Since the rainy weather was ending at the west side of the Lower Rio Grande Valley this afternoon, I drove out to Anzalduas County Park. Since there had been a lot of rain the birds in the park were still in their cover so I scanned the trees on the other side of the Rio Grande River with my spotting scope. I soon spotted this Zone-tailed Hawk perched in a tree along the shore. It was pretty distant, about 600 feet across but I got good views in my spotting scope. I saw it's bright yellow cere, black head and body. When it turned to face in my direction I could see at least two white tail bands, one quite wide and one at end of tail. It is clearly an adult.
I expected the hawk as well as other birds of prey and vultures had soaked wings so I figured it would remain on the perch for awhile, especially since it continued to be cloudy and cool so it would take longer for the feathers to dry. So I called one birder who had previously emailed me asking me to call if I saw the Frontera Zone-tailed Hawk; unfortunately he was already driving home to San Antonio. I also posted the sighting on the Texbirds Facebook site in any of the many birders who were trying to see one of the Frontera hawks might check facebook and be close enough to come over. No one came but I did let a birding couple who drove by know and helped them see it. The hawk stayed on that perch from about 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. I wasn't sure if it's location was on land in Mexico or the U.S. so I walked over to some Border Patrol officers and they explained that that piece of land was in the U.S.
I included this not so good photo at the bottom because it shows an additional white tail band though I suspect it is still insufficient for identifying it's sex. SeEtta
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