Trip : South Texas Day Two Login
3 Locations, 112 Sightings
Ducks, Geese, and Swans
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck SPAS
In addition to birds at Sabal Palm Grove, we saw at least fifty of them on South Padre Island.
Mottled Duck SPAS
Blue-winged Teal SPAS
Red-breasted Merganser SPI
Chachalacas
Plain Chachalaca SPAS
Grebes
Least Grebe SPAS
seen at two locations in Sabal Palm with one group of at least eight birds
Pied-billed Grebe SPAS
Pelicans
Brown Pelican SPI
Cormorants
Neotropic Cormorant SPAS
Darters
Anhinga SPAS
Bitterns and Herons
Great Blue Heron SPI
Great Egret SPAS
Tricolored Heron SPAS
Reddish Egret SPI
Both red and white morphs were seen.
Cattle Egret SPAS
Green Heron SPAS
Black-crowned Night-Heron SPAS
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron SPAS
Following the immature seen at Sabal Palm, and adult bird was seen at South Padre Island convention center boardwalk, showing many unusual preening poses.
New World Vultures
Black Vulture SPAS
Turkey Vulture SPAS
Hawks, Kites, and Eagles
White-tailed Kite SPAS
Harris's Hawk OPIR
Swainson's Hawk OPIR
White-tailed Hawk OPIR
Bob Power notes: "Great study bird. Why isn't this a Swainson's? Sub-terminal tail band too thick and black. Trailing edge of the wing curves down and out as it leaves the body. Swainson's leaves the body in pretty much a straight line. Flight feathers are dark, but not all the way through the secondaries. Swainson's would be darker. Hood is a fooler, but Swainson's hood comes down fairly far into the chest. Not so on this pretty little White-tailed Hawk."
Caracaras and Falcons
Crested Caracara OPIR
Aplomado Falcon OPIR
Rails, Gallinules and Coots
Clapper Rail (h) SPI
King Rail SPI
heard and seen
Sora SPAS
heard and seen
Purple Gallinule SPAS
Common Moorhen SPAS
a dozen were seen together from the boardwalk
American Coot SPAS
Plovers
Piping Plover SPI
Killdeer SPI
Stilts and Avocets
Black-necked Stilt SPI
Sandpipers and Phalaropes
Lesser Yellowlegs SPAS
Solitary Sandpiper SPAS
Willet SPI
breeding plumage Eastern bird looked unusually to these calfornia birders.
Long-billed Curlew OPIR
Sanderling SPI
Least Sandpiper SPI
Pectoral Sandpiper SPI
Dunlin SPI
breeding plumage
Skuas, Gulls, and Terns
Laughing Gull SPAS
Gull-billed Tern SPI
Caspian Tern OPIR
Royal Tern SPI
Sandwich Tern SPI
Least Tern SPI
Black Skimmer SPI
Pigeons and Doves
Rock Pigeon SPAS
White-winged Dove SPAS
Mourning Dove SPAS
Inca Dove OPIR
White-tipped Dove SPAS
Cuckoos, Roadrunners and Anis
Groove-billed Ani SPAS
Goatsuckers
Lesser Nighthawk SPI
Seen both perched and flying near the convention center for five to ten minutes in broad daylight. Amazing looks. Bob says: "Dots on flight feathers probably the best field mark here, although the whitish bars near the wing tips are pretty good. Common doesn't show the dots and the bar is set further away from the wingtip."
Hummingbirds
Buff-bellied Hummingbird SPAS
Kingfishers
Ringed Kingfisher SPAS
Woodpeckers
Golden-fronted Woodpecker SPAS
Ladder-backed Woodpecker SPAS
seen in a nest cavity
Tyrant Flycatchers
Eastern Wood-Pewee SPI
Least Flycatcher SPAS
Brown-crested Flycatcher SPAS
Great Kiskadee SPAS
Couch's Kingbird SPAS
Eastern Kingbird SPI
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher SPAS
Shrikes
Loggerhead Shrike OPIR
Vireos
White-eyed Vireo SPAS
Jays and Crows
Green Jay SPAS
Chihuahuan Raven OPIR
Larks
Horned Lark OPIR
Swallows
Purple Martin SPAS
seen at our motel
Cliff Swallow SPI
Barn Swallow SPAS
Chickadees and Titmice
Black-crested Titmouse SPAS
Wrens
Cactus Wren (h) OPIR
Carolina Wren SPAS
Thrushes
Swainson's Thrush SPI
Mockingbirds and Thrashers
Northern Mockingbird SPAS
Long-billed Thrasher SPAS
Starlings
European Starling SPAS
on the road somewhere
Wood-Warblers
Blue-winged Warbler SPAS
two male individuals seen, one at Sabal Palm and one at South Padre Island
Tennessee Warbler SPAS
female individual at Sabal Palm, male at South Padre Island
Nashville Warbler SPI
Yellow Warbler SPI
brilliant breeding plumage male
Yellow-rumped Warbler SPAS
very faded individual with one missing foot and almost no yellow except the rump itself.
Black-throated Green Warbler SPAS
Blackpoll Warbler SPI
Worm-eating Warbler SPAS
on the Oriole trail
Louisiana Waterthrush SPAS
also at South Padre Island
Common Yellowthroat (h) SPAS
heard only, seen later at South Padre Island
Tanagers
Summer Tanager SPAS
Emberizids
Olive Sparrow SPAS
Lark Sparrow SPI
Savannah Sparrow SPI
Lincoln's Sparrow SPI
Cardinals and Saltators
Northern Cardinal SPAS
Rose-breasted Grosbeak SPI
female
Indigo Bunting SPI
Dickcissel SPI
as we were leaving the convention center, Steve spotted a Dickcissel perched on a low scrubby bush. Sparrow-shaped bird with black triangular throat patch, yellow above and below the grey auricular area.
Blackbirds
Red-winged Blackbird SPAS
Eastern Meadowlark OPIR
Great-tailed Grackle SPAS
Bronzed Cowbird SPAS
Brown-headed Cowbird SPI
Orchard Oriole SPI
Baltimore Oriole SPI
Bullock's Oriole SPAS
Northern Finches
Lesser Goldfinch SPAS
black-backed Texas variety
Old World Sparrows
House Sparrow SPI
Old Port Isabel Road = OPIR
Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary = SPAS
South Padre Island = SPI
Trip Notes

Weather was extremely warm and humid.

We started the morning at Sabal Palm, then spent the afternoon at the convention center at South Padre Island, returning to Harlingen by Old Port Isabel Road.

Birds seen by others on the trip include: White Ibis, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Green Kingfisher, Bewick's Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Grey Catbird, Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, Painted Bunting.

There was an alligator just off the boardwark at South Padre Island convention center.

Trip Photos
Trip Map