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

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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.

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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 4

South Padre Island, Laguna Atascosa

We begin our day checking the pulse of the current migration, inspecting several of the better-known drop-in locations. Local conservation groups have turned small wood lots into sanctuaries by encouraging native habitat and installing water features which become super attractors to migrant birds, many of whom have been flying non-stop across the Gulf for 24+ hours.

At times, with the right weather conditions, hundreds or even thousands of our most colourful migrants such as buntings, tanagers, warblers, grosbeaks and orioles descend en masse for a spectacle that delights even non-birders.

Even if migration is slow this morning, we will have opportunities to study shorebirds and a large variety of sub-tropical waders at close range on the beaches and from boardwalks above marsh habitat.

We’ll spend more or less time on the island depending on the flow of migrants but leave time in the afternoon to visit one of America’s premier National Wildlife Refuges: Laguna Atascosa.

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

Perhaps there is no better site in the region to get a flavour of the unique wildlife this region offers. The refuge’s bird list of over 400 species (most in the entire NWR system) includes many rare vagrants. Expected birds just around the Visitor’s Center include Buff-bellied hummingbird, Green Jay, Plain Chachalaca, White-tipped Dove, Long-billed Thrasher and Olive Sparrow.

With a little luck we may see a Greater Roadrunner stalking lizard, a nesting Altamira Oriole or maybe a roosting Eastern Screech Owl. Bronzed Cowbirds, Lark Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks frequent the entrance road.

White-tailed Hawks & Crested Caracara often perch from the tops of Yucca hunting Northern Bobwhite and Mexican Ground Squirrels in the Tamaulipan Thornscrub and we have had luck with Aplomado Falcons some years, albeit, usually at a distance.

After dinner, for participants who are up for it, we may venture out to a marsh to listen for the low cooing song of Least Bittern and look for Gallinule and other Rails.

Wednesday 19 ^th of April 2023 and we leave the hotel at 7 thirty and the first place to visit is the South Padre Island Convention Center, a 2 minutes ride from Holiday Inn Express & Suites South Padre Island.

We come here to look at shore birds at low tide but it is still some hours to go before the low tide. We spot one Loggerhead Shrike in a palm tree on the parking. But no good pictures as I had to take the picture from the car.

We parked the car and the first bird I spotted was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in a “bottle brush” flower tree.

Loggerhead Shrike

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Mottled Duck

Mottled Duck

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Angry Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Looking for birds at South Padre Island Convention Center

The group left for the shore birds and I stayed behind to try to get pictures of the hummingbirds. There were many hummingbirds but it was kind of hard to get them on pictures in the poor lighting conditions. But I enjoy myself in the bushes.

My Guide come back to tell me that they have spotted a Lesser Nighthawk sleeping on a branch and I follow her to see the bird. I get a few pictures and I go back to the hummingbirds. Still no luck but there are other birds in the area so it is not getting boring.

Lesser Nighthawk

Lesser Nighthawk

Female Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Brown-headed Cowbird

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill

I am a little bored with the hummingbirds that do not show up and I get out on the board walk and there are 4 Roseate Spoonbill but they are a little too far away for any good pictures. But it was a nice board walk and I enjoyed the walk even though we had what seemed like millions of the noisy Great-tailed Grackle.

There is a lot of birds around the Convention Center and we spend 3 hours before it is time to leave.

Black-and-white Warbler

Red-eyed Vireo

EBird have a new feature called Trip report and this is what I will start to use instead of my list of observed birds as it takes way to long time to fiddle around with this. Well, I might do it when I have time to do it.

Anyway, I will try it out with today's bird watching adventure and I will see how it is working out.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Anyway, it is getting a wee bit boring in the bushes and I go down towards the beach to look for my group. I pass the parking and one bird watcher is arriving and we have a chat. Turns out that he is here because of the SpaceX Starship Rocket launch in Boca Chica.

Boca Chica launch site is just off the southern tip of South Padre Island and I had never heard of this before. But I will go have a look tomorrow, if I cannot talk my bird watching group in to having a look, I will go by myself and join them in a taxi later on. in the day.

I continue towards the beach and I see a TV truck and I go to investigate. And yes, they are here for the SpaceX Starship Rocket launch. I try to find out about good areas to watch and the explain everything, 5 minutes from my hotel with car.

They explained that they just did interviews here on the beach and they would be on site tomorrow morning. Launch gap is between 08:28 and 09:34.

I run in to an TV truck

I run in to an TV truck

I spot the group on the beach

The group comes back to the convention center

I told the exciting news about the SpaceX Starship Rocket launch in Boca Chica expecting them to start jumping up and down in excitements. But they all already knew about the SpaceX Starship Rocket launch in Boca Chica. He*l, my Guide even had a family member working as an Engineer on the SpaceX project and he got updates about the launch all the time.

we asked the group if anyone wanted to see the launch tomorrow and when we asked if anyone DID NOT want to see it there was no answer, so rocket launch it will be tomorrow.

eBird Report

South Padre Is.--WBC/Conv. Center/Laguna Madre Trail (LTC 035), Cameron, Texas, US
Apr 19, 2023 07:38 - 10:21
Protocol: Traveling
1.41 kilometer(s)
22 species

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3
Mottled Duck 2
Feral Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 1
Lesser Nighthawk 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 7
Laughing Gull 2
Brown Pelican 2
Roseate Spoonbill 4
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Barn Swallow 1
Grey Catbird 1
House Sparrow 1
Orchard Oriole 3
Baltimore Oriole 4
Red-winged Blackbird 7
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Great-tailed Grackle 13
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Blue Grosbeak 4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134273769

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

We leave the convention center and we stop to buy coffee, not needed for me as I have refreshments in the van. But the group gets their coffee and we continue our adventure. We will make a quick stop at the eBird hotspot: South Padre Is.--Valley Land Fund lots.

We had stopped here yesterday before going to the hotel and I had not bothered to get out. But today I got out to try to get pictures of the hummingbirds. They spot the Painted Bunting but it was too far away for any good pictures.

Painted Bunting and Blue Grosbeak

Tennessee Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Looking for birds

I check out the birds and I go back across the street to check out the hummingbird feeder to see if there are any birds coming to eat. There are many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds coming to et, but only females. And I washoping to see the beautiful male with the red throat.

And it was hard to take pictures as I am trying to avoid the feeder. The feeder is full of sugar water and the hummingbirds are eating from the small plastic flowers.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird

eBird Report

South Padre Is.--Valley Land Fund lots (LTC 036), Cameron, Texas, US
Apr 19, 2023 10:48 - 13:00   Forgot to turn of the eBird app
Protocol: Traveling
7.15 kilometer(s)   Forgot to turn of the eBird app
10 species

Collared Dove 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 8
Green Heron 1
Great-tailed Grackle 11 Tennessee Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Blue Grosbeak 7
Indigo Bunting 4
Painted Bunting 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134289467

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

At the lunch restaurant

Lunch time and all the restaurants on South Padre Island are full but as we are going to a birding area on the mainland, we cross the bridge and we find a restaurant in Port Isabel. We have our lunch, well, I have a bottle of MAX as they only have plastic cutlery and plates.

I have some nuts when we are back in the van bound for Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, a nature reserve and we are passing one Harris's Hawk when we drive along the Buena Vista Drive. The bird was sitting on a wire and we stop and surprisingly enough, the bird stays and I can take some pictures.

Harris's Hawk

Harris's Hawk

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

We continue towards the nature reserve and I start my eBird app at Laguna Atascosa NWR--Buena Vista Blvd. and we are seeing some birds along the road to the nature reserve.

I managed to get a few pictures and the Lark Sparrow was a new bird for me, or as they call it in the birding community, a “LIFER” I word I learned when I was experimenting with the eBird trip report.

Lark Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Harris's Hawk

Harris's Hawk

Harris's Hawk

eBird Report

Laguna Atascosa NWR--Buena Vista Blvd. (within refuge), Cameron, Texas, US
Apr 19, 2023 13:44 - 13:57
Protocol: Traveling
3.23 kilometer(s)
6 species

Greater Roadrunner 1
Turkey Vulture 2
Harris's Hawk 1
Couch's Kingbird 2
Lark Sparrow 1
Bronzed Cowbird 2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134308477

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

I turn off the eBird app when we reach the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge and I restart the app immediately when I get out of the van. The first birds we see is two Plain Chachalaca that looks like they are flirting. We go to the bird feeder at the visitor center and there are many birds.

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Plain Chachalaca

Green Jay

Green Jay

Green Jay

Green Jay

Green Jay

Green Jay

Altamira Oriole

Great Kiskadee

Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Bronzed Cowbird

Long-billed Thrasher

Red-winged Blackbird

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

MY group leave for a trail and I leave for the road. We had spotted Roadrunners along the road, and well, the name Roadrunner, so I guess I will find them around the road.

I walk for 30 minutes and I have to go back to meet the group again. I asked two drivers in passing cars if they had seen roadrunners and they had all seen them. Well, maybe they are scared when I come walking down the road.

I walk along the road to look for Roadrunners

I walk along the road to look for Roadrunners

eBird Report

Laguna Atascosa NWR (LTC 024), Cameron, Texas, US
Apr 19, 2023 13:58 - 15:23
Protocol: Traveling
1.85 kilometer(s)
14 species

Plain Chachalaca 4   Courtship
Collared Dove 2
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1
Great Kiskadee 2
Green Jay 4
Black-crested Titmouse 1
Long-billed Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Altamira Oriole 2   Collect nesting material
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Bronzed Cowbird 2   ID by the red eyes
Great-tailed Grackle 3 Northern Cardinal 3   One male + one female
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1   Female

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134308452

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

Today's track at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge

We got in to the van and we will drive down to Atascosa on the Lakeside Drive to have a look for excitements. We stop to look for birds and I am mostly wishing that we would go back to the hotel. Looking at birds with binoculars are not what I am interested in.

I want to come close to take pictures. We continued towards the lake at the end of the gravel road and there were some birds that was impossible to see without binoculars and I was very happy when we left to go back to South Padre Island again.

Driving along the Lakeside Drive

Stop to look for birds

Alligators everywhere

We spot two Greater Roadrunners when we are almost back at the visitor center and I can get one picture of one of the birds even though it is a wee bit too far away.

Now I have seen the birds I want to see, of course, I want to see the Yellow-crowned Night heron and I have seen all the herons in USA.

Greater Roadrunner

eBird Report

Laguna Atascosa NWR--Lakeside Drive, Cameron, Texas, US
Apr 19, 2023 15:24 - 16:22
Protocol: Traveling
4.29 kilometer(s)
8 species

Greater Roadrunner 2
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricoloured Heron 1
White Ibis 1
Northern Harrier 2
Red-winged Blackbird 9
Great-tailed Grackle 1
Dickcissel 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S134308383

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

Today's track at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge - Lakeside Drive

We see one Crested Caracara on the way back to the island. The bird is flying a little bit from the road so I did not even try to take any pictures. The group dropped me at the hotel and they went down to the convention center to look for birds before having their diner.

I ate in my room and I am excited to go see the rocket launch tomorrow. We will leave the hotel at 7 thirty and you just need to click HERE to find out how it goes.

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 4 | 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.

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