Inspired by others' recent narratives on Texas and big days, I've decided to
put pen to paper (or, better, finger to keypad) and give a report on may
whirlwind Texas tour, which spanned May 4 (eve), May 5-6, 10 (eve), 11
(morning) and 12 (half-day). I found 209 species in this time (two others
got "edited"). It was an unforgettable adventure and given that I was on
business in Houston, it was fortunate that I was able to get out as much as
I did. I want to thank several Tweeters contributors for alerting me on who
to get in touch with regarding rarities and reporting; I'm still collecting
opinions on a couple sightings. Special thanks to Wilson Cady, who provided
key real-time data on the stake-outs....By the way, I ran into an Oregon
birder at Falcon Dam who also had pre-trip pointers from Wilson.

I began my journey in Houston in mid-afternoon Friday May 4. I took Hwy 59
south to Victoria, Hwy 77 south from there. The trip laid out as a
daunting 340 or so miles one way, but to my surprise, I made it in a little
over five hours. Things were pretty quiet in terms of sought-after local
specialties until a bit past Victoria; near the town of Humble Camp, I had
an adult CRESTED CARACARA flying next to the highway over a small cattle
farm, the white wing flashes and head, and gangly flight, quite distinctive.
Minutes later another (this time an immature) flew right over the highway,
just south of Refugio, near a marshland area. I was starting to get
"jacked" now, this my first lifer of the trip...

About 25 miles later, now on the approach to Corpus, two other lifers came
bing-bang, and again right along the highway. Just past the Sinton by-pass
and still north of Corpus, I had an adult WHITE-TAILED HAWK, the first of
three seen along the drive down and 5 total, cooperatively perched on a
telephone pole. Within a couple hundred yards and perched on a wire, a
EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE was an easy study and--I thought--a local rarity and
extralimital, until locals set me straight recently.

Near Bishop and close to Kingsville I had another White-tailed Hawk,
hovering about 50' above and right over the median, and passing Kingsville
it seemed the raptor scene was picking up, with a few new ones including
several HARRIS' HAWKS, which are truly handsome birds (I'd seen them before
in AZ). Earlier along the route I had WHITE-TAILED KITE and a few
SWAINSON'S HAWKS, along with countless TURKEY (and a few BLACK) VULTURES,
sticking to the horizon in the distance like so many motionless dirgibles or
(man-made) kites. As I passed the famous Norias-Sarita Hwy-77 roadside rest
areas where TROPICAL PARULAS were once found, I found myself thinking about
the Tom Langschied guided tours, wishing I had the time, but with eve fast
approaching I was distracted by huge counts of BRONZED COWBIRDS and
GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES; I was also encountering a range of other birds as
evening progressed, including flyover LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and a WHITE IBIS;
there were also many egrets, especially parties of CATTLE EGRETS. Getting
close on running out of gas and thirsty as I could be (but intent on taking
Brownsville by nightfall), I stopped just north of Norias near the last rest
stop, surprised to find an out-of-range CASSIN'S KINGBIRD perched low on a
barbed wire fence right along the Highway (I'm still due to forward details
on this one to the proper authorities; I'd seen a couple of migrant WESTERN
KINGBIRDS further north, and of course, COUCH'S KINGBIRDS proved common at
various sites in the lower Rio Grande areas).

So I had three lifers and a local rarity on the drive down. Although ready
to retire, I had to hit the pool and have a coldy, and had an interesting
chat with the woman at the front desk about Brownsville. Strange town to a
northwesterner like me--not much to keep it going although there is a small
bit of marine industry, services, cross-border trade and, of course, drug
and alien trafficking. She said many of the town's youth get caught up in
this as entry-level "brokers" of sorts; the town has a very high number of
law enforcement personnel, for obvious reasons. Despite this, the flow is
steady.

It was an interesting discussion in a very different sort of place. I
didn't mind until the next morning, when I got a strange and suspicious
message from a fellow who asked that we meet at his house in town. I'd
never met him and needless to say, never went. He could have only gotten my
name from the woman at the motel.

Laguna Atacosta NWR was the dawn attraction on the 5th. The weather was
less than ideal: very humid, cloudy-haze, and not much for overnight
low--about 74 F. Before I even entered the visitor center entrance I was
bombarded by a cacophony of PLAIN CHACHALACA raucous duets, LONG-BILLED
THRASHER and OLIVE SPARROW songs seemingly from everywhere, and showy
appearances by GOLDEN-FRONTED WOODPECKERS, COUCH'S KINGBIRDS, and
WHITE-TIPPED DOVES (all of these were seen and were new for me). At the
visitor center, a herd of WILD PECCARY (including a mother with two young)
made for great videotaping, especially when combined with feeder appearances
by BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRDS and GREEN JAYS (both lifers). There was a
4-foot alligator in a little pond by the Kiskadee trail. Along the drive
from the visitor center, I found my first ROSEATE SPOONBILLS (four, all
fly-overs) and first-ever WILSON'S PLOVERS (several, on territories, thanks
Wilson, I'll remember them as "Wilson Cady's plovers"), along with a
scattering of 6-8 other shorebird sp. along the lagoon edge.

I later found the stake-out TAMAULIPAS CROWS at the NOAA Doppler tower, as
advertised, although it took some time to find the site. There was a third
crow picking at garbage just to the right of the entrance to the airport,
behind the screen-picket fence (I would not recommend this latter area for
birding, though: there was an apparent outbreak of AFRICANIZED KILLER BEES
in the trees here on the 5th).

I had not planned to visit the Sabal Palm Sanctuary but was drawn to it by
reports of LEAST GREBES. It was hot, humid and seemingly the wrong time to
come (close to noon), but I was not to be disappointed.

Not only were the grebes all over, I had views from as close as 15 ft. at a
bird that gave a glottal call when he saw me so close (the bird came up
through the muck near a culvert). There were two nests (!) and lots of
other waterbirds were here. I had not planned on staying long, but running
into other visitors excited about songbird migrants, decided to join them
and then find a few of my own, even though I had previously seen the species
involved. Despite a seemingly unproductive time (mid-day, hot, humid), it
was like a good September morning in Maryland: I had 15 or so TENNESSEES, a
female BLUE-WINGED, a YELLOW, 4 CHESNUT-SIDED, 10 MAGNOLIAS, 4
BLACKBURNIANS, 6 BLACK-THROATED GREENS, a BLACK-AND-WHITE, an AM. REDSTART,
two NORTHERN and one LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, a CANADA WARBLER and a COM.
YELLOWTHROAT--48 individuals of 13 warbler species in all. Among them were
both CUCKOOS (I did not see the BLACK-BILLED), single WARBLING,
YELLOW-THROATED and PHILADELPHIA VIREOS, a WILLOW/ALDER FLYCATCHER and
several E. WOOD-PEWEES, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS, several INDIGO BUNTINGS,
and that is just what I found in a couple hours. No wonder a party I ran
into said it was better than High I. had been a few days before! I had two
MISSISSIPPI KITES fly over also. On the guest book register, a male BLUE
BUNTING was listed by two different parties for April 24-25. Nice trails
and boardwalks here; incredible butterflies, too, and plenty of lizards, all
of which were videotaped by a real amateur--me.

And so it was at 3 p.m. on May 5...



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