Author Archives: Laura Erickson

February 20: Rio Grande Valley birding

Our itinerary today included Estero Llano Grande, a Top Secret Burrowing Owl yard, Frontera Audubon thicket, Quinta Mazatlan, Edinburg Wetlands, and 10th & Dove parakeet roost (by the McAllen Walgreens).

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
* Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
* Plain Chachalaca
Plain Chachalaca
Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Harris’s Hawk
Harris's Hawk
* Zone-tailed Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Willet
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Green Parakeet
Green Parakeet
* Burrowing Owl
Burrowing Owl
* Common Pauraque
Common Pauraque
* Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
* Green Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
* Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
(Tropical or Couch’s) Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo building a nest
Green Jay
* Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Black-crested Titmouse
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
* Clay-colored Thrush New for North America
Clay-colored Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
* Curve-billed Thrasher
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
* Bronzed Cowbird
* Altamira Oriole
House Sparrow

77 species for day, 13 new for year, 251 total for year

February 19: Sabal Palm and other places in the Rio Grande Valley

We started out birding in Weslaco, looking for the Nebraska St parrots and vulture-roost at the cemetery. Then we headed to FM 511 (Raptor Central!) / Old Port Isabel Road, Sabal Palm Grove, Bahia Grande inlet, South Padre Island (Isla Blanca Park and convention center), and ended our birding day looking at the Oliveira Park parrots.

American Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
Ruddy Duck
Common Loon
* Least Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe
Northern Gannet (I could ID it as a gannet with my binocs, but it was too far to age. Kim saw with his scope and said it was a juvenile. This was out from Isla Blanca Park.)
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
American Bittern
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
* White-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite
* Harris’s Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
White-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
* Merlin
* Aplomado Falcon New for North America!
Aplomado Falcon
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
American Oystercatcher
* Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Jaeger sp. (I couldn’t ID it through binocs. Kim wasn’t certain but thought it was a probable Pomarine, at South Padre Island.)
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Inca Dove
* White-tipped Dove
White-tipped Dove
* Green Parakeet
* Red-crowned Parrot
Red-crowned Parrot
* Flammulated Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Great Kiskadee
Couch’s Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Green Jay
Green Jay
Black-crested Titmouse
Black-crested Titmouse
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
* Bewick’s Wren
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
* Olive Sparrow
Olive Sparrow
* Crimson-collared Grosbeak LIFER!!
Crimson-collared Grosbeak
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
* Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

90 species, 14 new for year, 238 for year, 1 LIFER, 1 new for North America