Texas 22 - Catch Up

OK. Back at our place now after 5 hours at the Convention Centre this morning (more on that later). I thought I'd do a quick "catch up" summary of our mini-trip to the Valley...so back to Day 4 (Friday).

The morning was spent at Estero Llano S.P at Weslaco. We started at the feeder station adding Black-crested Titmouse...cheating I know!

Bit of a Dandy!

A fairly common but beautiful bird, full of character is the Great Kiskadee...

Kis-ka-dee

We didn't see the hoped for Orioles or Great Horned Owl, despite being helped by one of the staff...

...so we headed for the pools via the Purple Martin house...

Spot the intruders...they get everywhere!

Yet another cool species is the "Snake Bird". Guess you can see why?

Anhingha

Fabulous plumage...

We were lucky enough to see it fish, Truly special...

It had the habit of remaining submerged then just poking its head and neck out of the water...

Definitely one I wanted to see well and photograph. I know there's quite a few! We continued around the pools and I was hoping to add Green Kingfisher (still time) to the Trip List but it wasn't to be on this occasion. We did bump into a Birder who showed us the Common Pauraque though. A master of camouflage...

 It still took me 5 minutes to see it when the guy pointed to it!! I should have taken a wider angle shot to illustrate the effect better.

I added 12 species to the Trip List, the others being...

Least Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

White-tailed Kite

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Red-crowned Parrot 3 (fly-over)

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Tree Swallow

I also had terrific, if brief views of Altamira Oriole in the car park. The Orange Bomb! 

We then drove West to another iconic reserve...

Unfortunately it was quiet here, as we arrived in the early afternoon heat (you have to be somewhere in the middle of the day). A moments self-indulgence under the Spanish Moss...

A favourite place of mine

The rest of the afternoon was one of the lower points of the trip as our SIM card wouldn't work here for some unknown reason and we ended up wasting time finding our intended locations as Lorna had headed home. Never mind.

So to Saturday...and the much anticipated Hawk Watch at Bentson S.P...

It's possible to see over 100 species here in a day! I managed 41 from the Tower....with a little help...

An educational 4 hours was spent here observing and listening to the two resident staff members. There enthusiasm was infectious. Nice guys to boot.

Additions here included...

Mississippi Kite c60...

Grey Hawk (on nest)...

Broad-winged Hawk c1000...

Northern Harrier...

Swainson's Hawk

Ringed Kingfisher...

Unfortunately the Hook-billed Kite that had been seen the previous 3 mornings...didn't show for me. Disappointing. The afternoon was spent at the National Butterfly Centre (Lorna had arranged entry) where an Audubon's Oriole had been frequenting recently. Again, not for me. Again disappointing. You can't win 'em all. Two quality omissions there. A question of balance. After saying goodbye to Lorna I headed back to Bentson (Louise was still in McAllen Mall) to try for the Altamira Oriole at the nest site. This time things worked out...well...

I even managed a couple away from the nest...

The mini-visit concluded well when this cracker was waiting to sing from the shadows for me, in the car park...

Curve-billed Thrasher

I picked Louise up at 6 and we headed back to SPI but not before we had a steak at our favourite spot...

Texas Roadhouse