Texas - the final reckoning

 TUB with the great Keith Hackland

As if I haven't already gone on about it enough, I have to say that my recent trip to Texas was an eye-opener. I expected a landscape similar to what I experienced in and around Tucson, Arizona - dusty desert. Instead, I was surprised as to how lush some of the areas I visited were despite there being an ongoing drought. The birds were awesome, the people incredibly friendly and the experience impeccable.

The Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival was the main reason for my visit and would not have been possible had it not been for Keith Hackland from Alamo Inn - a must stay location for any visiting birder. I met Keith around four years ago at the British Birdwatching Fair where he originally invited me to Texas. I thought that it would never come to be. But it happened. I tell you what, Keith is the nicest and most gentle man you are ever likely to meet. He was a superb host and now a very good friend of mine. I would like to publicly thank him and his family for making me feel so welcome and for making my Texan experience such an amazing one.

 TUB with Doug Gochfeld - fantastic leader and good geezer!

 Scott Whittle, TUB, Doug Gochfeld & Tom Stephenson - The ATeam (minus me!)

 TUB with South Texas Nature's Nydia O. Tapia-Gonzales

Special thanks to Nydia who along with her colleagues at South Texas Nature facilitated my trip to Texas.

Turkey Vulture

My Texan list

Least Grebe

Pied Grebe

Magnificent Frigatebird

Double-crested Cormorant

Neotropic Cormorant

Anhinga

American White Pelican

Brown Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Cattle Egret

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

Tricoloured Heron

Little Blue Heron

Reddish Egret

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron

White-faced Ibis

American White Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Snow Goose

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Wood Duck

Mottled Duck

Gadwall

Green-winged Teal

American Wigeon

Northern Pintail

Northern Shoveler

Blue-winged Teal

Canvasback

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Lesser Scaup

Bufflehead

Ruddy Duck

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Osprey

White-tailed Kite

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper’s Hawk

Harris Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

Grey Hawk

White-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Northern Crested Caracara

Aplomado Falcon

American Kestrel

Merlin

Peregrine

Plain Chachalaca

Clapper Rail

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Sandhill Crane

Whooping Crane

Grey Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Killdeer

Snowy Plover

American Oystercatcher

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Western Willet

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Stilt Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Wilson’s Snipe

Franklin’s Gull

Laughing Gull

Ring-billed Gull

American Herring Gull

Black Tern

Common Tern

Forster’s Tern

Cabot’s Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Feral Pigeon

Eurasian Collared Dove

Mourning Dove

White-winged Dove

Common Ground Dove

Inca Dove

White-tipped Dove

Green Parakeet

Red-crowned Parrot

Barn Owl

Long-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl

Eastern Screech Owl

Common Pauraque

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Ringed Kingfisher

Green Kingfisher

Amazon Kingfisher

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Cave Swallow

Sprague’s Pipit

Cactus Wren

((Carolina Wren))

((House Wren))

Marsh Wren

Sedge Wren

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Black Phoebe

Vermillion Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Kingbird

Great Kiskadee

Blue-grey Gnatcatcher

Wood Thrush

Clay-coloured Thrush

Grey Catbird

Northern Mockingbird

Long-billed Thrasher

Curve-billed Thrasher

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Black-crested Tit

((Verdin))

Blue-headed Vireo

Black-crested Titmouse

Loggerhead Shrike

Green Jay

Chihuahuan Raven

European Starling

House Sparrow

Orange-crowned Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle Warbler)

Black-throated Green Warbler

Pine Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Wilson’s Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Olive Sparrow

Cassin’s Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Summer Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Pyrrhuloxia

Indigo Bunting

Eastern Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Altamira Oriole

Audubon’s Oriole

        

176 species

24 lifers