#ABArare – Amazon Kingfisher – Texas

On October 30, Raul Delgado found an ABA Code 5 Amazon Kingfisher at Zacata Creek in Laredo, Webb County, Texas. The bird was been present in this location the next day as well.  Pending acceptance, this is a 3rd record for Texas and the 3rd record for the ABA Area.

Zacata Creek is located right in the middle of Laredo, Texas, right on the international border with Mexico. The bird has been frequenting a stretch of the creek between the dam and the water treatment facility. There is public parking nearby, on Ventura Street. For birders traveling to the RGVBF, Laredo is about three hours from Harlingen by car.

This is the third documented ABA Area record of this species, which ranges widely from southern Tamaulipas, Mexico into South America as far south as Uruguay and Argentina.  The first record was also found in Laredo, Texas, at very near this precise location, in late January of 2010. That bird stayed just over a week before disappearing in early February. The second record was an individual found in Hidalgo County during the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival in early November of 2013.

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