Yellow-faced Grassquit: Yes!

Yellow-faced Grassquit

A rare tropical bird, a Yellow-faced Grassquit, showed up at Goose Island State Park about a week after we left in January. For a month now, I have read posts of sightings of him - hundreds of birders have come to see him and he's been very cooperative.

I thought that it would be a one-time chance to see him so we decided to return to the park for a week. It's also a place we love and a good spot to celebrate my birthday. So we drove the short distance down from Goliad this morning.

While driving in to look at the few vacant sites, we drove by the spot where he's been seen. Probably 25 birders were there, binoculars up and looking - and it was hard not to just stop the truck and trailer and join in.

We signed for a nice spot, got unhitched and set up and it was time to exercise the dog - which I did by bike. We rode past the spot but the few folks there had seen nothing since the morning. So, figuring we had all week, I had lunch and a little rest.

Mary suggested I go back and so I did. There were some women down from Houston and a guy who flew in for the weekend from Oregon. We waited and watched a few sparrows. The women decided to leave and I was about to when the Oregon guy - who is quite skilled as a birder - saw it fly into the brush and yelled "bird." That got the gals hustling back and sure enough, the little rascal was just perched in the shade. You could see him but when the Oregonian got his scope, the bird was spectacular.

The Grassquit breeds from central Mexico to northern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela, and also on the Greater Antilles and nearby islands (e.g. the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica). It is not a migratory bird but moves about outside the breeding season. It's neat to think how far from home he is - and what an extremely rare sighting for the U.S.  Glad we came back here.

I'm sure I'll get to see the guy a few times more and get some photos. The one above is from the web - but is just like the guy I saw this afternoon.

Some Birds of Goose Island

With both shorebirds and woods birds, Goose Island has a wonderful population of bird species and the surrounding areas add some variety.  I’ve added seven birds to my life list (231) since I got here and saw four birds this afternoon that I’m pretty sure were Anhingas but Penny was with me and they flushed before I could positively ID them.  They might have been double-crested cormorants so I’m hoping to get another chance at another place.

Most songbirds are not breeding so there is little birdsong but we hear lots of calls here -- the ubiquitous Red-winged Blackbirds and Long-tailed Grackles are noisy as are the Northern Cardinals.  A pair of Great Horned Owls sound periodically as does a Red-shouldered hawk.  The Inca Doves call out "squirrel poop" continually during the day. 

I went on two organized bird walks where we saw 40 or so species each time.  I also spent a lot of time riding the bike and walking with binoculars and camera hanging from my neck.

A lot of my photos needed a bigger lens but I don’t have the budget or the inclination to lug a monster lens around with a tripod -- at least at this time.  Here are some of my favorite shots from this time at Goose Island.  They give you a nice idea of the diversity of the birds here.  Good birding.

Great Egret this afternoon

Pied-billed Grebe

Inca Dove

Black-crowned Night Heron thinking he's invisible

E.T. -- a captive Great Horned Owl used in a wonderful talk on raptors

Red-shouldered Hawk perched just around the corner from our campground

Roseate Spoonbills are starting to get their breeding plumage

Whoopers

Yesterday, at the halftime of the Packers game, we decided to take a quick drive up to where the Whooping Cranes were last year.  We had not heard any reports of sightings and thought we’d check it out.

Sure enough, once we got on the street (more of a rural road),  there were a few cars and pickup trucks parked and I knew what had attracted them.  There were three Whoopers, a mom and dad along with a juvenile.  They were feeding about a hundred yards from the road and oblivious to the cameras and binoculars trained on them.



I took a bunch of photos but they were too far away for good resolution.  I got out my telescope and we got a good look at them -- one had two leg bands on it and the juvenile was quite brown in spots.  Very elegant birds.  I tried to digiscope using my old Rebel XT and took a few shots when something flushed them and I lost them in the scope.

We watched them gracefully fly away, taking their time deciding where to head, and slowly head back towards the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge where most of their 175 western brethren are wintering.

Seeing them slowly recede to the Northeast made me think of the 2500 mile journey they took the fall from Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada.  They are protected at the refuge and stock up on blue crabs and clams -- and next spring will launch for the return trip north.  Great birds -- hope to see more while we are here.


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Texas Birding Rocks!

Birding in Village Creek State Park, just north of Beaumont, was good although there were many birds that I could not identify - often because my bird dog was running wild.  I could let her go on the trails through the “Big Thicket” and she loved it - but it made birding a challenge.

However, seeing Eastern Bluebirds right beside the campsite each day was fun, as was watching a big flock of Cedar Waxwings work the berry trees nearby.  We did a lot of hiking and cycling in the two days there -- and the tall pines yielded Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, and a raft of warblers too high and fast to ID. 

One morning, the woods were alive with hundreds of American Robins.  I even saw a Hermit Thrush posing nicely as I grabbed my camera and departing when Penny arrived.  Of course, the Northern Cardinals were plentiful to the “ho-hum” point. 

I find it interesting that we get used to birds to seeing birds that in Vermont would be a big deal -- Cardinals for example, even Red-Winged Blackbirds.  In the south, they are so common as to be taken for granted -- although I try not to.

We are now at Goose Island State Park near Rockport, Texas.  It’s so rich with shorebirds that it’s a bit overwhelming.  We got here this afternoon and on a bike ride before dark, I saw White and Brown Pelicans, White Ibis, Long-billed Curlew, Northern Pintail and Redhead ducks, all sorts of gulls, and many sandpipers that will take a while to learn. 

Gulls, American Oystercatchers, and Dowitcher(?)

We’ll be here for a week and bird walks often top 70 species so it will be intense.  I promise not to write long laundry lists of birds seen but will call out some more interesting ones and hopefully, get some good photos.  Good birding to you.