Big Bend National Park - Least Grebe, Summer Tanager, Golden Eagle

Texbirds post -
Subject: LEAST GREBE, late Summer Tanager, BBNP, Brewster Co. 21 Nov. 2011
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:54:52 -0600

Heidi and I decided to go down to the park this morning before Thanksgiving madness. That madness is already at the park.

Anyhow, months ago Byron Stone asked publicly about a Least Grebe report from Big Bend NP. I think Bill Tarbox and a friend found it way back whenever.

LEAST GREBE was seen and photographed in the ponds NNW of Daniel's Ranch, Rio Grande Village, BBNP this morning by Heidi and me.

Also at Rio Grande Village, back near the campgrounds, an American Bittern flew over. We also saw Brown Creeper heard Golden-crowned Kinglets, had all three phoebes, really nothing out of the ordinary. Truthfully, it wasn't terribly birdy this morning out there.

At Dugout Wells, we had an incredibly late Summer Tanager male.

Golden Eagle was seen ~ 10 miles north of Panther Junction, in the park, as we headed home.

-Matt York & Heidi Trudell
Marathon
Brewster Co.

***

Foreground: ponds behind Cottonwood groves at Daniel's Ranch, Least Grebe.
Background: Sierra del Carmens

Big Bend NP--Rio Grande Village, Brewster County, Texas, US

Comments:
From campgrounds to Daniel's Ranch (of Tufted Flycatcher fame). Least Grebe found in ponds around Cottonwood Grove (NNW) from adobe house.

Species - 31 species (+1 other taxa) total

1 Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
1 Least Grebe Tachybaptus dominicus - ponds NNW of cottonwoods grove at Daniel's Ranch.
1 Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
1 Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus
1 American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus
1 Green Heron Butorides virescens
2 American Coot Fulica americana
3 Greater Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus
1 hummingbird sp. Trochilidae sp.
7 Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius
1 Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans
4 Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
4 Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya
3 Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
1 Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
1 Brown Creeper Certhia americana
3 Rock Wren Salpinctes obsoletus
1 Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris
1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
2 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher Polioptila melanura
X Golden-crowned Kinglet Regulus satrapa - heard only
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
1 Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
4 Orange-crowned Warbler Oreothlypis celata
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) Setophaga coronata coronata
1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) Setophaga coronata auduboni
1 Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii
X White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys - heard only
3 Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuatus
3 Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
5 House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus

Big Bend NP--Dugout Wells, Brewster County, Texas, US

Species - 5 species total

1 Greater Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus
1 Verdin Auriparus flaviceps juv.
1 Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
1 Black-throated Sparrow Amphispiza bilineata
1 Summer Tanager Piranga rubra - Aye. Very late. Male seen easily.