There has been a Roadside Hawk in the Valley, at Frontera Audubon, for about a week. It would be a good bird to get. There aren’t many North American records for it. This hawk normally doesn’t go north of Mexico. It’s not even listed in our Sibley’s North American bird book. So, this morning, we headed off to see the Roadside Hawk. We stopped at Edinburg Scenic Wetlands first; walked the trails and saw a few birds. From there we went to Quinta Mazatlan, an old adobe estate in McAllen, converted to a wildlife refuge. It was closed because it’s Sunday, so we moved on to Frontier Audubon in Weslaco. It was open. At the reception desk our first questions were about where to find the hawk and when it was last seen. This hasn’t been an easy bird to get, so we expected a rather generalized answer. The answer we got was surprising specific. She said “I can tell you exactly where it is. Right about now it’s in a box headed north to the University of Texas where they’ll study and document the remains.” It turns out a Great Horned Owl moved into the Frontera Audubon Thicket night before last. Yesterday they found what was left of the Roadside Hawk on the ground under a tree. The Great Horned Owl ate it. Oh well. Wild Kingdom. We had a walk through the thicket anyway and got some more birds for the day. We didn’t get anything terribly uncommon, but we picked up a couple new year-birds: the Wilson’s Warbler and the Plain Chachalaca. Here is our list for the day. Four hours; forty birds:
| Black-bellied Whistling-Duck | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Gadwall | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Blue-winged Teal | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Northern Shoveler | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Ruddy Duck | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Plain Chachalaca | frontera audubon |
| Least Grebe | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Neotropic Cormorant | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Double-crested Cormorant | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Great Blue Heron | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Great Egret | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Snowy Egret | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Cattle Egret | edinburg |
| Cattle Egret | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Turkey Vulture | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Turkey Vulture | frontera audubon |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | frontera audubon |
| Crested Caracara | edinburg |
| Common Moorhen | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| American Coot | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Laughing Gull | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Rock Pigeon | edinburg |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | edinburg |
| Mourning Dove | edinburg |
| Inca Dove | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Inca Dove | frontera audubon |
| Greater Roadrunner | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Belted Kingfisher | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Golden-fronted Woodpecker | edinburg |
| Golden-fronted Woodpecker | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Golden-fronted Woodpecker | frontera audubon |
| Ladder-backed Woodpecker | frontera audubon |
| Great Kiskadee | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Couch’s Kingbird | frontera audubon |
| Loggerhead Shrike | edinburg |
| Black-crested Titmouse | frontera audubon |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Northern Mockingbird | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Northern Mockingbird | frontera audubon |
| Orange-crowned Warbler | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Orange-crowned Warbler | frontera audubon |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | edinburg scenic wetlands |
| Wilson’s Warbler | frontera audubon |
| Northern Cardinal | frontera audubon |
| Great-tailed Grackle | edinburg |