Sandhill Crane - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Sandhill Crane - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Wild Turkey - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Wild Turkey - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Black-crested Titmouse - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Bewick's Wren - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
White-crowned Sparrow - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Pyrrahuloxia - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Pyrrahuloxisa - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Crested Caracara - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Crested Caracara - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Coyote - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Brown-headed Cowbird - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Green Jay - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Ferruginous Hawk - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Ferruginous Hawk - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Say's Phoebe - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
Vermillion Flycatcher - Highway 360, Corpus Christi, Texas
We drove onto the Corpus Christi State Park located alongside the Corpus Christi Lake, an extensive lake formed by damming of the Gilden Creek surrounded by woodland and scrub. We first birded the drack that leads to the dam in the south of the park looking for Winter Wren but with no luck, we saw relatively little but for Pine Warbler, 15 Eastern Bluebird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-eyed Vireo. We then drove around to the campsite on the south-east shore of the reservoir where the only birds of note were Blue-winged Teal, Western Meadowlark and White Ibis. We failed to see Greater Roadrunner which was our main target here. Bird lists for the two areas we birded can be viewed here and here.
Eastern Phoebe - Corpus Christi State Park
White-eyed Vireo - Corpus Christi State Park
Turkey Vulture - Corpus Christi State Park
Black Vulture - Corpus Christi State Park
Black Vulture - Corpus Christi State Park
Eastern Bluebird - Corpus Christi State Park
White Ibis - Corpus Christi State Park
On our way back to the coast we diverted through an extensive arable area at Chapman Ranch (eBird checklist here) to the south of Corpus Christi, here after driving extensive arable fields we eventually came across four Sprague's Pipit which showed better than the individual yesterday but still not very well. I had a brief view of one on the deck before it flew off way into the distance before plummeting into the arable fields.
We then headed back east towards the coast and to North Padre Island where we birded the John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway hoping for better views of Piping Plover but we failed. However, the sight of the flocks of thousands of Redhead and Lesser Scaup that winter in the bay here was amazing. We also recorded Forster’s Tern, Caspian Tern and many other wetland species. My eBird checklist for the site can be viewed here.
Driving out onto the beautiful North Padre Island, John telling us of the damage caused by Hurricane Bret which struck the island in August 2017. We spent an hour or so at the Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center just outside of Port Aransas in the north of the island. This site proved to be very birdy with large numbers of Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Shoveler, American Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, and White Pelican we also had good views of Tricoloured Heron, Sora Rail, Common Yellowthroat and an odd hybrid heron which John suggested may be a Black-crowned Night-heron x Tricoloured Heron. My eBird checklist for this site can be viewed here.
We then headed off the island to the north via the Aransas Pass Ferry crossing seeing Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican and White Pelican (eBird checklist), a short journey of only a few minutes and headed back to the hotel to relax for the latter part of the afternoon.
Lesser Scaup - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Redhead - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Redhead - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Ring-billed Gull - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Ring-billed Gull - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Laughing Gull - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Forster's Tern - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Caspian Tern, Ring-billed Gull and American Herring Gull - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Semipalmated Plover - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway,
North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Snowy Plover - John F Kennedy Memorial Causeway, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Blue-winged Teal - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American Avocet - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American Avocet - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Roseate Spoonbill - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Pied-billed Grebe - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Mottled Duck with Green-winged Teal - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center,
North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Green-winged Teal - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Sora Rail - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Double-crested Cormorant (left) with Neotropical Cormorant - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Hybrid Heron, possibly Black-crowned Night-heron x Tricoloured Heron - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Tricoloured Heron - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American Alligator - Leonabelle Turnball Birding Center, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Laughing Gull - Aransas Pass Ferry, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
American White Pelican - Aransas Pass Ferry, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Brown Pelican - Aransas Pass Ferry, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Double-crested Cormorant - Aransas Pass Ferry, North Padre Island, Corpus Christi
Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
10th December (Day 1) – Fly London Heathrow to Dallas (15:45 - 20:10).
12th & 13th December (Day 3-4) - Work conference with no birding.
16th December (Day 7) - Fly Corpus Christi to Bozeman.
19th December (Day 10) - Non-birding day.
20th December (Day 11) - International Flight.
