Jan. 3: I set my alarm for p.m., so started the day a bit late with
breakfast at the Alamo Inn, then headed toward Corpus Christi. We parked
along the street at Bayfront Park a little before noon, and with scopes had
no trouble locating the Red-footed Booby on the rocks with Brown Pelicans
directly across from the Hilliard Center.
It was only a 10 minute drive from the booby site to Indian Point Pier. We
parked, met a couple birders who had just seen the Red-throated Loon and
its companion Common Loon off the left end of the pier. We strolled out
the pier and had the two loons in sight before 12:45.
The original plan (a bit ambitious) was to see the booby and loon, have a
picnic lunch, go for Whooping Cranes on Lamar Beach Rd., then head for
Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center on Mustang Island for the flamingo. It
might have worked, but when we got off the pier, we saw no picnic site and
I, knowing Clare’s high regard for seafood, suggested we could forego the
picnic and head for Rockport and the Boiling Pot, where Kathleen and I had
eaten supper the night we stayed in Fulton.
It was a little after 2 p.m. when we got there. Katleen ordered the gumbo.
Clare and I got blue crab and shrimp. Scrumptious!...but a long time
waiting for food, then the check. We didn’t get to Lamar Beach Rd. for the
cranes until 4 p.m., so had to scratch the run for the flamingo with too
little daylight left after seeing 22 whoopers,15 sandhills, and 13 Roseate
Spoonbills.
We were still so full from the late lunch that supper was the carry out key
lime tarts from the Boiling Pot.
For Sunday we planned to start at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands with hopes of
adding the Crimson-collared Grosbeak to our 2026 list. Nope. The birding
center wasn’t open until 1 p.m., so we birded the adjacent Municipal Park
pond with a small assortment of waterfowl and a group of Common Ground
Doves between the path and the pond.
We then reversed our plan and headed for what we’d intended for the
afternoon—a drive around the fields south of McCook, with faint hopes of
seeing Mountain Plover and more realistic expectations of other open land
birds. Our route was shortened so we could have plenty of time at the
wetlands. We saw Lark and White-crowned sparrows, but no Vespers, and had
good looks at several Pyrrhuloxia and Loggerhead Shrikes.
The grosbeak eluded us for the three hours spent at the Edinburg Scenic
Wetland WBC. We enjoyed Inca and White-winged doves, a Greater Scaup among
the lessers and shovelers, 3 Cattle Egrets loosely hanging with the Great
Egrets, satisfying looks at a Blue-headed Vireo, and Clay-colored Thrush, a
Curved-billed and 4 Long-billed Thrasher, Nashville and Orange-crowned
warblers.
A gas stop and quick trip to Walmart for groceries and a cheap coffee pot
(we can’t get the hang of the fancy one in our apartment) got us home
before dark for a supper of leftovers—shrimp for Clare and lonches for
Kathleen and me.
Edge Wade
Alamo, TX
<1edgewade...>
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