Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl brings me to 912

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     Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a year round resident in the US, but I saw more reports of sightings in the summer in TX. It is a south TX and a south-central AZ specialty. This bird lives in mesquite woodlands and most of this habitat is in private ranches. King's Ranch is the only publicly accessible ranch, and requires you to be on guided tours. This means I need to book a tour on a certain date, and the cost varies based on the number of people signing up for the tour. When it was sighted now and then at Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR - Brushline Rd, I thought I would spend two session there - Sat evening and Sun morning. This owl is active during the day. In case I get it on Sat, I thought of trying for a Red-billed Pigeon. After an early morning run and yoga, followed by laundry, packing, loading of a new set of songs, and lunch, I was on the road by noon. The drive was close to 4.5 hours. I arrived at the location at 4:50 pm and it was hot and dry. I looked until a little after sunset, but the owl did not even call! Here is the checklist of birds seen: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38500098

    After some Vietnamese Tacos and a filter-coffee, I took a motel at Edinburg,TX.

Vietnamese Coffee
     I got up early, had breakfast, and headed to LRGV NWR - Brushline Rd which was 30 mins away. Sunrise was after 7 am, and the heat started picking up at 8 am! I spent a few hours slowly driving around, stopping here and there to get out and scan the trees. With time I was getting frustrated for multiple reasons. The heat was picking up, I was getting hungry (nearest place to eat was 20-25 miles drive), my arrival at ATX was based on when I could start. After about 9:30 am, I would just be in the car and stop on the sides of a few trees. I started browsing on the phone not knowing what to do. I was wondering when to go for lunch and when to start back to ATX. I was thinking 4:00 pm should be a hard cut-off to call off the search. I continued this slow driving and stopping next to clumps of mesquites. I stopped at a relatively denser area, but a few sun rays were still hitting me directly. I was looking at fb updates, and I casually looked outside. The owl flew in for a very brief period! At this point I was fully covered in sweat, and I was happy to switch on the AC and drive back. Here is the checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38507292.  This bird was harder to find than I expected. On the whole I was satisfied that I need not have to book a guided tour which might not be on a date that is convenient for me, apart from costing around a $100.




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