Texas - Arizona - New Mexico Trip ~ February 10, 2003

By first light, we stationed ourselves at the corner of North 10th Street and Violet Avenue in McAllen. The noisy Great-tailed Grackles lined the wires along 10th Street for blocks in both directions and, as sunrise neared, hundreds of Green Parakeets left their roosts to begin their day.

Our next objective was to visit Allen Williams' residence at 750 W. Sam Houston Boulevard in the town of Pharr. There, we got good looks at the secretive Blue Mockingbird that had been seen there since around Thanksgiving.

Blue Mockingbird in Pharr, Texas. This Mexican skulker was photographed while coming to grapefruit in a Pharr resident's backyard. It rarely came into full view, staying hidden in the brushy undergrowth except for the few moments that it fed on the grapefruit----quite a contrast to our conspicuous Northern Mockingbird.

Other birds that were seen there while waiting for the mockingbird to appear included a great look at an adult Gray Hawk, Plain Chachalaca, Inca Dove, Rufous and Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Great Kiskadee, Black-crested Titmouse, Curve-billed Thrasher, Orange-crowned and Black-throated Green Warbler, Lesser Goldfinch, and an Eastern Screech-Owl that peered from a hole in a tree in the front yard.

Then, it was off to Brownsville to visit the Sabal Palm Sanctuary. There, we found Least Grebe, Anhinga, Osprey, Harris’s Hawk, Plain Chachalaca, White-tipped Dove, Green Kingfisher, Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Couch’s Kingbird, Green Jay, Black-crested Titmouse, Long-billed Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, Lincoln’s and Olive Sparrow, Altamira Oriole, and warblers that included Pine, Wilson’s, Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned, and Black-throated Green.

On the way to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, we saw a pair of White-tailed Kites along Road 1847. The auto-tour loop at the refuge produced American White Pelican, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Harrier, Harris’s Hawk, Crested Caracara, Merlin, Sandhill Crane, Black-necked Stilt, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, a Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greater Roadrunner, Belted Kingfisher, and excellent looks at a pair of White-tailed Hawks, but we never found any of the released Aplomado Falcons.

As darkness fell, we drove west and checked into the Fort Ringgold Motel in Rio Grande City.

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