Yesterday afternoon Justin LeClaire found an Arctic Tern on the beach at South Padre Island while doing shorebird surveys.  Arctic Terns pass through Texas in late May on their 10,000 plus mile migration route from their Antarctic wintering range to their Arctic breeding range.  They are rarely seen in Texas.  I was photographing odes at Bentsen so there was no way I could make it out there and put in much of a search.   So I got up early and was at the beach at 9AM.  I surmised getting out there earlier might not help as the birds would all be out feeding.  ..read more

Well a cool front with a shift of winds was forecast for today so I headed out to South Padre Island for some late spring migration action.  Turns out the front didn't quite make it so the winds never shifted to northerly and an easterly breeze was the best we could get.  The result was a somewhat mediocre day... except for my last stop. My first stop of the morning was at the Valley Land Fund's Sheepshead lot.  Not much was going one except I did glimpse a large dark hummer streaking through the Turk's-cap.  I mused that maybe it was last week's Mexican Violetear from Reta ..read more

Yesterday I made a butterfly run out to the Yturria Brush tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR.  The high temperature for tomorrow is forecast to be 108F so I wanted to check it out before everything gets fried.  Turns out I was too late.  Vegetation was already crispy and there were few butterflies so I switched to birds who were singing their heads off. As I approached the brushy monte about a half mile north of the new parking area on Vanderpool Road I heard the squeaky call of a Groove-billed Ani.  I whistled an imitation of its call and one promply flew in to check ..read more

On February 23, 1983 a dead Mottled Owl was found along the road near Bentsen State Park.  This was the first record of this tropical owl species for the United States though they are resident in Mexico less than a hundred miles from the US border.  A second was reported from Frontera Audubon in Weslaco in July of 2006 though never photographed.  I vaguely remember looking unsuccessfully for that bird. Finally on Nov 18 last year Zach Johnson and Simon Kiazc recorded the voice of a Mottled Owl at the Santa Margarita Ranch in Starr County, Texas just north of Roma.  The ranc ..read more

I've been busy with birds and butterflies lately and neglecting real life stuff, so today it was time to hunker down and get some chores done.  But then that darn WhatsApp when off.  Javi Gonzalez and crew at the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center had found a Mangrove Cuckoo.  Now I've seen Mangrove Cuckoos before in the Florida Keys and in Mexico but never in Texas.  I remember looking for the one at Frontera Audubon in Weslaco many years ago.  Then there was another long ago at Sabal Palm and Scarlet Collie found one in Port Isabel.  That's three swing ..read more

A Black Noddy was photographed on Friday afternoon on the Port Aransas Jetty.  I was unable to run up there over the weekend but got up dark and early on Monday and made the 200 mile drive.  When I arrived there was David Bradford from Houston with whom I have been battling for some time in the Texas eBird rankings.  We made the long walk out and eventually found it feeding with Black Terns near the tip of the jetty.  Fortunately it came back to the jetty to preen providing great photo opps. Black Noddy is one of five noddy tern species belonging to the genus Anous.&n ..read more

The past few days I've seen some really nice photos of the first Texas record Southern Lapwing at the Llano Grande golf course in Mercedes.  So I ran over this morning to try for some better shots.  The bird was much closer than it was the other day, right in front of the clubhouse, but cloudy conditions made still photography tough.  Lapwings are basically large plovers belonging to the subfamily Vanellinae.  This Southern Lapwing is Vanellus chilensis of the cayennensis subspecies. There were a few photographers present when I arrived.  One of them was making ..read more

After seeing the Southern Lapwing yesterday, I decided to leave the gathering crowd and head up to the Sugar House pond to look for the Hudsonian Godwits found by Ryan Rodgriquez the day before.  Though world population estimates are over 70,000 (compared to 8,000,000,000 people), not rare by shorebird standards, their narrow migratory path up the center of the United States means most birders have to go to some effort to see one.  We are fortunate here in the Rio Grande Valley to have a few pass through easch spring.  They completely bypass us in the fall.  It did not take ..read more

After an unprecedented fall and winter birding season in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, this spring has continued with more amazing rare birds.  Last Sunday it was the Mexican Violetear on South Padre Island and two days ago it was a Flame-colored Tanager at Quinta Mazatlan.  And then yesterday, a resident at the Llano Grande Resort photographed a strange bird while playing golf.  He showed it to a local birder at the resort and eventually the ID was determined to be a Southern Lapwing.   According to Steve Howell's "Rare Birds of North America" there are only t ..read more

The Valley's four young guns, Ryan Rodriguez, Nolan Walker, Simon Kiacz and Zach Johnson have been leaving a path of destruction in their wake in recent months.  This morning Ryan found Hidalgo County's third Flame-colored Tanager.  This Mexican montain species is still a review species in Texas but now is annual in SE Arizona where it has nested.  I was happy to refind it for the small group of birders who had assembled.  It was my 415th species for Hidalgo County. Nolan, who found the Mexican Violetear on SPI a few days ago, had been looking for the Flame-colored Ta ..read more