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INSTITUTE FOR FIELD ORNITHOLOGY

2005 IFO Raptors of the Rio Grande Valley Report

Instructor: William S. Clark . 3-9 April 2005 . McAllen, Texas

Seven workshop participants met Bill Clark on Sunday evening in the meeting room of our hotel to get acquainted, hear an overview of this week's activities, and see Bill's PowerPoint presentation: 'Raptors of the Rio Grande Valley.' They learned that the Valley is one of the best places in the U.S. to see raptor migration as well as having a variety of Neotropical raptors not found in most of the U.S. and Canada.

After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we met again early Monday morning for the first lecture on ID, 'Introduction to Raptor Identification,' in which Bill talked about field marks, light conditions, and many other ID topics. Directly following the lecture, we left for the famous Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park, now the headquarters of the World Birding Center. We took a tram ride through the park, picking up a few songbirds on the way, including a Clay-colored Robin, but our objective was the hawk watch tower. Here we observed raptor migration with Mike Hughes, the volunteer hawk counter for the day. The northward migration gave us looks at many Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged and Swainson's Hawks, as well as a few Ospreys and Cooper's Hawks. We spotted a few distant Mississippi Kites, and also saw a local White-tailed Kite hovering in the distance, the first of many sightings of this lovely raptor. Mike showed us the nest of a pair of Gray Hawks in his scope, with the female sitting on eggs and later in the morning, we walked out of the park, finding a few good Valley birds on the way. We went to Luby's for lunch—this is a Texas institution that features great cafeteria food—stopping on the way to look at an adult Harris's Hawk that was hanging around a nest close to the road just south of town. After a siesta at the hotel (Texas is hot in the middle of the day), we returned to the areas outside Bentsen to watch the end of the day's migration seeing many raptors drop out of the sky into the trees for the night.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Photo by Bill Clark.

The next day began with another lecture, actually two. First was a review of the ID of many species, then more extensive coverage of the four kite species, and ending with a discussion of how to distinguish Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks. We then went to Anzalduas County Park, where we watched raptor migration. Although we saw both Sharpies and Coops in flight, as well as some local Black Vultures, migration was sparse this morning, so we did some other birding. We saw the local pair of Swainson's Hawks regularly (resident adults were seen on most days in many locations) and as this is a lovely park, we had a nice picnic lunch here, watching the adult female Gray Hawk at her nest. This pair has apparently not laid their eggs yet and we heard her several times giving food-begging calls. After lunch, the pair of hawks gave us a great show by flying low right over us. All were ready for our siesta after this. In the afternoon, we took a pontoon boat ride on the Rio Grande. We saw few hawks but did see both resident kingfishers and other birds well. After the trip, the captain took us to an area where he said there was a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, a rare species in the Valley. One of our eagle-eyed participants found it sitting somewhat in the open giving us great scope views. This was a remarkable sighting! Ending the day, we saw many raptors coming to roost, especially many Mississippi Kites. We had an optional pizza party at the hotel meeting room that evening, and Bill showed a PowerPoint paper on hybrid Buteos.

Peregrine Falcon. Photo by Bill Clark.

Right after breakfast on Wednesday we left for the east to sample the coastal prairie, arriving at the nest of a pair of Aplomado Falcons in nice morning light. We also saw Harris's and White-tailed Hawks and Crested Caracaras, the first of many sightings of them this day. We then went to Laguna Atascosa NWR for a slow drive along the Bay loop, getting great looks at flying White-tailed Hawks twice, one a Basic II plumage hawk, repeatedly attacking an adult. After lunch in Laguna Heights, we went looking for concentrations of Swainson's, with no luck, however, we did see more Harris's Hawks and a few Kestrels. Our next stop was South Padre Island, where we met our captains, George and Scarlett Colley, for a delightful late afternoon trip in the Brownsville ship channel. First highlight was a perched adult female Peregrine who seemed to know Scarlett and let us motor slowly right past her as she sat on her winter perch, a channel marker. Then we had a great show of many shorebirds and gulls in wonderful afternoon light. After this, we went to the SPI Convention Center, a famous songbird fallout, where we were not disappointed, as we saw many passerines in the small wooded area as well as an Osprey perched on the nearby water tower. We then took a nice walk on the marsh boardwalk, picking up yet more species. After dinner on the island, we headed back to our hotel, wrapping up rather later.

We had another double ID session Thursday morning before heading out to Chihuahua Woods, a Nature Conservancy property. In the past, many Hook-billed Kites have been seen here, as there was a good supply of snails, their only food. We found many snail shells but few snails and no kites, but we had a nice walk and saw some nice birds more typical of drier areas. We then drove to Salineño, where we picnicked—we had some raptors here and a few more interesting birds. After this, we stopped at Chapeño, where we found the local specialty, Brown Jays. At Falcon Dam, where we went next, we were nabbed and told that we couldn't look at it (post 9-11 jitters are everywhere) so we then headed back, with the idea of trying to capture a raptor or two. On the way, we found, at last, a cotton field with some Swainson's perched in it. They were making short flights and catching something on the ground, presumably insects (grasshoppers?). There was no way into the field to leave traps, so we continued on, but only after we noted the variety of their plumages. Late in the day, we found some Harris's Hawks, and Bill captured an adult female. He banded it, took many measurements, and then showed it to the group, pointing out its brood patch, which was now dry (they nest early here), and showing the molt of flight feathers.

Our last morning was spent in Santa Ana NWR, going out early to look for some interesting hawks reported, but we didn't find them. As the day warmed up, we joined the hawk watch and witnessed a nice liftoff and flight for several hours. We then went to look for other raptors and were blessed with a long look at an adult male Hook-billed Kite flying right overhead. Also seen was a Merlin hawking insects right above us and several Kestrels on migration. After another Luby's lunch and siesta, we went out again looking for more Swainson's Hawks. We found a field that was being disked, with a dozen hawks on the ground and in the air, and Bill captured an adult male, which he again banded, measured, and showed to the group. An adult White-tailed Hawk was spotted sitting in the field with the Swainson's and later this hawk took something big from one of the other hawks and spent some time eating it. We could see it tear off large strips of red meat again and again. As no more hawks seemed interested in our mice, we headed back to Santa Ana, where we watched many hawks putting into the trees for the night, a fitting end to the field part of the workshop. A nice Mexican restaurant was the site for our closing dinner, bird list, and farewells.

We had good looks at large numbers of migrating raptors and saw most of the resident raptors well, with sightings of 19 hawks and one owl, for a total of 120 bird species seen. Participants in this IFO learned a lot about raptor identification and behavior, saw a great variety of raptors, many up close, and had many enjoyable interactions with their new field companions.

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