South Texas, one of the southernmost parts of the United States, with tropical birds filling the valleys, distinctive songbirds singing in the mangrove, and magnificent raptors soaring above the grasslands, has become our destination for this year’s Winter Break birding trip. Today, the second day of the trip, was an amazing start!
Early in the morning, we drove to a patch of sages in the middle of the grasslands. It is where Bendire’s and Sage Thrashers where most reliably found and where Sagebrush sparrows are spotted. As we walked around, LeConte’s Thrasher soon started to sing from afar, but the other thrashers and sparrows were nowhere to be heard. After a small loop around the area, we were back near our car, and I saw a small sparrow run across the ground. As I raised my camera, a small “Sage Sparrow” with streaked back appeared. It is a Sagebrush Sparrow! It is very active and we followed it for several hours, but still not able to get a better view. Then, I saw a big bird on a bare snag not far away. It was a Gamble’s Quail, but it looks so good to be a thrasher. After we had given up on the Sagebrush Sparrow, I looked at the snag a second time and found out that a Bendire’s Thrasher had taken the quail’s place! With only Sage Thrasher left to find, we decide to use few playback on it. Surprisingly, the thrasher showed up almost immediately! It must have been around!
At the second stop of the day, our target is the Mountain Plover flock reported as recently as just this morning at Evergreen Sod Farm! As soon as I scanned the sod at the given coordinate, I can see white spots far away in the field. Although they are so incredibly far away, they are definitely all Mountain Plovers!
In the afternoon, we arrived at the Smith Canyon Corral and Tank area of the Las Cienegas NCA, in search of the Chestnut-collared Longspur. As soon as we got on to the Curly Horse Rd, my dad saw a flock flew in the distance. A big flock of small songbirds could only mean Chestnut-collared Longspur! We walked across the tall grass, but could not see a bird. Then, one Longspur suddenly burst of our side, then another, and more and more longspur took off and formed a huge flock flying all around us!
After the longspurs, we headed towards San Rafael Grasslands, for Chihuahuan Meadowlarks. We did drove along the fence line and after several laps, a yellow-breasted meadowlark finally popped up and responded to the Chihuahuan call, proving it self to be a Chihuahuan Meadowlark! Perfect ending of the first day of birding!
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What a beautiful picture!