Friday, April 27, 2018

Birding at South Padre Island

The plan for my third day of the trip was to experience the spring migration first hand at South Padre Island. I had been reading ebird reports for the past few days before my trip and they had been having bountiful of birds coming in. I hoped to experience the same. I have another trip planned to High Island for birding on April 21 and 22.

I reached South Padre Island Birding center pretty early in the morning. Couple of birders were already there looking at the birds near the water fountain area. There were lot of birds in the parking lot and near the fountain area. I could see "Indigo Buntings", "Painted Buntings", "Orchard Oriole" and "Baltimore Oriole" and a lone "Lark Sparrow". I also saw a "Great Kiskadee" giving us a brief visit and then there was Waterthrush walking along the fountain edge.

Tennesse Warbler

Summer Tanager

Orchard Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Grey Catbird

Northen Waterthrush

Orhcard Oriole

Great Kiskadee

I did walk the boardwalk for a while. There were "Common Moorehen", "Tri-colored Herons", "Great Blue Heron" and "Barn Swallows". There was a "Northern Parula" feeding on the Bottle brush tree which was eventually chased away by the "Orchard Orioles".

Northern Parula

Indigo Bunting

Tri-colored Heron

Summer Tanager

After this I headed towards the Valley fund lots which was the best place to see the warblers on the Island. The birds come down to feast on the fruits placed on different trees and to the watering stations. There was a "Swainsons warbler" which was being reported from this location for last few days. When I reached people were already looking at the bird and it gave us good pictures before flying away. Here we saw lot of "Northern Parulas", "Tennesse Warblers", "Hooded Warblers", "Nashville Warblers", "Indigo Buntings" and "Painted Buntings".

There were other birds which were playing hide and seek here, the "Yellow-breasted Chat", "Common Yellowthroat", "Swainsons Thrush" and "Wood Thrush". There was a "Louisiana Waterthrush" as well at the feeding station. We also saw "Summer Tanager", "Yellow-throated Vireo", "White-eyed Vireo" and "Warbling Vireo".

Swainsons Warbler


Louisiana Waterthrush

Acadian Flycatcher

Hooded Warbler

Tennesse Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Painted Bunting

Nashville Warbler

Painted Bunting
 
Black-throated Green warbler

Eastern Wood-pewee

Eurasian Collared-dove

Yellow-breasted Chat

Wood Thrush

Tennesse Warbler

Lousiana Waterthrush

Swainson's Thrush



While talking to the fellow birders I was told there was a "Cerulean Warbler" being reported at the Convention Center. Since it was close by I decided to try my luck for the bird. After parking my car and walking down towards the boardwalk I saw a "Yellow-throated Warbler" working the palm trees. There were "Orchard Orioles", "Summer Tanagers" and "Tennesse warblers" around the water fountain area near the convention center. In the lawn behind the convention center I saw my first "Yellow-headed Blackbirds" which were foraging along with "Red-winged Blackbirds". On my way back we saw very tired "Hooded Oriole" near the water fountain area. We did get a good look at "Black and White Warbler" here as well. On the boardwalk where "Cerulean Warbler" was reported we could not be found anything. Infact it was very quiet around the boardwalk area. We waited for sometime but with no luck. Then I decided to head back to the Valley fund lots one more time before retiring for the day.

Yellow-throated Warbler

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Black and White Warbler

Black and White Warbler

Hooded Warbler



Back at the valley fund lots there were same birds which I had seen earlier. But I did learn from a fellow birder that they got to see a "Groove-billed Ani" at the site. I had seen it at Estero the previous day but it was from afar. It would have been good to see the bird again. The only different bird that I saw for the day here was a "Blue Grosbeak" which was enjoying the sun. The day ended with watching the birds leisurely sitting on the bench in the park. Amazing experience to see so many colorful birds at close to 2-3 ft distance from you sometimes. Another day of my trip ended which was again very eventful.

Record photograph of Blue-winged Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Summer Tanager

Yellow-throated Vireo


Northern Parula

Eastern Wood-pewee

Swainsons Warbler

Warbling Vireo

Painted Bunting

Black-throated Green Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Painted Bunting

Nashville Warbler


Northern Parula

Blue Grosbeak

Black and White Warbler

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Wood Thrush

Orchard Oriole

Common Yellowthroat

Northern Parula

Ebird :
   SPI Birding and Nature Center : https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44713634
   SPI Valley Fund lots : https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44713650
   SPI Convention Center :  https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44713685

Birds seen during the day :

1 American Coot 
2 Baltimore Oriole 
3 Barn Swallow 
4 Black-and-white Warbler 
5 Black-throated Green Warbler 
6 Common Gallinule 
7 Common Yellowthroat 
8 Couch's Kingbird 
9 Gray Catbird 
10 Great Blue Heron 
11 Great Kiskadee 
12 Great-tailed Grackle 
13 Indigo Bunting 
14 Mourning Dove 
15 Nashville Warbler 
16 Northern Cardinal 
17 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 
18 Orchard Oriole 
19 Painted Bunting 
20 Red-winged Blackbird 
21 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
22 Summer Tanager 
23 Tennessee Warbler 
24 Tricolored Heron 
25 White-eyed Vireo 
26 White-winged Dove 
27 Northern Waterthrush 
28 Northern Parula 
29 Eurasian Collared-Dove 
30 Eastern Wood-Pewee 
31 Acadian Flycatcher 
32 Yellow-throated Vireo 
33 Swainson's Thrush 
34 Wood Thrush 
35 Louisiana Waterthrush 
36 Blue-winged Warbler 
37 Swainson's Warbler 
38 Orange-crowned Warbler 
39 Hooded Warbler 
40 Yellow-breasted Chat 
41 Blue Grosbeak 
42 Least Bittern 
43 Yellow-throated Warbler 
44 Yellow-headed Blackbird 
45 Warbling Vireo