These two locations we visited today were suggested to us as two of the best birding locations here. People we met on the weekend said there were lots of the target birds. Well maybe there were lots of them when the other birders visited but we had to work for each of them today but it was a wonderful day.
The morning was overcast and 74 degrees which allowed us to walk the Mesquite Trail at Casa Blanca. If the sun had been out, it would have unbearable in this arid semi-desert environment. We worked for the Black-throated Sparrow and got spectacular views of it sitting on a Prickly Pear Cactus. We had startled the first Black-throated Sparrow when we walked around a corner and the bird was busy building a nest between two Prickly Pear Cacti circles like a sandwich. It flew off. This is quite ingenious engineering for a bird. No predator can get in (there was a hole in the side and the spears of the cactus hold the dried grasses and soft center in place even in brisk winds which we had today. We had seen the bird but did not take a photo. That opportunity came later when we were driving slowly some back roads.
The Cactus Wren we had seen on other days but today we just looked for it just for the fun of it and there was only one that we saw. The Cactus Wren was agitated and making his machine-gun call from the top of a mesquite tree. We took our photos and moved on.
The Pyrrhuloxia was tough to see in the afternoon and Barbr could only get a photo of a female. In the morning the Pyrrhuloxia was by the visitor center and there were lots of them but we did not take photos then. In the heat of the noon sun they were absent except for one female.
Lake Casa Blanca is a huge park with the lake which was formed in the 50's when the dam was built. There is camping and fishing and hiking. It is quite a pretty place. The airport is across the street so it is quite urban. We had lunch at a deserted group BBQ spot there. The local Audubon, called the Mont Mucho Audubon Society recommended the spot for the birds. We saw some shorebirds and ducks and some sparrows here.
Another spot recommended by the Audubon was the Max Mandel Municipal Golf Club. This course is right along the Rio Grande and it is a beautiful facility. We rented a golf cart to bird the grounds. I drove to start and then Barbr drove the rest of the afternoon. She did fine and really enjoyed herself. There were several pairs of Vermilion Flycatchers here and we had wonderful close-up views of them. This was great to see them so close up. We did all the golf holes and then some.
Barbr was really happy with the driving. She was a good driver. We stopped several times to overlook the Rio Grande activity. We were out on the course for about 3 hours. We did see numerous pigeons fly over but the advice is to wait until just before sunset for the Mexican pigeons to do their sunset flights. The slatey-coloured pigeons fly back and forth and up and down the Rio Grande as a sunset ritual. We returned the golf cart to the cart barn and went up to the clubhouse and parked ourselves outside on their viewing terrace over the river. From 5 to 6 pm we stood and watched the river and before you knew it, one could see a fly-by. The best viewing I had was 7 of them fly by together.
Another surprise was that after the heat of the day and today was a medium breezy day (it went up to 94 degrees but it was still nice), lots of birds appeared on or near this terrace at this time. There was an Oriole, Lincoln's Sparrow, Carolina Wren and Kingbirds. It was as if the temperature was just enough to come out and enjoy a perfect late afternoon. The sun was going down in about half an hour. It was a wonderful peaceful time. The cows across the river on the Mexican side came down to the water and had a soak, even the little heifer. I was thrilled to see the Red-billed Pigeons.
We loaded up the car and headed home on the most dense roadway full of transport trucks going to or coming back from Mexico. There is a trucking bridge to Mexico nearby and at times we were walled in by huge trucks. Both going to the golf course and returning to our hotel. Never seen anything like it. It looks like they have done a lot of road construction to deal with the traffic but it looks like they are only in the middle of the road improvements. We made it back to the Quinta in the dark. So it has been a late evening and we will add more photos tomorrow.
We had some sweet birds today. The Chichuahuan Raven and the Tamaulipas Crow were both present at Casa Blanca and it was nice to see the differences between the two and between the raven and crow we see at home. There were the sudden sweet views of the Vermilion Flycatcher. I was not driving and looked up joking that I was going to look closely at the Northern Cardinal to see if it was a Vermilion and it was!!! We did hike this morning but it was not a long hike (1.5 miles in the coolish overcast morning) and in the afternoon we were on cart with a breeze and a roof over our head in the cart so it was a busy but pretty easy day. It was a pretty sweet time. This was the last day of our Rio Grande birding. We head inland tomorrow going from west to east to Port Aransas for Wednesday night for the start of the Whooping Crane Festival which starts on Thursday morning. We don't know yet where we will end up staying tomorrow evening.
Well got to go, bedtime.
The morning was overcast and 74 degrees which allowed us to walk the Mesquite Trail at Casa Blanca. If the sun had been out, it would have unbearable in this arid semi-desert environment. We worked for the Black-throated Sparrow and got spectacular views of it sitting on a Prickly Pear Cactus. We had startled the first Black-throated Sparrow when we walked around a corner and the bird was busy building a nest between two Prickly Pear Cacti circles like a sandwich. It flew off. This is quite ingenious engineering for a bird. No predator can get in (there was a hole in the side and the spears of the cactus hold the dried grasses and soft center in place even in brisk winds which we had today. We had seen the bird but did not take a photo. That opportunity came later when we were driving slowly some back roads.
The Cactus Wren we had seen on other days but today we just looked for it just for the fun of it and there was only one that we saw. The Cactus Wren was agitated and making his machine-gun call from the top of a mesquite tree. We took our photos and moved on.
Lake Casa Blanca is a huge park with the lake which was formed in the 50's when the dam was built. There is camping and fishing and hiking. It is quite a pretty place. The airport is across the street so it is quite urban. We had lunch at a deserted group BBQ spot there. The local Audubon, called the Mont Mucho Audubon Society recommended the spot for the birds. We saw some shorebirds and ducks and some sparrows here.
Another spot recommended by the Audubon was the Max Mandel Municipal Golf Club. This course is right along the Rio Grande and it is a beautiful facility. We rented a golf cart to bird the grounds. I drove to start and then Barbr drove the rest of the afternoon. She did fine and really enjoyed herself. There were several pairs of Vermilion Flycatchers here and we had wonderful close-up views of them. This was great to see them so close up. We did all the golf holes and then some.
Barbr was really happy with the driving. She was a good driver. We stopped several times to overlook the Rio Grande activity. We were out on the course for about 3 hours. We did see numerous pigeons fly over but the advice is to wait until just before sunset for the Mexican pigeons to do their sunset flights. The slatey-coloured pigeons fly back and forth and up and down the Rio Grande as a sunset ritual. We returned the golf cart to the cart barn and went up to the clubhouse and parked ourselves outside on their viewing terrace over the river. From 5 to 6 pm we stood and watched the river and before you knew it, one could see a fly-by. The best viewing I had was 7 of them fly by together.
Another surprise was that after the heat of the day and today was a medium breezy day (it went up to 94 degrees but it was still nice), lots of birds appeared on or near this terrace at this time. There was an Oriole, Lincoln's Sparrow, Carolina Wren and Kingbirds. It was as if the temperature was just enough to come out and enjoy a perfect late afternoon. The sun was going down in about half an hour. It was a wonderful peaceful time. The cows across the river on the Mexican side came down to the water and had a soak, even the little heifer. I was thrilled to see the Red-billed Pigeons.
We loaded up the car and headed home on the most dense roadway full of transport trucks going to or coming back from Mexico. There is a trucking bridge to Mexico nearby and at times we were walled in by huge trucks. Both going to the golf course and returning to our hotel. Never seen anything like it. It looks like they have done a lot of road construction to deal with the traffic but it looks like they are only in the middle of the road improvements. We made it back to the Quinta in the dark. So it has been a late evening and we will add more photos tomorrow.
We had some sweet birds today. The Chichuahuan Raven and the Tamaulipas Crow were both present at Casa Blanca and it was nice to see the differences between the two and between the raven and crow we see at home. There were the sudden sweet views of the Vermilion Flycatcher. I was not driving and looked up joking that I was going to look closely at the Northern Cardinal to see if it was a Vermilion and it was!!! We did hike this morning but it was not a long hike (1.5 miles in the coolish overcast morning) and in the afternoon we were on cart with a breeze and a roof over our head in the cart so it was a busy but pretty easy day. It was a pretty sweet time. This was the last day of our Rio Grande birding. We head inland tomorrow going from west to east to Port Aransas for Wednesday night for the start of the Whooping Crane Festival which starts on Thursday morning. We don't know yet where we will end up staying tomorrow evening.
Well got to go, bedtime.
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