The Deskbound Birder

Saturday, 14 December 2019

Texas and Yellowstone National Park - Corpus Christi Area 14th December (Day 5)

We were up at 05:40 and had breakfast in the hotel. We were collected by Jon McIntyre of McIntyre Birding Tours at 07:30 and headed to the north of the city generally following Highway 35. Our first stop was at an area of wet grassland and scrub at Tejas Gas Road to the north-west of Lamar here we were looking for Sedge Wren and LeConte’s Sparrow and while the former showed fairly quickly we failed with the sparrow. Other birds here included numerous Savanna Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow and Lincoln’s Sparrow. My eBird checklist for this site is here.

Grasshopper Sparrow - Tejas Gas Road, Corpus Christi Area

Sedge Wren - Tejas Gas Road, Corpus Christi Area

Our next stop was at the Big Tree area of Goose Island State Park for one of my main targets of the trip, rounding a corner we were amazed to see eight stately Whooping Crane in a field adjacent to the road with 25 Sandhill Crane. We watched these stunning birds for around 30 minutes at close range and noted that only one bird was ringed and seemingly carrying a satellite tag with solar-panel and, the other birds were unmarked and evidently wild born. Also in this area were Brown Pelican, American White Pelican, American Coot, Black-bellied Whistling-duck, Lesser Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpiper. The temperature by now had soared into the mid-20's centigrade and there was a fair heat haze evident. My eBird checklist for this area can be viewed here.

Black-bellied Whistling-duck and American Coot - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Black-bellied Whistling-duck - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

American Coot - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Whooping Crane - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Whooping Crane and Sandhill Crane - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Whooping Crane - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Whooping Crane and Great Blue Heron (heat haze evident in this image) - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Whooping Crane attacking Great Blue Heron - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Sandhill Crane - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Great Blue Heron - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

Lesser Yellowlegs - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

American White Pelican - Goose Island State Park, Corpus Christi Area

We continued northwards along Highway 35 and turned eastwards into an area of seemingly endless fields used for cotton production. Here we were seeking Sprague’s Pipit which winters in the grass strips bordering the tracks bisecting the fields. We came across a Burrowing Owl, Merlin and numerous American Kestrel and Red-tailed Hawk but no pipit, however, a little later on our return journey we revisited this area and recorded a single Sprague’s Pipit which we flushed and had rather poor views of. My eBird checklists for the area can be viewed here and here.

Burrowing Owl - Off Highway 35, Corpus Christi Area

Our next stop was at the small village of Tivoli (eBird checklist here) where we soon found a large flock of around 60 Boat-tailed Grackle. Continuing onwards, we drove the Guadalupe River Road which passed through scrub and then into reedbeds, this was quite a birdy track and we spent sometime here seeing Couch’s Kingbird, Sedge Wren, numerous Myrtle Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Killdeer, Eastern Meadowlark, Cooper’s Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cave Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swamp Sparrow and Field Sparrow. A heard only King Rail was a little frustrating as it would have been a tick but the bird was in dense reeds and we could not see it. Tobias's sharp eyes picked out a basking American Alligator in the reeds. My eBird checklist for the area can be viewed here.

Boat-tailed Grackle - Tivoli Village, Corpus Christi Area

Killdeer - Guadalupe River Road, Corpus Christi Area

Couch's Kingbird - Guadalupe River Road, Corpus Christi Area

American Alligator - Guadalupe River Road, Corpus Christi Area

We then headed to the Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary at Fulton where the highlights were Black-crested Titmouse, Pine Warbler, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Neotropical Cormorant and Least Grebe (eBird checklist here).

Black-crested Titmouse - Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary, Corpus Christi Area

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary, Corpus Christi Area

Least Grebe - Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary, Corpus Christi Area

Yellow-rumped Warbler - Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary, Corpus Christi Area

Lincoln's Sparrow - Linda S Castro Nature Sanctuary, Corpus Christi Area

We then headed back towards Corpus Christi first stopping at Sunset Lake, a saline lagoon where the highlight was three Piping Plover, we also saw a good range of other wetland birds including Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, American Avocet, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Black Skimmer and Forster’s Tern as well as Great Kiskadee and Loggerhead Shrike. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Black Skimmer, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull and American Herring Gull

- Sunset Lake, Corpus Christi Area

Piping Plover - Sunset Lake, Corpus Christi Area

American Avocet - Sunset Lake, Corpus Christi Area

Loggerhead Shrike - Sunset Lake, Corpus Christi Area

Our final stop of the day was at the slightly dodgy feeling Blucher Park in Corpus Christi which is located close to a car park area where there were numerous down and outs and the park was clearly used as a sleeping area by some. Still, here were recorded Bewick’s Wren, a vagrant Clay-cloured Robin, Long-billed Thrasher, Grey Catbird and Pyrrhuloxia. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Long-billed Thrasher - Blucher Park, Corpus Christi

We spent the rest of the early evening in the pool at our hotel where I recorded Peregrine, Caspian Tern and Royal Tern. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).

11th December (Day 2) – Trinity River Audobon Centre AM.

12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.

14th December (Day 5) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

15th December (Day 6) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Bozeman.

17th December (Day 8)- Travel east through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

18th December (Day 9)- Travel west through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.

20th December (Day 11) - International Flight.

Wednesday, 11 December 2019

Texas and Yellowstone National Park - Background and Trinity River Audobon Centre 11th December (Day 1 and 2)

Background
Having sold my business to a Dallas based consultancy back in May of 2019 I was required to attend a two day conference in Dallas on 12th and 13th December. I had decided to extend my stay in the USA by visiting a few birding sites around the Corpus Christi 'Coastal Bend' area for a small number of ticks and to visit Yellowstone National Park, a location that I had long wanted to undertake a winter visit to. Sarah and Tobias were to join me and so this was not going to be a full-on birding trip and so birding was combined with family events.

Logistics
To maximise my potential for seeing the few new birds available I employed local guides in Corpus Christi and at Yellowstone National Park. In the Corpus Christi area I used Jon McIntyre of McIntyre Birding Tours. In Yellowstone the new birds were even fewer but I wanted to use a guide to maximise our chances of seeing some of the mammals, targetting the few birds and allowing me to enjoy the scenery rather than drive and so we employed the services of Steve Hoffman of Merlin Birding and Nature Tours. Both guides were excellent, knew the sites well and knew where to locate the birds I wanted to see.

Weather
The weather in Dallas was generally cold at around 8c and overcast with some sunnier spells. In Corpus Christi the temperature went up to 26c, on our first day it was sunny and still and on the second day it was overcast and breezy. In Yellowstone National Park there was up to 75cm of snow on the ground wih temperatures down to -8c during the day. It was generally still and sunny with short spells of cloud cover.

Equipment
I took with me my Olympus kit with the OMD EM1x camera, 300 F4 lens and 1.4 converter. While I took my 2x converter I did not use this. I took bins and no scope as our guides had scopes.

Itinerary

10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).
11th December (Day 2) – Trinity River Audobon Centre AM.
12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.
14th December (Day 5) - Birding Corpus Christi area.
15th December (Day 6) - Birding Corpus Christi area.
16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Dallas (scheduled flight cancelled) then Dallas to Denver then Denver to Bozeman landing at 20:40, 7.5 hours later than scheduled.
17th December (Day 8)- Travel east through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.
18th December (Day 9)- Travel west through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.
19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.
20th December (Day 11) Flight from Boseman - Denver (10:43-12:29) then international flight to London Heathrow (17:25-09:30) landing on 21st.

11th December
We were up at 07:00 and after breakfast took at taxi to the Trinity River Audubon Centre arriving at 08:45. We wandered through the woodland at the back of the centre recording Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal and my first tick of the trip, Carolina Chickadee. The reserve centre opened at 09:00 and we entered the reserve walking a short loop through the scrub habitat mainly looking for Harris’s Sparrow. The birding was fairly good and we recorded a range of species including Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow and Sharp-shinned Hawk. As we neared the small lookout I came across a flock of sparrows and eventually Sarah picked out two cracking adult Harris’s Sparrow. Eventually we considered that there were two adults and three first winters in the group. We headed back to the centre happy with the morning. Our taxi was due to collect us at 12:30 and I spent sometime birding around the car park while we waited realising that where we had seen the Harris’s Sparrow backed onto the car park. Beside the bus park I played a recording of Harris’s Sparrow and a cracking male and a female hoped up on top of a bush and sang in response, the song is a high mournful double whistle changing in tone between each series of whistles. I had great views of these birds and was very happy with such good views of my main target at this site. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

We spent the rest of the day at the Dallas World Aquarium and the 12th and 13th were taken with a work conference in Dallas. On 13th we caught at 16:30 flight to Corpus Christi arriving at 18:15 and transferring to the Omni Corpus Christi Hotel.

Hermit Thrush - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Northern Mockingbird - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Blue Jay - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Carolina Chickadee - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Eastern Phoebe - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Eastern Bluebird - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Northern Cardinal - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Sharp-shinned Hawk - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Red-tailed Hawk - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

White-throated Sparrow - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Lincoln's Sparrow - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Harris's Sparrow (first winter) - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Harris's Sparrow (adult) - Trinity River Audobon Centre, Dallas

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).

11th December (Day 2) – Trinity River Audobon Centre AM.

12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.

14th December (Day 5) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

15th December (Day 6) - Birding Corpus Christi area.

16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Bozeman.

17th December (Day 8)- Travel east through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

18th December (Day 9)- Travel west through Lamma Valley in Yellowstone National Park.

19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.

20th December (Day 11) - International Flight.

Saturday, 7 December 2019

Pennington Marsh - 7th December

On a lovely sunny and mild December day I spent a short while wandering around Pennington Marsh. There were around 350 Brent Goose feeding on the campsite and some were very close to the southern boundary hedgerow affording good views. The flooded grassland on the marsh off Lower Pennington Lane seemed fairly devoid of birds but there was a flock of around 350 Golden Plover roosting on the grassland, three Water Pipit and two Ruff plus a scattering of Lapwing. I wandered out pass Shoveler Pools to the jetty where I scanned the solent for a while picking up a Great Northern Diver feeding at the Lymington River mouth as well as eight Red-breasted Merganser and six Great Crested Grebe. Wandering out to Fishtail Lagoon there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Pintail mainly sleeping in the sunshine. I had household chores to get done and so had to head back after a brief but pleasant visit to my patch, one that I have neglected a little this year, and with an upcoming business trip/family holiday to the USA and then Christmas this is likely to be my last visit of the year.

My eBird checklist for the morning can be seen here.