BIRDING THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY
This year for Easter I went on a birding trip to the Rio Grande valley. This is one of the most famous birding places in the country because of the possibility of seeing tropical birds as well as western American birds.
One of the interesting birds I saw was the Plain Chachalaca. It is a large brown bird about the size of a crow with buff colored breast and white along the tip of the tail. It gets its name from the sound it makes. They were all over the camp ground and made quite a racquet. The Green Jay is a beautifully colored bird with a dark green back, a light green belly, blue on top the head and around the eyes and black under the neck.
My favorite bird of the trip was the Great Kiskadee. Black and white striped head, bright yellow belly, brownish back going to reddish towards the tail. One lit on a stake about 20 feet from me and I really got a good look at it. We were on the banks of the Rio Grande River looking for ringed and green kingfishers. I saw a ringed but missed out on the green although some of the people said they saw one fly by.
Later we left the river bank and went to some peoples yard where we saw some Brown Jays. They are brown and about the size of a crow.
Back in the campground we met some Englishmen who told us about an Elf Owl that lived in a telephone pole near the camp entrance. It came out every night about 8 o’clock. That night we went to the telephone pole about 7:30 to be sure not to miss it. About one minute before 8 here come the Englishmen. We were watching the wrong side of the pole. We moved to the other side, about five other people showed up and about one minute after 8 it poked its head out of the hole and sat there for about 3 minutes. It ducked back into the hole for a couple of minutes, then came out again and sat there for about 3 minutes then flew to a branch on a nearby tree. We watched it for about 5 minutes more and then it was getting too dark to see. This little owl is about the size of your fist and very rare.
One morning when I went to the restroom there were two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, a male and a female sitting on a nearby tree limb. I watched them for about 3 minutes before they flew off.
The Englishmen told us about a little rare bird that was hanging out at campsite 65 so we proceeded there with them. Sure enough we found it, the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, a little gray and white flycatcher. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were everywhere and I saw a lot of them. They really are beautiful.
We stopped at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge and saw a lot of birds there. There are ponds all over the place with levees to walk on so you can get a good look at what’s in the water. There was a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs, more Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Common Snipe, Black-necked Stilts, Common Yellowthroat in the trees.
When we got back to the car there was a juvenile male Pyrrhuloxia fighting its image in the rear view mirror. This bird is similar to our Cardinal. We watched it for about five minutes before it decided it was a losing battle and flew away.
At a rest stop along the highway I was walking out under the trees and I saw a male Summer Tanager. Very similar to the Cardinal.
All in all I saw about 80 species including 35 that I had never seen before. It was a good trip and I would like to go back when I can stay longer.
Now when I go for my paper in the morning I put my binoculars around my neck and the other morning I saw a Pine Warbler, something I had never seen before.
Hulin Robert