Fallout List of Species - April 25-27, 2013

Beginning on April 25th, a cold front hit coastal Texas which grounded thousands of migrating passerines. The episode was most severe on South Padre Island where grounded migrants landed exhausted and hungry. Most of the famished birds ignored the people walking around the grounds of the South Padre Island Convention Center and frequently came dangerously close human traffic. This particular event lasted through April 27, but favorable winds were rare over the coming days and even weeks.

The event on April 25-27,was also evident up the coast in Nueces County and into Galveston and Jefferson counties. In wooded locations, 25+ species of wood-warbler was the norm, many of them too hungry to be scared of birders and photographers. The diversity also included several species of vireos, thrushes, tanagers, orioles, and buntings.

Birds were slow to move as weather conditions in states north of Texas were abnormally cold. Successive cold fronts were the norm from mid-April into early May. On May 2, Kansas City, Kansas, had six inches of snow. The temperature in Dallas on that date was 43 degrees in the late afternoon, and in Corpus Christi, the low was 50 degrees that night.

While birders and photographers were in awe of the grounded birds, many people also expressed sadness at the condition of the birds as they struggled to survive. Several kind souls on South Padre Island went so far as to feed meal worms, bird seed, and oranges to grounded migrants. To them, we tip our hats. I cannot recall another year where birders and nature enthusiasts had to bear witness to such a struggle.

Below are several photographers images of migrants during the last week in April. In most cases, the close proximity of the grounded birds is evident in the photographs.

Jim Peterson

Rob Becker's Images from South Padre Island, Cameron Co., April 25, 2013

20 of 26 Species of Warblers Photographed

Other Photo-documented Songbirds from April 25

Paul Pruitt's Images from Nueces Co., April 25, 2013

Grounded Songbirds from Paradise Pond and Turnbull Birding Center

Mary Beth Stowe's Images from Cameron Co., April 26, 2013

Grounded Songbirds, April 26, 2013 from South Padre Island

Mary Beth Stowe's Images from Cameron Co., April 27, 2013

Grounded Songbirds, April 27, 2013, from South Padre Island

Cheryl Vance-Kiser's Images from Cameron Co., April 26, 2013

Grounded Birds, April 26, 2013 from South Padre Island

Paul Pruitt, Nueces County Bird Fallout List, April 25, 2013

Includes: Paradise Pond, Port Aransas, and the Turnbull Birding Center

Blue-winged Teal

Northern Shoveler

Ruddy Duck

Pied-billed Grebe

Brown Pelican

Turkey Vulture

Sora

American Coot

American Avocet

Spotted Sandpiper

Ruddy Turnstone

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Green Heron

Little Blue Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Laughing Gull

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Chimney Swift

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Acadian Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireo

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Veery

Swainson's Thrush

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Wood Thrush

Gray Catbird

Ovenbird

Worm-eating Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Blue-winged Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Kentucky Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Hooded Warbler

American Redstart

Cerulean Warbler

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Painted Bunting

Dickcissel

Red-winged Blackbird

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Great-tailed Grackle

Orchard Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

House Sparrow

Mary Beth Stowe, Cameron County Bird Fallout List from April 26-27, 2013

Bird List:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

Blue-winged Teal

Redhead

Pied-billed Grebe

Brown Pelican

Least Bittern

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron

Tricolored Heron

Reddish Egret

Cattle Egret

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

White-faced Ibis

Roseate Spoonbill

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Clapper Rail

Sora

Common Gallinule

American Coot

Wilson's Plover

Black-necked Stilt

Spotted Sandpiper

Willet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Marbled Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Short-billed Dowitcher

Laughing Gull

Least Tern

Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Royal Tern

Black Skimmer

Rock Pigeon

Eurasian Collared-Dove

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Crested Caracara

Eastern Wood-Pewee

Great Crested Flycatcher

Western Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Loggerhead Shrike

Warbling Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Northern Rough-winged Swallow