Subject: Lower Rio Grande Trip
Date: Mar 13 21:06:49 1999
From: SCRBJAY at aol.com - SCRBJAY at aol.com


Tweets,

First I want to thank all of you who gave me suggestions on where to go (I
ignored those suggestions) on my visit to the Lower Rio Grande Valley last
week. I wound up with 125 species and 39 lifers! Talk about a kid in a candy
shop!!

The strange part was every one kept apologizing because the birding was so
bad. The waterfowl left last week & the migrants hadn't arrived yet. Gee. I
guess I'll have to return. The only down side was the weather...it was hot &
windy. It got up to 98 on Tuesday and was in the mid to upper 80s most of the
rest of the week...too hot for me. I got fried, but I stayed with it.

I flew into San Antonio on Saturday & did the tourist thing that night and hit
the River Walk..Mexican food and a visit to Dirty Nellie's, an Irish pub
complete with sing-along and the best margaritas on the river. Sunday was time
to get to work.

Sunday, we went to Friedrich Wilderness Park and Breckenridge Parks in San
Antonio. We saw 29 species including 5 lifers for me: INCA DOVE, GOLDEN-
FRONTED WOODPECKER, LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, and
GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE.

Monday was the drive from San Antonio to Linn (about 20 miles north of
Edinburg) where I stayed with other friends for the rest of the week. On the
way down I stopped at Choke Canyon State Park in Three Rivers. I had another
45 species here, with 6 more lifers. The lifers here were MOTTLED DUCK,
CRESTED CARACARA, VERMILION FLYCATCHER (a beautiful bird!), ASH-THROATED
FLYCATCHER, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, and OLIVE SPARROW. I also saw my first
Texas white-tailed deer in a long time. I had forgotten how huge their antlers
get. I also saw my first Javelina there. I also learned something I didn't
realize...all wild animals eat white bread. Why else would people sit under a
do not feed the animals sign and feed the Javelina white bread?

When I got to the mobile home park in Linn (don't blink, you'll miss it, I
did) and tried to find my friend's place I noticed these funny birds running
around the grounds with long, decurved bills. There were several CURLEWS
there. Turns out they are pretty much permanent residents. I later saw a
CACTUS WREN there, another lifer.

The rest of the week I drove (put 1180 miles on a rent-a-car in 8 days) to
Santa Ana NWR, Laguna Atascosa NWR, Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park, and Aransas
NWR. Details of those trips will follow.

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
Scrbjay at aol.com


"We were few and they were many. Now we are many and they are few."
Confucius