A South Texas Adventure with Nature Trip - Texas bird watching trip report

OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.

Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.

So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!

Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas

Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!

Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!

Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra

Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!

คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้

Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!

E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.

A South Texas Adventure - Day 2

Mustang Island, Port Aransas and (northern) South Padre Island:

Our adventure beginsalong the plains, marshes and barrier islands of the Coastal Bend. We'll spend the morning on Mustang Island starting in the south around Packery Channel making our way north to the Port Aransas area hitting well known hotspots such as the locally famous Paradise Pond and “the willows” searching for migrants.

Next we check the marshes at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center before heading over to nearby Robert’s Point Park for Terns & Turnstones. Many Gulf Coast specialties such as Mottled Duck, Least Bittern and Neotropic Cormorant are seen at close range from the boardwalk, recently rebuilt after Hurricane Harvey devastated this area in March 2018.

Roseate Spoonbills, Black-bellied Whistling Duck and, at times, Black Tern may be seen flying about from the observation tower; Rails are commonly heard and occasionally seen as well and the new wetland design favours shorebirds too.

After lunch we’ll continue to bird our way along Mustang Island and, if times allows, the northern portion of lengthy South Padre Island. We’ll visit well known “migrant traps” such as Paradise Pond or Charlie’s Pasture”, check the beaches for shorebirds and scan for possible seabirds.

This evening we’ll enjoy local seafood and other fare at one of the area’s fine restaurants.

Monday 17 ^th of April 2023 and I was in the reception at 07:15 as we will leave at 7 thirty. No sign of any other members of the group. One girl came up and asked if I belonged to the Nature Trip group.

She was also surprised that we were alone, at 7 thirty they arrived and I got to know that we would stay one more night here at Executive Residency by Best Western Corpus Christi and I was not happy. I cannot connect to the internet and there is no light in the room. Kitchenet and bathroom is lighted like a stadium. But the rest of the room is dark.

And I was not happy that I had packed everything and I needed to bring it back to my room and I need to pack again tomorrow. We left and we stopped at one eBird hotspot: Mustang Island -- The Willows on the way to Port Aransas.

The Willows was a small pond with some willows around it and we discovered several other bird watchers when we parked the car. For me it looked like a few bushes on a lawn. But there were plenty birds and the first bird was the Baltimore Oriole, the same bird I was looking at in Sweden back in February.

Baltimore Oriole / Baltimoretrupial

Baltimore Oriole / Baltimoretrupial

Baltimore Oriole / Baltimoretrupial

Baltimore Oriole / Baltimoretrupial

Green Heron

eBird Report

Mustang Isl.--the Willows, Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 8:02 AM - 8:26 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.21 kilometer(s)
9 species

Mourning Dove 1
Laughing Gull 1
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Tree Swallow 1
Barn Swallow 2
Orchard Oriole 1
Baltimore Oriole 1
Great-tailed Grackle 3

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134077029

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We continue north towards a famous bird watching center, the eBird hotspot: Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Ctr. in Port Aransas. We reach the parking and as soon as we get out of the van, we can see that there are a lot of people looking for birds.

There is a walk path to the board walk and there are bushes and trees along the walk path and there are many birds in the bushes. There were many different warblers but I never got any good pictures. But I got some pictures of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak,

Arriving to Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Ctr

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

White-eyes Virero

Plenty people looking for birds

There were two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and I decided to keep a picture of the White-eyed Vireo even though I am not very happy with the picture. We continued to the board walk and there was a lot of shore bird and ducks.

And the birds were not very scared when we walked above them on the board walk. There were plenty Great-tailed Grackles coming to sit on the rails on the boardwalk.

Board walk

Board walk

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle

Alligator

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler

Female Northern Shoveler

Female Northern Shoveler

Female Northern Shoveler

Reddish Egret

And finally, I manage to get close to the Northern Shoveler and I had tried for many years now. First day in San Francisco and I got some pictures, but I was not so very happy about the pictures. But now I had pictures of the beautiful bird with the shovel beak.

I never got any pictures of the Reddish Egret from Florida and here we had two Reddish Egrets, but it was the white morph so now I wish I get to see the reddish one as well.

And I got close to the Brown Pelican and I could make a video of the pelican fishing and it was funny to watch the bird.

Alligator

Reddish Egret

Reddish Egret fishing

Reddish Egret fishing

Reddish Egret fishing

Reddish Egret in full breeding plumage

Board walk

Looking for birds

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

We had spotted one beautiful Cinnamon Teal, same as I spotted in San Francisco but those pictures turned out to be nothing butthe bird was a little too far away and it was sleeping.

My group continued on the board walk and I told the guide that I would go back to the tower to get closer to the Cinnamon Teal. And the bird was sleeping so I waited and he wouldhopefully wake up.

Well, the bird woke up and stand up for 3 seconds and I got a picture and he went back to sleep again and I left happy with the picture.

Cinnamon Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Cinnamon Teal

American Avocet

Long-billed Dowitcher

American Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Lesser Yellowlegs

Orchard Oriole

Purple Gallinule

American Coot

We leave the boardwalk and we are back in the bushes at the parking and it is full of bird watchers. I stopped to look for bird while waiting for my group to come back from the boardwalk.

There was the very beautiful yellow Prothonotary Warbler and I managed to get pictures of the Yellow-rumped Warbler. I got pictures this morning but they went straight to the trash as they left very much to wish for. There was a lot of other birds but I never got any pictures.

The pictures of the Prothonotary Warbler were not very good and I only kept one pictures for ID purposes.

Bird watchers

Prothonotary Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

eBird Report

Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Ctr. (CTC 057), Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 08:55 - 11:20
Protocol: Traveling
1.06 kilometer(s)
37 species

Blue-winged Teal 50
Cinnamon Teal 1   One lonely Cinnamon Teal sleeping with stilts and blue-winged so not easy to get a picture of the bird alone
Northern Shoveler 11
Eurasian/Green-winged Teal 20
American Moorhen 2
American Coot 5
Purple Gallinule 1
Black-necked Stilt 13
American Avocet 23
Stilt Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 7
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Laughing Gull 5
Herring Gull 2
Least Tern 3
Brown Pelican 1
Great Blue Heron 3 Great White Egret 4
Snowy Egret 1
Tricoloured Heron 4
Reddish Egret 2   White morph
Green Heron 1
White Ibis 7
Roseate Spoonbill 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Northern Harrier 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Tree Swallow 2
Grey Catbird 1
Orchard Oriole 2
Baltimore Oriole 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle 30   Nest building
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134094475

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

Today's track at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Ctr.

I turn off the eBird app and I had seen a lot of birds and it was a beautiful area. Now itis time for lunch and we will go to a restaurant in the area. I started to get a little worried, I suspected that it would be the same restaurant where I had my lunch yesterday

My avocado order turned out to be a major drama with avocados going in and out of the kitchen. My English? Their English? I don't know, but it was impossible to get 4 avocados. One plate with a quarter of an avocado came to the table.

I told the girl that I wanted 6 more plate like this. She came back with a plate with 6 small pieces of avocado and I gave up. I left without giving any tip.

But the food was good and I ordered the same thing I had yesterday, and yes, I ordered avocado as well. And they had not forgot the avocados debacle from yesterday and today the boss / owner came out with a plate with so much avocado I had never seen before.

He looked at me and he asked loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear.
- Who is having all the avocado?

The food was good as it had been yesterday and when I left the boss / owner asked if the avocado service had been good today and I told him that it had been perfect.

We walked to the eBird hotspot Holt Paradise Pond behind the restaurant and we went out on the board walk to have a look for birds. Our Guide spotted one Grey-cheeked Thrush but the bird was sitting in a bush so it proved impossible to get any good pictures.

Grey-cheeked Thrush

Scarlet Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

We don't spend so much time at the Holt Paradise Pond. Going back to the car and there are both summer and scarlet tanagers in the tree at the parking. And I was very lucky, there was on Yellow-headed Blackbird sitting on the fence.

I saw a couple of them in Colorado but no pictures. So, I was very happy with the day so far and I had seen many new birds today.

eBird Report

Holt Paradise Pond, Port Aransas, Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 12:12 - 12:46
Protocol: Traveling
0.31 kilometer(s)
13 species

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Laughing Gull 40
Ring-billed Gull 1
White Ibis 2   Fly over
Common Starling 2
Grey-cheeked Thrush 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Great-tailed Grackle 13
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 2
Scarlet Tanager 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134103378

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

Today's track at Holt Paradise Pond

We left for the eBird hotspot: Port Aransas marina area and we spotted of course, hundreds of Laughing Gulls. And the ever present Great-Tailed Grackle. But we also spotted dolphins and sea turtles.

My Guide walked up to me and asked if I would like to take some pictures of the Ruddy Turnstone and we walked down the walk path for 20 meters and I spotted a very beautiful Ruddy Turnstone.

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

eBird Report

Port Aransas marina area, Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 12:58 - 13:33
Protocol: Traveling
2.84 kilometer(s)
7 species

Ruddy Turnstone 1
Laughing Gull 100
Least Tern 1
Royal Tern 4
Brown Pelican 3
Cliff Swallow 4
Great-tailed Grackle 19

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134108050

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We left the marina to drive down to the beach to look for terns. We spotted a black bird in the middle of the beach and it turned out to be a Pomarine Skua. Should be out over the ocean so we were worried that it might be an injured bird.

We parked the car and there were a group on Sandwich and Royal Terns on the parking. I could spot a couple of Common Terns as well.

We had a couple of Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings that I got on photo before starting to move towards the Pomarine Skua. I passed the terns by a few meters and they did not care about me taking pictures. The Pomarine Skua did not care about me, so maybe it is an injured bird.

I got pictures and the bird stood up and I could get a few pictures. I was with the bird for about 10 minutes before the Pomarine Skua took off towards me and disappeared out over the Gulf of Mexico. At least what I could see.

Common Tern

Common Tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Royal Tern

Royal Tern

Royal Tern

Royal Tern

Royal Tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sandwich tern

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Pomarine Skua

Listen to the Laughing Gull

Sound from www.xeno-canto.org

Remarks from the Recordist

Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder and High Pass Filter applied with Audacity.

Recorded when I walked up to take pictures of the Pomarine Skua on the beach. Single Laughing Gull give the sounds, but many terns and gulls just two meters from me. Not scared when I walked out to the birds.

eBird Report

Port Aransas Jetty (CTC 058), Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 13:35 - 14:21
Protocol: Traveling
0.42 kilometer(s)
10 species

Ruddy Turnstone 3
Sanderling 6
Pomarine Skua 1   Resting in the sand and the bird was not bothered with me coming over to say hello
Laughing Gull 100
Common Tern 3
Royal Tern 25
Sandwich Tern 50
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Brown Pelican 16
Great-tailed Grackle 7

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134112389

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We left the beach and we passed the platforms built for the Aplomado Falcon along the road and they spotted one bird on one of the platforms. One Aplomado Falcon but it was too far away and I never reported the bird in my eBird app.

But I spotted one Cattle Egret that I could report as the only bird. The Guide confirmed that it was an Aplomado Falcon with his telescope. But to me it could have been a Laughing Gull as well.

eBird Report

Mustang Island SP Aplomado Falcon Viewing Platform, TX361, Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 14:50
Protocol: Incidental
Checklist Comments:   There was one Aplomado Falcon on the platform, but as I could not get, I clear view of the bird I did not report. My bird watching group confirmed the ID
1 species

Cattle Egret 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134115210

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

We stopped at the eBird hotspot: Packery Channel Park (CTC 064) on the way back to the hotel and this is the same place where I did my first bird watching in Texas. There was a lot of birds and I got pictures of the beautiful Summer Tanager, both the female and the male.

Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager

Female Summer Tanager

Female Summer Tanager

Female Summer Tanager

eBird Report

Packery Channel Park (CTC 064), Nueces, Texas, US
Apr 17, 2023 15:03 - 15:33
Protocol: Traveling
0.25 kilometer(s)
11 species

Laughing Gull 1
Brown Pelican 1
Cattle Egret 4
Turkey Vulture 1
Couch's Kingbird 1
Eastern Kingbird 3
Orchard Oriole 1
Great-tailed Grackle 2
Summer Tanager 2   One male + one female
Scarlet Tanager 1
Blue Grosbeak 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134137450

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

Today's track at Packery Channel Park (CTC 064), Texas

I was happy with the day and I booked a car from Lyft to go back to the hotel, my Guide wanted to take me but I told him that he could lead the rest of the group. I had to stop to buy groceries at Walmart so I had dinner and breakfast.

The rest of the evening was spent in my room and we will check-out tomorrow to go to the south tip of the Padre Island. Click HERE to find out if we find any birds.

eBird Trip Report

Since April 2023 eBird offer a new feature, to create Trip Reports. At least this is when I first heard of this feature and I have decided to make the eBird Trip Reports instead of my list of OBSERVED birds.

And of course, this also means that I will HAVE TO go back and do the same for my old birding adventures, WHEN I HAVE THE TIME!

Today's Trip Report: Southern Texas bird watching tour with Nature Trip - Day 2 | Click HERE

Download | PDF

Lifers
Icons for lifers used in the eBird trip reports

Species lifer:First time that someone observes a species in their life

Photo lifer:First time that someone photographs a species in their life

Audio lifer:First time that someone audio records a species in their life

Exotic species
Exotic species flags differentiate locally introduced species from native species.

Naturalized:Exotic population is self-sustaining, breeding in the wild, persisting for many years, and not maintained through ongoing releases (including vagrants from Naturalized populations). These count in official eBird totals and, where applicable, have been accepted by regional bird records committee(s).

Provisional:Either: 1)member of exotic population that is breeding in the wild, self-propagating, and has persisted for multiple years, but not yet Naturalized; 2)rarity of uncertain provenance, with natural vagrancy or captive provenance both considered plausible.

When applicable, eBird generally defers to bird records committees for records formally considered to be of "uncertain provenance". Provisional species count in official eBird totals.

Escapee:Exotic species known or suspected to be escaped or released, including those that have
bred but don't yet fulfill the criteria for Provisional. Escapee exotics do not count in official eBird totals.

Tweet

You are visitor no.

To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011

Mobilize your Site

View Site in Mobile | Classic