Author Archives: Laura Erickson

February 22: Heading to Zapata

We spent the morning at Quinta Mazatlan, Hidalgo, and Anzalduas County Park, then took an afternoon drive to Zapata via Peñitas, Roma, Salineño, and the library pond. This was the first of 2 nights at Holiday Inn Express, Zapata.

Mallard
Mottled Duck
Bufflehead
Plain Chachalaca
* Northern Bobwhite
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Harris’s Hawk
* Gray Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Merlin
* Prairie Falcon
Prairie Falcon
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Rock Pigeon
Red-billed Pigeon
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
White-tipped Dove
Monk Parakeet
Monk Parakeet
Green Parakeet
Eastern Screech-Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
* Black-chinned Hummingbird
* Ringed Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
* Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Great Kiskadee
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Green Jay
Tree Swallow
* Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Clay-colored Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Long-billed Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
* Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
* Northern Parula
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Black-throated Gray Warbler
Olive Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
* Western Tanager
* Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Altamira Oriole
* Audubon’s Oriole
Audubon's Oriole (well, parts of him, anyway)
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

70 species for day, 13 new for year, 270 for year)

February 21: More Rio Grande Valley birding

We spent the day visiting Harlingen City Lake, FM 106, Laguna Atascosa NWR, Progreso Lakes, and Santa Ana NWR

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck (Kim Eckert estimated 5,000, and it sure looked like that many to me, at Progresso Lakes.)
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
(non-countable Muscovy Ducks)
Gadwall
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Plain Chachalacas
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
* White-faced Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Harris’s Hawk
Harris's Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk with prey, an American Coot
Crested Caracara
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Solitary Sandpiper
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
White-tipped Dove
White-tipped Dove
* Monk Parakeet
Green Parakeet
Eastern Screech-Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Northern Beardless Tyrannulet
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Great Kiskadee
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Green Jay
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
* Verdin
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Clay-colored Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
* Long-billed Thrasher
Long-billed Thrasher
Eurasian Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
* Yellow-headed Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Altamira Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

99 species for day, 6 new for year, 257 species for year