Recently, Ed and I made a trip to TX in search of life birds, which were getting elusive for me at 635! Seems like in the last month, Texas has been filled with rarities and has had a steady influx of bird enthusiasts, so we hit the road!
We decided to drive, to give ourselves more flexibility on the trip. You would not think Chattanooga, TN would be on the way from Atlanta to TX, but we made it so. There was an incredibly rare Ancient Murrelet on a lake in Chattanooga! What is a bird who belongs on the Pacific NW coast or the Bering Sea doing this far south??? But there it was, off its course, indeed! Made me think of Scott Weisdensaul’s great talk last year and a bird’s navigation system.
Our first stop in TX was Corpus Christi for the first recorded US sighting of a rare Cattle Tyrant, a type of flycatcher from South America. It had been making its home near an Asian restaurant in downtown Corpus for several weeks, eating off the ground by dumpsters, popping up on cars and street signs. I get so nervous the last 30 minutes before a rare bird, I’m bouncing off the walls of the car! And this was no exception. It took us 15 minutes to find the bird eating on the ground! A sighting of a large feral cat shortly before sent cold shivers down my spine, but the Cattle Tyrant appeared, and Ed got great pictures. People were coming from all over the country looking for this very special bird.
Next stop was Resaca de la Palma SP for 2 mega rarities! A Roadside Hawk and a Gray-collared Becard, both from Mexico. The first day that we looked no one had seen either bird, even though there were frequent sightings in previous days. You just never know with birds, and you get what you get, and you don’t get upset, so there were a lot of disappointed birders that day. However, as we were leaving the park we got a lifer Tropical Parula moving with a flock of warblers. This is a bird that had eluded me on six trips to Texas. Just a pesky little cousin of our Northern Parula, but somehow my nemesis bird! Life bird #3 for the trip! We were moving right along! No photo for Ed for this one, just one quick look despite lots of searching.
That evening we headed to the parrot roost in Brownsville and got a lifer Lilac-crowned Parrot. What a sight and sound to hear hundreds of parrots come in for their nighttime roost. Ed has a “beamer” that fits on his flash, which throws light directly at the subject in the dark. He got great shots of the parrots, including Red-crowned and White-fronted. This parrot roost, in a large Brownsville sports park, is one of our favorite stops in Texas birding.
The next morning, we decided to try for the Golden-crowned Warbler, another rarity from Mexico. It’s a skulker, and often stays hidden in the bushes but you can hear it’s very distinct chip. That’s all well and good, but those of you who know us, know that Ed keeps a life list in photos, and he was determined that we should see it. We arrived early in the morning at Hugh Ramsey Park in Harlingen and another birder from Ohio was there.
We patiently paced the edge of a thicket for almost an hour and listened carefully. Both he and I thought we heard it, but we just wanted to catch a glimpse to be sure. We did not use any playback, just waited and our patience paid off when he spotted the bird movement in the thicket! We were so excited and finally the bird went up in some vines for just a moment. Ed got two clicks off and a great photo!
It was still mid-morning, so Ed and I hurried back to Resaca del la Palma SP to look for the hawk and the becard. We arrived to hear that both had been seen, and as it turned out the hawk was sitting in the woods by the resaca, perched perfectly still for a long time! Many birders got pictures and excellent views. We then continued back to the feeding area at the park headquarters and lo and behold, another birder spotted the Gray-collared Becard in a tree.
Oh, the excitement of the group…a little bit of grumbling by some to get views and pictures. Sometimes it truly is like the movie The Big Year and the Owen Wilson character shoving his way to the front, accusing others of talking too loudly or attempting to use playback. It’s a jungle out there, my birding friends! LOL. But many people got good views, although the bird moved quickly. Ed was disappointed he didn’t get the shot, but happy that I got a look! However, about 30 minutes later the becard returned with a smaller group in attendance, and Ed was able to get an OK photo of this elusive bird.
Then it was on to Houston where Ed had some consulting work. One day after his work, we searched for a Red-vented Bulbul in a residential neighborhood, a bird that has been introduced in the area, but is now breeding and a naturalized population. It is countable by the ABA, but only in the Houston area. I almost left that one on the table thinking I had it as a life bird, until a friend called to my attention to the fact that I had a Red-whiskered bulbul, not the Red-vented Bulbul. Ya gotta pay attention in this birding world…LOL! There were 6 bulbuls hanging out in the top of a tree for great photos.
Then we began the journey home via Apalachicola, Florida, (“it’s only a tiny detour, Ed”), and a search for the rare Fork-tailed Flycatcher. It had been hanging around a bridge for several weeks near Eastpoint, Florida. And sure enough it was an easy find, sitting on the wires of a roadside fence. I held my breath hoping it wouldn’t get hit by a car every time it flew, that tail is so long! Life bird #9 for the trip. And never knowing who you run into on the birding trail, we met Craig Watson’s twin brother Keith from TN as he arrived looking for the flycatcher! Small world on the birding trail.
So…13 dawn to dusk days, 3,178 miles and 9 life birds later we arrived home! What great fun it was! I couldn’t do it without my wingman, photographer and partner in crime!
Submitted by: Aija Konrad
Photos by: Ed Konrad