It had all started as an innocent question to Bert last winter, "Do you think you could get away for 4-5 days this fall or winter for some birding?" I had the vacation days to use up and we began considering Florida, Southeast Arizona or the Rio Grande Valley. Each had its merits but while in the Dry Tortugas, we settled on the Rio Grande Valley and asked Karl if he was interested in going along. While returning from the DVOC Bicknell's Thrush trip, Bert and I independently realized that it would be awful to plan this trip without at least asking Adrian if he could join us. He was more than happy to join us and thus "Birds, Beers and Mexican Food - Texas 99" was born. The tale of four "middle-aged, focused" birders from Philadelphia, who visited the Coastal Plain and Rio Grande Valley regions of Texas in late November 1999 and early December 1999 and birded their way from Corpus Christi to Zapata and back again.

26-Nov-99 - The plan was to meet at my house at 6:15AM and have Jane drop us off at the airport. Adrian and Jane arrived a couple of minutes before Karl and Bert; we loaded the luggage and were off to the airport. We were able to avoid a serious accident where the Blue Route hits 95 North by jigging and jogging through Chester. Otherwise we may well have missed our flight. With that possible stumbling block out of our way, we arrived in Corpus Christi, more or less on time around 2:10PM. We got our luggage, picked up the Dodge Durango we rented and headed out to Tule Lake. We arrived at 2:45 and found lots of shorebirds including Marbled Godwits, Snowy Plover, American Avocets and Black-neck Stilts. In the shrubbery we found the first of our daily dose of Orange-crowned Warblers. Our next stop was the Hilltop Community Center that had a group of Groove-billed Anis a few days earlier. After spending 45 minutes wandering around, we hadn't found much of anything. Next we made a quick visit to the east pool at Pollywog Pond as the sun was setting before heading out to the Cayman House B&B in Rockport.

27-Nov-99 - Breakfast was at 6AM in the Cayman House and then we headed out to Capt. Ted's Whooping Crane Boat Tour. The dock was only a few minutes away; we boarded and departed at 6:45. Almost immediately we started picking up terns and waterfowl in the bay as well as a group of Whoopers flying off in the distance. Ultimately, we saw 2 or 3 family groups and some individuals in the marshes of Aransas. There was lots of waterfowl everywhere and we had two small groups of Greater White-fronted Geese flying overhead. These groups were just a sample of the flocks we were to see later. Additionally, the coastal waterway held most of the long-legged waders; we passed two Peregrine Falcons on channel markers and a smattering of shorebirds including American Oystercatchers. The Skimmer docked around 9:45, we returned to the B&B to pick up our scopes and stuff and started birding the Corpus/Rockport area. Our first stop was a pond just off of Road 1781 for Least Grebe. Michael knows the homeowner and had found a grebe on her pond the week before. We did him one better as we found 2 grebes. From there we went to Moore's Pond in hopes of Fulvous Whistling Duck that were not fulfilled. We then visited Little Bay and the Connie Hagar Sanctuary where we continued to find large numbers of Coots and Redheads. We then headed to the ferry and the Port Aransas Birding Center. It was noon as we got to the ferry so we made and ate lunch while waiting to cross the channel. The boardwalk at the Port Aransas Birding Center was rather busy so we didn't have any luck with rails but there was a very large alligator sunny itself just off the trail and the first Cinnamon Teal of the trip. We then headed down Mustang Island and while driving down the beach found Piping Plover and Sandwich Tern from the comfort of an air-conditioned car. We returned to the highway and got a good look at a White-tailed Hawk before heading into the Packery Channel County Park. We birded there from 4:00 to 4:45. We spread out in search of sparrows and I stumbled upon a Leconte's Sparrow just off the road. Unfortunately, no one else was around and despite my best attempts to flush it back to the road, I only managed to move it further into the vegetation. Our next to last stop of the day was at Hans Suter Park that again gave us tremendous numbers of ducks, waders and shorebirds. Nothing was really new for the trip but we had wonderful views, in great light. Our last stop of the day was at Indian Point Park in hopes of Franklin's Gull. We had no luck with the gull but had a spectacular Roseate Spoonbill in the setting sun. It was a long and thoroughly wonderful first full day inspite of taking a round about route to dinner.

28-Nov-99 -Breakfast was again at 6AM and while eating, Michael mentioned that Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were on a nearby pond and that Mountain Plover were in a farm field on our way back to Corpus Christi. We altered out plans to make these two stops. The pond at the Rockport Country Club Estates held 45-50 BBWD. From there we made a quick stop at Moore's Pond again and then headed out in search of the "This stretch of Road Maintained by the Coastal Bend Audubon Society" on Route 893. The Mountain Plovers were in the field to the north of this sign. Unfortunately, this sign has been up for about a year. Michael was very apologetic about this when we returned to the Cayman House for our last night in Texas. We judged about where the sign should have been based on his directions and found 6 Mountain Plovers along with some American Pipits in the field around the intersection of Access Road #2. Next we returned to the Hilltop Community Center around 8:40AM. There was much more activity in the park this morning than there was during our previous afternoon visit. Highlights included Olive Sparrow, Clay-coloured Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Hermit Thrush and Dicksissel. After about an hour and a half, we went to the main ponds at Pollywog Pond before heading south on Route 77 at 10:45AM. We stopped at the Kwik Pantry for some lunch stuff and then drove the side roads in search of chicken farms and Crested Caracaras. Apparently the farms had been wiped out by a storm that ripped the sheds apart. Fortunately, there were plenty of Caracaras around along with other raptors including the first of many, many Harris Hawks. A stop at "Pipit Corner" was productive for Sprague's Pipits, Savannah Sparrows, Sandhill Cranes and Curve-billed Thrasher. We continued south to the El Canelo Ranch and a date with a pair of Ferruginous Pygmy Owls. We arrived around 3:30PM and had lots of raptors on the road to the main house. In the mesquite we also found one Common Ground-dove. We went into the Ranch's courtyard and started searching for the owls. After a few minutes, the dramatic build up was started to turn into some mild concern as neither of the owls was in its usual roosts. Monica assured us that the owls were around and that with some more patience, we would find them. Thanks to Karl's keen eyes, we found first one and then the second Ferruginous Pygmy-owl. Adrian shot two rolls of film and we took a very short walk around the grounds. We found the Barn Owl that was roosting in a clay pigeon blind and a White-tailed Kite in the fields opposite the house. At 5:00PM we continued south. We made stops at two rest areas and got Yellow-throated Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Lesser Goldfinch and Brewer's Blackbird. We checked into the Best Western in Harlingen and went out to dinner.

29-Nov-99 - We left the Best Western around 6AM and headed to Laguna Atascosa with a stop at a local bakery for some not so fresh donuts. We checked out the photo blind near the visitor center where we saw the first White-tipped Doves of the trip. There also was a small javelina wallowing in the waterdrip. We then drove both auto tours. The shear number of birds on the Lakeside Drive was staggering. The mass of puddle ducks, waders, avocets and pelicans was breath taking. The Bayside Drive was far less dramatic but there still was a huge collection of Redheads and our first Long-billed Thrasher of the trip. From Laguna, we went to South Padre Island (SPI) for lunch and the Laguna Madre Marsh Trail next to the SPI Convention Center. At the beginning of the trail was a great butterfly garden and in a small group of bushes and flowers next to the center were a Western Tanager and a Wilson's Warbler. The trail is a nice pocket of wetland habitat on the bay. We then made our first visit to the Brownsville dump in search of the Tamaulipas Crow. The crow search was in vain so we moved onto the parrot search. In one of his requests for information about parrots, Bert asked if there were any roosts in Brownsville, Harlingen, McAllen or anywhere else we would be visiting. Many responses came forth but our favorite went something like this, "Who needs parrots in Harlingen when you can go for the motherlode in Brownsville". So it was the motherlode we went after. Our first stop was the Fort Brown area and we did have a flock of about 50-60 Green Parakeets circle overhead twice. The second time was as we were heading to our next spot. I'm sure a few of the locals heading back to Mexico at the end of the day were amused at Bert hanging out the car window looking at the parakeets as I drove through the intersection. We really didn't have any better luck here but moved on to the home of the motherlode of parrots; the neighborhood around Honeydale and Hawthorne in Brownsville. We arrived around 5PM and were promptly and politely told by the residents that we were too early. The parrots don't start coming in till dark that would be around 6 that night. Sure enough as 6 o'clock approached, the parrots started to flock and circle the neighborhood. As darkness settled and the clock struck 6, the parrots came in with a vengeance. We had a small group of Green Parakeets at the Adult Day Care Center and a large mixed flock of birds. It was made up of mostly Red-Crowned (green-checked) Parrots with a few Red-lored (yellow-checked) Parrots and 1-2 Yellow-crowned Parrots. Sure enough, we had struck the motherlode. We then returned to the Best Western and headed to dinner. The parrots were easily the highlight of the day.

30-Nov-99 - We started off with a return trip to the dump after watching the sunrise at the grain elevator on Route 511 north of Route 48. As the sun rose, 100s and 100s of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks started to fly in and by. They began to roost on the grain elevator and the power lines next to the elevator. With one of the smaller groups of BBWD there was a Fulvous Whistling Duck. It flew by northeast to southwest so we could see it in pretty good light and make out its white rump patch, tawny overall color and differing throat color and lack of any wing pattern. We made a quick scan of the dump and again couldn't find a crow and then moved on to Sabal Palm where we spent about three hours from 9:30-12:30. We walked the trails for the first 90 minutes or so and headed back to the visitor center just as a brief rain shower started. At the feeders we watched Green Jays, White-tipped Doves and Plain Chachalacas feed while waiting for a Buff-bellied Hummingbird to come to the feeder. Normally, Sabal Palm is supposed to be one of the better places to see the hummer but not this day. At 12:30 we gave up, picked up lunch fixings and returned to the dump for a picnic and to scan again for the crow. While enjoying our scenic lunch spot, we still couldn't see anything that looked like the crow but we did find a Franklin's Gull with all the Laughing Gulls. So you could say our efforts weren't in vain. Later we found out that no one has seen the crow this year. We then headed out to McAllen and none of us were sorry to leave Harlingen or the Best Western there. Arriving in McAllen, we checked into the Microtel Inn and headed to Santa Ana NWR for a quick visit. We went in search of a Buff-belly there but only could find mosquitos. Next we headed to Bentsen State Park which was much more rewarding. We had a Ringed Kingfisher and lots of Plain Chachalacas. The resaca held a nice mix of ducks and we checked out the trailer loop while waiting for sunset. A little before sunset, we drove down the levee in search of Common Pauraque. We waited for it to get dark enough with a beer and had a Great Horned Owl perch on a telephone pole nearby. As night fell, we had 5-6 Pauraques and 1-2 Barn Owls flying around the levee. We drove up and down it a couple of times and got good views of the birds even if they didn't call much. It was a cool night so maybe that lessens the amount they call.

01-Dec-99 - We started the day at Bentsen at sunrise. It was rather quiet except for the Chachalacas until we ran into a small passerine flock as we were leaving the trailer loop. Black and White Warbler was the new bird for the trip in the flock. We had asked around and learned that the Clay-coloured Robins were sometimes being seen in the picnic area by the slide and tables. Coincidentally, the trees here were loaded with berries and Adrian had thought it would be a good spot to look for any robins. After a few minutes of searching, we found a pair of Clay-coloured Robins. Later we were told that these were Anaqua (Sugarberry) Trees. As we were leaving the park, we ran into the morning bird walk group and told them about the robins. They told us about a Northern-beardless Tyrannulet that was just ahead of us. We next went to Anzalduas County Park. We spied a Green Kingfisher over the Rio Grande, a covey of Bobwhites and a beautiful adult Gray Hawk. (Always a treat for me as this is one of my favorite raptors.) From Anzalduas, we picked up some more lunch stuff and headed to the McAllen Sewage Ponds. It was hot and they stank like sewage ponds but on the far side, not only were we upwind, but there was also 3 Tropical Kingbirds. So for the second day in a row, we ate in one of the Rio Grande Valley's less scenic spots. Santa Ana NWR was our next stop and our target was the Buff-belly that was still being reported from the old refuge headquarters. We got to the old headquarters location and found the hummer in almost no time. Along the trail, we had great looks at Harris Hawks, Swamp Sparrows and Great Kiskadees. The hawks were in such perfect light and such a wonderful setting that it almost reduced Adrian to tears as his camera was safely in the car. There also were good numbers of butterflies including Zebra Longwings (Bert's favorite). After getting the hummer, we went in search of the reported Golden-cheeked Warbler that was hanging out around Willow Lake. We found the flock of birds it had been reported with and saw the bird in question. The bird definitely had a strikingly black throat and bright yellow cheek with a partial dark line thru the patch but is also had a white vent with flashes of yellow on the side. We never got a look at the top of the bird. While we agreed that the face and throat were brighter than a typical BTGW, the vent area with its yellow wash (which we all saw from different angles and at different times) made us conclude that this wasn't a GCWA. It may not be a pure BTGW and we couldn't rule out a hybrid, but we didn't think it was a GCWA. It remains to be seen what the Texas Records Committee does with this bird. We then called it a day so we could get our rest before going up river.

02-Dec-99 - The plan was to go up river and work our way south. We left at 5:35 after getting the key to the breakfast suite and loading up on Shipley's Do-Nuts. We started at the Zapata Library in search of the seedeaters rather than going all the way to San Ygnacio. We arrived at the library at 7:15 and worked our way around back where we found a Black Phoebe and four White-collared Seedeaters in the reeds around the small pond in the golf course. We celebrated with a trip to McDonald's, another Shipley do-nut and then headed out the road to Los Palmas in hopes of sparrows, quail and pigeons. A short way up the road, we found a small covey of Scaled Quail and a Cassin's Sparrow. While we were working the sparrow, a Red-billed Pigeon flew in overhead giving everyone a very surprised but great look. The ABA guide says to look for these in the trees in the distance. Maybe it should be amended to remind you to look up from time to time. At 9:30 we got to Falcon Dam. Huge flocks of White-fronted Geese were flying upriver and there were lots of sparrows along the fence. White-crowned, Vesper, Lark, Clay-coloured and Western Meadowlark highlighted this stretch of road. After a brief scan of the river from the spillway, we headed to the El Rio RV Trailer Park in Chapeno for Brown Jays. We found 3-4 including at least one young bird and we were off to Salineno and the Dewinds. We enjoyed their feeders and their company from roughly 11-12. They had only been south for 2 weeks so they were just getting the birds in regularly. Still we had Cactus Wren, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker and both Altimira and Audubon's Orioles as well as a host of Orange-crowned Warblers and sparrows. We went down to Roma to pick up lunch and had a picnic back at the boat launch in Salineno before settling in for the "Great Duck Watch 99" back at Chapeno. To steal a line from Field of Dreams, "If you watch the Rio Grande, it will fly by." Before the day ended at 5:30 with a beer and plans to return, 4 hours of sitting by the Rio Grande in the El Rio RV park had not produced a duck. It did produce a Hook-billed Kite and we had more than gotten the best out of our $2 admission fee. Tomorrow we would try again from Salineno.

03-Dec-99 - We departed at 6:15AM to head back to Salineno in hopes of The Duck. Conventional wisdom (?) said the duck would be flying shortly after dawn and we weren't going to miss it. We arrived at Salineno around 7:30 and found Mr. Dewind talking to a Border Patrol Officer. We killed the first hour of the Great Duck Watch 99 - Part II chatting with the officer and working up a Mexican list for those of us who keep lists. Actually there were lots of birds around including all 3 kingfishers, 3 orioles (Audubon's, Altimira and Bullock's) and lots of other ducks. Around 9 we started to get itchy and 15 minutes later Bert and Adrian decide to walk the trail down river to see what was going on. Not 5 minutes after they disappeared from sight, did the duck fly down river. Using the radios we had, I alerted them that it was flying "up river". Fortunately, they were at an opening in the vegetation and they soon realized my directional mistake and got the duck. If I can't always get left and right correct, how can I be expected to get up and down river straight especially after 7-8 hours of staring at the dam river. Of course, at the end of the day we had out waited THE DUCK. Besides, we later had trouble with North Padre Island versus South Padre Island so I wasn't the only person with directional problems on this trip. We then went looking for sparrows. It was far too windy for "Sparrow Road" outside La Joya to be productive so we then went to Edinburg. The birding here was also uneventful. We ended the day at Delta Lake State Park. Even though the wind was still blowing a minor gale, we had some nice birds including Least Grebe, Green Kingfisher, Barn Swallow and the southwestern race of Cave Swallow. We got back to the motel around 5 and were getting ready for dinner when a call to the RBA sent us on a Tropical Parula chase. One was seen just around the corner at Fresno and Rose Ellen so the beer got to chill a little longer as we were out the door in a flash. We dipped on the parula but found the motherlode of Buff-bellied Hummingbirds at 500 Rose Ellen. There were at least 4 of them buzzing the flowers and feeders. We had the best views of the trip here.

04-Dec-99 - Our mop up day and what a day it turned out to be. We really weren't trying for a big day but ended up covering so many different habitats that we had 114 species. The morning started at Bentsen where a female Blue Bunting had shown up since our visit a few days earlier. We arrived before sunrise and before the gates were opened so we drove the levee again looking for and finding Pauraques. The gates opened at 6:40 and we stopped at the boat launch to scan the resaca. We almost immediately had a different nightjar flying over our heads. It had a short, slightly notched tail. The tail was clearly banded with a large sub-terminal band. The wings were pointed with the 9th primary being longer than the 10th one. The white slash in the wing was 1/3 of the way in from the end and only went slightly more then ½ through the wing. Lo and behold, we stumbled upon a Lesser Nighthawk. It was just getting light as we reached the trailer loop and went immediately to site 19, the first known spot for the bunting. It wasn't around and hadn't been seen since that first day although there were Indigo Buntings around and that was a good sign. We spread out and found that had we gone to site 23 first, we would have seen her. At least she was still in the area so we settled in to wait her out with two of us at site 19 and 2 at site 23. A little after 8AM, the female Blue Bunting returned to site 23. We then got to watch her feed along with a host of other people. She was decidedly bulkier than the Indigo Buntings, unstreaked below with an even cinnamon color and a rounder, stouter bill. At 8:30 we left to return to McAllen to search for the parula once more. We continued to luck out on the parula and then headed to mile marker 7 on South Padre Island in hopes of a Lesser Black-backed Gull that was hanging out there. We couldn't find any mile markers or anyone who knew of any mile markers on the island so we took our best guess at where it should have been. The wind was still howling and after a game but unsuccessful hunt, we headed back to Route 77 to get the Oldsquaw that was being reported at the pond in Kaufer-Hubert Memorial Park before going on to the Cayman House for our last night. We found the park without any trouble and picked up a Ross Goose in the fields just outside it. I checked in with the office and the owner said she knew some rare bird was in the "back" pond and we were welcome to look for it. We began scanning the pond and talking to a couple that had their trailer at the park. No sooner had the woman said, "I know an Oldsquaw is supposed to be here, but I've been looking all day and haven't seen it" when I found it. That made everyone happy, as did the Green Heron that was flying around. A return visit to Pipit Corner yielded 4 Sprague's Pipits. We were then off to Rockport with a stop at Indian Point. It seemed like a good spot for a beer and to watch the sunset. After dinner, we went to the Cayman House and started to recount our adventures to Michael. When we got to the LBBG saga, he reacted rather quizzically to our looking for it on South Padre Island since it was on National Seashore that is on North Padre Island. When he checked his notes, Adrian confirmed his mistake. As I stated earlier, north/south, up/down river what's the difference.

05-Dec-99 - Today was our last chance (for this trip) for Tropical Parula and Groove-billed Ani. Michael had a spot for each where he had seen them within the last week so both were possible and he was willing to take us to each area. Breakfast was at 6 and 30 minutes later, the four focused, middle-aged birders from Philadelphia along with Michael and his wife Donna headed north to Guadalupe Delta WMA in hopes of a Tropical Parula. Along the way, we had a fleeting look at a Short-eared Owl at dawn. The trees at Guadalupe held a nice assortment of birds that were reaching their normal southern limit in Texas, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee and Boat-tailed Grackle. We also found a Winter Wren and Pine Warbler to add to our trip list. Still no luck with the parula but it was an hour (7:15-8:15) well worth it. We returned to Rockport and proceeded to miss a second chance at a Fulvous Whistling Duck. This left us with one more target for the morning and that was the ani. Michael had it for the previous two days and taken people to see it. Unfortunately, we went three for three this morning and missed the ani too. Sometimes things just aren't meant to be. Around 10:30 we headed to Vicki and Joel Simon's house along the Nueces River to look at their hummingbird feeders. I had been to one of their neighbors with John in 1991. We had one last look at a Buff-bellied Hummingbird and a Black-chinned Hummingbird before heading to the airport and home. What a fantastic trip!