Friday, July 17, 2009

Fall is Here Again

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Thank goodness, it’s fall again!

No, I’m not confused. And yes, I know it’s only mid-July and that we still have at least two months of very hot summer weather to go. But it’s the start of fall, at least as far as bird migration is concerned. So we’ll soon be seeing lots of new species passing through our area.

Although the bulk of fall migration happens in August/September, a lot of migrant birds visit the Upper Texas Coast in July on their way south to Latin American countries. For example, Black-and-white Warblers have probably already started arriving in numbers and they’ll shortly be joined by Louisiana Waterthrush, Least Flycatchers and other landbirds. Down at the beach, shorebirds such as Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers and Piping Plovers have no doubt begun turning up again and their numbers, too, will increase dramatically over the next couple of months.

Partly with migration in mind, Dee and I are heading to Galveston this afternoon and we will be birding the Bolivar Peninsula and maybe even High Island on Saturday. If we’re lucky, I’ll have plenty of photos to post here on Sunday or Monday.

In the meantime, here are some photos of birds who have visited the feeder outside our living-room window this week.
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Female House Finch

Male Northern Cardinal

White-winged Dove

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