2023 Narrative
This year’s Rio Grande Valley in Spring tour treated us to valley specialties, excellent weather, and productive coastal migration. We began at King Ranch where we successfully found Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Tropical Parula, and Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Near Zapata, we picked up Morelet’s Seedeater, Red-billed Pigeon, Brown Jay, and two surprise Hook-billed Kites, while the Lower Rio Grande Valley provided its usual diverse mix of species more typical south of the border such as Green Jays, Great Kiskadees, Plain Chachalacas, Green Kingfisher, and several species of orioles. The coastal areas around South Padre Island and Port Aransas continued to produce, with active migration pushing our warbler list to over 20 species in addition to providing excellent sightings of Aplomado Falcon and a vagrant Surfbird among the hordes of other shorebirds. Overall, it was a very successful trip!
An early morning departure from Corpus Christi found us heading south towards the infamous King Ranch where we’d spend much of the morning and afternoon. With the rise of the sun, we watched as Scissor-tailed Flycatchers hunted from the telephone wires and Crested Caracaras crossed the road in front of us. Upon arrival at the ranch, we were immediately greeted by typical South Texas birds including Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, Ladder-backed and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Hooded Orioles, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Migration was also evident with a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a flock of Whimbrel migrating overhead. We paid a visit to the bathrooms where the immediate area hosted Wild Turkey, Vermilion Flycatcher, Tropical and Couch’s Kingbirds, Loggerhead Shrike, and a Clay-colored Thrush. Before lunch we searched for our two main targets, Tropical Parula and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, and coincidentally found them close together both offering excellent views. Elsewhere around the ranch, we added Black-crested Titmouse, Black-throated Green Warbler, Curve-billed and Long-billed Thrashers, Olive Sparrow, and a migrant Baltimore Oriole to name a few. Resident raptors abounded, with White-tailed, Red-tailed, and Harris’s Hawks being present along with a flyover Cooper’s Hawk and no fewer than 650 Broad-winged Hawks kettling overhead during our picnic lunch. What a sight!
We eventually worked our way out of the ranch and continued south to the Rio Grande Valley where we checked into our McAllen hotel, had an earlier dinner, and headed back out to visit some parrot roosts. We first found twenty Red-crowned Parrots in a neighborhood, where a small group of Plain Chachalacas crossing the road stole everyone’s attention. Nearby we targeted Green Parakeets and eventually had three sitting above a palm tree before going in to roost. Everyone remarked how strange it was to see a Loggerhead Shrike hunting in a car wash parking lot.
No visit to the Rio Grande Valley is complete without a visit to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park so we spent the next morning birding this productive park. Most of our time was spent birding from the observation tower. We scanned the skies and had several species of waterbirds including Mottled Duck, American White Pelicans, White and White-faced Ibis, and a distant Ringed Kingfisher. Raptor migration picked up later morning when the sun broke through the clouds with Cooper’s, Swainson’s, Broad-winged, and Gray Hawks joining the countless Black and Turkey Vultures. Around the tower, we also had Altamira Oriole, Orange-crowned Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, and Verdin, while back at the visitor’s center, the hummingbird feeders provided Ruby-throated and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds.
Heading west along the Rio Grande, we had a picnic lunch at Roma Bluffs overlooking the vibrant Mexican town of Ciudad Miguel Alemán, which was in full Easter celebration; games, fishing, picnics, and competing loud music offering quite the show from across the river. We didn’t expect much along the lines of birds on account of the activity, but we did see our first Black Phoebe, Spotted Sandpiper, and Cliff Swallow.
Continuing west, we reached Starr County Park, which offered an introduction to the more arid birds upriver. There we had Black-throated and Lark Sparrows, Bullock’s Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, and Pyrrhuloxia along with an out-of-range Bell’s Vireo in full song.
Before checking into our accommodation in the town of Zapata, we paid a visit to the city park where we quickly found the resident Morelet’s Seedeaters working the fence line behind the library along with our first Sora, Common Gallinule, Red-shouldered Hawk, Savannah Sparrow, and only Cedar Waxwings of the trip.
We took a short drive out of town to a quiet side road the next morning where we reveled at the sunrise, watched Lesser Nighthawks hawking for insects, and enjoyed an energetic dawn chorus. We birded along the road for a short while, picking up Cactus Wren and Common Ground Dove before heading upriver.
San Ygnacio, which is birded far less than the comparable Salineño, offers excellent Rio Grande viewing with bird feeders and a small observation platform. Our main target for the morning was Red-billed Pigeon and we eventually had one fly down the river and then eventually right over our heads, offering great but quick views as it headed somewhere more important. Migration was also apparent with a Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and around 225 American White Pelicans catching some thermals. We also had Chihuahuan Raven, Bank Swallow, and Lincoln’s Sparrow among others. Down river, at Salineño we picked up Gadwall, Pied-billed Grebe, Least Bittern, and an elusive Audubon’s Oriole.
Without the Easter crowds of the previous day, Falcon Dam was finally much quieter with only the remains of piñata fillings littering the beach. A short drive around provided a few new birds for the tour including an incredibly cooperative Cassin’s Sparrow that offered exceptional photographic opportunities; we could really enjoy the subtle markings on this rather drab sparrow. Down the road, the public boat ramp provided Ruddy Ducks and a host of herons and egrets to sift through.
Santa Margarita Ranch, which is closed to the public but provides special access upon granting permission, hosts recently discovered Brown Jays. A little after sunrise, we positioned ourselves upon a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande to spend the first couple hours birding the bluffs before heading down the trail for the Brown Jays, which only become active mid-morning. A small island hosted a selection of birds including our only Mexican Ducks, which eventually flew off only to be replaced by a couple of Mottled Ducks, providing us with an excellent opportunity to compare these similar species. Other birds along the river included at least 45 Lesser Scaup, Gull-billed Terns, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Ringed Kingfisher, and a Muscovy Duck, which appeared to be about 90% wild with only limited facial markings, but enough to suggest some domestic genes were present. This was quickly forgotten when we spotted a distant Hook-billed Kite sitting on a tree just moments before it took flight, heading upriver only to have a second individual appear! It was soon time to head down the somewhat difficult trail where we were quickly greeted by a vocal Brown Jay that was excited to see some fresh oranges arriving. We spent some time watching it come in a few times, picking up Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos and a Black-and-white Warbler as well, before heading to lunch.
The rest of the day we spent some time driving around turf farms near Donna and La Feria where we had a lingering Sprague’s Pipit, Upland Sandpipers, Horned Larks, White-tailed Kites, a selection of shorebirds including Long-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, and Black-necked Stilts, and Franklin’s Gulls in addition to a kettle of Mississippi Kites migrating overhead. After dinner, we headed back to Bentsen where we watched for the Elf Owl to make an appearance at its cavity. Despite considerable time and effort, it never did come out this night or the next several consecutive evenings. We did, however, hear several Common Pauraques and a “McCalls” Eastern Screech-Owl.
Estero Llano Grande State Park is one of the top hotspots in the valley and we spent the morning birding this productive park tallying just three species shy of 100! We were immediately visited by a Rufous Hummingbird which helped us reach four species of hummingbirds for the morning. We headed into the ‘tropical section’ of the park (the forested area of the park), which can be a magnificent migrant trap. We tallied ten species of warblers including Louisiana Waterthrush, Blue-winged, Nashville, and a gorgeous male Cerulean. Other migrants included two vocal Eastern Wood-Pewees and a single Least Flycatcher. One person in our group also spotted a Great Horned Owl roosting in a palm tree, a nice addition to our list.
We then walked over to the other side of the park which consists of a series of ponds, wetlands, and a canal. We racked up a host of new species including Least Grebe, American Avocet, American Golden-Plover, Forester’s Tern, and Roseate Spoonbill. We finished the morning with an excellent lunch at a local taqueria.
Following lunch, we took our first trip out to South Padre Island to see what migrants we could find. The Valley Land Fun Lot hosted large numbers of Orchard Orioles and a single Baltimore Oriole, a spattering of warblers including our first Prothonotary, Hooded, and Louisiana Waterthrush, point-blank views of Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, and a couple of Blue Grosbeaks. The Convention Center up the road, which is a migrant trap, added Yellow-throated Vireo, Veery, Swainson’s Thrush, Worm-eating Warbler, and Eastern Kingbird.
We headed down to the University of Texas Brownsville Campus the next morning, which has a resaca in the middle of campus that provides great birding opportunities. Here we picked up Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Belted Kingfisher, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Wilson’s Warbler along with more views of species we’d already seen on the tour such as Clay-colored Thrush and both Couch’s and Tropical Kingbirds, offering excellent comparisons.
Botteri’s Sparrows were set to arrive any day now, so we visited Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site for our first shot… but they were not back quite yet. We then headed back towards South Padre Island via an Aplomado Falcon perched right along the road.
The mudflats north of the convention center had been hosting a Surfbird on and off for the last while so we made our first attempt to see this vagrant shorebird. It wasn’t present this time, but we did accumulate quite the list of shorebirds including our first Snowy, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderling, Dunlin, Western Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitchers, Western Willets and no fewer than 285 Black Skimmers.
We headed to lunch only to return to the mudflats to immediately find the Surfbird upon arriving as it rested on the beach among the dowitchers. We also picked up a Piping Plover, a dozen Marbled Godwits, and a Reddish Egret.
Next door, the convention center was alive with migrants; we spent some time enjoying the spectacle. The dozen species of warblers we tallied included our first Ovenbird, Blue-winged, Kentucky, and Yellow along with Yellow-breasted Chat, Clay-colored Sparrow, Acadian Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, and a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The surrounding marshes provided a skulking Least Bittern and a couple of Clapper Rails calling from deep cover. Back south at the Valley Land Fun Lot, we enjoyed more photographic opportunities of migrants up close and our first Yellow-throated Vireo.
Up until now we still hadn’t seen a Green Kingfisher, so we ventured to a nearby park and within twenty minutes had excellent views of one along a small channel. We then headed back to Palo Alto after some promising south winds and were quickly greeted by a Botteri’s Sparrow from the parking lot upon arrival. The first one in Texas this spring! With two targets quickly in the bag, we started working our way back towards South Padre Island one last time stopping along the way for some shorebirding where we had up-close views of Least, Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers for great comparisons, both Eastern and Western Willets, and our first Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.
The convention center offered the same mix including more views of Kentucky and Worm-eating Warblers while next door at the birding and nature center we caught up with a male Western Tanager. Back at the Valley Land Fund Lots, the hordes of Indigo Buntings were joined by our first Painted Bunting, and a gorgeous male to boot. We headed back inland and picked up Long-billed Curlew, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Marsh Wren before calling it a night.
For our final day, we headed north back to Corpus Christi and headed straight out to the north end of Padre Island and Mustang Island for more migration madness. Our first stop was Packery Channel Park where we immediately were greeted to a Sedge Wren right up close while two others sang nearby. Other birds around included mixed flocks of migrant sparrows, namely Chipping, Clay-colored, and Lark, and more views of Yellow-breasted Chat, Blue Grosbeak, and another male Painted Bunting. The nearby migrant trap, known locally as ‘The Willows’, can often be filled with migrants, but today it only had a few of the regulars. After lunch, we spent some time at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center where the row of willows hosted a good number of migrants such as Yellow-billed Cuckoo, three species of vireos, several Painted Buntings, a selection of warblers, and a single Dickcissel. The observation tower, which overlooks a pool of water chockablock full of ducks and shorebirds offered a good chance to sift through everything and provided our first Green-winged Teal, a dozen shorebirds including a Wilson’s Snipe, and a white Reddish Egret right up close. Just before heading back inland, we made one last stop where we picked up a single American Oystercatcher.
Our final stop on the tour was Blucher Park in central Corpus Christi. This small urban park offers a great refuge for migrating birds, and we spent the next hour and a half wandering around seeing what we would pick out. Among the usual suspects, we managed to find a Common Nighthawk, a couple of Chuck-wills-widows, which were flying around, and the long-staying vagrant Spotted Towhee, which played hard to get. An excellent day to finish off a very successful tour!
Updated: n/a