Code 3+ species (or Fourth Time in Texas)

I began my USA and Territories Biggest Year effort in January, 2023, with a goal of finding 40-50 ABA Code 3+ birds as part of my quest for 900 species. These are mostly true vagrants to the USA or very rare breeding birds. As July was nearing its end, I had already observed 36 of these, with 15 of them in Alaska. 

My son Nick was finishing up a vacation in the Florida Panhandle so I invited him to join me in searching for an ABA Code 4 American Flamingo that had taken up residency at St. Marks NWR south of Tallahassee. This bird showed up following Hurricane Michael in 2018, is unbanded and presumed to be of wild origin. Birders have named it Pinky. 

Nick picked me up at the Pensacola Airport the morning of July 29. Four hours later, we arrived at the National Wildlife Refuge and followed recent eBird reports to locate Pinky, the American Flamingo (Biggest Year-Bird number 728). Our photos of Pinky and other birds are here:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S145931601 . The location also hosted a close encounter with a bobcat. About an hour after arriving, an afternoon thunderstorm rolled in so we turned the car around and headed towards Nick’s home in Austin TX. We would make two birding stops en route. The first was along Florida’s Gulf Coast where Nick successfully chased a rare Gray Kingbird, and then on July 30, 2023, in Lee County, TX, we were unsuccessful chasing a vagrant Yellow-green Vireo, a Middle American species that had summered at a state park there. 

The next morning, Monday July 31, 2023, Nick went back to work in Austin and I rented a car and drove 6 hrs towards Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley. On the way I picked up Brown-crested Flycatcher (729) at Laguna Atascosa NWR. I arrived at Brownsville’s Oliveira Park in time to watch several hundred parrots arriving to roost overnight, including at least 20 White-fronted Parrot (730), an introduced species that may not be countable by ABA standards. 

I stayed in a motel near McAllen Monday night. Tuesday morning I visited Cannon Rd. (an eBird hotspot) where another Yellow-green Vireo had been singing all summer, but not this morning. Then I got word that Jim and Brenda Carpenter had reported a pair of Striped Cuckoo (ABA code 5!) at the National Butterfly Center. I arrived just as the gate was closing at 5 pm. I played a tape for this Middle American cuckoo species from outside the gate to no avail. I continued west to Roma for lodging as I had arranged to meet guide  Zach Johnson and the Carpenters nearby at Santa Margarita Ranch at 7 AM the next morning. The guiding fee (required) was $175 each for a morning on the ranch. This was my only chance of seeing ABA Code 4 Brown Jay. A small group had taken up residence earlier this year after a twelve year absence. 

I arrived in Roma at sunset. After checking into a small motel ($60) I wandered over to the boat launch along the Rio Grande River at Salineño. It was too dark to see much but I had some good night birds here: Lesser Nighthawk (731), Common Pauraque and Eastern Screech-Owl. 

At 7 AM, we met at the Ranch house along with another guide (Ryan Rodriguez) with two more clients. We climbed into the ranch owner’s ATV and drove a dirt track downhill into the lush riparian Rio Grande valley. Within minutes a juvenile Brown Jay began screaming as if to say “Where are my oranges?” More jays answered the screams from further away. Zach broke out the half-oranges, and impaled them in a tree. Soon the gang of four Brown Jay (732) were feeding on the fruits.  Zach played the song of Red-billed  Pigeon and one sang back once (733, heard only). Other highlights of this guided visit included: Bell’s Vireo, four fledgling Muscovy in the river, presumably of wild origin, and three Zone-tailed Hawk (all rare in eBird). We ended the morning with more than 50 species. Details and media can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S146299761.

In the afternoon I returned to the Butterfly Center and searched the property along the Rio Grande River for more than two hours. The 100F + heat was almost unbearable. No sign of the cuckoos but a flock of 7 Groove-billed Ani had me wondering why I tried so hard to see one in January. There was also a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet here.

I would try twice more for the Yellow-green Vireo at Cannon Rd. unsuccessfully. Heading back to Austin I picked up singing Botteri’s Sparrow (734) at dusk on Aug 3 and then drove all night to Lee County in hopes of finding that Yellow-green Vireo singing in the dawn chorus. Strike 5 despite hearing songs from about 20 other vireos including about a dozen White-eyed, and a few each of Yellow-throated and Red-eyed Vireos. Seems that Yellow-green Vireo is competing with La Sagra’s Flycatcher for my 2023 nemesis bird. The score is seven misses for La Sagra’s Flycatcher versus five for Yellow-green Vireo. 

I ended this short but productive trip with two additional ABA Code 3+ species (American Flamingo and Brown Jay), giving me 38 for the year.