TEXAS - 21st February

Left the Lower Valley and arrived at Salineno at first light and had a very productive few hours at the river overlook and at the very busy feeders; new birds comprised at least 5 RED-BILLED PIGEONS flying around with White-winged Doves, a couple of NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS which flew over early on, 6+ CHIHUAHUAN RAVENS which flew north over the river from Mexico, a distant hovering RINGED KINGFISHER, a singing AUDUBON’S ORIOLE and good views of a ZONE-TAILED HAWK which circled over the river with a big flock of Turkey Vultures as they left their roost.  

Other birds here included a couple of White pelicans which flew downstream, quite a few Neotropic Cormorants, many Ospreys flying around carrying fish, a displaying Coopers Hawk, nice views of a perched Red-shouldered Hawk, several Spotted Sandpipers on the river, a Green Kingfisher, a Black Phoebe and nice views of Common Yellowthroat coming to drink at the feeding station where there was also Olive Sparrows and lots of Altamira Orioles.

I then drive slowly along some back roads through the dry bush where birds included good views of a PYRRHULOXIA, several parties of BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS, awesome views of several Roadrunners as they fed alongside the car in the grass verges, a couple of Verdins, literally hundreds of Northern Mockingbirds, a Northern Harrier and several Loggerhead Shrikes.

             The rest of the day was spent at Falcon State Park where despite the now very hot conditions new birds included a party of WESTERN MEADOWLARKS at the campsite, excellent views of smart CACTUS WRENS, an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER (a large Myiarchus Flycatcher anyway – this is my best guess!) and a couple of CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS also around the campsite.   The scrub in the park was pretty good as well with birds including an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk over with a bulging crop, a Harris Hawk, several smart Vermillion Flycatchers (including a displaying male – a little red puffball high in the air!), Loggerhead Shrike, a Blue-headed Vireo, several Bewick’s Wrens, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Long-billed Thrashers, a single Audubon’s Warbler with many Myrtle Warblers, some more Black-throated Sparrows and Pyrrhuloxias and a few Vesper Sparrows.

Osprey

White Pelican

Altamira Oriole

Common Yellowthroat

Northern Cardinal

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Pyrrhuloxia