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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hamhed" data-source="post: 3159409" data-attributes="member: 70825">Thursday 25thFor Christmas day activities, Keith was of having the same sort of thoughts we were.  More birding!  Our enthusiasm was tested at dawn when we came out to frosted windshields!  Alamo, Texas - almost at sea level and less than 8 miles to the Mexico border!  Back in to the room to add another layer, grab our lightweight gloves (really glad we brought them) and follow Keith to Santa Ana NWR (<a href="http://www.fws.gov/refuge/santa_ana/" target="_blank">http://www.fws.gov/refuge/santa_ana/</a>), 7.5 miles south.  Surprisingly, at 7:30 on a frosty Christmas morning, we were not the first cars in the lot.  One police car, a constable as they say in these here parts, was idling, a reassuring sign against potential vandalism. We all spotted an immature Gray Hawk but Keith was the one to identify it.  Noting that it was more cryptically colored that the adult which we’d only seen flying.  The feeders had good activity, we could never tire of the rowdy Green Jays flying over the ground cover of Inca, White-winged and White-tipped Doves and Chacalacas.  Our third Altamira Oriole sighting, once a craved life bird, now just a brilliant splash of black and orange.  Our walk soon took us in the area of the canopy walk, where oak trees held Spanish moss, nesting material of the Tyrannulet and Tropical Parula.  Ears tuned to the soft “pee-up” given by the Tyrannulet, we covered the area well before moving on to the Willow Lakes area. Well established habitat here for puddle ducks and rails, watchable from several viewing blinds.  Nice looks at a good variety dabbling ducks - Ruddy, Pintail, Northern Shoveler, American Widgeon, Northern Pintail and Mottled.    Other ducks were the softly beautiful Green-winged Teal and just two Ring-necked Ducks.Several White-faced Ibis flew in; both mature and immature individuals in a small flock.  After searching the perfect setting of reeds and cattails for rails, Keith left us to spend some time by the Rio Grande, hoping for some vagrant species, while we retraced our steps to the oak grove and then walked in the scrubby growth of the Cattail Lake trail.  Despite the chilly start, by early afternoon the day had warmed up considerably, the trail was mostly quiet and the strong afternoon breeze had returned.  One exception was a mixed flock of spiky-headed Black-crested Titmice, wide-eyed Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warblers and numerous Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  Mingling with them, a single Black-and-white Warbler explored the underneath of the rough-barked branches.  Keith caught up with us as we decided to return for yet another walk through the oak grove on Wildlife Drive.  We parted company soon after but not before observing another mixed flock, this one with a Pine Warbler, the only one we would see in the Valley.  Not ready to give up on the Willow Lakes area, we started that way, found a small group of birds by water’s edge which included a Least Flycatcher (it never vocalized but by the distinctive eye ring and range maps, we felt this was the best choice).   An Olive Sparrow, most often heard, gave us a quick look and then a very mottled Indigo Bunting also appeared.  A little charged by the rush of different birds, we took one last stroll around the wet areas.  With another birding couple, we photographed a Wilson’s Snipe that Liz picked out of the wet grasses and saw a Common Yellowthroat, all yellows and blacks, pop in and out of the rushes.  The rails, however, remained elusive, which is what they do best.Keith thought Anzalduas County Park might be open that day.  Being just 30 minutes to the west, we drove that way through a convoluted series of roads past the town of Hidalgo and Granjeno (Spanish for Spiny Hackberry) just before the park entrance.  Not unexpectedly,  a “Closed for the holiday” sign hung from the gate.  We doubled back to a side road in Granjeno leading to a levee that overlooked a field said to have the potential for Short-eared Owls.  Not a bird was stirring.  Several Border Patrol vehicles, menacing in black SUV’s with tinted windshields, were parked there.  A body found in the river the previous week had them on high alert, no doubt birdwatchers being especially suspect.  Even if we could put up with the unfriendly glare from the BP (Merry Christmas to you too!), prime Short-eared Owl time was still over an hour away.  We gave it up for the day, bought an ice cream bar and headed back to Alamo.</blockquote>

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