Saturday, April 14, 2018

Garrettian? Wit/the peril of Group birding/today's Bob's Gap Pasadena Audubon field trip!

'Marantzian tome'

'Trumpian tweet'

What's next, can't wait!
(too bad I couldn't attend his Haiku reading!)

But boy am I glad to accompany Lance Benner and co. today to Bob's Gap. Much more productive than Smith Oaks field trip at High Island. Probably because today we weren't mainly looking for warblers and vireos lol, but at Smith Oaks I was super frustrated because of my hearing defect.

After being clueless for a while when others were exchanging info, which of course I can't hear, had to finally ask 'w-what?' When I obtained the name of the bird, it's already gone...that way missed Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Scarlet Tanager, and countless others. So, disgusted, quit on the 2nd trip.
I should've 'demanded' special treatment lol from the onset, asking them to tell ME first lol, but still.

Anyhow. Gray Vireo! Scott's Oriole! Black-throated Sparrow! White-throated Sparrow which I couldn't spot during last year(according to Tom Wurster it's still there at Arboretum? I don't believe it..haha)! Vermilion Flycatcher!  I even think I took a faraway pic of Ladder-backed Woodpecker..lol.

To tap it off, again with the help of veteran birders, later spotted Harris's Sparrow!

In sum; Yoo-hoo! :)

135(really, probably, final count) species this trip

Wrote this on the 11th;

At IAH waiting to board(free wifi is good)

Most surprising is probably Phainopepla male harassing an Osprey near Bolivar ferry. Not reported there, like ever(corrected by Mike Austin as Mockingbird; light played tricks on me, but no excuse. Always approach identifications with caution! Lesson again, learned)!

Missed: Anhinga, Crested Caracara(later confirmed by MA!), Buff-breasted Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper(maybe saw it?), Monk Parakeet, Chuck Will's Widow, and other usual Eastern urban/forest species. Insane traffic at Houston today afternoon denied me ever visiting W. G. Jones forest : Red-cockaded Woodpecker, alas..

Still, great, aside from the rental car company(hope they refund for the tire..they did!). Saw pretty much all target warblers, plovers, even spotted Pomarine Jaeger(what a sight), Yellow-billed Cuckoo...

Not humid and hot, at all really. First two days were COLD and rainy(drizzle)!

The moment when I confirmed with Tropical birding leaders about my sighting of Wilson's Plover..probably the highlight of the trip(spotted it then met those coming this way. They lead birding walks at High Island Thu-Mon)!

Boy Scout Woods is well known but smaller Hooks Wood is probably better in some regard. Was within a foot of that elusive Kentucky warbler twice lol. Similar elusive birds, Worm-eating warbler, Swainson's warbler, all spotted. Can't wait to upload pics at ebird and confirm with the experts...

===

Again want to thank Michael Austin for ongoing?! confirmations!

Thursday, April 12, 2018

After Bolivar/High Island/Anahuac

California4102231090 
Texas133132169 
Georgia61077 
Nevada57057 
Tennessee57057 
Oklahoma57069 
Arizona53059

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Anahuac NWR-100 speicies is possible!

Anahuac NWR--Shoveler Pond Loop, Chambers County, Texas, US Map ) Hotspot )
Date and Effort
Sun Apr 23, 2017 9:30 AM
Protocol:
Traveling
Party Size:
2
Duration:
6 hour(s)
Distance:
5.0 mile(s)
Observers:
victor fesolowitz
Species
100 species total
1
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
1
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
1
Blue-winged Teal
1
Gadwall
1
American Wigeon
1
Mallard
1
Mottled Duck
1
Green-winged Teal
X
Pied-billed Grebe
X
Neotropic Cormorant
X
Anhinga
X
American White Pelican
X
Brown Pelican
X
American Bittern
X
Least Bittern
X
Great Blue Heron
X
Great Egret
X
Snowy Egret
X
Little Blue Heron
X
Tricolored Heron
X
Reddish Egret
X
Cattle Egret
X
Green Heron
X
White Ibis
1
Glossy Ibis
X
White-faced Ibis
X
Roseate Spoonbill
X
Black Vulture
X
Turkey Vulture
1
Northern Harrier
1
Clapper Rail
1
Virginia Rail
1
Sora
1
Purple Gallinule
1
Common Gallinule
1
American Coot
1
Black-necked Stilt
1
American Golden-Plover
1
Semipalmated Plover
1
Killdeer
1
Long-billed Curlew
1
Hudsonian Godwit
1
Marbled Godwit
1
Ruddy Turnstone
1
Red Knot
1
Stilt Sandpiper
1
Dunlin
1
Least Sandpiper
1
Pectoral Sandpiper
1
Semipalmated Sandpiper
1
Western Sandpiper
1
Short-billed Dowitcher
1
Long-billed Dowitcher
X
Greater Yellowlegs
1
Willet
1
Lesser Yellowlegs
1
Laughing Gull
1
Mourning Dove
1
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1
Common Nighthawk
1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
1
Crested Caracara
1
Great Crested Flycatcher
1
Eastern Kingbird
1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
1
White-eyed Vireo
1
Red-eyed Vireo
1
Purple Martin
1
Tree Swallow
1
Bank Swallow
1
Barn Swallow
1
Cliff Swallow
1
Sedge Wren
1
Marsh Wren
1
Veery
1
Swainson's Thrush
1
Gray Catbird
1
Northern Mockingbird
1
European Starling
1
Cedar Waxwing
1
Ovenbird
1
Tennessee Warbler
1
Common Yellowthroat
1
Seaside Sparrow
1
Savannah Sparrow
1
Summer Tanager
1
Scarlet Tanager
1
Northern Cardinal
1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
1
Blue Grosbeak
1
Indigo Bunting
1
Painted Bunting
1
Eastern Meadowlark
X
Orchard Oriole
X
Baltimore Oriole
1
Red-winged Blackbird
1
Brown-headed Cowbird
1
Common Grackle
1
Boat-tailed Grackle
1
Great-tailed Grackl