Christmas (or other seasonal holiday event you happen to celebrate) cheers to everyone. Hopefully you are getting everything wrapped up for the year and guessing those that are not already retired will likely be getting a temporary break from the corporate grind. We have one more family event left and our own Christmas celebration before calling it a year and heading to warmer places. Admittedly, it hasn’t been that bad this winter. Today is the coldest it has been in a while (15F) which is nothing for us here in the Midwest. I’ve been working hard in getting the January Texas pictures processed adding a lot of new content for the blog queue. With the recent drop of new adventures from Brad, we are looking good for entertaining content well into next year. My last post on the Mangrove (Yellow) Warbler (link here) had some pretty soft images thanks to the dense habitat. Cannot use that excuse today as we had a clean shot at today’s Featured Feathered Friends.
Problem was the “distance”! It isn’t often that The Beast falls short on the reach, but this is one of those times I could have used bigger glass. For some reason I didn’t think of putting the 1.4 tele on – doubt that would have help much with the combination of horizontal distance along with the vertical elevation of the massive cell phone tower.
Hit the jump and I’ll bring you in a bit closer so you can see these rather rare Falcons.
Major crop zooming here, so you are going to lose a lot of the detail
There, now you can tell it is a bird..actually TWO birds. At first look, fellow birders may ID them as American Kestrels with their colorful feathering and facial stripes. These, however, are Aplomado Falcons. Although much larger than Kestrels, they are only average sized from a Falcon perspective. The biggest difference between the two species is the range. Kestrels have all of North and Central America range covered along with a large swath of South America. In contrast, the Aplomado only ranges between southern Texas and parts of Central/South America.
The current Texas population is in large part due to conservation efforts. According to Cornell, the Peregrine Fund released over 1,500 Aplomados into the Texas ecosystem. Mixed success with breeding pairs, however, the populations along the Gulf Coast and RGV area are faring better. To put it in perspective, the global population is in the 200K range. American Bird Conservancy puts the total number of those residing in the US at 100! You are technically looking at 2% of that entire population right here.
This may be why these two were so paranoid. From their high perch they were busy keeping watch in ALL directions. Like good sentries it seemed like heads were on swivels working in tandem. This series starts out both looking forward and ends up with both of them looking backwards. In between they made sure every direction was adequately covered without losing sight of oncoming threats or those coming up from their 6. Maybe paranoid isn’t the best description as these Falcons are lethal killers.
I feel bad for any bird and/or insect that dared entered their 360 degree kill zone. We let fellow birders, Nan and Curtis, who we met earlier on the trip (I think at Estero Llano Grande SP, but possibly Santa Ana NWR) know we had found them. They responded later with a picture confirming they were able to locate them along with a picture of one feasting on a Common Gallinule – which is as big if not bigger than these Falcons. Deadly I tell ya’ ha!
So now you are probably wondering, which of the nearly 210,000 macrocell towers did you find these two sitting watch (yes, I looked it up, there were 209,470 macro towers at end of 2022, which seems really low to me – link here). To be honest, it was a bit of luck as that was not where we started looking. There is a designated Aplomado Viewing Area in Cameron County on TX 100 just outside of Port Isabel (link here). Near South Padre Island if that is a more familiar reference. There is a small pull off on the south side of that road giving a view to a nest box rather far out into the field. In the several previous visits, that platform was either empty or the heat foils coming off the field were so bad, whatever was sitting on them just looked like a ghostly shimmer.
Linda, Ron and I decided to try our luck during our January trip. Pulled into the parking area, eagerly jumped out, brought the cameras on target and …nothing. Well, there was a Northern Mockingbird that was pretty much “mocking” our fruitless attempt as if that bird has anything better to do. While Ron was hurling insults back at the Mock, I looked behind us at the nearby cell tower. I always look there whenever we drive by, thinking it would be a great perch for sky predators. Took a few shots, checked the camera, took a few more shots, checked the camera again making heavy use of the LCD zoom, took some more shots, waved to some of the curious people driving by, took some more pictures, a few more checks at the back of the camera, got Linda’s attention in the car and quietly pointed to the tower with a thumbs up, took a few more shots, checked the phone to see if I had gotten any messages while resting the arms….then heard Ron mention he couldn’t find any Falcons.
Oh, that’s because I’ve been staring them on that cell tower over there. ”WHAT!?!” Sorry, slipped my mind. Ah, the nuances of competitive birding with your brother hehehe. Before any disparaging comments are made, I did NOT violate rule 12 of our Competitive Birding Rules of Engagement (link here). I feel an addendum quickly coming regarding the requirement to “notify” your birding companions hehehe.
Just a few interesting facts about the Aplomado before letting you go. The US population (and I think Mexico’s) is listed as endangered which isn’t surprising with their low number. They are equally adept at hunting in the air (other birds/insects) and the ground (lizards/rodents). Cornell mentions they are often seen in pairs (confirmed) and cooperatively hunt with one flushing while the other gives it a Falcon talon handshake.
I must say, a pretty cool bird that is right up there with the Bat Falcon (link here). Super stoked to get this checked off the life list and also happy Linda, oh and Ron were able to witness it as well ha. Take care everyone and be safe if you are traveling for the holidays.
Life Intrigued 