Migration - Still Great In May!
by Mary Beth Stowe (alamoinn@aol.com)
published June 2017
The most popular time to come to the Lower
Rio Grande Valley in order to catch spring migration
is the last two weeks in April, and not
without good reason! One can catch the tail
end of the hawk migration (hawk watches generally
end around mid-April), shorebirds are
coming into their breeding finery, and colorful,
fanciful warblers are coming through in good
numbers. And because May is such a prime
migration month in northern states (such as my
native Michigan), most folks think that "the
show is over" in the Valley by the end of April.
Not so! In fact, if you check John Arvin's excellent
Birds of the South Texas Brushlands (a
bar-coded checklist available from Texas Parks
and Wildlife, and downloadable as a PDF file),
you'll see that the peak times for most of the
warblers is mid-April through mid-May, and
the flycatchers come through primarily during
the entire month of May! Other songbirds that
reach their peak in early May include Philadelphia
Vireo, Veery, and Gray-cheeked and
Swainson's Thrush. And besides many of the
common and widespread warblers that are still
coming through, the first two weeks of May
still offer chances at bagging treasures such as
Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Chestnut-sided,
Magnolia, Blackburnian, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll,
Cerulean, and Kentucky Warblers, while
two species (Mourning and Canada) are primarily
May migrants!
Some shorebirds (such as Hudsonian Godwit
and White-rumped Sandpiper) focus their passage
during May, and many shorebirds are still
moving through throughout the month (and are
prettier to boot). Some migrant hawks, such
as Mississippi Kite and Swainson's Hawk,
continue well into May, and Black Tern reaches
its peak at this time as well. Breeding birds
such as Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Groovebilled
Ani are much easier to find (Bentsen
Rio Grande State Park and Santa Ana NWR
are good places to look), and the local Botteri's
Sparrows are beginning to arrive, which can
be very tough to find in April; look for them,
along with Cassin's Sparrows, along Old Port
Isabel Road, SR 186 (Sacahuistale Flats), Boca
Chica NWR, and Palo Alto NHS. Besides the
migrants, our specialty species are always
around to delight and entertain: Chachalacas
are chorusing and chasing each other, and happening
upon a family with the adorable youngsters
is always a treat!
Many of the more skulky species, such as
Long-billed Thrasher and Olive Sparrow, are
singing openly and can be much easier to see.
While many of the parks quit feeding around
mid-March, others continue to stock their feeding
stations (e.g., the National Butterfly Center,
Quinta Mazatlan, Sabal Palm Sanctuary, and
Frontera Audubon Thicket, among others), so
the visitor coming to the Valley in early to mid-May
can still enjoy the antics of Great Kiskadees,
Clay-colored Thrushes, White-tipped
Doves and Green Jays.
With the lowering of
the water levels in both Santa Ana and Estero
Llano Grande, more shorebird habitat is exposed,
and the chances of seeing a rare Purple
Gallinule are enhanced. On the Island, Scarlet
and her volunteers still put out oranges for the
hungry birds during fallout conditions, and the
boardwalks provide views of nesting Least Bitterns
and Common Gallinules, plus lounging
Roseate Spoonbills and maybe even a lingering
Redhead or two. And there's always the
possibility that a wintering Common Loon or
even a Lesser Black-backed Gull may be still
hanging around (and speaking of Scarlet, you
can always arrange to have her take you out
to see the Mangrove Warblers, found nowhere
else in the United States, as well as her special
dolphins!
Yes, it's starting to get warm, but no warmer
than up north. Here it is, mid-May, and I just
heard from my friend in Harrisburg, PA, that
the high was going to be 90° there! Do your
birding early in the morning and later in the
evening (the latter is a good time to visit the
parrot roosts), be sure to "spray up", take plenty
of water, and take advantage of the "siesta"!
May is a great time to come to the Valley!