South Texas Trip ~ June 10-12, 2004

June 10-11, 2004

On June 10th, 2004 Jason Horn, Dave Wilton and I rented a car and drove the 28 hours down to south Texas to see the Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush that was found in the town of Pharr on May 27th. We left Thursday morning and arrived at the Williams' residence in Pharr around noon on Friday, the 11th. We spent the rest of Friday there after enjoying excellent looks at the bird, which represents a 1st United States record!

Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush in Pharr, Texas. Note the longish legs and the distinctive orange eye ring and bill on the black head.

Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush in Pharr, Texas. Note the distinctive orange eye ring and bill and the black head contrasting with the brown back.
A Clay-colored Robin was also seen there.

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June 12, 2004

Saturday morning, we went to Sabal Palm Grove Audubon Sanctuary and got great looks at three Yellow-green Vireos and the Gray-crowned Yellowthroat. North of the sanctuary, we watched a pair of Tamaulipas Crows with three young and a pair of Aplomado Falcons chasing a White-tailed Hawk out of their territory.

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South Texas Trip ~ June 13-14, 2004

June 13, 2004

Sunday morning, we did a 'river watch' at Salineno and found a female Muscovy Duck with ten young and another one that flew upriver. Several interesting birds were seen along the dirt road at the northwest end of the town. They included Scaled Quail, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Verdin, Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, and Greater Roadrunner.

Greater Roadrunner near Salineno, Texas. Note the fairly long bill, slender body, long legs, large feet, and very long tail.

At Chapeno, several Red-billed Pigeons and a Gray Hawk put on a show, and a stop in Zapata produced a pair of White-collared Seedeaters.

White-collared Seedeater at Zapata, Texas. Note the male's white collar, tiny bill, white wing patch, and rounded tail. This bird was photographed at the pond by the Zapata Library.

White-collared Seedeater at Zapata, Texas. Note the dark head, the tiny yet thick bill, the small white wing patch, the rounded tail, and the small area of dark smudges just below the throat. This bird was photographed at the pond by the Zapata Library.
Eurasian Collared-Dove and Black-chinned Hummingbird were also seen in Zapata. That afternoon, we headed back home, stopping along the way at San Antonio's Friedrich Park to see Golden-cheeked Warbler.

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June 14, 2004

We arrived back in Pennsylvania late Monday night. I got to see four 'lifers' plus the technically-uncountable Aplomado Falcon among the 130 species found on the trip.

South Texas Trip - June 10-14, 2004
1) Least Grebe
2) Brown Pelican
3) Double-crested Cormorant
4) Neotropic Cormorant
5) Least Bittern
6) Great Blue Heron
7) Great Egret
8) Snowy Egret
9) Tricolored Heron
10) Reddish Egret
11) Cattle Egret
12) Green Heron
13) Black-crowned Night-Heron
14) Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
15) Roseate Spoonbill
16) Fulvous Whistling-Duck
17) Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
18) Muscovy Duck*
19) Wood Duck
20) Mottled Duck
21) Black Vulture
22) Turkey Vulture
23) Osprey
24) White-tailed Kite
25) Harris's Hawk
26) Gray Hawk
27) Swainson's Hawk
28) White-tailed Hawk
29) Red-tailed Hawk
30) Crested Caracara
31) American Kestrel
32) Aplomado Falcon*
33) Plain Chachalaca
34) Northern Bobwhite
35) Scaled Quail
36) Common Moorhen
37) Snowy Plover
38) Wilson's Plover
39) Black-necked Stilt
40) American Avocet
41) Willet
42) Long-billed Curlew
43) Semipalmated Sandpiper
44) Western Sandpiper
45) Laughing Gull
46) Gull-billed Tern
47) Caspian Tern
48) Royal Tern
49) Sandwich Tern
50) Forster's Tern
51) Least Tern
52) Black Tern
53) Black Skimmer
54) Rock Dove
55) Band-tailed Pigeon
56) Eurasian Collared-Dove
57) White-winged Dove
58) Mourning Dove
59) Inca Dove
60) Common Ground-Dove
61) White-tipped Dove
62) Yellow-billed Cuckoo
63) Groove-billed Ani
64) Great Horned Owl
65) Common Nighthawk
66) Common Pauraque
67) Chimney Swift
68) Buff-bellied Hummingbird
69) Black-chinned Hummingbird
70) Ringed Kingfisher
71) Green Kingfisher
72) Golden-fronted Woodpecker
73) Ladder-backed Woodpecker
74) Black Phoebe
75) Great Crested Flycatcher
76) Brown-crested Flycatcher
77) Great Kiskadee
78) Couch's Kingbird
79) Western Kingbird
80) Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
81) Horned Lark
82) Purple Martin
83) Cliff Swallow
84) Cave Swallow
85) Blue Jay
86) Green Jay
87) Brown Jay
88) American Crow
89) Mexican Crow
90) Chihuahuan Raven
91) Carolina Chickadee
92) Black-crested Titmouse
93) Verdin
94) Cactus Wren
95) Carolina Wren
96) Bewick's Wren
97) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
98) Clay-colored Robin
99) Black-headed Nightingale-Thrush*
100) Northern Mockingbird
101) Long-billed Thrasher
102) Curve-billed Thrasher
103) European Starling
104) White-eyed Vireo
105) Black-capped Vireo
106) Yellow-green Vireo*
107) Golden-cheeked Warbler
108) Black-and-white Warbler
109) Common Yellowthroat
110) Gray-crowned Yellowthroat*
111) Northern Cardinal
112) Pyrrhuloxia
113) Painted Bunting
114) Dickcissel
115) Olive Sparrow
116) White-collared Seedeater
117) Botteri's Sparrow
118) Cassin's Sparrow
119) Rufous-crowned Sparrow
120) Lark Sparrow
121) Red-winged Blackbird
122) Eastern Meadowlark
123) Brewer's Blackbird
124) Great-tailed Grackle
125) Common Grackle
126) Bronzed Cowbird
127) Altamira Oriole
128) House Finch
129) Lesser Goldfinch
130) House Sparrow

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