Estero Llano and #400!

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Common Parauque ... Can you see it?

First and foremost, I owe an apology to Julie Zickefoose.  I had misread the program and expected her to be the guide for Wednesday’s Seedeater Sojourn, and I mentioned that she was not present.  That’s because she wasn’t supposed to be there.  Instead, she led today’s field trip to Weslaco, and she proved to be a great trip leader and a really nice person.  I’ve heard that she’s one of the more likeable people in the birding world, and now I can attest to the truth of that statement.

The fourth day of the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival started like all of the rest: getting up at 4:30, catching a bus by 5:45, and riding to another birding locale.  Today we started at Estero Llano Grande State Park, and there were birds everywhere.  The feeder areas had Chachalacas, Clay-colored Thrush, Long-billed Thrashers, Green Jays, and many more.  The nearby roads produced a Harris's Hawk, Ladder-backed and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, and three life birds, a Common Parauque, a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, and a Curve-billed Thrasher.  There was also a selasphorous hummingbird.  One of the rangers said it was an Allen’s, which would also be a lifer for me, so I did some reading on it tonight.  I learned that the Allen’s favors the precise habitat of Estero Llano while the Rufous prefers coniferous and mixed hardwood forests – definitely NOT the habitat of Estero Llano.  So it looks like that was lifer #4 for the day.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Next we went to the headquarters building where I got the day’s fifth lifer, a Buff-bellied Hummingbird.  This was a special bird for me as it was ABA Lifer #400.  Wahoo!!

Next we walked along a series of ponds and found a nice variety of ducks including Green-winged, Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teal, Gadwall, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Northern Shoveler, and Ruddy and Mottled Ducks.  We had a Peregrine Falcon fly over us, and a Common Parauque that was about two feet from where I stood.  And I have to say that the Parauque is a gorgeous bird, and one of my favorites of the trip so far.

We left Estero Llano to visit the Valley Nature Center.  That didn’t work out too well.  Other than 75 House Sparrows and 20 Plain Chachalacas, there were very few birds.  Somebody in the group reported a Clay-colored Thrush, and I saw a Black-crested Titmouse, but that was it.

Green Kingfisher

After lunch I decided to make it another doubleheader day and drove south to Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  This is a pretty little park that is situated in the last few acres of the USA south of Brownsville. The feeders had White-tipped Doves, Green Jays, Black-crested Titmice as well as the day’s second Buff-bellied Hummingbird.  I also had a nice walk along a few of the trails, another group of ducks, Green and Belted Kingfishers, and a lovely view of a portion of the Rio Grande.  It was a really nice way to end the day’s birding.

Harris's Hawk