I was assigned to the Hawktower for the afternoon. Before I could go I had to wait on this visitor at my door-- a BOBCAT at my office door, just sitting on the sidewalk! I had about 25 or 30 visitors on the hawktower, all human, since we saw ZERO hawks. This is kinda normal since the hawks fly so very high when it's very hot. We had already seen huge kettles in the morning so we were satisfied until I learned that just 25mi away in Weslaco they had 25,000 Broadwings about 1pm! In the hot afternoon! I did have good company though with Ivan, John and Bill sticking it out the whole time. John was from PA and Bill from CA so they got lots of lifebirds while we waited.

Back to work at Bentsen, leading the morning bird walk, with folks from WA, OR, NJ... Mottled Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Plain Chachalacas, Least & Pied-billed Grebe, Neotropic Cormorants, Anhinga 1, Great Blue Heron 1, Little Blue Heron 5, Cattle Egret 18, White Ibis 3, White-faced Ibis 3, Turkey Vultures, Mississippi Kite 1 flying by at eye level at the Hawktower! all in group view even white secondaries, Gray Hawk 1, Swainson's Hawk 2, Sora 1 in the open, viewed by all, at Kingfisher Overlook, Common Moorhens, American Coots, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilts, Spotted Sandpiper 1, Solitary Sandpiper 1, Greater Yellowlegs 2, White-winged, Mourning, Inca, Common Ground-, & White-tipped Doves, Greater Roadrunner 2, Lesser Nighthawk 3 in broad daylight in the parking lot, Chimney Swifts, Buff-bellied, Ruby-throated & Black-chinned Hummingbird, Golden-fronted & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet 4, Black Phoebe 2, Brown-crested Flycatcher 1, Great Kiskadee, White-eyed Vireo, Green Jays, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Cave Swallows, Black-crested Titmouse, Verdin 1, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1, Clay-colored Robin 1, Northern Mockingbirds, Long-billed Thrashers, Orange-crowned Warbler 1, Lark, Savannah & Lincoln's Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Pyrrhuloxia 1, Red-winged Blackbirds, Eastern Meadowlark 1, Great-tailed Grackles, Bronzed Cowbirds, Brown-headed Cowbird 1, Bullock's Oriole 1 at Hawktower, Altamira Orioles, House Sparrows. Also nice was this Texas Spiny Lizard at the Hawktower.

Right after that was the Butterfly Walk. Butterflies have been almost non-existent, and today was no exception: Giant Swallowtail, Lyside & Cloudless Sulphur, Ceraunus & Reakirt's Blue, Queens, Turk's Cap Skipper, 2 Lantana Scrub-Hairstreaks, White Checkered-Skipper, Clouded Skippers, Phaon Crescent, Fatal Metalmark, Tropical Leafwing-- 13 species. Pitiful.

The windy night was not good for the hike-- we barely heard Great Horned Owl, Barn Owl, Screech Owl and Elf Owl, and then only thanks to Kel. Better were the nightjars (6 each of Lesser Nighthawk, Common Nighthawk and Pauraque), especially when one eager Pauraque TWICE landed on a post right next to the crowd! Mammals were low, just an Armadillo, a Jackrabbit, and a half-grown cute Raccoon.

I got to work at Bentsen State Park only to realize that something odd was going on: Javier de Leon and the Dauphins were already there with Josh. Seems last night a lucifer hummingbird had been found. This bird doesn't normally occur in the US! And they got pictures! Lo and behold, we never did re-find it today. We did find some good stuff though. There were so many hummingbirds to sort through-- probably 50 Ruby-Throated, 5 or so Buff-Bellied and a Black-Chinned. I found one that was tailless! Over 1000 Mississippi Kites went overhead! A female Painted Bunting! A pair of Hooded, a pair of Altamira and a pair of Baltimore Orioles in the garden! Ten Western Kingbirds! Lunch at NABA found three Painted Buntings. We got rain today so had some butterflies!: Giant & Pipevine Swallowtails, Queen and Monarch, Funereal Duskywing, Ceraunus and lots of Reakirt's Blues, Little Yellow, Cloudless and Lyside Sulphurs, Snout, Turk's Cap and Laviana White-Skippers, White Checkered-Skippers, Brown and Dorantes Longtails, Fiery and Clouded Skippers and Sachem...added a Zebra at NABA... no lucifer though.

After work I knew I couldn't take it any longer.  Though it would be dark soon I needed to go to South Padre Island! It's migration time and I just couldn't wait any longer. We were racing daylight's end, but I'm glad we made it!: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck 1, Mottled Duck 2, Blue-winged Teal, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Harris's Hawk, Aplomado Falcon 1, Clapper Rail 4, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Black-bellied Plover 1, American Oystercatcher 2 (with a photographer sitting near them!!! what was he thinking?!), Black-necked Stilt, Willet, Sanderling, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, Gull-billed,Sandwich and Royal Terns, Black Skimmer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Lesser Nighthawk 1, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike 1, Barn Swallow, Marsh Wrens, Veery 3, Gray-cheeked Thrush 1, Swainson's Thrush 3, Gray Catbird 8 (!!!!) , Northern Mockingbird 5, Tennessee Warbler, Northern Parula (just one beauty), Yellow Warbler (Northern), Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart (many!), Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler (one gorgeous male!), Wilson's Warbler, Summer Tanager (just a few), Lincoln's Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak (many! I counted 10 males and 10 females in one group ont he ground), Indigo Bunting (many, in large groups all over the ground), Painted Bunting (a nice male and many bright green females!), Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed and Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole and Baltimore Oriole (oh so many! and so hungry they ignored us totally! eating oranges everywhere!), House Sparrow.