Yellow-green Vireo has been a tough bird for me to chase over the years. In Arizona, I've struck out on it three different times. The first time I chose to photograph a Varied Bunting for a few minutes while I was a little bored of the several hours I had spent standing at one spot waiting for the vireo to show up. While I photographed the Bunting, the Vireo showed up for the people who waited three more minutes than I. Another time I chased one in Tucson. There were six birders in my party. Three of them saw the bird well while we were all together because of where they were standing. The other three birders saw the movement, but weren't standing in the right place to get diagnostic views of the bird. I was in the second group, the group who only saw the movement. Third time's a charm, right? Not with Yellow-green Vireos. Along the Santa Cruz River in Santa Cruz County, one had been present for a week or so and was cooperative and vocal for many birders. The first day that it didn't show up was the day I decided to go. I couldn't complain too much. And the following day after I struck out, the Yellow-green Vireo picked up his same habits from that week of days before his no show. Knowing my luck with this bird, I wondered if a Texas chase would be any different from an Arizona chase..
We found ourselves walking around Quinta Mazatlan and not only looking for the Vireo, but for other migrants too. Our time was spent where Henry told us the Vireo was being seen at, and where some other birders (who were there at the time) told us to look. We were getting plenty of birds at first, but the Yellow-green Vireo, who was said to be singing it's heart out right before we got there, was missing in action. Our luck did continue for McCall's Eastern Screech-Owls on the trip.
While I visited the feeders, a White-tipped Dove put in a good appearance.
While standing at a spot and looking at Golden-winged Warbler and a few other warblers in thick cover, Josh and I had this Clay-colored Thrush pop right up and into the open for us.
Eventually, we were told that the Yellow-green Vireo tended to hang around a mixed flock of songbirds that was made up of warblers. A few times, we found a mixed flock that seemed to represent what we were told. Things got exciting when David called everyone and said that he caught a glimpse of the bird. It was in a mixed flock of warblers that included a Blackburnian Warbler, two Black-and-White Warblers, a Magnolia Warbler, and a few Black-throated Green Warblers. We went over quickly and got on most of the flock, but the Yellow-green Vireo was missing in action. At that point, we had about fifteen more minutes to land the bird. Despite our efforts, we ran out of time and all four of us will have to wait another time to get the Vireo as a life bird. David didn't get a good enough look to count it for himself as a lifer. I am now zero out of four on my attempts for that bird. Even though my four misses have been narrow, someday I will get a Yellow-green Vireo. Something cool I did get was a purchase at the visitor center and it was an epic illustration of the Rio Grande specialties.
From Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen, Texas, we then went on another important expedition while we started to make our way east and briefly out of the Rio Grande Valley en route to South Padre Island. Our next adventure was to search for our first ever Aplomado Falcon, as well as more views of White-tailed Hawk. After an hour of driving east from McAllen and taking Highway 100 toward South Padre Island, the road we were driving along fell in an area where re-introduced Aplomado Falcons reside. Highway 100 runs along open grasslands and savannah habitat that has scattered trees and different shrubs, which is what Aplomado Falcons prefer, as well as White-tailed Hawks. It took us about an hour from McAllen to get to the area with good habitat, but once we did, several White-tailed Hawks were seen perched on trees or poles. The highway wasn't an easy one to bird on because of high speeds and without any way to quickly turn around, and it made turning around or stopping for White-tailed Hawks challenging. They wouldn't appear at the distance we knowingly needed to stop at in appropriate timing, but would rather come up on us too quickly when we wouldn't have time to stop.
Along Highway 100, we stopped at a convenient pull off where people can park and scan the surrounding habitat. There is an Aplomado Falcon nesting platform that has been built, and it's a considerable distance from the parking pull off. As people are strictly limited to the pull off, this Aplomado nest can be viewed with a scope. If birders are lucky, one of the two falcons out of the pair may sit nearby on a tree or shrub, or they may perch on the nesting platform in full view. As we scanned, we could make out a falcon-shaped bird on the nest, without seeing much detail despite knowing that, "yeah, that's our Aplomado Falcon". It was windy outside and there was some rain, and luckily, we didn't stay at this spot for very long. We had passed a spot on our way to the location we had scanned, and Caleb did spot what he believed was another Aplomado Falcon nest. This second nest was much closer to the road and viewing would be good if it was indeed an occupied nest.
We turned around and went to the nest. There weren't any falcons on it when we arrived at the spot, but it looked like an active nest, and plus, we had a White-tailed Hawk perched nearby for good scope views and poor-but-diagnostic photographs.
White-tailed Hawks have the longest legs of any North American buteo, and southern Texas is the only place to see this raptor in the United States. Aside from my poor photographs, good photographs and illustrations elsewhere will reveal a striking raptor. White-tailed Hawks are highly attracted to fires, and they will rush over to fires to feed on prey who are moving in better striking distances while the prey is trying to escape the fire. These hawks feed on a wide variety of animals that include small mammals, herbivores, insects, and birds.
At a glance, the White-tailed Hawk may look similar to a Swainson's Hawk. Although these photographs are poor, they do clearly show a White-tailed Hawk. Identification with adult White-tailed Hawks like this one is simple, they have a gray head, are white overall on the front, have a darker gray back with contrasting rufous scapulars and shoulder patches, have a very long wings that project well beyond the tail, and true to the name-a white tail with a black subterminal band across the tail.
While we had been studying the White-tailed Hawk for a few minutes, Caleb shouted out, "Woah!". We looked over to see a Harris's Hawk suddenly being harassed by two Aplomado Falcons. It seemed as if the hawk was going to be taken out by the falcons. The Falcons flew by us harassing the hawk at a fairly close distance. I watched and snapped photographs away in amazement. The Aplomados got their point across to the Harris's Hawk, who made a tunnel-visioned beeline out of the area. Once the hawk was gone, the falcons perched up on telephone pole wires together. The four of us celebrated our lifer, but when I looked at my camera, I realized I had my camera set on the wrong mode and I didn't capture the excitement of the hawk and falcon chase like I thought I did. I won't repeat the words I said on this blog, I was frustrated.
I concentrated on getting digiscope photographs and live scope views of the falcon pair that I was grateful for through the scope. Aplomado Falcons are gorgeous raptors, and for me, it was a HUGE highlight to get it as a life bird. The birds sat there together for awhile, and then the female flew over and landed in the nest on the telephone pole. What was interesting about the nest was that it had a variety of materials in it besides sticks and twigs, and one of the things that was in it was cacti shrubs. Aplomado Falcons don't build their own nests and use abandoned nests that have been built by other birds.
The Aplomado Falcon has been listed as endangered in the United States since 1986. From the 1870's through the 1930's, it commonly ranged in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas before rapidly declining. Cattle overgrazing is thought to be the main reason of decline for the species. These birds are being re-introduced into this part of southern Texas in hopes of recovering the population again through a recovery program that began in 1990.
I was enjoying the Aplomado viewing through the close and zoomed up views through my scope, and I didn't want to stop once I started. Caleb, David, and Josh went up the road to try for Texas Botteri's Sparrows. While I've had a decent share of Botteri's Sparrow in Arizona, I decided to stay put and enjoy the Aplomado Falcons further. Pairs of these falcons will team hunt together to take down prey that they will feed and pass on to their young. Insects and birds make up the most of the Aplomado Falcon's diet, and parent birds will hunt throughout the day in order to feed their chicks as much as they can.
After watching the female on the nest and the male on the pole for awhile, they flew off and I didn't know where they went for a few minutes. A Northern Harrier hunting over a grassy area caught my attention, and as I was looking out that why, I saw one of the Aplomados hunting in the area.
It landed on the ground, caught something, and then went to eat it's catch on a fence post. The sight of the striking falcon at this range was a memorable view through my scope. Dense, knee-high coastal vegetation was between the falcon and me, but I decided to bushwhack through it. I was convinced I would end up with ticks after my decision to get closer to the falcon. Even though it might sound a little off-topic, I had gone the whole trip without getting any ticks and I was remaining confident in my streak. Caleb, David, and Josh had gotten their share of ticks and Josh had also gotten the painful bites from chiggers. During this walk through tall, thick, and thorny terrain I wasn't fazed because that Aplomado Falcon kept getting closer and closer...
And closer. I enjoyed this phenomenal bird much closer than I expected too. And it was definitely worth it to close the day out in the waning minutes of light before we would head to South Padre Island. Even though we struck out on Yellow-green Vireo, we rolled a perfect strike with getting Aplomado Falcon!
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