Wednesday, November 12, 2003
"A pair of reddish eyes, illuminated by our car's headlights on the dark road, moved and then disappeared as we slowly drove along the road in Bentsen State Park in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday morning. We scanned the road ahead and spotted another pair of eyes.  The excitement was infectious as we spotted more Pauraques along the road.  Thus began our Rio Grande trip when a few hardy souls ventured out before dawn to rendezvous with Roy’s friends, Red and Louise Gambill, a pair of stellar Texas birders who have been doing bird surveys at Bentsen State Park for several years.  Driving very slowly down East Military Road next to the state park boundary, we also got a wonderful view of a Barn Owl perched nearby.  As the curtain of darkness lifted, we were greeted by the dawn chorus of Chachalacas, Kiskadees, Couch’s Kingbirds and Long-billed Thrashers.  Red Gambill imitated the call of a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and one bird repeatedly called back, although it chose not to reveal itself.  Our trip was off to a great start."  — Linda Oberholtzer 

 We had a lot of fun birding in the morning with Red and Louise Gambill, enjoying Green Jays, Plain Chachalacas, White-tipped and White-winged Doves at feeders inside Bentsen. That morning we had our first views of Altamira Oriole and Couch’s Kingbird and heard Northern Beardless-Tyrannulets and Long-billed Thrashers.  The Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet was the favorite bird of the day for Nancy Kenyon, who enjoyed hearing its call.  In another part of Bentsen, we found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that posed a long time, allowing everyone to get satisfying scope views of it.  This was Chris Byrd’s favorite bird of the day.  Dick Purvis got a terrific view of a perched Hook-billed Kite when he was searching for a staked-out Eastern Screech-Owl.  Everyone had good views of the Great Kiskadee and heard its raucous vocalizations.

At the old boat launch site in Bentsen, a few of us got our first sighting of a Ringed Kingfisher.
Clay-colored Robins are now annual winter visitors in very small numbers to Bentsen, and Louise Gambill was the only one in the group to catch a brief glimpse of one.  The Green Jay was probably a life bird for everyone who had not birded before in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.   We estimated that one hundred or more were seen that day. It was the favorite bird of the day for Dan D’Urso, Linda Oberholtzer and Bobbie Miller. In fact, this was Bobbie’s favorite bird for the whole trip.  She wrote, "They were so beautiful and so easy to see; it was a pleasant surprise to see a bird that was much more beautiful than the pictures in the books."

Our next stop was Anzalduas County Park located on the Rio Grande, right across the border from Mexico.  At Anzalduas, we watched a man washing a large bus which he had driven part way into the river and was scrubbing it off in the same way elephants are washed in India.  Several people got brief but thrilling glimpses of a Green Kingfisher flying down the river. We drove to a dam on the Rio Grande that was part of Anzalduas County Park. On the way, we had our first brief glimpse of a bird that came to be special to us on the trip, the Eastern Phoebe.  At the dam we had our initial look at a Neotropic Cormorant.  This was the favorite bird of the day for Neal Anderson.  We ate our picnic lunches there and then moved on to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, which was our last stop of the day. 

At Santa Ana we walked the network of boardwalks overlooking the lakes, where we had good views of Eastern Phoebe.  Dick Cabe was able to find good spots for his photography, using his digital camera and his birding scope. While most of us were birding another part of the refuge, Pat Heirs and Linda Oberholtzer spotted a pair of Least Grebes with chick. After a diligent search, we were also able to find a grebe nest with an egg in it. All of this was just 15 feet away from the boardwalk but it was remarkably hidden in the grasses growing in the water. The Least Grebe was the favorite bird of the day for Norm Byrd, Barbara Dixon, Margaret Renton and Pat Heirs.  In fact, Pat Heirs said that this sighting of the Least Grebe family was her favorite experience of the entire trip. Our day ended at the Mexican Restaurant, Casa Del Taco, in McAllen, where the Maitre ‘D prepared for us an elaborate meal that he was very proud of and which we certainly enjoyed in our private room.

Thursday, November 13, 2003
This morning we drove east of McAllen, to Brownsville.  Our early morning drive through Harlingen was in a torrential downpour. One potential target bird for the end of the day was Green Parakeet.  When we made our first stop at a Burger King in Brownsville for a restroom and coffee break, we were greeted by the sound of some 50 screaming Green Parakeets as we got out of our cars.  The Green Parakeets were congregated in a tree right next door to the Burger King, a wonderful bit of serendipity!

 A nearby Resaca (Oxbow Lake) in Brownsville had about 20 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks as well as Lesser Scaups and the very entertainingly looking domesticated Muscovy Ducks. The rain had stopped by the time we arrived at Sabal Palm Grove Sanctuary, the southernmost point in Texas.  Although it had definitely rained earlier, creating muddy gooey paths, we were able to get to the Resaca and scope a perched Green Kingfisher.  There were more Green Jays here and Plain Chachalacas. Yellow-crowned Night Heron was a highlight bird. And again we had saturation views of Eastern Phoebe and our very first good scope views of a Ringed Kingfisher.  Dick Purvis greatly enjoyed his White-eyed Vireo experience and we heard several loud Carolina Wrens.  Bobbie Miller spotted an Olive Sparrow for the group, and this was a favorite bird of the day for both Bobbie and Dick Purvis. 

After eating our picnic lunches at Sabal Palm Sanctuary, in both a misty rain and the flight path of unwanted mosquitoes, we drove out towards Boca Chica Beach, stopping for a long look at an Aplomado Falcon, perched on a telephone pole not far away. This bird was probably a released bird since this area is the northern tip of its natural range extending up from Mexico. There were seven birds listed as favorite birds for this day and the Aplomado Falcon got the most votes. Here we also had fantastic sightings of White-tailed Kite, and what appeared to be a family group of four Harris’ Hawks. Northern Harriers were hovering over the fields.

Our next stop was Boca Chica Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, which was a big delight for everyone, and a favorite spot of the whole trip for Nancy Kenyon, Dan D’Urso and Chris Byrd.  As we drove along the beach with the waves lapping up near our cars and the salt air streaming in through the open windows, we had close-up views of Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers, which were lifebirds for many in our group.  The Piping Plover was Dick Purvis’ favorite bird of the trip, and the American Oystercatcher was Dick Cabe’s trip favorite. 

 Laughing, Ring-billed and Herring Gulls plus Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Long-billed Curlews, and Willets lined the edge of the incoming waves. Driving along the beach with our van doors open so that Dan D’Urso could see the birds reminded me of being in a helicopter with the gunner on the side of the open door, hanging halfway out.   Dan wrote, "And hey, the open door birding on the beach was cool."  Nancy Kenyon shared," I liked being able to drive along the shoreline to view the variety of shorebirds including Piping Plovers. The grass growing in among the drifts of the sand, the wavelets of gray-brown water of the Gulf and the clumps of shorebirds scattered along the way, were very picturesque."

As we neared the mouth of the Rio Grande River, we encountered a large group of terns on the sand.  Through our scopes, we were able to get good views of Sandwich, Common, Forster’s, Royal and Caspian Terns.  Lois Taylor, Jean Casselman, Margaret Renton and Bobbie Miller had fun studying one group that had about 25 Caspian, 30 Royal, 3 Sandwich, 2 Forster’s, and 1Common Tern, all bunched together, allowing great comparison studies. 

We had planned to find Red-crowned Parrots at one of their night roosting spots in Brownsville for our final stop of the day, but they eluded us.  While searching for parrot roosts, we did find a nice Vermilion Flycatcher at Saint Joseph’s Academy nestled among the upscale neighborhoods of Brownsville. Our day ended at dusk at Johnnie Carino’s Italian Restaurant in Brownsville, where we again had a private room for our group meal and the compiling of the day’s bird list.

Friday, November 14, 2003
Early dawn saw us hustling to Chapeño to try to catch the first morning feeding of the Brown Jays by the caretaker at El Rio RV Park. The surprise of the morning was finding Crested Caracaras along the road into Chapeño which was an unexpected thrill for everyone. As we were getting out of our cars at the RV Park, Brown Jays were heard and then seen flying into the feeding area.  We also observed a perched Ringed Kingfisher and an Osprey. Views of Green Jays and a partial albino Golden-fronted Woodpecker further increased the excitement. 

We had to ford a daunting muddy flooded area in our cars to get down from the bluff above to the edge of the Rio Grande River below. There we had one new bird sighting after another: Gray Hawks were perched on the bank across the river, Black-crested Titmice, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Red-winged Blackbirds were in the trees vocalizing, and White-faced Ibis and Gadwalls were out in the river. We also saw Roseate Spoonbills and heard a singing Long-billed Thrasher. This experience was the favorite birding place for both Bobbie Miller and Pat Heirs; Pat said she really enjoyed the birding "chaos" here. "Seeing everything from Brown Jays to Roseate Spoonbills with a Long-billed Thrasher in-between, made exciting birding," she said. 

Our next stop was Salineño. The birding along the river was uneventful, but this changed when we joined Pat and Gale DeWind at their motorhome and feeders nearby. The action at the feeders was intense with colorful Green Jays, Black-crested Titmice and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers. They were joined by Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers and crippling views of a Black-throated Green Warbler. The climax of this experience was seeing Audubon’s Orioles who came in soon followed by Altamira Orioles.  Both Orioles were seen interacting and flashing around for a good while.

Our official picnic lunch spot was Falcon County Park. Bluebird expert, Dick Purvis, quickly found some Eastern Bluebirds on the wires.   A humorous moment for some was discovering the two-seater restroom, separated by a pink shower curtain. 

A definite stroke of birding serendipity was our finding the area next to Falcon County Park which we nicknamed the "Four Corners," or, as Dick Purvis named it, the "Magical Corner."  We were first drawn to the area by the sighting of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, which was soon joined by five more Scissor-tailed Flycatchers perched in a row on the telephone wire with their elegant tails swaying in the breeze. Pools of water by the side of the road seemed to be attracting other birds as well. With the Eastern Meadowlarks singing in the fields nearby, we also had unexpected sightings of Pyrrhuloxia, a singing Curve-billed Thrasher, Lark and Lincoln’s Sparrows, a Cactus Wren and finally, the much sought after Cassin’s Sparrow perched on a barbed wire fence.  This experience of seeing the Cassin’s Sparrows was Dick Purvis’ favorite bird experience of the trip.

Falcon State Park did not offer much of interest.  However, those people who stopped at Bentsen on the way home were treated to the thrill of seeing the staked-out Eastern Screech-Owl perched in front of its nest cavity in a tree not more than 65 feet away, offering full-frame views in the scope. Seeing the remarkable blending of the bird’s black and white streaking and the identical black and white streaking of the tree that it was perched in was a memorable event and, in fact, was one of the highlight trip experiences for Pat Heirs.

Our evening group dinner at the Mesquite Grill in McAllen was attended by only half of the group; some of the members were just too tired to go out to dinner that night, while others were unable to find the place because of misleading directions. 

Saturday, November 15, 2003
Our first birding stop in the Edinburgh Industrial Medical Park on the outskirts of McAllen, was to see Tropical Kingbird, but the stop again provided us with a dash of birding serendipity. We did have a singing Tropical Kingbird as we stopped our cars there.  But a moment later, great bird finder, Bobbie Miller, found a Warbler with a yellow throat. I first judged it to be a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, but with Bobbie’s persistence, we discovered that it was actually a spectacular male Yellow-throated Warbler, a lifebird for numerous people on the trip. 

"Hawk Alley," our next birding stop, was an east-west connector road between the main north-south roads 281 and 77. Hawk Alley provided us with interesting views of Red-tailed Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, and American Kestrels. We spotted 11 Harris’ Hawks and at least 12 Crested Caracaras along this route, as well as, our first view of a White-tailed Hawk, in this case viewed from a pretty far distance as it flew away from us and then perched a good quarter of a mile away.

Our arrival at the boat dock for the Whooping Crane Boat Tour was delayed by a directional error about the freeways through Corpus Christi. Barbara and Jim Dixon had better directions and arrived at the boat dock ahead of us. The Captain of "The Skimmer," Tommy Moore, and his First Mate, Duane Abbey, greeted us at the boat dock.  These two men extended a southern hospitality and country boy informality that made us feel quite at ease on this special low-draft boat which was designed for getting in close to the Whooping Cranes on Aransas Bay. 

What followed were numerous birding experiences that were listed by many people as highlights of the trip. This included sightings of Reddish Egrets and White Ibis. We had as many as 13 Whooping Cranes, which were spectacular to look at in their graceful elegance. Outstanding was watching a family group of 3 cranes, 1 adults and a rusty-colored immature, all moving and eventually flying off together. "Probably the most significant sighting was being able to study the Whooping Crane juvenile with its parents," said Pat Heirs.  We saw a group of terns and gulls, similar to the group seen at Boca Chica Beach, the largest to the smallest being the Caspians, Royals and Forster’s, which were joined by 50 Black Skimmers.  First Mate, Duane Abbey’s interesting observation was that "A Tern is what a bird should be like: sleek, graceful and it works for its meals." 

An unexpected bonus turned out to be sitting on a signpost labeled "505", standing for the 505 miles from that point to New Orleans. On this sign was a White-tailed Hawk who never flushed and stayed poised atop this sign as we inched the boat closer for scope-filling views. Dick Cabe got an excellent digital photo of this bird.  Margaret Renton also was having fun photographing the birds.  Last came an island with up to 50 Roseate Spoonbills eventually rising in the air like ephemeral cotton candy. Nancy Kenyon: "The wetlands areas we covered on the boat were also quite picturesque terminating in the wonderful view of the Roseate Spoonbills perched in that bush, bathed in the late afternoon light. What a wonderful way to end such an exciting day."

Our evening dinner was next door to the boat dock at Alice Faye’s Seafood Restaurant where we had a wonderful meal, reviewed our bird list, and then enjoyed Dick Cabe’s showing of the stunning digital photos he had taken on the trip. Barbara Dixon’s husband, Jim, a non-birder, had graduated from saying his favorite bird of the day was the "little brown job" to naming a White-faced Ibis as his favorite bird of the day!

On the long drive home, Bobbie Miller had mentioned missing the White-eyed Vireo on numerous previous trips.   I told her that the way to find White-eyed Vireo was to know its song and recognize it in the field and then stay with it until it is seen. On the drive home we played White-eyed Vireo vocalizations on the CD over and over and over until it was ingrained in Bobbie’s aural consciousness.

Sunday, November 16, 2003
Our final morning had most of the group repeating the experience of the first morning, that of arriving at Bentsen in the pre-dawn hours. We all enjoyed numerous views of Common Pauraques and then joining Red and Louise Gambill again and hearing the call of the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Eastern Screech Owl and Great-Horned Owl. This early morning experience at Bentsen was Nancy Kenyon’s most memorable birding experience: "The last morning’s visit to Bentsen State Park in the wee hours of Sunday morning made crawling out of bed in the middle of the night and birding on an empty stomach well worthwhile. It was exciting to hear the beginning of the dawn chorus and to identify each of the bird species as they announced their presence to a new day. In order of appearance they were spotting the Common Paraques sitting on the road, hearing the hoots of distant Eastern Screech and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls and Plain Chachalacas calling, Great Kiskadees calling, Altamira Orioles singing, then the Black-crested Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and the Green Jay. Also, the sounds of tree frogs and the trickling of a nearby stream, a half-moon, a couple of stars and the faint trace of clouds that slowly turned pale pink at dawn. It was a memorable end to a great trip."

Neal Anderson said of that last morning,  "In addition to the many birds, our car kept track of other critters that we saw. Especially fun was observing two Peccaries feeding by the headlights of our car near the boat ramp at Bentsen on our last day. They were no more than twenty feet away and did not seem at all disturbed by our presence as they pigged out."

At Bentsen the Clay-colored Robin finally announced its presence vocally and then popped into view briefly several times as it checked out peanut butter that I had laid out for it, courtesy of Chris and Norm Byrd’s lunch supplies. 

Mid-morning we went back to the Holiday Inn to fill up on their deluxe breakfast before heading out to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. Here, Bobbie Miller, sure enough heard that distinctive vocalization of the White-eyed Vireo and worked on it for quite awhile. Eventually she did get her life view of White-eyed Vireo.  Highlights were Nashville Warbler and sightings of several Black-throated Green Warblers and an Olive Sparrow that perched for several minutes as it sang near the spot where the Least Grebes had been several days earlier.  But now there was no sign of the Least Grebes or their nest. They must have disassembled the nest after the hatching of the egg.  The naturalist at Santa Ana implied that the egg must have hatched because two fledglings were seen the day before.

The highlight bird of the morning was a Clay-colored Robin that Dick Cabe found at Santa Ana, perched motionless for perhaps ten minutes on a thick downed branch, giving fabulous views for those lucky enough to be there.  At Pintail Lake, besides Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail, were our first good views of Mottled Duck.  When the intermittent departures of the trip participants for their flights home left only Pat Heirs and Linda Oberholtzer with me, I gave into a bit of tiredness and laid down in the grass next to Pintail Lake for a brief moment. After an hour of deep sleep, I got up to join Pat and Linda for lunch and the drive back to the airport, via driving along levees surrounding the park. 

Everyone’s flights out of McAllen to Houston had some sort of delays, cancellations, or other problems. We all got home safely, nonetheless.

Some of the trip participants’ comments in retrospect are worth noting here: For Dan D’Urso the best part of the whole trip was "our very congenial birding group."  As a trip leader, I, Roy, feel it is especially satisfying when the group as a whole contributes to the success of the trip, especially in the shared original sightings of birds and in helping each other get on the birds.

Also noteworthy was that the favorite birds on most of the days were the unexpected ones. Aplomado Falcon near Sabal Palm, Crested Caracara on the way to Chapeño, Yellow-throated Warbler in Edinburg, White-tailed Hawk perched out in Aransas Bay and the Clay-colored Robin in Santa Ana were all the most noted birds for their respective days and not birds that we would have listed as target birds for those locations.  Pat Heirs addresses this with, " With me, Roy, I like birding surprises. When you go to a NWR or Sanctuary, it is easy to be let down because you don’t find what is there or should be seen; whereas at Chapeño and Four Corners we were on our own and what we saw was what we found. Does that make any sense?  I think you know what I mean."

Jean Casselman wrote, "My favorites are many, but several come quickly to mind. The gaudy Green Jays and Kiskadees are irresistible. The Harris' Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, and Chihuahuan Raven come quickly to mind. If I had to narrow it down to just two, I'd have to name the Aplomado Falcon and the Common Paraque."

Dick Purvis said. "The best description of the trip was that it was 'magic.' Every time we
stopped for a target bird, there it was and two other really special birds also. Possibly the most impressive result of the trip was the 'quality' of the sightings. A White-tailed Hawk sat calmly on a post about 75 feet away for many minutes, an Aplomado Falcon perched on a power pole as we watched through scopes which made it seem to be an arm length away; an adult pair and their juvenile Whooping Crane foraged within easy viewing distance, 30 Roseate Spoonbills perched in a nearby tree left us speechless. An Eastern Screech-Owl posed in its cavity entrance as we watched each eye-blink with a scope. Even the sneaky 'little brown birds' gave us superb views. Included were Cassin’s Sparrow, Curve-billed Thrasher, Long-billed Thrasher, Olive Sparrow, Clay-colored Robin. . . , I could go on and on! Thanks to Roy Poucher and Sea and Sage Audubon for a memorable trip."

Sometimes this is called birding luck. But when it happens consistently like it did on our trip, it is an indication of a cohesively attuned group.  Everyone on the trip, especially the drivers, deserves recognition for their patience, flexibility, good cheer, sense of adventure and high birding alertness that contributed to our cohesive attunement.

I wish to thank Nancy Kenyon for making personalized bird checklists for each person and for all her help in coordinating the rooms and the carpools and for her boundless enthusiasm. 

Field trip assistant Linda Oberholtzer allowed me to do what I do best—get us to the birds, while she took care of some of the more mundane details of the trip.

Thank you.
—Roy Poucher, Trip Leader