I HEART TEXAS +3 Lifers

Welcome home Tex!!! That's right, back in good old cold Ohio, but its good to be back. I spent the end of February/early March in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, getting some winter birding in. It was a chance to start my year list off quickly and hopefully add some much needed #LifeBirds. And guess what? I did just that, with a total of 158 species and 3 lifers, plus one TBD; see below.

This first blog is a recap of my LRGV hit list birds needed to add to my ABA area life list. The next entries will be more winter LRGV rarities, FOY's, and place visited.

Lifers seen:

• Red-Crowned Parrot, code 2-- 2/24/15  1st lifer seen, 2 hours into the trip 

A "Company of Parrots"

ABA #562

Red-Crowned Parrots

Their appearance is generally green with the most notable features being a bright red forehead and crown, dark blue streak behind the eyes, and light green cheeks. Birds in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas may be either feral, descendants of natural vagrants from Mexico, or both. These are only considered ABA countable in south Texas. RC Parrots in Florida are not countable, either are Yellow-lored parrots, seen with the Red-Crowns here in Texas.

• Alpomado Falcon, code 3-- 3/4/15, seen at 8am day of departure, Port Isabel--sr100 east

Aplomado Falcon

Male(left), Female(right)

ABA #564

Spanish for lead-coloured, the Aplomado falcon’s common name is a reference to the adult’s blue-black upperparts ⁽²⁾. A slim-bodied raptor with longish wings and tail, the aplomado falcon has distinctive head markings, comprising a white band running above the eyes, meeting at the back of the head.

Among the 31 known breeding pairs, 26 are using the artificial structures in SE Texas. The pair that I had seen where at this nesting box early, at 8am.  We looked at this box around 12:30pm--days before, but the falcons where out hunting, so early morning is best!!
Even those these are introduced birds, they are considered countable by ABA standards when seen in the SE Texas area.  Big Year birds such as Neil Hayward, Sandy Komito and Dorian Anderson all saw Aplomado Falcons in Texas and counted them that year.  There have been few vargiants in SE New Mexcio that could be truly Mexico birds that fly up through the valleys into ABA areas.

http://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/aplomado_falcon_fact_sheet.pdf

• Tropical Parula, code 3-- 2/27/15, seen at Resca Del Palm parking lot

ABA #563

Tropical Parula

Within 10 mintues of checking in at the desk, we birding the parking lot. It's a well known best place there to bird. There a lot of trees, and it attracts warbles and finches. Sure enough, the reported bird was up in the tree tops with American Goldfinch.

• Snowy Plover, code 1, see pictures below, need help on ID of several birds

  

What am I?

Hmmm

Backside help?

At the South Padre Island, convention center back patio area, the team scoped out lots of shorebirds. Then we saw 6-10 of this extra white peeps. These are the best pictures I could post. So the question is what are they?



Itinial reports that day where Snowy Plovers!! But after researching winter plumage pictures, ebird reports for that area/month, and behavior I believe these are winter plumage Sanderlings.

So, I please need your shorebird ID birders to help me out some. Please answer in the comment box below. If you don't have a google ID, then use "anonymous".

Below is a picture of a Snowy Plover, taken February 2015 in southwest Florida coast.

Snowy Plover

         Missed lifers:

• Prairie falcon, code 1, spent 1 hour in midday looking, but dipped, to windy
• White-Throated Thrush, code 4, had not been seen in over a week, but tried anyway, would have been very hard, right timing was the prior week dipped
• Thayers/Slaty-Backed Gulls, not even a thought to chase them, dipped

With that, I'll take another successful trip to the Valley. Those three lifers where great, and I got the chance to "retrace the steps" of two other rarities seen on the trip, but fourtunely got to see them as lifers in 1988-89 in the valley.

Next up:  Retrace the steps . . . Gray-Crowned Yellowthroat & Hooked-bill Kite