Subject: Rio Grande Valley Trip
Date: Mar 15 21:53:42 1999
From: SCRBJAY at aol.com - SCRBJAY at aol.com


Tweeters,

The saga continues. Tuesday I headed to Santa Ana NWR. I got there about
7:30, parked & walked up to the visitor center. They opened at 10:00 (I
think). No literature that I could find outside, but there was a woman sitting
on bench like she was waiting for someone. I asked if she was familiar with
the area. She said no, but she had been told that volunteer naturalists got
there about 7:30 and would show you where to go while they set up at strategic
spots on the area. When I went back to the car to get my scope (never know
when you might need it) I saw my first lifer there, a PLAIN CHACHALACA, All
told I saw 43 species and 11 lifers.

Birds that we were looking for in particular included the BUFF-BELLIED
HUMMINGBIRD and GROVE-BILLED ANI. The couple who showed up at 7:30 were going
out to find the ANI as they had some folks coming over later that day to look
for it. On the way out we (there were now several of us) stopped where the
BUFF-BELLIED hung out. No luck, but we did see RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD and a pair
of HARRIS HAWKS on a nest. I heard later that day 2 BUFF-BELLIED HUMMERS did
show up but I was elsewhere. Next we went to the spot where the ANI had been
recently seen. On the way we passed a marsh that held a GREAT EGRET, GREAT
BLUE HERON, AMERICAN AVOCET, BLACK-NECKED STILT, GREEN-WING and BLUE-WINGED
TEAL, COOT, GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. We
didn't find the ANI then, but we did later in the day.

We were checking out one of the areas where we might find GREEN KINGFISHERS or
RINGED KINGFISHERS (which we failed to see) when we heard the ANI had shown
up. We hustled back to the marsh & talked to a couple who were leaving. They
had gotten a good look but hadn't seen the bird in about 10 minutes. Great,
did I miss it again? We surveyed the area & waited. It got up to 98 that do
so I stepped off the road to get into some shade. After a couple of minutes a
black bird hopped out of the grass to our right. Was that the bird? Just then
my left leg started feeling like I had stepped into nettles. I looked down and
saw a mess of little red ants crawling up my pant leg. I guess I had stepped
on their ant hill. Well, here I am chasing this bird and trying to kill/brush
off these ants. One of the folks in the group told me to take my jeans off to
get rid of the ants. I allowed I'd go back to the visitor center & take care
of that there. I did get a good look at the GROVED-BILLED ANI, a lifer before
I hustled back to the visitor center to "de-ant". On the way back I spotted
my first GREEN JAY in the trees. At least the ants didn't do any permanent
damage....except to my ego. I think the sun burn on my ears was worse.

The lifers I saw that day were the TRICOLORED HERON, HARRIS HAWK, PLAIN
CHACHALACA, BLACK-NECKED STILT, WHITE-TIPPED DOVE, GROVE-BILLED ANI, COUCH'S
KINGBIRD, BRONZED COWBIRD, and GREEN JAY.

Wednesday, the 3rd, I drove to Laguna Atascosa NWR. It was rather cool that
day as it only got up to the mid-70s and was overcast part of the day. When I
arrived some volunteers were putting out bird seed at a couple of photo
blinds. All kinds of GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES, BROWN COWBIRDS, GREEN JAYS,
GOLDEN-FRONTED WOODPECKERS, and several kinds of sparrows right at the visitor
center. I saw 57 species and 3 lifers that day, the LITTLE BLUE HERON, the
WHITE IBIS, and the LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. This day was pretty routine, except I
didn't realize how much distance I had traveled and almost ran out of gas
leaving the refuge. 20 miles in a strange care reading empty can seem like an
eternity.

Thursday was a tourist day where we went top Progresso, Mexico for the
required souvenir shopping and lunch. I did see a GREAT-HORNED OWL, and a
CACTUS WREN at the campground.

The last segment of this trip will conclude with Bentsen-Rio Grande State Park
on Friday & Aransas NWR Saturday. Till then.

Phil Kelley
Lacey, WA
scrbjay at aol.com