Monday, November 25, 2013

Back from the Valley

I got up early on Friday morning to drive out to Salineno.  I was there by 7:15 and kept a steady eye on the Rio Grande in hopes of seeing red-billed pigeons or muscovy ducks. The 2 year drought was very obvious as the river level was down 3-4 feet from the levels I have seen over my many years of visiting Salineno.  There were far fewer birds around as well with no ducks on the river, and only one double-crested and one pelagic cormorant flew by me during 2 hours of watching.  Needless to say, I did not see any of the sought after pigeons or ducks.

My consolation prize was to spend a few hours at the recently reopened feeding station just above the river crossing.  The state and the Valley Land Trust have been "working" for several months on an agreement to reopen the feeding station which for so many years was a destination for birders in the winter.  The primary draw here is seeing Audubon's orioles, but many other valley species also visit the feeders.  Between the drought and not feeding for many months the numbers of birds were way down.  A eastern screech owl was snoozing in its box though (click on any photo to enlarge).

 

Over about 3 hours of watching we saw 27 bird species highlighted by the green jays, the greater kiskadees, and a pair of hooded orioles.  We had a crested caracara fly over, and a gray hawk.  4 other birders from northern Virginia stopped in for a second time on their birding trip in hopes of picking up Audubon's oriole, but all of us were disappointed to not have any come to the feeders.


The weather was predicted to get ugly beginning in the afternoon, so about 1 PM I started the 70 mile drive back to McAllen.  Sure enough the rain began on my way there. By 5 PM major thunderstorms were pounding the area, and the temperature had dropped from the mid 80's into the high 40's.  As a result, I decided to try a place that Neil Hayward had told me about called House, Wine and Bistro.  I discovered the kind of restaurant that I had not yet found in the Valley which is dominated by steak houses and all kinds of Mexican food.


I have visited the lower Rio Grande Valley since the late 70's, and I have personally witnessed the vast changes that have occurred with the population growth in the area.  But this was the first restaurant that showed me that modern fine dining had arrived in the Valley.  I enjoyed talking with my wait person who said the place was doing so well that the chef/owner planned to open a second restaurant.  I loved the lime shrimp dish, enjoyed a porchetta sandwich, and a dessert called a choco-mole. 


I was so pleased with my experience that while seated at my table I called Neil to thank him for the recommendation.  He was having coffee with Gerri back home in Cambridge which brings me close to the second half of this post--an update on the 2013 big year efforts. But first I will wrap up the rest of my trip.

I went to Santa Ana NWR Saturday morning where under overcast skies there was not much bird activity.  At the feeder station by the headquarters I met Isaac Sanchez who is a long time friend of Jay Lehman.  He had come down to Texas as part of his photographic big year to see the amazon kingfisher (you can find a link to his blog on the Narba website).  We chatted some about Jay's big year.  When it began to rain again, I headed back to my motel.  I flew home yesterday to even colder temps in Chapel Hill.

As Thanksgiving week is now upon us, the 2013 big year birders have just over 5 weeks left in their adventures.  Ron Furnish has not posted any more trip reports, and his year total is at 686.  Jay Lehman just posted on his blog yesterday about finding a little gull which was his 700th bird for the year.  He has 2 provisionals as well, and plans to continue birding to raise his year end total.

Neil is still not totally caught up on his blog posts, but if you go to his website and check his list you will see that his total is now up to 736 with 2 provisionals.  The one sure bird left for him to see is the whooping crane. He also plans to make a trip to Alaska to see McKay's bunting, and a dusky thrush was reported yesterday in Anchorage.  If he were also to go to Adak, he might pick up some rarities there.  He is still hoping to see a great skua before the year is up.  He also has seen aplomado falcon, but has so far not added it to his list.  He now has seen all the code #1 birds in the ABA area, and all but 4 of the code #2 birds.  He is now ahead of John Vanderpoel's pace in 2011 which means he has a shot at setting a new full ABA area big year record.

For comparison purposes, in 2008 Lynn Barber (723 total) after this date saw 9 more new species of which 6 were code #3 or higher.  Of those birds, Neil has already seen 8.  Bob Ake (731 total) in 2010 saw 11 more species of which 9 were code #3 or higher, and Neil has seen 6 of those 11.  In 2011 John Vanderpoel (743 + 1 provisional total) saw 10 more new birds of which 9 were code #3 or higher.  Neil has already seen 4 of John's last 10. Finally, in 1998 Sandy Komito (745 plus 3 provisionals total) only saw 5 more new species from this date forward of which 4 were code #3 or higher.  Neil has already seen 2 of those 5.  Stay tuned!

10 comments:

  1. I was crushed when my lover of three years left to be with another woman. I cried and sobbed every day, until it got so bad that I reached out to the Internet for help.And i saw a testimony of a spell caster who help a girl called michelle and i said let me give it a try so i contact him for help and he cast a love spell for me which i use in getting my love back and now i am a happy woman.For what you have done for me,i will not stop to share your goodness to people out there for the good work you are doing.I hope God blesses you as much as you have help me to get my Love back,visit him on oriomonspiritualtemple@yahoo.com is the only answer to your problemS
    EMILIANO BABARAH_USA

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  2. My name is Micheal Smith, and I base in USA...My life is back!!! After 2 years of Broken marriage, my husband left me with two kids . I felt like my life was about to end i almost committed suicide, i was emotionally down for a very long time. Thanks to a spell caster called Dr osoba, which i met online. On one faithful day, as I was browsing through the internet,I came across allot of testimonies about this particular spell caster. Some people testified that he brought their Ex lover back, some testified that he restores womb,cure cancer,and other sickness, some testified that he can cast a spell to stop divorce and so on. i also come across one particular testimony,it was about a woman called Sonia,she testified about how he brought back her Ex lover in less than 2 days, and at the end of her testimony she dropped Dr osoba 's e-mail address. After reading all these,I decided to give it a try. I contacted him via email and explained my problem to him. In just 48hours, my husband came back to me. We solved our issues, and we are even happier than before Dr osoba , is really a gifted man and i will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man... If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster to solve all your problems for you. Try High osobaspelltemple@gmail.com anytime, he might be the answer to your problems. Here's his contact: osobaspelltemple@gmail.com

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  3. My Name is Valerie, I wish to share my testimonies with the general public about what this man called Dr.Okon has just done for me , this man has just brought back my lost Ex husband to me with his great spell, i was married to this man called Joe, we were together for a long time and we loved our self’s but when i was unable to give him a child for 2 years he left me and told me he can’t continue anymore then i was now looking for ways to get him back until a friend of mine told me about this man and gave me his contact email (okonspelltemple@hotmail.com) then you won't believe this when i contacted this man on my problems and explain all that happened to him, and he told me not to worry any more that he is going to help me get Joe back and also make me to be able to get pregnant and bear a child for my husband Joe. he said if only i have the faith and believe that what he is going to do for me will work according to my heart desire,i told him yes i will. he did the spell cast and bring my lost husband back, and after a month i miss my month and go for a test and the result stated am pregnant am happy today am a mother of a baby girl, thank you once again the great Dr Okon for what you have done for me, if you are out there passing through this same kind of problems or any you can contact him today on his mail okonspelltemple@hotmail.com and he will also help you as well.

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  4. Am Joyce Morgan After being in relationship with him for nine years,he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to someone online and she suggested that I should rather contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that never believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I mailed the spell caster, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before three days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened, that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him, that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful spell caster who helped me with my own problem and who is different from all the fake ones out there. Anybody could need the help of the spell caster, his email is ekpikuspellhomeofgrace@gmail.com

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  5. Please be careful here nobody can help you here or even suggest how you can get your ex or love back,any testimonies of most spell caster here must be ignore.because most of them are scams. I have been married to my Husband for 16 years now, but all of a sudden he started to act funny, and i tried to find out what was wrong and he told me that he was tired of me which hit me like a big shock and told me to leave him alone. Three days later, my husband came home with another woman and when i confronted him, he beats me up and sent me packing. I pleaded and pleaded with my Husband but it seems i was making things worse, so i packed my thing and went to stay with my Mom who told me to be calm that everything will be fine. I did all i could to get my husband back but to know avail until i came across a comment on you-tube on how a man got his wife back with the help of a spell and i had to read his comment which motivated me to get in contact with the spell caster. I told the spell caster all my problems and that i want my husband back so desperately, he then told me that he was going to help cast the spell to get my husband back within 24 hours but i never believed all what he said because. So he told me to send some vital information's and the sum of $170 to enable him get the items needed for the spell casting i also did send the money thou i was scared because i believed i have lost my money, but to my greatest surprise the next day in the morning i heard a knock on my door and i went to check who it was and behold it was my husband who immediately went on his knees crying for forgiveness and told me that he wants me back home and promise he will never hurt my feelings anymore. I thought i was hallucinating until my husband joined me in packing my things and took me back home. Now i believed that the only spell caster who help you get your ex back is this Dr. Okirika and you can contact him via email: { Okirikaspiritualhindustemple@gmail.com }

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  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. PLEASE BEWARE OF SCAMS TRYING TO GET YOUR EX BACK?
    I was married to my husband for 10 years and we were both bless with two children, living together as one love, until two months ago when things was no longer the way it was [ when he lost his job ]. But when he later gets a new job 6 months after, he started sleeping outside our matrimonial home which really drives me crazy. Only for me to find out that he was having an affair with the lady that gave him the job. I was really devastated and tried everything to make my husband comes back home but all to no avail, i became shattered and keep doing my best to get my husband back. Few weeks later i was on my Facebook chatting with my mum regarding the present situation, i came across the comment made by Mrs Brenzel Briditte on you tube that Dr. Okirika helped her bring back her husband with the sum of $170. So i copied the email address and contacted him few hours later he really replied me and i told him about the issue am having with my husband and he told me to send information's and along with the sum of $170 to help me get some items needed for the items but i was skeptical because i have heard where a lot of people loose their money to scammers .But due to the fact that i wanted my husband back, i had no choice than to give it a try after seeing Brenzel's Comment. And without hesitation, i sent everything along with the money. Two days later in the evening, i was at home preparing dinner for my kids when i heard a knock on my door and on getting there i thought i was halluciniating when i saw my husband standing before me and asked if he could come inside and urgently i opened and let him in while he went on his knees begging for forgiveness that he wants to come back home and pleaded that he will never hurt my feelings again. To make every story short, me and my Husband are now back together happy more than ever before. Please do not be deceived. Contact Dr.Okirika and ready to pay $170 and you will have your ex back. Contact email: okirikaspiritualhindustemple@gmail.com

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  8. i want to give thanks to my dr and i will always give thanks to DR OGUDUDU who brought back my love that has left me for 6years within 48hours, i have said about this last week but i promised to always tell people about this every week end so that those that did not read about it last week will read about it this week, i have been looking for how to get this boy back to my life because i love this boy with the whole of my heart, i could not replace him with any body,one day i was watching my television when i saw a lady giving thanks to DR OGUDUDU and telling the world how he helped her i was so shocked i could not believe it because i never taught that there are powers that can bring back lost love, then that was how i decided to contact him too because i do really need my love back,when i contacted him i told him everything and he told me not to worry that my love will surely be back to my arms within 48hours at first i could not believe because i was thinking how could somebody that has gone for 6years come back within 48 hours,so then i decided to watch and see,unbelievable within the next 48hours i got a call from unknown number so i decided to pick the call the next thing i could hear was my loves voice he was pleading and begging me on the phone that i should forgive him that i should forget all that have happened that he did not know what came over him,he promised not to leave for any reason, that he was really sorry for what he did,i was so surprised because i never believed that this could happen,so that was how i accepted his apology and the next morning he came to my house and still pleading for me to forgive, him i told him that everything is okay that i have forgiven him, that was how we started again and now we are married, i promised to say this testimony in radio station, commenting this testimony is still okay but before this month runs out i promise to say this in radio station and i will,sir thank you very much.World please am begging you people to try and thank this man for me,or if you need his help here is his email address drogududuspellhome@gmail.com. or call +2348144368825 THANK YOU DR

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  9. HELLO EVERYBODY ella philip FROM CANADA, I AM FULL OF JOY FOR WHAT DR fara DID FOR ME, I NEVER TAUGHT SPELL CASTING WAS REAL BECAUSE I HAVE CONTACTED ALLOT OF SPELL CASTERS AND THEY ALL COLLECTED MY MONEY WITHOUT GIVING ME RESULT, SOMEBODY TOLD ME OF A DR CALLED fara SO I GAVE IT A TRY, BEHOLD! I WAS SURPRISED OF EVERYTHING MY HUSBAND LEFT ME FOR 4YRS BUT DR fara TOLD ME NOT TO WORRY THAT HE WILL RETURN HIM BACK TO ME . TODAY AM THE MOST HAPPIEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD BECAUSE DR fara RESTORE JOY BACK TO ME BY BRINGING HIM BACK, AM GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING BECAUSE I NEVER TAUGHT I WILL EVER FEEL THE WARM HANDS AND TOUCH OF MY HUSBAND AGAIN, I PROMISED HIM THAT I WILL ALWAYS SINGS HIS PRAISES EVERYWHERE I GO AND TELL THE WHOLE WORLD ON HOW POWERFUL HE IS…. CONTACT HIM THROUGH THIS EMAIL FOR ALL THOSE OF YOU WHO WANTS TO BE Happily LIKE ME AGAIN.. Email: drfaraspelltemple@gmail.com
    ( DRFARASPELLTEMPLE@GMAIL.COM )
    THESE ARE THE THINGS Dr FARA has remedies to, HERPES . HIV/AIDS . CANCER.LOVE SPELL ON HOW TO GET YOUR HUSBAND BACK E.T.C

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  10. !!! How To Get Your husband Back & Avoid Divorce !!!

    Glorious be unto Dr. Ukaka the great man and ever, my name is Sarah from Taxes city usa. since 1 and a half year I have witness what is called heart broken. my boyfriend that promised me marriage failed me and impregnate me and leave,he dump me,he stop calling" he stop picking my calls,and he no longer respond to me. I have be looking for solution,I fall into the hands of fake spell caster,they rough me off and took my money without help.I have cried,I have weep"and tears runs out of eyes. The silentness in my heart brought me to the deepest path of failure that I lost my job. Crying all day,because of my life was lonely. So thanks to Ukaka that came into my life and brought me the greatest joy that was lost. I saw his mail while browsing and I contact and tell him what I am passing through with no doubt because what saw about him,was enough to believe. And I was given words of solution on what to do. I can't really help thinking about it I have tried to see what I can do, I manage to provide him some materials and he help me with the rest,after casting the spell, 12hrs later he came with rose on his hand and I was even about going out,i saw him in front of my door when he sees me he knee and said he is dying I should forgive him and accept him back he was crying,I can't wait to let him finish I quickly crab him and kiss him, just then" he said he is restless without me, just as the prophet has said he will be. He brought out a ring and put it on my hand. Our wedding day was scheduled,1week after we got married. today makes it 2weeks and we are living happily I don't know how to praise him enough, he has done me a thing I can never forget. And I can't really share to myself alone, I want y'all to help me praise him because if it is wasn't for him I already plan of committing suicide. But right now I am now so happy more than I was before. And you out there crying for help you've already got one,Ukaka is the man that you need in all rampart. contact his address if you need his service, freedomlovespell@hotmail.com also contact him on his web site: freedomlovespelltemple.yolasite.com

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