February 8 - Birding to the Max!

I was up at 5 a.m. and showered to go to breakfast, then got working on my photos from Florida, and almost missed the bus for the field trip at 6:40!!  I boarded the bus for Birding to the Max, which was the field trip led by Chuck Sexton and Luke Tiller.  Glenda Barrera was the driver.  The Festival brochure touted the trip this way:

​The Max Mandel Municipal Golf course is our latest discovery and addition to the Laredo Bird Festival. This location has stunning views of the Rio Grande River waterfront with over 270 acres of old growth mesquite tree and vast arroyos. Besides being the latest golfing destination, rare birds like the White-Collared Seedeater and Red-Billed Pigeon, are being reported here. The scenic landscape provides an ideal location for birders to enjoy the very best of Laredo. Experience splendor on the Rio at the 180 Ranch! This riverfront property features old growth trees, grassy pastures, bushy tickets, and river frontage access.

Our first stop was at the Max Mandel golf course, where we loaded into golf carts and drove onto the course ‘way before the golfers came out.

We played for Morelet’s Seedeater without getting a response.  The seedeater’s preferred habitat is the reed or cane patches along the riparian areas.

Seedeater Habitat

The golf course is built along the river with hackberry and other trees and shrubs complementing the riparian flora.

Mexico on the left, 'Merica on the Right

We did get a view of birds on both sides of the river, and I got a distant view of a lifer Gray Hawk.  The wind and cool 48° temperatures were keeping many of the birds huddling in their cover, but we were treated to a flock of Red-billed Pigeons that exploded from the riparian zone as we were getting ready to leave, and several circled back to land, giving the group nice scope views.

Red-billed Pigeons - Patagioenas flavirostris

Luke Getting scopes on the pigeons

We stopped to scan the river from the clubhouse, where several of us got a warm cup of coffee.

Birding is just 'way too much fun!

On the way out of the course, we stopped at the entrance to check the sparrow flocks, and were treated to a bright Vermilion Flycatcher.

Where do you plug these guys in

Our next stop was at the adjacent 180 Ranch, which has several ponds formed by a gravel operation.

We flushed a pair of Hooded Mergansers

Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks

On the largest pond was a mixed-species flock of ducks, and there was a Least Grebe, which was a Life Bird for me.  We walked along the pond edge and got good views of sparrows, warblers, and flycatchers.  We drove past some smaller ponds where we saw a couple more of the grebes.

Comfortable, yet cramped, vans provided by the Festival

And we walked along the Rio Grande riparian areas. But, again, we did not find the seedeaters at this site.

The only "Border Fence" needed along the Rio Grande . . .

Next, we stopped at La Bota, where the community had a couple of ponds, to scan for kingfishers, and tried again for seedeaters.  Again, no success for those targets.

Seemed like more of a development, than a Ranch . . .

Our final scheduled stop was at the Zacate Creek Park.  There is a trail along the lower end of the stream, where it falls over a limestone (?) shelf and then runs into the River.

Looking across to Nuevo Laredo

Another of the Festival birding groups was here already, and as we started toward the creek mouth, we were hailed by someone from the other group that they were ‘on’ a couple of thrushes.  Several of us scrambled down the steep hill, rather than go around by the trail – I am not an advocate of ‘cutting trails’, but do not believe that doing so here caused any environmental damage.  Just sayin’…

We got to where the other birders called, and were treated to a view of two Clay-colored Robins.

Life Bird for Jon!

Looks like a brown Robin . . .

Most of our group got a view of these birds before they flew across the creek and disappeared into the cover.  We continued to the mouth of the stream, and scoped the river where we had views of Mexican Ducks and some Black-necked Stilts.

Are they Mexican Ducks if they're on the U.S. side of the River?

It looked like our search for seedeaters was going to be for naught, but Glenda decided to take us to the lakes at the River Bend site.  We searched for a while, and finally saw a Green Kingfisher fishing from a wire cage structure in one of the ponds.

As we were about to leave, a pair of Morelet’s Seedeaters teed up among the reeds.

Seedeater Habitat

One gave us good views while feeding on the seeds of a sow thistle.

Not necessarily good photo views . .

All of the folks in our group got views of this species, which was a life bird for many of us.  As we were going back toward the van, we flushed a “nightjar” from the dirt track, which turned out to be a brief view of a Common Poorwill, which is unusual here this time of year.

Chuck sent the following summary of the day’s birds:

Laredo Birding Festival

Trip List: Birding to the Max (Van 9)

Friday, 8 February 2019; 7:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Leaders: Glenda Barrera, Chuck Sexton, Luke Tiller.

Itinerary: Max Golf Course, 180 Ranch (ponds and river), La Boca, Zacate Creek, The

Bend and Lost Lake.

Complete list of all birds seen by everyone (compiled by CS) and approx. numbers.

Certainly not all birds were seen by everyone on the trip in the two vans.

Gadwall 45

Amer. Wigeon 60

“Mexican” Mallard 3

Blue-winged Teal 8

Green-winged Teal 2

Canvasback 2

Ring-necked Duck 25

Lesser Scaup 15

Hooded Merganser 2

Least Grebe 3

Pied-billed Grebe 4

Rock Pigeon 80

Red-billed Pigeon 14

Eur. Collared-Dove 10

Com. Ground-Dove 2

White-winged Dove 1

Mourning Dove 60

Common Poorwill 1

Common Gallinule 3

American Coot 30

Black-necked Stilt 3

Killdeer 4

Spotted Sandpiper 2

Neotropical Cormorant 15

Double-crested Cormorant 20

Great Blue Heron 1

Great Egret 2

Snowy Egret 1

Black Vulture 6

Turkey Vulture 3

Osprey 2

N. Harrier 1

Cooper’s Hawk 2

Gray Hawk 1

Red-shouldered Hawk 2

Red-tailed Hawk 5

Great Horned Owl 1

Belted Kingfisher 1 heard only

Green Kingfisher 1

Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8

Ladder-backed Woodpecker 4

Crested Caracara 3

Amer. Kestrel 3

Peregrine Falcon 1

Black Phoebe 3

Eastern Phoebe 2

Vermilion Flycatcher 5

Great Kiskadee 10

Couch’s Kingbird 3

Loggerhead Shrike 1

White-eyed Vireo 1

Green Jay 10

Verdin 1

House Wren 1

Marsh Wren 1

Bewick’s Wren 4

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1

Hermit Thrush heard only

Clay-colored Thrush 2

Long-billed Thrasher 2

N. Mockingbird 4

Eur. Starling 2

House Sparrow 20

American Goldfinch 1

Olive Sparrow 3

Chipping Sparrow 1

Clay-colored Sparrow 1

Vesper Sparrow 6

Lark Sparrow 2

Savannah Sparrow 30

Lincoln’s Sparrow 4

Swamp Sparrow 1

Eastern Meadowlark 1

meadowlark sp. 5

Audubon’s Oriole 3

Red-winged Blackbird 15

Brown-headed Cowbird 2

Great-tailed Grackle 30

Orange-crowned Warbler 1

Common Yellowthroat 2

Yellow-rumped Warbler 15

N. Cardinal 10

Morelet’s Seedeater 2

We went back to the hotel very happy with our day’s birding.  I ate supper with Bill and Carol Langford at the Tack Room, a restaurant associated with the hotel, but whose service was very much faster than last night’s.  I enjoyed a beer, their salad bar, and an order of Beef Panchos for $30.  Then, we adjourned to the American Legion hall for a very entertaining presentation on the Birds of Big Bend National Park by Lee Hoy, before returning to the motel.

Max A Mandel Golf Course eBird Checklist is Here

180 Ranch eBird Checklist is Here

La Bota Ranch Ponds eBird Checklist is Here

Zacate Creek eBird Checklist is Here

River Bend eBird Checklist is Here

February 7 - Birding the Big Mesquite

I had arrived in Laredo last night, and the alarm set for 4 a.m. so I could get down to breakfast at 5 a.m.  The hotel was a little slow getting breakfast out, and the field trips leaving at 5:30 were a bit rushed.  I was on Field Trip No. 3, which was the Birding the Big Mesquite trip, led by Kelly Bryan and Jim F. was the driver.  We left north on Interstate 35, stopping briefly at “the Wall”, a Homeland Insecurity check point, to have the Border Guard glance at us gringos and ask “All US Citizens?” while waving us through.

The trip was described on the Festival's web page:

An historic gem of birds and wildlife, one of our newest private ranch additions, La Martineña, is located near the Olmos Creek system that feeds the Nueces River.  Large ponds and beautiful vistas welcome birders as they approach the headquarters and lodges of the ranch established by the early settlers of Webb County.  Besides great birding, visitors are treated to a grand view of the large pond while relaxing, eating and mingling with fellow birders - all from inside a luxurious lodge.

We drove on out to the Martineña Road and onto the ranch, which was owned by Sr. A.M. Bruni’s family.  We stopped at the lodge for a rest break, then scoped the big pond from the deck.
I pulled out my Canon Rebel T6, and realized that I’d charged the battery yesterday, but forgot to put the battery in the camera!  Old age ain’t for sissies . . . .

We continued out onto the dike along the pond, looking for sparrows.  We found mostly Savannah Sparrows along here, but also got good views of some of the other pond birds.  Afterward, we took the van out into the mesquite and prickly pear, and occasionally got out to walk along and pish for sparrows.  Kelly pointed out the range grass was mostly the introduced species of Buffelgrass Cenchrus ciliaris.  This is apparently a nasty invasive.

It is a perennial shrub-like grass from the family Poaceae. On average adult plants reach a height of 1.5 feet and a width of 3 feet. Immature forms of buffelgrass look similar to bunchgrass because of the condensed appearance. Larger adult plants split at the nodes as they grow developing a messy unorganized appearance with leaves extending multiple directions. New leaves and flowers are formed at the nodes of each grass blade allowing for extensive seed production following rain. Flowers are usually reddish brown, but occasionally stramineous. Each flower is covered with small spiked or burrs packed in a dense formation to facilitate seed dispersal by attaching to animal fur or human clothing.

Buffelgrass is known for its high drought tolerance and tendency to grow in dense clumps. These characteristics allow the invasive plant to crowd native plants and compete for available resources. Taller desert plants are eradicated by the establishment of buffelgrass because the native plants lost the competition for water. Smaller vegetation suffers from a lack of sunlight and prevented seed dispersal when buffelgrass becomes established because of crowding. In addition to being drought tolerant, buffelgrass is adapted for regular burning and supports extremely hot fires, causing further death to native plant species that haven't adapted for regular fires of high temperatures. Once buffelgrass invades an area, it quickly becomes a monoculture and plant diversity is lost.

Introduced in the 1930's to the United States as a livestock forage in Arizona, buffelgrass did not survive very well. Several experimental plantings occurred from the 1930s to the 1950s with little success. Buffelgrass was rare when surveyed in 1984, but by 1994 it was expanding rapidly for unknown reasons. Today it is seen nearly everywhere within the southern portions of Texas to Arizona.

It is certainly everywhere on the range here in Webb County, and we are told that it does not provide much habitat for native birds, mammals, etc.  But, there was enough habitat to provide for a few butterflies, as we saw Pipevine Swallowtail and Dainty Sulphur.  We also saw a few Blackbucks, which have been brought in for the hunting.  Game farming is big business in this part of the country, and provides value-added income for the ranchers.

Birding the Big Mesquite

We ended up with 58 species for the trip.  I did not see the ground dove, Great Horned Owl, or Lark Bunting.  Neither did I get any bird photos.  Hey, I’m old.  Wait till tomorrow . . .

At 4:45, I caught a van over to the park block at Houston and Main where they expected a fly-in of Green Parakeets.

But Don't Stop birding . . .

There were nearly 30 birders watching the park, and we had about 7 of the species fly over, and three lit by the afternoon sun so that you could get a view of them.  There was also a small flock of three Monk Parakeets,

My cell phone photo of a Monk Parakeet

as well as White-winged and Inca Doves in the park.

White-winged Dove - Zenaida asiatica

Inca Doves - Columbina inca

The best sighting was of a Cooper’s Hawk feeding on a dove in the neighborhood.  Of course, I missed a shot of that one.

Bill and Carol Langford, birding friends from Olympia (and Carpenteria, California) were in town, and had gone on the Birding to the Max trip today.  They, Linda, Greg from Texas and I had supper at the hotel.  The food was good enough, but we waited nearly an hour to be served, and missed the Festival talk on the wild Muscovy Ducks.  Back to the room, I was in bed by 10 p.m., with some weather blowing in.

I Never Met a Texan along the Border who was in favor of Trump's Damned Wall

La Martineña Ranch eBird Checklist is Here
Laredo St. Peter's Park eBird Checklist is Here