Doing a Big Year over a
region like the size of Texas with the diversity of birds it has to
offer, one is bound to miss a few species of birds in a year's time.
Even when chasing down birds found by others, there is occasionally
precious hours or days that pass before you hear about a bird who may be
making its only appearance in the state for the year.
Additionally, there are physical & mental limitations, not to mention
logistical impossibilities that may work against you and your likelihood
of re-finding the target bird in question.
Below are the species of
birds that were seen & reported in Texas in 2003 that I was not
able to see myself. Of those listed below, nearly half of them
were only seen by the initial observer(s) even though some of them were
chased by others (including myself):
- Brant
14-15 January, Lubbock,
Lubbock Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
I had just completed my
initial 14-day journey around the state when this bird was found.
It just wasn't possible for me to skip out on what would have been my
first day at work for the year.
- Trumpeter Swan
15 November, Lubbock,
Lubbock Co.
A single bird seen in Lubbock
one morning and never seen/reported again.
- Barrow's Goldeneye
4 January, Lake Marvaul,
Panola Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
A single bird that was found
on private property that was searched for by others the following day
and never refound.
- Masked Duck
11 January, 19 January, 28
February, King Ranch, Kleberg Co.
Likely the same bird on all 3
dates, I considered going on a King Ranch Trip to try for this bird.
In the end I didn't go, hoping that birds would show up in the summer
around Sabal Palm (as they had the past couple years) - they never did.
- Greater Prairie-Chicken
Year-round, The Nature
Conservancy's Texas City Prairie Preserve, Galveston Co.
A group of wild birds as well as captively raised birds live on the
preserve. I decided before the year started that I wouldn't try for
these birds to stay away from any controversy about the true/perceived
wildness of the birds.
- Red-necked Grebe
15 December, Mad Island
Christmas Bird Count, Matagorda Co.
One bird was seen on the Mad
Island CBC. I didn't hear about it until after the year was over.
There was also a bird found on 1 January 2004 on private property in
east Texas that likely was there or nearby in 2003.
- Brown Booby
2 third-hand reports from
January - February
I had heard a report of a
couple birds off of South Padre Island (fide Brush Freeman) in
January as well as another report of a single bird off of Padre Island
National Seashore seen by Billy Sandifer (fide Willie Sekula).
- Northern Goshawk
14 February, Castalon, Big
Bend National Park, Brewster Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
An immature bird seen by Kelly Bryan near dusk that was not seen (nor
looked for) again.
8 May, Presidio Co.
(accepted by the TBRC)
A bird seen on a private
ranch by Kelly Bryan and John O'Neill.
- Aplomado Falcon
several reports of banded
birds in both the Rio Grande Valley and west Texas
All sightings are likely of
birds from recent reintroduction programs and were not countable for my
Big Year. I saw a banded Aplomado Falcon on 25 November near
Marfa.
- Ruff
19 April, Anahuac NWR,
Chambers Co.
One female seen by Cin-Ty Lee that was looked for by others but not
found the next day.
23 April, Calhoun Co.
Petra Hockey found a bird late that morning and called me at work about
it. I met her later that afternoon but the bird was not to be relocated.
8-9 Aug, Calhoun Co.
One bird found by Brush Freeman that was present early the next morning
but was gone by that afternoon. I was up in Boot Canyon (Big Bend
National Park) over
these 2 days and didn't hear about it until I ran into Mark Lockwood
near Boot Springs late morning of the 9th.
- Red Phalarope
8 November, Cactus Playa,
Moore Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
Barrett Pierce photographed a single bird. I would look for it almost a
week later but it wasn't present.
- Little Gull
27 - 29 April, Beaumont
Sewage Plant, Jefferson Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
Perhaps the only bird I looked for that was seen both before and after I
tried for it.
- Black-legged Kittiwake (a
non-review species)
19 February, Red Bluff
Lake, Reeves Co.
Seen only that one day. I looked for it on 22 February.
13 November, Town Lake, Austin, Travis Co.
Seen only that one day. I didn't hear about it until 24 November (11
days later).
- Costa's Hummingbird
first week of January,
Corpus Christi, Nueces Co.
I had heard of an immature
Costa's that had made a brief (one-day) showing there but didn't stay
long enough to be chased.
- Elegant Trogon
June, Chisos Mountains,
Big Bend National Park (not accepted by the TBRC)
A single bird that was heard
by a few different people in different places in the Chisos Mountains.
As far as I know, nobody ever saw the bird(s) in question. I
didn't make any effort to chase this one.
- Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
30 April - 2 May, Packery
Channel, Corpus Christi, Nueces Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
A bird I heard about the afternoon of 1 May when I was out in west Texas
(had just traveled out there). I had plans to bird the Davis Mountains
Preserve the next day and decided against a drive back across the state.
- Black-whiskered Vireo
23 April, 14 May, 19 May,
Galveston, Galveston Co. (all accepted by the TBRC)
Three different birds in Jim Stevenson's yard. Each bird made only
a one-day appearance.
23 May, Sabine Woods, Jefferson Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
A single bird apparently only seen that one day. I did not hear
about this sighting until much later.
- Tamaulipas Crow
Febuary to mid-March, near
Brownsville Dump & Airport, Cameron Co.
At least a couple birds were
present for a few weeks though not reliably. I did not hear about
them until the end of that period and debated making a specific trip for
them, but hoped that they would stick around until the summer like they
had done in the previous years. Unfortunately, they were not
reliably seen after mid-March to my knowledge.
- Aztec Thrush
18 April, Boot Canyon,
BBNP, Brewster Co.
One bird found by Mike Overton. I drove across the state that evening
and found myself in Boot Canyon the next morning. I spent a fair amount
of time looking for the bird but was never able to relocate it.
- Cape May Warbler
several locations during
mid-April to mid-May
My biggest miss of the year
and a bird I should have tried harder for. The 2 best
opportunities for me to chase birds were likely on 1) 25 April when Mark
Adams called to inform me that he & others were seeing a male Cape May
at Smith Oaks and 2) in early May when another male Cape May was hanging
around on South Padre Island for a few days. My excuses are for 1)
I was scouting an my area for a TOS field trip that I was leading the
next day and 2) I was completely worn-down to make the long drive to
South Padre and I didn't realize until after the bird was gone that it
had been easy to see for a number of days.
- Yellow-faced Grassquit
28-29 September, Santa Ana
NWR, Hidalgo Co.
This bird I chased the
morning after it was initially discovered and was unable to relocate it.
It was refound later that same afternoon after I left the refuge.
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
1 Jan - 20 April, near
George West, Live Oak Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
26 Mar - 9 April, near Archer City, Archer Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
I didn't hear of either of these long-staying birds until well after
they had left.
- Shiny Cowbird
1 March 2003, near San
Marcos, Hays Co. (accepted by the TBRC)
Dan Peak had one bird at his feeder for one day. I didn't hear
about it until afterwards.
The following birds I
classify as only "possible", either because there wasn't a 100% positive
ID or it would represent the first documented Texas record:
- Common Pochard (possible
1st state record)
5-6 November, Lake Worth,
Tarrant Co.
A single bird found by Martin Reid that remained for one day at least
following the initial observation. If accepted by the TBRC, this
will represent the first accepted record of this species in the state.
I did try for it 2 days after it was last seen but I didn't have any
luck.
- possible Iceland Gull
12-13 March, near Quintana
Jetty, Brazoria Co.
A bird seen and distantly photographed by Paula Kennedy, Heidi Trudell,
and others. Petra Hockey and I looked for this bird on the afternoon of
the 14th but could not find it.
- possible Northern
Pygmy-Owl/Northern Saw-whet Owl
2 August, Tejas Camp area,
Guadalupe Mountains NP, Culberson Co.
A calling bird that I heard
that was likely one of these 2 birds (if it wasn't some strange ground
squirrel!).
- possible Gray-crowned
Yellowthroat
mid-January, Laguna
Atascosa NWR, Cameron Co.
A photograph of a possible Gray-crowned Yellowthroat was available well
over a week after it was taken (photographer had initially thought it to
be a Common Yellowthroat). I went to where it had been seen in early
February but didn't find either yellowthroat present.
- Yellow Grosbeak (possible
1st state record)
14 June, Rio Grande
Village, Big Bend National Park, Brewster Co. (not accepted by the TBRC)
An intriguing report of a
single bird that was a one-day wonder. There are currently no
documented records of this species for the state of Texas.