I just finished up a short trip down to the far south end of Texas to the lower Rio Grande Valley. I left early on the 18th and arrived into Harlingen in the middle of the afternoon, picked up my rental and then headed to my Airbnb in “beautiful” Brownsville. I had made previous trips down to the lower Rio Grande Valley in 2007, 2009 and 2011 (all between late October and early December) so it has been awhile since I have visited the area. It has noticeable been built up since my previous trips down there. My main goals for the short trip included finding my first Tropical Parula in the US (I have seen the species at many locations in the tropics but not in the US), locating a Mangrove Yellow Warbler, perhaps finding a Sprague’s Pipits overwintering in one of the vast farm fields and just adding some new species for the year. The weather was hot and windy when I arrived and despite the conditions I tried my luck at the University Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) campus late in the afternoon after dropping my stuff off at the Airbnb. It was just way too windy to see much of anything and I gave up after a bit.
On Thursday the 19th I was out before dawn and headed back down to the UTRGV campus. The wind was still strong before the sun came up and continued for my entire time there. Once it brightened a bit I started getting some passerines. Over the course of about two and half hours I found a number of rarities among the fifty plus species including a Tennessee Warbler, American Redstart, Tropical Parula and a hybrid Tropical Parula x Northern Parula. The small area was really great for warblers with a dozen species and I can only imagine how much better it would be when there is no wind. With my target Tropical Parula seen I decided to make the 45 minute drive out to South Padre Island and try my luck in finding a Mangrove Yellow Warbler. Once again I had some great tips from Aidan on where to try for the bird (always nice to be able to pick the brain of a local birder and with Aidan spending the winter in south Texas he was the perfect person to ask). Once I crossed over the causeway to the island I quickly found multiple Mangrove Yellow Warblers and got some photos of this recently split species. At this point it was around 10:30 and seeing I was already on the island I stayed there and drove a bit further north to check out the boardwalk and mudflats near the convention center. The boardwalk was slow for birds (due to the wind and nearby construction) but the mudflats were very busy and I had lots of different shorebirds, waders, gulls and terns (and others). Although having a spotting scope would have been great, many species were in fairly close and allowed extended observation. As I scanned through the birds I noticed first one, then two and eventually three Black Skimmers with colored leg bands. After waiting for them to move a little to be able to read the unique numbers on the bands and reported them to the bird banding lab. I also had a color banded Reddish Egret that I also reported. Once I hear back from the lab I will update the details on each banded bird. By early afternoon I worked my way back to my Airbnb. I thought about possibly going back to the UTRGV campus to try to get photos of the Tropical Parula but honestly I did not relish dealing with the absolutely shitty roads of Brownsville. The roads in Brownsville were a mess with poor conditions and signage and reminded me more of driving in a third world country than the US. By the end of the day I topped just over ninety species with many new for the year for me.
For my last full day in Texas on Friday I headed west to visit a few spots away from Brownsville and was out the door before dawn to drive to Estero Llano Grande SP. On my way I was able to find an American Barn Owl hunting some fields. I arrived at the park a bit before sunrise and spent about three hours exploring the area. I remember the park being very productive and it was indeed productive with nearly sixty species. I added several new species for the year plus better looks at a few species. It was mainly overcast with less wind than previous days, which made it quite comfortable (although mosquitoes then became more of a problem). Once the sun broke through the temps rose quickly to around 90 and the breeze picked up once again. I had a few choices of places to spend the rest of the morning and since I was already out in the area I drove another twenty minutes west to Santa Anna NWR. The area was quite quiet during my time there and I’m sure the high temps and the fact it was almost ten played a big part in that. As I left the refuge and started my drive back to Brownsville I made a detour to check some sod fields to try to find a Sprague’s Pipit and I was able to find at least one thus adding a new species for me and it became species #2187. After a late lunch I decided on trying my luck once again back at the UTRGV campus to try to get better photos of the Tropical Parula. I spent over three hours exploring the area through the afternoon without ever seeing the parula. All was not lost as it was actually fairly active despite the heat and wind and I ended up with 55 species, including a couple unusual warblers. Late in the afternoon I headed back for a refreshing shower and to pack up for my trip to Arizona. Total species for the day came to 92 (matching the high temp for the day).
I had a late morning flight out to Dallas and then onto Tucson to continue my vacation. With a few hours available before needed to get to the airport I decided on birding Hugh Ramsey Park in Harlingen. I was on the road early once again and arrived there before dawn. I walked the various trails there for almost three hours before making my way to the airport.
Although it was a short trip I thankfully found all my major targets. Overall I found a total of 140 species with a dozen new for me in Texas and one life species (Sprague’s Pipit). My Texas list expanded to 270 species. More photos and details on the warblers from the trip at the following link: Texas warblers. Full trip report at the following link: Texas trip report.
