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#ABArare – Blue Bunting – Texas
On January 31, Stephanie Bilodeau and Justin LeClair found an adult male ABA Code 4 Blue Bunting at Frontera Audubon Center in Weslaco, Texas. The bird has been fairly reliable, if furtive, since its discovery, and has been seen every day since. While Blue Bunting has been reported in south Texas this year, this is the first that has been repeatable.
Photo: Simon Kiacz
Frontera Audubon Center is a small urban preserve in Weslaco, Texas. The street address is 1101 S. Texas Blvd. Normal hours of operation are 8 am – 4 pm but in the event of a good bird hours are often extended. There is an admission charge for access to the property ($5 adults, $4 seniors, $3 students, children free). For more information, see Frontera Audubon’s website here. Note that in addition to the bunting, a Crimson-Collared Grosbeak (Code 4), has been at the park for several weeks.
Blue Bunting is known in the ABA Area from a number of records, the vast majority of which are from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Notably, the first ABA Area record was from Louisiana in 1979, which remains the only ABA record of the species away from Texas.
Howell, et al, in Rare Birds of North America notes that occurrence of Blue Bunting north of Mexico is sporadic with occasional invasions, likely reflecting food shortages in northeast Mexico.
Join the American Birding Association at www.aba.org!
Source: http://blog.aba.org/2016/02/abarare-blue-bunting-texas-2.html
