Texas Trip ~ January 17, 1998

Our first stop was Bentsen - Rio Grande State Park. Birds found there included Hook-billed Kite, Harris's Hawk, Plain Chachalaca, White-winged, White-tipped, and Inca Dove, Common Pauraque, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, Long-billed Thrasher, Blue-headed Vireo, Orange-crowned and Black-throated Gray Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Olive and Lincoln's Sparrow, and Altamira Oriole.

We returned to Sabal Palm Sanctuary, which produced some new birds for the day. They were Least Grebe, Mottled Duck, White-tailed Kite, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Northern Parula, and, on this visit, my 'life' Tropical Parula.

Farther up the coast, we checked out Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. New birds for the day included Eared Grebe, American White Pelican, Reddish Egret, White Ibis, Redhead, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Sandhill Crane, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, Gull-billed and Royal Tern, American Pipit, and, surprisingly, a Townsend's Warbler.

Townsend's Warbler at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, Texas.

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