Hot day off at Dixieland Park and Tiocano Lake

First thing this morning I took the three dogs to Dixieland Park. They're great about sticking around, but there were two fishermen, a guy walking a husky, two guys playing disc golf...so I just stuck to the edge of the reservoir. 1 Jackrabbit (the dogs didn't even see it), 2 Mexican Ground Squirrels (they don't see these either, but like to sniff at their entrance holes), Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 75, Pied-billed Grebe 8, Neotropic Cormorant 1, Great Egret 2, Snowy Egret 6, Green Heron 4, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3, Osprey 1, Killdeer 2, Spotted Sandpiper 2, Least Sandpiper 2, Laughing Gull 6, Rock Pigeon 60, White-winged Dove 40, Mourning Dove 6, Golden-fronted Woodpecker 1, Great Kiskadee 1, Loggerhead Shrike 1, Purple Martin 1, Northern Mockingbird 1, Red-winged Blackbird 20, Great-tailed Grackle 50, Bronzed Cowbird 3, House Sparrow 3.

Tiocano Lake at about 1pm, I arrived to find it very dry-- almost dried up. The Wood Storks were gone, but there were still a few birds left: Great Egret 6, Snowy Egret 2, Little Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Crested Caracara, a dozen Black-necked Stilts, five Long-Billed Curlews (right on time), lots of sandpipers including Least, Stilt and Long-Billed Dowitchers, only 4 Laughing Gulls and a juvenile Gull-billed Tern, only 6 Rock Pigeons but lots of Mourning Doves, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the requisite bunch of Red-winged Blackbirds and Great-tailed Grackles. It was worth it though. Where else can you go when you only have a few minutes, AND stay air-conditioned?!

An Estero Saturday

Today at "work" Mary, Huck and I started the first hour recording how many birds we could see from the deck at Estero Llano Grande State Park. We got to 58, I think: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Plain Chachalaca, Least Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Green Heron, White Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Turkey Vulture, White-tailed Kite, Harris's Hawk, Crested Caracara, Common Moorhen, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, GULL-BILLED TERN (the adult pair have left and this juvenile showed up-- did they breed here? and why have they deserted their baby? We've watched him beg from Laughing Gulls), Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Common Ground-Dove, White-tipped Dove, Red-crowned Parrot, Groove-billed Ani, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Couch's Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Bank Swallow, Cave Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, European Starling, PAINTED BUNTING (a beautiful male showed up right beside the deck!), Red-winged Blackbird, Bronzed Cowbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Lesser Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

We took a quick walk down the maintenance road to look at the early-migrating LEAST FLYCATCHERS, as well as an early Empid that may have been an Alder Flycatcher. We also picked up Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Eastern Screech-Owl in his box by Alligator Lake, a sleeping Pauraque, Curve-Billed Thrashers, Orchard Orioles...

In spite of the over-hundred-degree temperatures, we had a couple more guests in the park. One man from Detoit and I walked Green Jay trail. While he photographed Chachalacas, I photographed a beautiful green darner, a BLUE-FACED DARNER. It is only found in Texas and Florida, the first Texas one discovered by Josh Rose at Santa Ana only nine years ago!

A BOBCAT crossed the road in front of me at the bridge at the park entrance as I drove to lunch about 12:30, right in broad daylight. A Loggerhead Shrike was not at Estero, but there was one at the little recreational park on Airport Road near the Expressway. Lots of shorebirds, including Avocets, were in the Llano Grande at the FM 1015 bridge.