TBRC 2022
The TBRC is excited to add both SMALL-BILLED ELAENIA and TRINDADE PETREL to the state list, bringing it to 663 species!
The elaenia was seen in May 2021 on Mustang Island (Nueces Co) by Andrew Orgill and Rylee Gonzales; it was identified at the time as an empidonax. A few months later, in August 2021, photos of the bird in iNaturalist were looked at by a few folks who thought it was not an Empid but rather an Elaenia, with Dan Lane and then others realizing it was a Small-billed Elaenia. The TBRC thanks Alvaro Jaramillo for his critical review of this record and also thanks Fabricio Gorleri for his review along with his excellent paper/research on the identification of this species. Photo by Andrew Orgill.
The Trindade Petrel was seen in late Feb 2022 from the Port Aransas jetty (Nueces Co) by Skip Cantrell. Initially IDed as a booby, the photos were only brought to the attention of others a couple weeks later when it was flagged in eBird by Caleb Helsel. The overall shape/jizz of the bird in the few photos of it show it to be a Pterodroma, with many experienced seabirders quickly landing on Trindade Petrel as the correct species ID. The TBRC thanks Todd McGrath for his critical review of this record. Photo by Skip Cantrell.
