The morning started very early as the busses left the auditorium for our trip to the Santa Ana NWR at 6:00. A quick nap on the bus made the trip go by quickly.
Since a group of Masked Duck had been seen at Santa Ana, our group split into two. A little more than half the group headed out for the 3.2 mile hike in an attempt to get the duck. Since I had spotted it earlier in the week, I opted for the more leisurely hike on the Chachalaca trail and spending time on the tower looking for the Hook-billed Kites.
One surprise was that Don Kroodsma, the author of The Singing Life of Birds was a participant on our walk. At one point we were discussing the local Carolina Wrens. They are a subspecies endemic to the area. Dr. Kroodsma commented that they sounded “different” than other Carolina Wrens he’s heard. He’s the expert, I’ll take his word on it.
The group managed to record more than 80 species although those taking the long walk missed out on the Masked Duck
The highlight bird was a very cooperative American Bittern which did a slow fly-by in front of the group and then landed in a rather conspicuous spot. I’ve never had such good views of a Bittern.
My afternoon trip was to Weslaco to look for parrots and parakeets. Although the areas had been staked out a few days in advance, the birds had other ideas. We did get a fly-by Red-crowned Parrot and a Lilac-crowned Parrot that perched rather cooperatively for our van. The highlight bird was a pair of Merlin in a tree in someone’s front yard. The neighbors were curious when two 15 passenger vans with dark tinted windows pulled up and suddenly people with optics and cameras of all sorts started to mill around. We were like some sort of birdy clown car.
I finished the day with a program by Bill Baker on the great Texas Birding Classic.
Big thanks to trip leaders Chris Merkord, Richard Gibbons, and Cameron Cox.
Now it’s time to get some rest as another 6:00 bus awaits.
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