February 17: Whooping Crane boat (MV Skimmer) and Rockport area

Our group took the morning trip on the MV Skimmer to see Whooping Cranes. It was a gorgeous morning, but birds were scarce because of the drought. Then we went afternoon birding at Lamar Peninsula, Highway 35 N of Fulton, Cape Valero, and Port Bay Club Road.

* Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard (maybe not wild)
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead
* Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Loon
* Eared Grebe
* Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican

Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill

Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
* White-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
* Crested Caracara

American Kestrel
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
* Whooping Crane: They’ve been dispersing from the estuary because of the high salinity levels due to the drought.

Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
* Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
* Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike

White-eyed Vireo
* Black-crested Titmouse
*Carolina Chickadee

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
* Hermit Thrush
Northern Mockingbird

European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
* Seaside Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
* Western Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow