boat headed up the river. Before sunrise we were parked listening for owls and got several American Woodcock coming in to roost and several calling Barred Owls. 

This section of the Old River CBC gets permission to bird from the levee that forms Dalton Lake, formerly know as the HLP Cooling Pond. This deep warm clear water lake attracts good numbers of diving ducks. We were hoping for a scoter, but only had Common Goldeneye, Canvasback, and Horned Grebe. Horned Grebe can be hard to turn up on demand so I'll take that.

Next stop was a set of ponds for a private hunt club and here we found Greater Scaup, sometimes a tricky bird to find. Out on the bay we found another four Lesser Black-backed Gulls (see I told you trash birds), plus Marbled Godwit and a rare for the county Piping Plover. The plover was actually a new county bird for me so I was very pleased with that.

I had queried Tim Fennell about where to find Mountain Plover and Burrowing Owl in Williamson County and in a stroke of luck Tim was leading the "plover patrol" for the CBC on January 3, 2015 and offered to take me along. So it was up at 3:30 am to met Tim by 7:30 am at the Sore Finger WMA. By 8 am we had found both Burrowing Owl and Mountain Plover. One of those in the patrol with us, Sam Fason, mentioned that the Brown Booby found in September at Windy Point on Lake Travis was seen by time yesterday. At lunch I headed out for Lake Travis.

Brown Bobby - Lake Travis 1/3/2015

Once at Lake Travis I scanned the lake with no luck and while waiting for the booby to show up I struck up a conversation with another birder there looking, while we were chatting he shouts "Booby!" its it passing at eye level not 75 feet from us! During the next 90 minutes I saw the Brown Booby 3 more times and managed a few poor pictures.

Tomorrow is the New Braunfels CBC. There is a Calliope Hummingbird being seen in the count circle, I was trying to get to see it today, but the times just didn't work out. I'll especially work on sparrows tomorrow and try and knock out as many of the central Texas sparrows as I can. Other birds I'm hoping for are Say's Phoebe, Shorteared Owl, and Spotted Towhee. Black Phoebe and Green Kingfisher are also possible. Wish me luck, I need to get some sleep now.