Texas did not go as planned. We arrived on Friday, and after six hours of sleep we were in the car and driving to Oliveveros park in Brownsville. We drove around for a while, but when we couldn't find any parrots we decided to walk around. It was cold, about forty degrees, and after about twenty minutes of searching my mom went back to the car. My dad and I kept looking for a while, and eventually we heard squawking from across the park. When we got there we realized why we hadn't seen any parrots before then: they were all in this one tree. There were about a hundred parrots all sitting together squawking their little hearts out, and it was a sight for sore eyes.
Everything went downhill after that. We reached Frontera Audubon Reserve in the middle of a downpour that lasted until late that night. We went there to see a Crimson-Collared Grosbeak, and we left three hours later miserable and cold. We hadn't seen any sign of the Grosbeak and all we had from our efforts were cold hands and wet feet. In an attempt to get our birding spirit back again my dad drove us to Santa Ana Nature Reserve, where we went looking for a Jaccana. We walked through the park to the places where the bird had been seen before, but we saw no sign of it. Eventually my mom and I were so cold and soaked that we left. We walked to a bird blind over looking on of the ponds, we were able to get out of the rain there and it was sightly warmer. As we were standing there, we happened to look out at the pond and saw a bird fly by with bright yellow wings. It was the Jaccana. My dad had followed behind us, but he was too late to see the bird. He insisted on staying and trying to see it however (he eventually did), and after a little bit my mom started comparing the differences between our situation and that of a homeless person....there weren't many.
The rain never stopped. It was merciless, I had come prepared for warm weather and sunburns, not cold rain and wet feet. The birds didn't seem to like the weather either since the only large group of birds were water fowl at Shrimp bridge. The rain didn't seem to bother them at least, so we got around ten new species there.
We headed back to Frontera again in a vain attempt at seeing a Crimson-Collard Grosbeak. We stayed there for another couple hours, without seeing it, but we were fairly certain that we had heard it. The care taker was very sympathetic and offered to let us come back early the next morning for another chance to see it.
We went to our hotel and for the first time all day we were warm and dry. We used a hair dyer to dry our clothes, and then relaxed by watching "The Longest Ride" which happened to be on TV. It is one of my best friend's and my favorite movie, so seeing it on TV helped to relieve some of the disappointment from the day. After the movie, we headed to Red Lobster to eat, the rain had stopped and we had a pleasant night.
We were at Frontera again for the third time in two days, hoping that our luck would come back.....it didn't. We did hear the Grosbeak, however, and counted it. While everyone else was waiting for the Grosbeak to make an appearance, I wandered off and started looking around for the other rare bird that had been seen at Frontera. It is a smaller bird with a yellow belly and grayish-blue body that behaves similar to Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, so I kept an eye out for anything small and flighty. I walked away from my dad, who was talking to another birdwatcher at the time, and stood waiting to see some birds. It didn't take long before a large group of assorted birds were scared my way due to my dad's and the other birder's conversation. I was looking for it's yellow belly as I surveyed the birds and sure enough there was something yellow flitting around in the trees. I used my binoculars and identified it as the Tropical Parula. My dad saw me looking at something and came over asking "what are you looking at?'' The bird was gone and the moment was over.
I was happy that I had at least seen the Parula, and since it wasn't raining the day seemed much better. In some ways the day improved from there, it wasn't raining and we were headed to see one of my favorite birds, the Burrowing Owl. I started to get a little concerned when we couldn't find any and I worried that someone had gotten rid of them. I was relieve when my dad flushed one from it's hiding place, but still a little concerned when that was the only one.
We were then scared off by an opinionated dog in a sweater.
We birded for the rest of the day, and went to our hotel tired and carsick. I had had my wisdom teeth out the day before Chrismas and after only a week of healing I was supposed to be keeping the pockets (where the teeth had been) clean, which was hard to do when we are driving all day and stopping only for birds. So, they had gotten infected. I as lucky that my mom always packs antibiotics when we go on trips. Sadly, my mom was feeling under the weather herself and she passed out soon after making us a diner of microwavable pasta.
The next day was the last day in Texas, which was a relief to both my mom and I. She was daydreaming about Dayquill and I even though I had enjoying finding all of these birds, I couldn't help imaging what sleeping in my own bed, having dry feet, and a pain free mouth would feel like.
The day started off at Max Mendel golf course, where we were hoping to see a Red-billed Pigeon. Once we got there, I couldn't help asking my mom to let me rent a golf cart, they are one of weaknesses. My mom gave in and as soon as we were out of sight of the club house, I was at the wheel and driving.
We didn't see the Red-billed Pigeon, but we made two new friends, Katherine and Raul. They were local birders and gave us advice on where to see the Pigeon later in the year.
By the time we left the golf course and my beloved golf cart, we we slightly pressed for time. Our plane boarded at three and we still had to find a Roadrunner. We made it to my dad's own personal birding hotspot, Marthena Road, without incident, and drove down it looking for either Roadrunners or Quail. The Quail were nowhere to be found, but near the end of the road we saw this lone Roadrunner, meep meep.
Texas was interesting, but I can't say that I'll ever see it the same again. I love South Dakota and I was happy to be home, even if it was two in the morning when we got back. I had hoped that my Big Year would start a little happier, however. I have experienced the worst and survived, so even when I'm sitting in Alaska wishing they had indoor plumbing and something other than cold spam, it will still be able to beat cold rain, an invisible Crimson-colored Grosbeak (which was seen 10 minutes after we left), and infected wisdom teeth.
Here's to a great 2016!
L
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