Total Species seen by Month's end: 484
Number of species added during month: 11
Miles Driven: 4052
Review Species Added: 2
-
Leach's Storm-Petrel - 20 June - pelagic out of South Padre,
Cameron Co.
-
Yellow-green Vireo - 29 June - Santa Ana NWR, Hidalgo Co.
Summary & Highlights:
7-8 June (475
species)
For the weekend of June 7th & 8th, I ventured down to the lower Rio
Grande Valley. Saturday morning, I started
out at Chapeņo
at first light. I stood quietly along the river for about an hour
(seeing Brown Jays,
Red-billed Pigeons, an Audubon's Oriole,
Ringed Kingfishers, etc) until
my target bird - a Muscovy Duck - flew off from where ever it had been hiding out (nearby) up the
river and out of
site. My next stop was at Bentsen State Park, where I wandered around
the picnic and
camping areas for over an hour - seeing and hearing Clay-colored Robins,
Northern
Beardless-Tyrannulets, and Altamira Orioles. A visit to Santa Ana NWR followed and I
spent a couple
hours walking the trails and got my first Groove-billed Anis (#475) of
the year as well
as more Clay-colored Robins, Tropical Parulas, and more Northern Beardless-Tyrannulets I ended my
birding for the day at South Padre Island, spending about 40 minutes at
the end of the
jetty where the best bird was a first year Common Tern.
Sunday morning I started out at Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary. For about an hour and half,
I listened along
areas near the blind and resaca trails for Yellow-Green Vireos but
didn't hear anything
that was a candidate but did almost step on my first-of-the-year Coral
Snake. I traveled over to Laguna Atascosa NWR where a couple of hours yielded 3
Greater
Yellowlegs and 4 Black Terns as the best birds. Already the heat of the
day, I started
back home and made slight detours to Port Mansfield (had a singing
Botteri's Sparrow and
a White-tailed Hawk on a nest) and also a a stop at Baffin Bay.
14-19 June (477
species)
I spent the week of 14-19
June out in west Texas, with the bulk of my time spent participating in
a summer breeding bird census on the Davis Mountains Preserve. I
was able to pick up 2 year birds in the Davis Mountains. This
first came on 14 June - a pair of
Spotted Owls seen with Carol Edwards and John Gee as we birded a remote
canyon. The second year bird was two days later on June 16th - a
female Magnificent Hummingbird that had been frequenting Mark Adams'
hummingbird feeders
for a week or more near the McDonald Observatory.
20-21 June (483
species)
The first off-shore pelagic
birding trip of the year went out from Port Isabel on June 20th and,
naturally, I was on it. We had very calm waters and good variety
of birds. As expected, I picked up five new birds for the year: Bridled Terns, Sooty Terns,
Band-rumped Storm Petrels, Audubon's Shearwater and a single (or maybe
2) Leach's Storm-Petrel. The following day, Petra Hockey and I
birded a little bit at Santa Ana NWR in the morning and drove back to
Port O'Conner to drop Petra back at her house (we had been carpooling
since my trip out to the Davis Mountains). While I was there, we
spent a short time scanning the bay outside her house and I was able to
pick off my first Magnificent Frigatebird of the year.
29 June (484
species)
Sunday morning the 20th, I found myself at
Santa Ana NWR with the purpose of trying for a summering Short-tailed
Hawk that had shown up a week earlier. I walked out towards the old Cemetery to wait for the
Short-tailed Hawk
to show. On my way out there, I ran into a singing Yellow-green Vireo
along the main
road. Petra and I had looked for this bird along the nearby Jagaurundi Trail
the previous
Saturday and I was very pleasantly surprised to find it here. I followed
the bird for
about 6 minutes, getting only a couple of glimpses at it while it sang
non-stop until I
believe it flew out of my hearing range. Unfortunately, I did miss the
Short-tailed Hawk
which may have made an appearance around 10.30am that day.