Every trip to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas produces wonderful memories and many specialty bird species but being a bit of a raptor fanatic I was especially excited by the great variety of raptors I spotted last Saturday AM before boarding a plane and flying home on my brief visit to the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival.
Osprey feeding on fish in field near Lagun Atascosa NWR, TX 11-12-11
In all, I saw 15 species of raptors including "honorary raptors" Turkey & Black Vultures. The Osprey above was feeding on a fish carcass when a Turkey Vulture winged in below looking for scraps. The Osprey wasn't about to give up and after a wicked stare down returned to eating its prize.
Turkey Vulture looking for scraps 11-12-11 near Laguna Atascosa NWR, TX
The day started both dim and a bit dismal, so digiscoping was rough at first. At distance and without any direct lighting the birds above & below lack much detail and appear a bit soft.
female American Kestrel finishes off a mouse carcass near Harlingen, TX 11-12-11
As here in Florida, the wintering American Kestrels (smallest member of the falcon family in the US) had arrived in the lower valley in force. The female above fed on a mouse carcass on the dismal AM of the 12th. Note the difference a blue sky and a bit of direct lighting can make though on the male below.
male American Kestrel, digiscoped near Weslaco, TX 11-11-11
This adult male American Kestrel was digiscoped using the exact same equipment (Leica V-Lux 30 camera handheld behind an APO Televid 65 mm spotting scope) on the preceding AM, 11-11-11 and shows what a wonderful addition blue skies and direct lighting can be!
adult Red-tailed Hawk digiscoped with Leica APO Televid spotting scope & Leica V-Lux 30
Some of the Red-tailed Hawks like the adult above, resembled Eastern race birds (Buteo jamaicensis borealis) with lighter breast markings.
immature Red-tailed Hawk digiscoped near Weslaco, TX 11-11-11
Others like the heavily marked immature above were more typical of Western Red-taileds (B.j. calarus) though. This is one of the things that make birding here so fantastic, in migration and for breeding this area sits at the interface where East meets West so you have large numbers of representative species and races, and generally trip lists average higher than many other areas in the country.
adult Red-shouldered Hawk digiscoped near Harlingen, TX 11-12-11
The adult Red-shouldered Hawk above I would have expected to have been a member of the "Texas" subspecies (Buteo lineatus texanus) here between Harlingen & Brownsville, but it looks a whole lot like the femalem"Alleni" race (B.l. alleni), I see near my home in Florida with the lighter brownish-gray head and face. I'll have to ask raptor expert and valley resident, Bill Clark, about plumage variation and distribution of texanus v. alleni!
adult Harris' Hawk, digiscoped near Laguna Vista, TX 11-12-11
The sun finally shown near mid morning and vieiwng & subsequent picture quality rose with it. The Harlan's Hawk, adult above was one of many seen out in the south Texas coastal prairie habitat that is so good for so many specialty raptors found in the region.
adult pair of Harris' Hawks digiscoped near Laguna Vista, TX 11-12-11
The pair of adults above offers a nice example of the reversed sexual size dimorphism shown by this and most other species of raptors. The larger female at right is showing a full crop (the distended bulge on her breast). Both are banded which is almost certainly some of Bill Clark's handiwork. He's doing a lot of research on these birds in this area.
adult White-tailed Hawk in poor light 11-12-11 digiscoped near Laguna Vista, TX
Another of the specialty raptors found in this habitat is the White-tailed Hawk, I think I saw 8 individuals this AM. This bird was in poor light earlier in the AM when intermittent sprinkles and dark gray clouds were present. Like many buteos and other raptors it seems that White-tailed Hawk males are slightly lighter in plumage than females. It's subtle but this is likely a female with the darker slaty-gray head and darker chin.
adult male White-tailed Hawk, digiscoped at distance 11-12-11 AM
The bird above is an adult male - note the more "pearl-gray" head (distinctly lighter than the mantle/back color), and clean white throat. His mate was nearby with a very dark "hood".
Immature White-taileds are wholly different with almost completely dark bodies except for the white oval on the breast. This youngster was one pole away from the pair above and was still begging for food! Kids today anyway... :)
White-tailed Kite, adult digiscoped near Harlingen, TX 11-11-11
I saw many White-tailed Kites on the 12th as well but didn't try to photograph these birds as I'd gotten great images of these in the days before closer to town. The images above and below were from the gloriously sunny morning of the 11th. These were formally called "Black-shouldered Kite" which is certainly appropriate.
White-tailed Kite, adult digiscoped near Harlingen, TX 11-11-11
The white tail is easily visible when the birds fly, but generally they are covered by the folded wings when perched. On the image above the wings are drooped enough to expose the pure white tail. I love how the red eyes are set in dark, smoky black feathering to reduce the glare from the highly reflective white body - just like football players use under their eyes.
adult Crested Caracara digiscoped through Leica Televid spotting scope
Crested Caracara are also commonly found in the coastal prairie habitat and I saw at least 6-7 individuals Saturday AM. Adults (as above) show darker black wings, bellies, backs & caps and brighter "soft parts" on the legs and base of the bill. Note the also the dark horizontal barring at the lower portion of the white back and breast.
immature & adult Crested Caracara in flight Rio Grande Valley -2008
Immature birds show browner back, wings, and belly; duller "soft parts", and show brown vertical streaks on the lower breast. Plus, immatures show a dusky undertail, the adult is neat white with a distinct black terminal band. The image above was from an earlier visit to the valley in 2008 but shows an adult (upper left) and immature (lower right) Crested Caracara in flight together. Perhaps you can note the differences in coloration. Note also the distinctive 4 points of white on both birds just inside the end of each extremity - just inside each wing tip, the face, throat, breast and upper back, and then the base of the tail. Caracara's are a unique bird that are technically classified as a falcon even though they lack most typical family characteristics.
adult male Aplomado Falcon digiscoped at great distance >250 yards 11-12-11
The crowned jewel of this area though has to be the lovely & elegant Aplomado Falcon after searching long & hard I was finally able to stumble across a distant pair teed up on a nesting platform in the last minutes before heading for the airport and my flight home. The male is in view & the female was just out of sight to the left here. The distance made this barely even worthy of description as a records shot - that is one to document I at least saw the bird. I was still pleased as punch to see this bird at all and have seen them much better in the past. I ran into 3 others looking for this bird puzzling over a distant adult Peregrine Falcon when I spotted this bird. It was there first time seeing this amazing critter, which is being reintroduced to this area at present. They are still a rare treat and their markings are stunning. This male was unbanded so it was not a bird released in this area, but as to whether it's progeny of introduced birds or a wandering individual who found his way here from Mexico one can only guess.
adult male Aplomado Falcon, digiscoped @ Laguna Atascosa NWR, TX 2004
This is an image of the first Aplomado Falcon I saw well near this same area in Laguna Atascosa NWR during the amazing Rio Grande Bird Festival back in 2004. It was fun to relive the excitement I felt at this moment with these three folks with binoculars I'd run into on this dirt road... Birding is so cool!
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