My Birding Guest Gets the Black Vented Oriole

I offer an exclusive private suite in a B&B in South Texas: the Heart of the New Birding Mecca. What I enjoy the most about hosting birders in my home is making new friends, learning about their lives and their knowledge. My first guests for 2011 were a lovely couple that we immensely enjoyed hosting. He is a cartographer by trade and an active board member of the Audubon Society in California. They were on the trail for their last 16 species to reach 600 in the lower 48 states. I was very much hoping to be the spot were they achieved that goal.

They arrived on January 28 via Rockport, Texas where they stopped to see the Whopping Crane that they had missed previously due to a heavy storm. However, this time the cranes were quiet accommodating and my birders didn’t even need to take the boat ride out onto the flats as it appeared to be dinner time and the cranes were hanging about the parking area yumming up the blue crabs which are in abundance this year. Mr. Dawson got a stunning photograph of a crane with a crab in its bill. While in that area they also saw two other species on their life list.

The arrived here late in the day and this is what their basic routine looked like. The weather for the 8 days they were here ranged from the low 70’s to the mid 80’s during the day, 50’s at night (they slept with their windows open), with the exception of the last two days when we got a rather severe cold front for our area, more on that later.

They basically birded three major locations, with a few side trips: Estero Llano Grande – 20 minutes, Bentsen State Park – 20 minutes, and Santa Ana Wildlife Park – 20 minutes. They mostly started their day before sunup and came back home by sundown.

Here comes the good part, our guys were very anxious to see an extremely rare bird, the Black Vented Oriole, that had been reported in the area beginning December 9th in an RV park near Bentsen State Park. The first day they were up, fixed their ample continental breakfast at their leisure — and yes it was at the crack of dawn and no we did not see them — and were off. Midday they came in looking a bit disheveled and I was concerned when Mrs. Dawson asked rather sheepishly if we might have a spare alarm clock. They had missed the Black Vented by 20 minutes! A spare Bose was promptly secured and they did indeed get the Black Vented the next day, but with no small hilarity as Mrs. Dawson was in the lavatory when it appeared and I am sure that all birders can understand the panic that ensued. As well, it has been a bit of a circus having a mega rare bird camped out in a Winter Texan park. The seniors had been a bit alarmed with all the people wondering around their neighborhood at all hours of the day with high powered scopes, tromping through the grass and pointing at who knows what.  But being the kind lot that we birders are, compromises were made, rules were set, and all worked out.

My birders were lucky in the end, they left on February 4th and the Black Vented Oriole has not been seen since February 9.

In short order here is a list of the rest of the life listers they saw during their stay at our B&B.

White-throated Thrush (mega rare)
Crimson-collared Grosbeak (rare)

Clay-colored Thrush (unusual)

Groove-billed Ani (rare in winter)

Green Parakeet (seen at 10th & Violet and in our yard)

Red-crowned Parrot (seen from our yard)

As mentioned, most of the time they were here it was absolutely perfect birding weather with some mixed clouds and sun, really very mild. Then the day before they were scheduled to leave the temperature dropped into the 40’s and the wind chill was bitter, so they contemplated staying indoors. We all dug in and found a rather dubious looking activity called “Garden of Eating Tour”, we thought it might be indoors and it was to be held at Quinta Mazatlan, a lovely renovated mansion close by known for its nature conservation. It sounded safe enough for 40 degrees, so off they went and came back with the biggest surprise yet, another life lister, the Tropical Parula!

The excitement on their faces from such an unexpected discovery made me so happy and Mrs. Dawson made this year of birding one of my personal best by commenting that we were becoming the “luxury spot” to stay. 

As I was writing this blog — cross my fingers, hope to die, stick a thousand needles in my eyes — I looked up and saw a broad-wing hawk sitting on the tree outside my kitchen window.

Now you tell me, what better place is there to be?

Check us out at http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/43709

Photos by Jared Dawson

January’s Cool Moon

I spent a few days last week at our ranch in Raymonville.  I had agreed to host a retreat for about ten young volunteer women to be hosted by my good friend Sister Angela, and to bring along a friend and fellow birder, Lisa Edwards, AND meet a professional birding guide, all at the same time. You should know that our managed wildlife ranch is well suited for hosting large groups of people in comfort, so it wasn’t all that much for me to make this offer.  However, at the last minute my friend Sister Angela become sick and couldn’t make it.  So, I ended up doing everything somewhat.  

My friend, the birder, could barely catch her breath before she started seeing more birds than she could photograph including, a vermillion flycatcher, eastern meadowlark, western blue bird, and plenty of hawks. 

The guide that I met, Ken Merrit is the former Director of the World Birding Center here in South Texas; there 9 refuges in the WBC system. Ken is a delightful person who knows much about birds but also is an expert on our the entire region’s wildlife and fauna. Mr. Merritt is a delightful person and an excellent resource for area and visiting birders. When asked, Mr. Merritt said that he prefers

narba.org and texbird.com for up-to-date data on rare bird sightings.

The weather at the ranch last week was just glorious, after a long period of unusual gloomy, cool days, The volunteers left “retreated” and happy, my friend the birder left kicking and screaming

(though she too offered this bit of advice, call the rare bird hotline at 956 584-2731),

Mr. Merritt left with a return invite, and I was left with the full moon.