• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

USA Grand Tour (1 Viewer)

No plans yet for Chicago - any recommendations welcomed!

Can't help there sorry, I was asking for much the same reason - I'll be passing through Chicago later in the year, but plan is to probably do no birding (or even linger) anywhere within 500 km of the city.


Excluding the gloom-obscured birds of the evening before, the last time I had seen a catharus thrush was one of the more fortunate of an ill-fated fall of Grey-cheeked Thrushes on the Isles of Scilly in 1987 (one was taken by a cat and another landed on a rock which was immediately swamped by a wave).

I was there that year, maybe we have met ;)
 
After today Jos I'm quite happy to believe we've met. The reason being that as I arrived at Blucher Park - a famous migrant trap in Corpus Christi - I met an English birder, Martin Reid, who I had last met at Mai Po in Hong Kong in March 2011.

However before that a couple of corrections - there are no Common Grackles in Corpus Christi, so all the smaller birds I saw yesterday were female/imm male Great Tailed Grackles. I also mis-wrote Swainson's Thrush for Hermit Thrush which I have since corrected.

Today kicked off with a terrific 40 minutes on the waterfront opposite the Omni Hotel. As dawn broke flotillas of Brown Pelicans and a couple of hundred Laughing Gulls were flying south along the coast and past the marina. In amongst them were a few American Herring Gulls and a couple of dozen each of Sandwich and Royal Terns, and on a distant sandbank (and I hope to see more later) five Black Skimmers, one of my top targets here. Other bits and pieces included a Pied-billed Grebe, 8 Great Blue Heron, a flyover Peregrine, a couple of Black-bellied Tree Ducks Turnstone, Willet and American Oystercatcher on the breakwaters. The Willet was doing a pretty good Hudsonian Godwit impersonation, but I learned from Martin Reid that the western population is longer-billed and longer-legged than my mental picture of Willet, and much more likely to be perched on a rocky breakwater here. Nearby landbirds included my first White-winged Doves, more Great-tailed Grackles and a Collared Dove.

After breakfast I headed for Blucher Park, picking up Bronzy Cowbird, Crouch's Kingbird, Inca Dove and Golden-fronted Woodpecker immediately - a fine quartet of southern specialities! As I was scoping a tussle between a House Sparrow and a Purple Martin over nesting material a flock of Chimney Swifts wafted over, and I scored big time by meeting Martin and his wife Sheridan, who very kindly gave the rest of the morning to showing me how to get the best out of this small, but far from easy site.

Blucher Park is a sunken area with a stream running through it, and a good mix of trees, shrubs and lawns - a wonderful migrant trap on a very windy coast!

The fist bird we got onto was a female Hooded Wabler, flashing white tail feathers in the gloomy understorey, followed by a drab, but reassuringly yellow-vented Orange-crowned Warbler, a patchily blue Indigo Bunting. I reached overload when an absolutely stunning Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flew up and perched in view while we were watching a Long-billed Thrasher calling in a treetop, only to be distracted again by a Loggerhead Shrike!

Thankfully things calmed down a little after that - if seeing my first ever hummingbird - Black-chinned Hummingbird - and on the nest too! could be called calming! This was followed by Ruby-throated and Buff-bellied Hummingbirds coming into feeders on the Nature Conservancy Building and, after a brief foray to Rose Hill Cemetery, where we found Brown-crested Flycatcher and Blue-headed Vireo we returned to find a Lincoln Sparrow, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and both Carolina and House Wrens. After Martin & Sheridan headed off my final explorations gave me better views of the Hooded and Orange-crowned Warblers and as a terrific finale a superb Yellow-breasted Chat gave excellent close views.

Nearly forgot -I also had my first Grey Catbirds, giving me a staggering 29 ticks on the day!

Cheers
Mike
 
Last edited:
Hi Jos. Back in the late 1980s I always went to Scilly at the end of October/beginnng of November to coincide with school half-term, so if you were around at that time in 87 or 88 its certainly possible that we met. How the world shrinks.

The list is certainly growing, Jeff. A combination of being too busy and too tired has kept me away from writing up the last couple of days, but three flights in 6 hours from Corpus Christi to Bozeman, Montana at lest gave me time to catch up with some pictures, which I'll post below.

Monday April 11 a round of meetings in the morning at Texas A&M University, which is situated right next to the Hans Suter wetland (giving me a drive-by Black-necked Stilt) was followed by a visit to the National Park visitor centre on North Padre Island. I was hopeful of seeing a few birds as the wind had switched from southerly to northerly and there was even a few drops of rain around 10 am.

As we drove down the island towards to centre a constant stream of hirundines were heading north on either side of the road, along with good numbers of Turkey Vultures and unidentifiable buteos, but the major highlight was a couple of Crested Caracaras perched on roadside fenceposts. A short walk along the beach in front of the visitor revealed a few waders picking over the mounds of seaweed washed up on the shore. These included a couple of Willet, several Turnstones, a couple of Grey Plovers and flock of Sanderlings. It was good to get close views of the Willets, confirming that my bird of the day before really was one.

After our meetings I sneaked off to a shallow pool just opposite the visitor centre that was full of birds. As I walked over a couple of gulls showing distinctive white flashes inside the dark primary tips flew over my head and landed behind some reeds. I was morally certain they were Franklin's Gulls, but had to wait a good forty minutes before the flock of what turned out to be 13 birds came off the marsh and flew over my head as they headed north together. This was a huge lifer as I've been wanting to see Franklin's Gulls ever since first seeing them in vagrants section of the Shell Guide when I first started birding in the 1980s.

The pond itself was exactly what any visiting birder dreams of - a good selection of easily identifiable birds at relatively close range. In addition to the familiar Great and Cattle Egrets, Reddish and Snowy Egrets were interspersed with four Little Blue Herons in a range of plumages, a couple of Tricoloured Herons and a fine flock of 20-odd Glossy Ibis. The Franklin's Gulls were hiding in a 200-strong mixed flock of Laughing Gulls, Royal and Sandwich Terns, and a solitary Caspian Tern.

I was delighted to find a White-tailed Hawk quartering the dunes and on the way back a Northen Harrier also showed well. It was also a pleasure to see good numbers of Brown Pelicans and a couple of White Pelicans drifting easily north, far too accomplished as fliers to be troubled by a headwind.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSCN4911 B Pelican bf.jpg
    DSCN4911 B Pelican bf.jpg
    42.7 KB · Views: 92
  • DSCN4943 W Pelican bf.jpg
    DSCN4943 W Pelican bf.jpg
    34.2 KB · Views: 73
The next day was set aside for a much anticipated visit to Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Sadly this huge coastal sanctuary was in between seasons - most of the wintering waterfowl, including the Whooping Cranes, had already left, and few of the summer migrants had arrived.

There were still plenty of new birds, and things kicked off well with a flight of half-a-dozen Black Skimmers drifting over the highway from one lagoon to another, while an American Kestrel, several Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and 3 Crested Caracaras were good wire birds. 25 Franklin Gulls flying over the road were totally eclipsed by the Pickled Pelican bar, a glowing testament to the ingenuity of the good people of southern Texas, which offered midget wrestling and belt sander racing.

For reasons unknown the exterior of the Aransas visitor centre looks like a cross between a large tiled toilet block and a sunken command centre from the Maginot line. While the carpark was filled with fine old trees I was surprised that it did not overlook any significant habitat feature as reserves in the UK tend to do.

Anyway, I did get my first Wild Turkey stalking casually through the carpark and enjoyed the noise made by a big group of Great-tailed Grackles, Bronzed Cowbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds. A guided tour with a group of non-birders is often a frustrating experience, but we were all agreed on the undoubted excitement of seeing several good-sized Alligators at close quarters, and a Virginia Rail, panicked into immobility by our appearance, was a quality bird an highly reminiscent of Water Rail. A Tricoloured Heron posed nicely above one of the alligator pools.

A stop at Jones Lake provided a burst of new birds, including five Redheads and an American Purple Gallinule scrambling about in a tree by the water, but I could not string any of the Pied-billed Grebes into Least Grebes and many calling passerines remained stubbornly out of sight.

The final stop was an elevated viewing platform looking over some tidal mudflats and marshes. A mixed flock of juvenile and adult White Ibis exploring the water's edge were joined by a gorgeous Roseate Spoonbill, but the waders were a disappointment - a couple of Grey Plovers four Lesser Yellowlegs, and a flock of Dowitcher sp. were the only birds within decent viewing and I did not have enough time to sort out the Dowitchers.

On the way back we drove through the affluent Rockport suburb of Fulton Beach and a group of Blue-winged Teals floated serenely on one of the ponds.

And finally, the tap/faucet in the fifth pic reminded me of that incredibly annoying character in one of the later Star Wars movies.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSCN4954 Pickled Pelican bf.jpg
    DSCN4954 Pickled Pelican bf.jpg
    111.3 KB · Views: 78
  • DSCN4969 Alligator 2 bf.jpg
    DSCN4969 Alligator 2 bf.jpg
    156 KB · Views: 68
  • DSCN4960 Tricoloured Heron bf.jpg
    DSCN4960 Tricoloured Heron bf.jpg
    179.7 KB · Views: 61
  • DSCN4975 Swallowtail sp. bf.jpg
    DSCN4975 Swallowtail sp. bf.jpg
    148.8 KB · Views: 52
  • DSCN4959 tap, Aransas NWR.jpg
    DSCN4959 tap, Aransas NWR.jpg
    54.8 KB · Views: 66
Glad to hear all is well, and you're just getting out too much to write things up. Sounds like things are progressing quite nicely despite having to work around other activities! (Nice gator shot indeed!)
 
Hi Jos. Back in the late 1980s I always went to Scilly at the end of October/beginnng of November to coincide with school half-term, so if you were around at that time in 87 or 88 its certainly possible that we met. How the world shrinks.

Was rarely there in November, a Chimney Swift and other odds and ends the only exceptions, but was at the end of October most years, so who knows :t:

Enjoying your US roadtrip, good one.
 
Next up was an evening and a morning session at Blucher Park.

My best birds were a Chuck-will's Widow which sat well to be photographed in the evening, another flightier bird the next morning, and a Parauque which showed strong white tail sides as it flushed.

Another major highlight was a good collection of warblers including a female Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, and very good views of both Louisana Waterthrush and a very confiding Ovenbird in the evening, with a an obvious fall including a Black-and-white Warbler, a male Northern Parula, several each of Nashville and Tennessee Warblers and, just as I was leaving, another Yellow-breasted Chat.

Other good birds included a couple of Green Herons, a fine group of Orchard Orioles, a Grasshopper Sparrow, a single Baltimore Oriole and three Indigo Buntings.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSCN5004 WW Dove bf.jpg
    DSCN5004 WW Dove bf.jpg
    144 KB · Views: 54
  • DSCN5009 Chuck Will's Widow bf.jpg
    DSCN5009 Chuck Will's Widow bf.jpg
    117.7 KB · Views: 64
Mike, I am looking forward to all those birds getting up here in Missouri in the next couple of weeks!

Continued Good Birding to You!
 
Just arrived in St Louis, Larry and had a swift look in Forest Park yesterday afternoon. The only migrants were a female Yellow-headed Blackbird and seven or eight Pine Warblers and a Green Heron flying away at high speed. Any recommendations about which parts of the park are best would be warmly welcomed as I won't have time to go further afield. The other good bird was a Great Horned Owl lurking in a wood, and several Chimney Swifts at the Cardinals Ballpark this evening.

However, I still owe the thread reports on my last session in Corpus Christi and, in stark contrast the still wintry mountains of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks . . .

Cheers
Mike
 
April 14

My final birding in Corpus Christi was an afternoon spent on the Nueces River Estuary. This reserve of several thousand acres protects a good range of estuarine, seasonally flooded and intertidal habitats, plus some mesquite brush. The welcome of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher sitting on the reserve sign was a good start, and two more were hunting from any small twigs around the visitor centre.

This was a good area, with Harris’s Hawk perched on one telegraph pole while a Ladder-backed Woodpecker busily vandalized another, and to my delight a Great Kiskadee – a bird I thought I’d missed for this trip perched on the wire for the few seconds. Another bonus migrant was a Blue Grosbeak, which landed on the woodpile from where it flashed its russet-brown wingbars.

A short tour of the road brought us to a shallow ox-bow lake that held a variety of waders. Lifers for me here included a twelve Long-billed Curlews, three Greater Yellowlegs, a Wilson’s Plover, while a dozen Whimbrel and my first Least Sandpipers since one in Cornwall in 1986 were new for the trip. A supremely elegant Black-necked Stilt was also present. Unfortunately none of the views were close and with a good wind blowing it was hard to really enjoy these birds.

In addition to the Harris’ Hawk the site was good for raptors, mostly drifting gently north. These included ten Turkey Vultures and a Black Vulture, 15 Swainson’s Hawks, a Northern Harrier and two Crested Caracaras.

As we drove back to the camp a Chipping Sparrow was followed by a much more exciting White-crowned Sparrow, but the highlight of the day and the imprint memory of the trip was walking down to a meadow where eight Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers were chasing one another, one swooping up, closely followed by the others, tails spread and streaming, salmon-pink flanks catching the evening sunlight. A couple of birds, still excited perched and posed on a dead branch, finally allowing me to get pictures of a truly wonderful bird. The pix below are a very meagre homage to a world class bird.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSCN5036 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 bf.jpg
    DSCN5036 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 1 bf.jpg
    54.5 KB · Views: 75
  • DSCN5044 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 2 bf.jpg
    DSCN5044 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 2 bf.jpg
    64.1 KB · Views: 61
  • DSCN5049 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 bf.jpg
    DSCN5049 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3 bf.jpg
    54.7 KB · Views: 70
good pics on the scissor-tailed flycatchers....you got time to hunt ivory-billeds east of Corpus before you go? Ok, just kidding....but glad you had a good time.
 
Mike here is a prime birding area in Saint Louis. It is the Gaddy Wild Bird Garden located in Forest Park. Currently there are a lot of interesting species in the area. Of special interest at the moment are lots of the migrating warblers. If you go be sure to check out the bubbler as it attracts a lot of birds. I would imagine that there would be some local birders around who can "point you in the right direction" to where the various species are being seen.

Robert and Martha Gaddy Wild Bird Garden Tower Grove Park
4256 Magnolia Ave.
St. Louis, MO
314-771-2679
 
However, I still owe the thread reports on my last session in Corpus Christi and, in stark contrast the still wintry mountains of Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks . . .

Er, does this mean you went to Yellowstone/Grand Teton and didn't post us a report? Oi! That was exactly the bit I was waiting for!

You will duly be forgiven when the write-ups and pics get posted ;)
 
Larry W - seems all the best people were on Scilly around that time - Martin Reid remembers feeding the cat that killed the GC Thrush!

Larry L - Many thanks I'll try Tower Grove tomorrow - I sneaked a swift hour in the SW corner of Forest park around lunchtime and it was pretty quiet - lots of American Goldfinches, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a single tail-pumping Palm Warbler, but no new warblers for my trip. I did however catch up with my first Red-bellied Woodpecker and watched a Cooper's Hawk tucking into lunch on a streamside log.

Fear not Jos . . . here it comes.

The next day, three flights in six hours (only in the US can this be possible) brought me from the warm Gulf Coast to the snowy mountain chill of Bozeman, Montana. The ride from here to Gardiner – the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park - turned out to be highly productive, with five Bald Eagles, two Golden Eagles, several Red-tailed Hawks, plenty of Ravens and Black-billed Magpies, the latter looking slimmer and more slender-tailed than my Hong Kong Birds. On the river and adjoining meadows a couple of pairs of Goosander, a small flock of Shoveler and a Sandhill Crane were the best birds. Equally impressive were the mammals – Mule Deer and Elk the most common, while a group of four Big Horn Sheep by the side of the road were an impressive sight, even if they were a very mere harbinger of the might and majesty of the Bison – huge-wooly headed, short-horned beasts which must have inspired the legend of the minotaur (or at least their European cousins must have).

Gardiner is a small town perched high above a fast-flowing river. In truth there were not many birds, but a Raven and an American Robin came and perched outside my room early in the morning, and a scan across the river produced distant views of my first Clark’s Nutcracker. Birding highlights of the drive down to Yellowstone included a pair of American Dippers on the river, a couple more Sandhill Cranes, and the first few of eight Bald Eagles seen that day. A big highlight was a confiding and understated Townsend’s Solitaire, vaguely reminiscent of a rather dowdy minivet washing in a stream close to the Old Faithful Geyser. Even more impressive that the geyser was getting up-close and personal with a small herd of Bison that wandered in after the geyser-viewing crowd had departed.

This is just one of many geysers, springs and bubbling mud pots in the park, which includes a giant caldera (unexploded volcano), which vulcanologists estimate is between 45,000 and 60,000 years overdue for a gigantic eruption. The combination of the somewhat unreal features and the obvious harshness of the winter climate – snow being cleared from the visitor centre roof with an 8-foot ice saw hinted at how bad it can get.

The best moment of the day was finding a flock of Mountain Bluebirds feeding over the last of the snow on a meadow close to another hot spring, while four or five Mountain Chickadees hopped in and out of the lower branches of some nearby fir trees. Another Bison strolling down the road, magnificently oblivious of the bus, also added some fun to the journey to West Yellowstone, where we overnighted.

As we drove out of the park to West Yellowstone a couple of Great Blue Herons and what was probably a Trumpeter Swan showed on the river close to the road. Next morning a 40 minute walk led me to a backyard feeder that had attracted 20-odd Red Crossbills, lots of Dark-eyed Juncos of the pink-sided mountain race and a Cassin’s Finch, handsome with a bright red forecrown. However the best birds were a flock of a dozen Evening Grosbeaks. I picked them out by their short tails and obviously hawfinch-like bill, but it was not until they were perched a top a pine tree that I could really enjoy the bold yellow supercilium, yellow wings and dark green body.

Cheers
Mike
 

Attachments

  • DSCN5182 Mtn Bluebird 1.jpg
    DSCN5182 Mtn Bluebird 1.jpg
    87.2 KB · Views: 81
  • DSCN5204 grubby Raven bf.jpg
    DSCN5204 grubby Raven bf.jpg
    117.7 KB · Views: 63
  • DSCN5211 Bison 2 bf.jpg
    DSCN5211 Bison 2 bf.jpg
    105.5 KB · Views: 60
... the might and majesty of the Bison – huge-wooly headed, short-horned beasts which must have inspired the legend of the minotaur (or at least their European cousins must have)


Ta for this report, I await the next chunk :t:


Should you ever being making a stop-over in Europe en route back to Hong Kong, I could probably oblige you with the European cousin...

...one year ago


.
 
Excellent all around! Yellowstone is a great place, and you got to see some great birds (though I don't know about that "goosander" - none of those in US ;) ) Mammals are relatively easy to see, and quite impressive there. (I have a family member who regularly goes to see the grizzlies!) I like your bluebird picture - seems a bison was there before the bird... That raven looks quite odd - is that something that washes off or a kind of deterioration?

Great to hear about things as you find free time - but guess you are having early mornings, so understand that it's hard to experience and write!
 
Last edited:
On a side note, Goosander and Common Merganser are potential splits...

I propose the splitting of all US and European birds wherever there is a name 'conflict' ....world peace will follow, harmony amongst the ranks :-O

Mind you, step by step, it's going that way anyway.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top