PENJOHW@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (08/05/88)
My family appears to be ready to accept my long standing suggestion that we go
birding on the SW Texas coast for the Christmas holidays. They have assigned
me the task of "checking it out". I could use some help in convincing them....
Any messages answering these questions would be greatly appreciated!
Would SW Texas or SE Arizona be better (a) for birding, and (b) for the
non-birders in my family? We are all "intermediate novice birders" - 250-275
East Coast birds on life lists, so we could definitely benifit from some
southern exposure, as recent postings have documented. Chincoteague is our
usual spring/summer spot. Are the beaches in Texas pleasant for swimming,
sun-bathing, etc in Dec/Jan? What would be a good place to stay -- Port
Isabela? McAllen? Brownsville? etc etc etc Thanks!
John Pendleton, New Haven CT
BITNET penjohw@yalevm
203-562-9701john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (08/06/88)
In article <68@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>, PENJOHW@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu writes: > Would SW Texas or SE Arizona be better (a) for birding, and (b) for the > non-birders in my family? We are all "intermediate novice birders" - 250-275 > East Coast birds on life lists, so we could definitely benifit from some > southern exposure, as recent postings have documented. Chincoteague is our > usual spring/summer spot. Are the beaches in Texas pleasant for swimming, > sun-bathing, etc in Dec/Jan? What would be a good place to stay -- Port > Isabela? McAllen? Brownsville? etc etc etc Thanks! > John Pendleton, New Haven CT Definitely pick the Lower Rio Grande Valley over Arizona for a *winter* trip. I've been to both places in the winter. Arizona is kind of slow; most of its attractions are summer birds (ever see eleven kinds of flycatcher and 9 hummers in one day?); save Arizona for May--July. (If you pick Arizona, though, don't miss the Desert Museum west of Tucson, excellent for everyone in the family, and I've twitched a few wild birds there, too.) Last winter two of my birding friends and I did the whole Lower Rio Grande circuit, and we got *tons* of lifers. You will need a copy of ``A Birder's Guide to the Lower Rio Grande Valley'' by Lane (available through ABA Sales; e-mail me if you need their phone number); a copy of ``Birder's Guide to the Texas Coast'' might also help. The places where we did the most good are, in north-to-south order: Falcon Dam; Chapena (mentioned in Lane; see below); Bentsen State Park; Santa Ana NWR; and Laguna Atascosa NWR. If you hit these spots, you *will* see all the common stuff (e.g., Ringed and Green kingfishers, Green Jay, Kiskadee Flycatcher) and have a good chance at some rarities---we saw Brown Jay and Audubon's Oriole at Chapena, Blue Bunting and Clay-colored Robin at Bentsen, and lucked onto last year's famous Crane Hawk at Santa Ana. Chapena, an abandoned settlement a little ways below Falcon Dam, is not a commonly worked site. There is one spot (Lane gives directions) where you can go right down to the banks of the Rio, and this was where we saw lots of good stuff. Follow Lane's directions and look for a river access that goes down to the bank, not near anyone's house, and work a couple hundred yards north (you will know you are at the right place when you come to some benches at the river's edge). If you want to chase the current rarities, go to Bentsen State Park and ask the rangers where the birders are. Last year they were staking out trailer spaces 9 and 13 with feeders (bring popcorn for the Clay-colored Robin); wander around and look for intense people wearing binoculars, and they can probably tell you where the ``good stuff'' is. Can't help you much on non-birder activities, although Santa Ana is one awfully pretty spot just for a hike in the Spanish moss. As for accomodations, avoid Laredo (it's a real pit); other than that, the motels should be okay. The weather may be wet; we got rain 3 of 5 days, but it was nice the other two. Don't miss Laguna Atascosa; it was one of our hottest spots (Gull-billed Tern, Roseate Spoonbill, Botteri's Sparrow, Sedge Wren, Seaside Sparrow, White-tailed Hawk, etc. etc.). If you have extra time, I recommend driving up to Corpus Christi and visiting Padre Island National Seashore; seems like a nice bathing/sunning beach, although we were concentrating on shorebirds. And while you're in Corpus, if you like seafood, the Water Street Oyster Bar downtown is one of my two favorite seafood restaurants (the other, just for the record, is Scott's in Palo Alto, CA). -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@jupiter.nmt.edu ``The wise duck keeps his mouth shut when he smells frogs.'' -Ernest Bramah
mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) (08/09/88)
In article <906@nmtsun.nmt.edu>, john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: > > (If you pick Arizona, though, don't miss the Desert > Museum west of Tucson, excellent for everyone in the family, and > I've twitched a few wild birds there, too.) If you go to the Desert Museum, don't miss the walk-in aviary. Many of the area's birds are here and, even if you can't "count" them, it is an excellent place to study their characteristics from a few feet away. I watched a yellow grosbeak for some minutes from about 5 feet, wishing to God that it was outside! The aviary even helped me to get my life pyrrhuloxia. While watch- ing one inside, it started flying excitedly along the fence, and as it flew by I noticed a bird flying along with it outside. When I checked closer, the out- side bird turned out to be a pyrrhuloxia that was attracted to the captive bird, and I eagerly "ticked" it on my list. This turned out to be the only "wild" pyrrhuloxia that I saw on my trip. Mike