Sunday, February 17, 2013

Success at Last!

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On Friday I used my lunch-break to drive over to Paul Rushing Park to try once more for the Great Kiskadee that is wintering there.

As I turned onto the road to the detention center, a Black Vulture was perched on a utility pole.


Great-tailed Grackles and a young White-faced Ibis flew over.




I chatted with a young birder who had parked nearby. When he told me I had just missed three Kiskadees, I was sure that this visit was going to be as unsuccessful as all my previous ones. However, he played Kiskadee calls on his phone and three birds responded immediately. We rushed over to the source of one of the replies, only to find that it was being made by a Northern Mockingbird.

Then we saw movement in the trees further back and two Great Kiskadees appeared.


A minute later, one of them flew into a tree near the road and I was able to get a couple of reasonable photos.




So my search for the Paul Rushing Kiskadee was finally over! Of course, I still wouldn't have seen the birds if my young companion hadn't called them up for me.
    

2 comments:

Dorothy Borders said...

Congratulations! I've been hoping to get out there to see the Kiskadees, but my garden won't release me long enough. Maybe I'll just put my foot down and go this week. (I'd love to see that Couch's Kingbird as well.)

Jeff said...

It's worth the trip. There aren't many Kiskadees in Harris County.