Sightings of rarely seen birds made the most recent annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) in Laredo an historic event, according to its organizers.
Three neotropical birds were spotted in the Gateway City during Saturday’s count, two of which have never been reported in Laredo and are rarely seen in the United States: the Blue Mockingbird and the Golden-crowned Warbler. The other — a Blue Bunting — was last spotted in Laredo in 2005 and drew an estimated 1,000-2,000 birders from all over the United States within a three-week time frame after it was listed on EBird.
The most rare of all 130 bird species sighted during the CBC was the Blue Mockingbird, which team leader Tom Langschied of Kingsville spotted near the international railroad bridge. The other two were seen at a private ranch in Northwest Laredo along Mines Road.
Eugene Ruiz
Near the downtown Laredo international railroad bridge where the Blue Mockingbird was spotted during the December 29 Laredo Christmas Bird Count.
“It was an exciting day. We’ve always said, ‘Come to Laredo to experience our birds and find new species,’” said Laredo CBC organizer Glenda Barrera, encouraging birders to experience these species on private ranch outings offered by the Laredo Birding Festival in early February.
For the Dec. 29 Laredo count, Barrera organized eight teams of 31 expert and novice birders from Laredo, Corpus Christi, Rockport, Kingsville, New Braunfels, and Pearsall.
Though the group experienced a sense of euphoria at spotting the three rare birds and other prized birds like the Red-billed Pigeon, Gray Hawk, Altamira Oriole, Green Jays, Plain Chacalaca, Pine Warbler, and Morelet’s Seedeater (formerly the White-collared Seedeater) among others — they also expressed dismay at a disturbing trend affecting bird habitat along the river.
“We lament the fact that the areas we always go to for seeing the specialty species unique to Laredo have been destroyed,” Barrera said, as other birders nodded in agreement after the Count.
Masi Mejia
Veteran birder Raul Delgado during the December 29 Christmas Bird Count near the river vega where U.S. Border Patrol has cleared out critical bird habitat for line of sight.
“Only two sites were left,” she said, citing numerous areas along the river that U.S. Border Patrol has cleared out to gain line of sight, such as Las Palmas Nature Trail, Slaughter Park, and Father McNaboe Park.
Veteran birder Raul Delgado offered more details, noting that the Laredo Christmas Bird Count only had two sightings, as opposed to six or seven, of the Morelet’s Seedeater due to vegetation that has since vanished from the riverbank.
“Destruction of habitat is detrimental in all situations,” Delgado said, “so it’s important to keep the habitat that we have and limit its destruction, especially along the river.”
He urged City officials to protect the vega and invest more resources into avian and eco-tourism by establishing more “birding trails, bird feeding stations, and bird photography opportunities.”
Meanwhile, birder Susan Foster of Rockport, whose team spotted the Blue Bunting and Golden-crowned Warbler at a Laredo ranch, described the Laredo Christmas Bird Count as “Amazing. Amazing,” she said.
“We found the Golden-crowned Warbler by chance,” she said, noting that one of her team members ran to her, shouting “Typewriter! Typewriter! Typewriter!”
“That warbler has a call that sounds like an old manual typewriter,” Foster said, chuckling.
Danny Perales, president of the Monte Mucho Audubon Society, said that the Christmas Bird Count is a good way to start birding.
“You’ll find out if you’re going to like birding,” he said with a laugh.
The Christmas Bird Count – established in 1900 – is an annual census of birds in the Western Hemisphere that takes place between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Each participating community has one day to perform their count of species and then submit their tally to the National Audubon Society.
The data is then used to track bird migration patterns across the hemisphere.
Masi Mejia
Participants of the December 29 Laredo Christmas Bird Count. L-R: Masi Mejia, Santiago Santos, Erika Saenz.
“Birding requires boots on the ground,” Delgado said, stating that Laredo continues to be under-birded.
“Every time we have large numbers of experienced birders in Laredo, we are finding rare birds that can’t be found anywhere in the U.S., only in South Texas,” he continued. “Today was extra-ordinary with these three species. It should make birder news nationwide and bring more birders to our Laredo Birding Festival.”
The range of those three rare birds found in Laredo on Saturday is largely Mexico, Central America, and further south into South America, he said.
The Laredo Birding Festival is organized by the Monte Mucho Audubon Society, the Rio Grande International Study Center, and the City’s Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau. The 7th Festival in 2019 will take place Feb. 6-9 and include a dozen professionally guided trips each day throughout Webb and Zapata counties. For more information, visit www.laredobirdingfestival.org.
