Road Trip Reports

The Little U-Turn
A south Texas report by Jimmy Woodard  

Max Fuller, Nealand Hill, Jerry Vanbebber and I left Oklahoma City at 4 p.m. Thursday, January 20th headed for a weekend of birding in south Texas. We drove all night and arrived at Frontera Audubon Sanctuary in Weslaco at 3 a.m. on Friday. After a snooze, we started before dawn.

Numerous birders roamed the trails looking for White-throated Robins, Crimson-collared Grosbeak and Elegant Trogon. We found the robin first, shuffling through the forest leaf litter. About 20 birders jostled for position to get a look. 

Plain Chachalaca, photo ©Terri Underhill

Kiskadees serenaded us as we moved to the feeder station to view a striking male Crimson-collared Grosbeak. There were also lots of Chachalacas, White-tipped Doves and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds. Shouts of "Trogon!" sent everyone running to another part of the tract to see this beautiful bird. It cooperated with long looks in the scope as everyone oohed and aahed! More mundane birds such as Black-headed Grobeak, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler,  Black-crested Titmouse, Wilson's Warbler, and Olive Sparrow were also viewed.

We tore ourselves away from Frontera to visit Alan William's residence in Pharr. We paid our fee and walked the many trails in his yard, finding more hummers, sparrows and two female Crimson-collared Grosbeaks. After lunch, we journeyed up river to Salineo on the Rio Grande River. The the feeders were Hooded, Altamira and Audubon's Orioles. Also there were six Brown Jays among numerous Inca and Common Ground Doves.

Enroute to San Ygnacio further up river, we saw several Crested Caracaras and Harris's Hawks. Along the river in the cane area we waited for an hour to see one White-collared Seedeater. We headed back to our motel in McAllen, very tired but happy. Jerry had 32 lifers this day.

On Saturday we arrived at Sabal Palm in Brownsville at 7:30 a.m. We took a trail to the river and had a pair of Ringed Kingfishers fly overhead. On the Resaca Trail we saw three Groove-billed Anis huddled together. In the nearby cattails we found the Gray-crowned Yellowthroat in its spot where it has been for several months. We also found four Clay-colored Robins and Couch's Kingbird in the park. 

While driving Military Road (old Highway 281) toward Santa Ana we came across a White-tailed Kite. At the refuge, we chased a Blue Bunting but missed it by a few minutes. Our consolation was a pair of Green Kingfishers.

At a residence in McCallen, Jerry got a Green-breasted Mango. Next, it was on to Bentsen where we took the tram. The park is closed to vehicles and you have to walk, ride the tram or ride a bicycle. Unfortunately, this makes the park harder to bird. The new World Birding Center headquarters just outside the park is impressive.

At dusk we found a flock of several hundred Green Parakeets coming to roost in McAllen. Mixed in the group was one Rose-ringed Parakeet and one Cockatiel. A Cooper's Hawk zoomed by spooking the flock. They disappeared behind some buildings so we couldn't see if the attack was successful. After dark we went back to Bentsen to try for owls. We found two Eastern Screech Owls and heard several Paraques.

On Sunday morning we went back to the Williams house. We heard and saw a couple flocks of Red-crowned Parrots fly over just after sunrise. We also enjoyed a female Rose-throated Becard. We made a final, quick visit to Santa Ana. We walked the "B" trail where the Blue Bunting had been seen. Suddenly a shout of "Blue Bunting" rang out. Over thirty birders converged on the spot to enjoy the show. The bunting didn't disappoint. The bright blue male put on a 15 minute display, sometimes coming quite close to the road. It was an outstanding finish to a great weekend birding trip.

On the way home, a flyover by a beautiful adult White-tailed Hawk was a bonus topper to the day.

We had 121 species for the three-day trip. Jerry tallied 49 lifers; Nealand found 8 new birds; Max had 4 and I got 3. The 80-degree weather made south Texas a nice place to be in winter, whether you are seeing new birds or not.