I have this little app called Dark Skies which has an easily manipulable world globe showing radar weather and saw that the morning rain would increase mid morning but then stop. So off to a Starbucks where I stayed a couple of hours, while it did, indeed, rain hard.
And when it stopped, I headed to Santa Ana NWR, which was quiet with few visitors and only a smattering of feeder birds at the VC. I chatted cameras with the gentleman volunteer at the desk and then walked the Chachalaca Trail, seeing a White-eyed Vireo (life bird), a cooperative Green Kingfisher (which I now could cross off my "Birds I Want To See Better List"), many ducks, grebes and stilts in the pond, an Olive Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warblers, Green Jays, Kiskadees, Chachalacas, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Long-billed Thrasher...It was warm enough, dry enough, birdy enough and serene...one of those times when birding comes close to a zen experience, and I had no urge to move on. It was easy to amble and linger and relish the damp clean air, the trees, the refuge....
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| Green Kingfisher - Santa Ana NWR - TX |
But eventually I did move on to Estero Llano Grande State Park without losing my way or asking directions which happened the first two times I was here. Again, there weren't many people... a few with their digiscopes and a few just walking the trails or sitting with binoculars on the deck. The guided bird walk here yesterday yielded 80+ species! An intrepid guide and five birders had gone out in the downpour at Santa Ana this morning.
I had a bird in mind and asked the ranger where the Groove-billed Anis were. I had seen on eBird that they were here. He gave me a map and off I went. It was about a mile one way, mostly on the levee along the Rio Grande, to Kiskadee Pond at the far end of the refuge. I looked for 45 minutes, carefully scanning with binoculars through the trees around the pond. There was very little bird activity in general, although I did see a White-tailed Kite down by the river. But no GB Anis. Still, it was nice and quiet on the levee looking up and down the winding river, at Mexico across the river, at Kiskadee Pond while the sky slowly began to clear. I started back, constantly turning around to check the trees by the pond. Anis are large black birds with long tails about the size of Great-tailed Grackles, so when I saw a large black bird with a long tail in the grasses on the river side of the levee, I thought "grackle" until I saw three or four, not acting grackle-ish at all. They were the Groove-billed Anis! I was elated. I watched them for about 30 minutes; they were hilarious.
Later, a woman ranger at the VC agreed and said they call them "goofy crackles." They would all get on a single branch as close as possible, flaring their tails, climbing on each other to get closer...one even perched horizontally on the backs of three or four other birds. Then one or two would disappear in the grasses but soon would come back and cluster and huddle and flap around. They didn't just sit peacefully; they fidgeted and acted like they were just trying to get it just right...all tidy, close and comfortable but couldn't quite do it. I finally counted a total of six. It was endearing and made me laugh to watch them. So THAT was a highlight, both a life bird and a show.
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| Groove-billed Anis - Estero Llano Grande State Park - TX |
I took a different trail back to the VC, diagonally off the levee and nearly got trapped in horribly sticky mud which built up on my shoes so much that I almost tipped over. It was like walking in moon boots. It accumulated first on the bottoms and then started oozing up the sides. Gingerly, I made my way to the grasses and drier ground and spent the whole way back crubbing with a stick to get the gluey stuff off, scraping my shoes vigorously in the pebbly or grassy areas, trying to clear it. When I finally got back to the car, the bottoms were still full of embedded thick mud, so I just put them in a plastic bag to deal with later.
Before I left though I met Deb and Jim from Richmond, Indiana. Somehow we got to talking about long road trips, and they said they sleep in Walmart lots also. In fact, they were just up the road from MY Walmart last night at THEIR Walmart. A security guide had come up to them as they were watching a movie in the cab of their truck and asked if they planned to "stay the night?" Jim laughed and said he should have told the guy, "No, we're just going to watch this movie here and then leave."
They travel all over the country as he is a photographer, and especially love Yellowstone where they go for a month at least twice a year. The know all about the current wolf packs, which ones have been killed, who the alpha females are, etc. Jim also has been to Magee Marsh (where DHC and I plan to go for the third year in a row in May). I told him exactly where the Anis were as they were going to try for them in the morning. They have also photographed bears in Alaska several times. Deb said they just "step off the trail" when they hear a bear coming. Jeez...No, they weren't afraid.
I had a reservation in a motel on South Padre Island. The lights on the bridge were flashing a Pelican Warning but I didn't even see one as I crossed. It was dark when I got there, and I drove around trying to find the Mexican restaurant where DHC and I ate when we were here last April. I finally found it - El Señor Donkey. My fajita was pretty bad with tough beef, but the margarita was fine.
The motel was good enough and I slept well, hoping I would dream of Anis....
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| Rio Grande from the levee at Estero Llano Grande SP - TX |
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