SE Texas Birding & Wildlife Watching

New Yard Bird?

2012-01-28T14:06:00.002-06:00

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Last week Dee and I put up a hummingbird feeder. We don't usually put up hummer feeders in the winter but decided to experiment this year, because many other loval birders have been attracting a range of hummingbirds.

Within a day of the feeder going up we had our first visitor, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a sharp photo of the bird and so today I sat in our front yard to try again. Sure enough, a hummingbird appeared. However, it wasn't the Ruby-throated that I was expecting. It was an Allen's Hummingbird.

I saw an Allen's last year in another yard in Harris County but this was the first time I've seen one in our yards. It was also a new year bird, #141 for 2012.

P.S.
Oops! I checked with a local expert birder, Jim Hinson, and he IDed the bird as a Rufous, because the tail isn't pointed enough for an Allen's. So a nice bird but not a new one.
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Bathing Beauty

2012-01-26T02:27:00.001-06:00

The other day Dee pointed out that the birdbath in our backyard was empty of water and covered in dirt and mold. So I went out, scrubbed it down and filled it with water. My presence scared off several birds - including an Orange-crowned Warbler - that been hanging out in a wisteria behind the birdbath.

A few minutes later I looked out of the window just as the Warbler flew down to the birdbath and started bathing, while a House Sparrow and an American Goldfinch perched on the edge of the bath and looked on.

After a little while, the Warbler seemed to have finished. But then it clearly decided that it needed a much more thorough soaking and back into the water it went.

P.S.

Dee was delighted when this bird's orange crown became visible during its bath, because she has often complained that you never actually see any orange on the head of Orange-crowned Warblers. By contrast, Ruby-crowned Kinglets frequently raise their ruby crowns when agitated.

Attwater National Wildlife Refuge

2012-01-24T08:07:00.001-06:00

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Sunday morning was warm but extremely windy at Attwater and so conditions were far from ideal for birding. However, even though we saw comparatively few species, we both enjoyed the prairie landscape and the birds that we did manage to see.

As always at Attwater, Crested Caracaras appeared in several areas of the refuge.

Their white wingtips are distinctive even when seen from behind.

We didn't see the Prairie Falcon that someone had reported recently but we did see plenty of other raptors: Northern Harriers, White-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels and, of course, Red-tailed Hawks.

Wet areas of the refuge had large numbers of American Coots and Northern Pintails - unfortunately well away from the road - while there were flyovers by Snow, Ross's and Greater White-fronted Geese.

A dozen Sandhill Cranes were a pleasant surprise.

The strong wind meant that sparrows were generally hunkering down out of view. However, we did see several Savannah Sparrows and a surprising number of Vesper Sparrows, the latter's tails clearly edged in white.

At one point, a Song Sparrow popped up and checked us out.

When we arrived, the entrance road had lots of small, pale birds that we weren't able to see well enough to ID. We had better looks at the same birds when we were leaving and we discovered that they were Lark Buntings. There is no mistaking that large, grey beak!

At Home and at Work

2012-01-22T07:25:00.000-06:00

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I haven't had much time for birding at work this week but I have noticed that the retention ponds continue to be very busy. Every day for weeks now they have had at least 100 American Coots and often many more than that.

The ponds generally also have large numbers (i.e., 100-150) of Ring-necked Ducks also. The male Ring-necked is easy to recognize because of its bill.

The female is less striking but has distinctive eye markings.

As I mentioned the other day, the ponds are currently also attracting scores of Double-crested Cormorants and more than a few Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and White Ibis.

The campus nature trail has been surprisingly quiet for birds so far this year. Apart from a few residents, all I generally see is the occasional Ruby-crowned Kinglet or Yellow-rumped Warbler.

At Home

At home our feeders continue to attract a never-ending stream of visitors. Half-a-dozen House Finches and as many House Sparrows now have to compete with ten or more American Goldfinches.

White-winged Dove numbers vary from a handful to 20+, depending largely on how much seed the other birds have spilled on the ground.

A typical day also sees visits by Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, Northern Mockingbirds, Orange-crowned Warblers, Downy Woodpeckers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, one or more Chipping Sparrows and 2-3 Yellow-rumped Warblers.

I have been pleased to see a Red-bellied Woodpecker come to a suet feeder several times: In previous years a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers were among the most frequent visitors to our yards but we hardly saw them at all in the second half of last year. Deee saw our first Ruby-throated Hummingbird of 2012 the other day. I missed that but instead spotted our first American Robin of the year.
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An Iconic Texas Bird

2012-01-19T08:07:00.006-06:00

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When someone mentions Texas birds, the first species that always springs to my mind is the Black-bellied Whistling Duck. I know that they're not the most glamorous or exciting of our avian residents. And I realize that they're not specifically Texan birds - their range extends to other US states and to many Latin American countries. But they somehow seem to fit Texas so well. Perhaps it's because, like the state, they're big and bold and sometimes downright brassy.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks are resident in southeast Texas but they seem much more common here in the summer than in the winter. At this time of year you can't go far in our area without seeing some either flying overhead or just standing around.

In flight they are very easy to recognize by their size, their general shape and the white patches on their wings. (The white on the wings helps to distinguish them from Fulvous Whistling Ducks, summer visitors which have all-black wings.)

As they're more like geese than ducks, they spend much more time grazing in fields or on the shores of ponds and lakes than they do feeding on the water.

They're easily identified by their combination of black belly, white wing stripe, orange bill, white eye ring and punk hairstyle.

Unlike other geese and ducks, they are often seen perching on fences, on trees and on utility poles. (At the college, their favorite perches are the tops of the tall lampposts in our parking lots.)

This perching ability is perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. After all, they have webbed feet which can't curl around like those of most birds. So it constantly amazes me to see them, even on very windy days, standing on utility wires and presumably managing to do so purely by balance.

For four or five years in a row we had several pairs of Whistling Ducks raise families on the retention ponds at the CyFair campus. Unfortunately, none nested here last year. Perhaps they'll return later this year, now that construction work at the college has stopped.

Monday Morning

2012-01-18T05:58:00.001-06:00

Birding the LSC-CyFair campus has been a very mixed bag so far this year. The nature trail has been almost totally deserted except for a handful of residents and the occasional winter visitor. By contrast, the retention ponds beside Barker Cypress Road have been busier than I've ever known them. This is mainly because they now virtually always host 100+ American Coots and 50+ Ring-necked Ducks. On Monday morning the ponds were even busier than usual.

The northern retention pond had its usual complement of American Coots and Ring-necked Ducks but these had been joined by a range of other birds. Most visible were Great and Snowy Egrets. I counted over 20 Greats around the pond.

Mixed in with the Egrets were a handful of White Ibis.

A dozen or more Laughing Gulls were circling overhead or floating on the water.

The biggest surprise was the number of Double-crested Cormorants. We often see one or two Cormorants on the campus but on Monday I counted about 70 on the northern pond.

The southern pond was much quieter and had only 40-50 American Coots. However, it also had a scattering of Snowy Egrets and another 20 Great Egrets.

I imagine that the new visitors to the ponds gathered there because of the weather that is moving in from the coast. So I wonder how long they will grace us with their presence.

P.S.

Most of the birds were still there yesterday and they seemed to be unconcerned about a flyover by a juvenile Bald Eagle.
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A New Site and a New Bird

2012-01-16T06:20:00.000-06:00

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On Saturday morning I drove to a birding site I'd never visited before - Highlands Reservoir, a few miles north of Baytown. I was hoping to see some of the Longspurs that have been seen there over the past couple of weeks. Any Longspur would be a life bird for me.

Unfortunately, after tramping over the area for an hour, neither I nor any of the other birders there could find any Longspurs. So I decided to leave. The trip wasn't wasted, though, as I saw several good birds. A Sprague's Pipit let me have a good look at it.

Two Le Conte's Sparrows disappeared before I could take a photo but this Grasshopper Sparrow was slower off the mark.

Skeins of hundreds of geese passed overhead and I was able to pick out several Ross's Geese among the more numerous and larger Snow Geese.

As I was leaving the site, I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk perched in a nearby tree and I couldn't resist taking a photo.

On my way home, I stopped off at the Atoscacita landfill near Humble and quickly found three Fish Crows. This life bird took my year list to 133 species.
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By the Way

2012-01-14T07:13:00.001-06:00

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I was driving home from work yesterday when something on the grass verge ahead caught my eye. After quickly checking there were no cars behind me, I pulled over. This is what I had attracted my attention.

A Red-shouldered Hawk.

I watched as the hawk tore and ate pieces of flesh from what looked like a small bird.

Certainly not one of the most beautiful aspects of nature. But I guess a hawk's gotta do what a hawk's gotta do.
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Weekend Trip: Part 3

2012-01-13T05:31:00.001-06:00

Mid-afternoon on Saturday we boarded the Bolivar-Galveston ferry. As we waited for the boat to leave, we watched numerous Laughing Gulls circling overhead and crowding perches on the ferry and around the harbor.

The jetties had lots of Neotropic Cormorants and Brown Pelicans, as well as a few White Pelicans. Much more exciting, the water had three Red-breasted Mergansers.

The ferry ride was uneventful except for the appearance of one dolphin and a solitary Forster's Tern.

Before heading over to our motel, we paid a quick visit to East Beach. We were greeted by hundreds of Laughing Gulls and a few Brown Pelicans. However, one section of road gave us distant views of a dozen Black Skimmers and close views of a Snowy Egret and a Great Egret.

Sunday morning we drove through slowly dispersing fog to Settegast Road to look for the Sandhill Cranes that usually winter there. Sure enough, there was a group of 16 Cranes but they were rather too distant for good photos. Disappointed, we headed for Sportsman's Road, only to stop a few hundred yards later when Dee spotted three Sandhill Cranes foraging near the road.

Sportsman's Road had its usual complement of Great and Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, Tricolored Heron and Roseate Spoonbills.

Unusually, we also got distant views of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the marsh reeds and a Common Loon in the bay.

As we were aiming to get home around lunchtime, we started our drive back to Cypress. We stopped for a short break at El Franco Lee Park and we arrived just in time to see a pair of Bald Eagles circling over the duck-filled ponds there.

Even though no individual site on our trip had been very productive for birds, we ended up seeing 75 species, of which 41 were additions to my 2012 year list.
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Weekend Trip: Part 2

2012-01-11T06:32:00.001-06:00

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Given that it was a beautifully warm and sunny afternoon, we were surprised to find that the beach at the end of Retilion Road was almost empty of people and vehicles. Luckily, it wasn't empty of birds.

The water's edge had small groups of Laughing Gulls and Royal Terns, while Ruddy Turnstones, Willets and Short-billed Dowitchers fussed around looking for food.

Dowitchers

Willets

The occasional Sanderling raced across the sand, legs moving almost too quickly for the eye to register.

The posts that mark the start of the shorebird sanctuary were occupied by Neotropic Cormorants, the edges of their bills outlined in white even though we were still months away from breeding season.

Every few yards we came across Long-billed Curlews, one of our favorite shorebirds.

A solitary Reddish Egret was dashing about in the shallows, trying to scare up fish for its lunch.

Finally, just before we ran out of beach, we came upon the birding highlight of our trip thus far - a thousand American Avocets clustered along the water's edge.

Every so often the Avocets would take fright and rise up in a swirling, flashing cloud of black and white. Magic!

Weekend Trip: Part 1

2012-01-09T06:38:00.000-06:00

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By 9:15 a.m. on Saturday we were at the first of the birding sites we planned to visit over the weekend - Sheldon Lake. The corner of the reservoir visible from the southern end of Pineland Road was crowded with American Coots, Double-crested Cormorants and Gadwalls, while the banks had numbers of White Ibis and Great and Snowy Egrets. There were several Anhingas, too, one of which did a head-waving display from a perch on a jetty before flying away.

Down at the Environmental Center many of the ponds had little or no water and we didn't see a single wading or water bird or duck. Orange-crowned Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were plentiful but the best sighting was of a flock of 100-200 Cedar Waxwings at the end of the parking lot.

Our next stop was Anahuac NWR, where we wanted the drive around Shovelers Pond and then have lunch in the old Visitors Center. Unfortunately, the road to and around Shovelers Pond was closed for construction and the old Visitors Center was already occupied. So after taking a quick photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk perched by the road, we set off for the refuge's Skillern Tract instead.

Although the tract had many fewer birds than during our last visit, there was still enough action to keep us entertained while we ate our picnic lunch.

A pair of Red-tailed Hawks kept moving from tree to tree near the parking area whenever visitors came too close, and one or other of them would occasionally soar up into the sky for a while.

I missed seeing a male Vermilion Flycatcher that Dee saw but I did get to spend several minutes watching a female as she chased bugs from nearby trees.

Lunch over, we drove down to Bolivar Peninsula, counting hawks and American Kestrels along the way. (Between Anahuac and the Bolivar ferry, we saw 9 Kestrels and 78 hawks, of white 64 were Red-tailed!)

Although the sandbars at Rollover Pass had masses of birds, including many White and Brown Pelicans, we didn't stay long because all the birds were far away from the parking areas. The exception was a Great Blue Heron that spent a long time struggling to swallow something it had caught.

Since leaving Sheldon Lake, we hadn't been very lucky with the sites we visited but we had great hopes for the next stop on our itinerary - the shorebird sanctuary at Bolivar Flats. Surely a walk along the beach there would produce a range of interesting birds!
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More from the Week

2012-01-08T05:44:00.000-06:00

While we're away in Galveston, here are some more bird photos and notes from this week.

Our Yards

We continue to have several Orange-crowned Warblers frequenting our suet feeders. The least colorful of all our winter visitors, they are nonetheless attractive little birds.

Dee and I both enjoy watching this Ruby-crowned Kinglet as it fusses around our feeders. It has loads of personality and is totally unafraid of us.

The most common winter warbler in our area is undoubtedly the Yellow-rumped Warbler. This one demonstrates nicely how the species gets its name.

Katy Prairie

I normally see only a handful of Field Sparrows each year but this winter they are really plentiful.

Harris's Sparrows, too, are present in larger numbers than I've ever seen here.

Last month the prairie had Green-tailed, Spotted and Eastern Towhees. This month I've seen only one, this female Eastern Towhee that hangs out at the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp Road.

I get so used to seeing Northern Cardinals in our yards that I tend to forget that they are wild birds. However, I never overlook the fact that the male Cardinal is one of the most beautifully colored of all North American birds!

A Good Week

2012-01-06T10:03:00.001-06:00

So far this first week of January has been a good one for birding. Although bird numbers in our area are well down on last month, there are still plenty of good birds around.

For example, yesterday I was surprised to spot a group of Lark Buntings in a children's playground only a couple of hundred yards from our house. Later, I was pleased to find that the female Pyrrhuloxia that had been hanging out on Longenbaugh Road is still present.

While the CyFair campus has been largely empty of birds apart from American Coots and Ring-necked Ducks, it did produce the sighting of an Osprey (carrying a fish) the other day.

The Katy Prairie still has a good range of sparrows (which I will blog about on the weekend). However, it also has a lot of large scavengers and predators. Yesterday some roadkill on Sharp Road had attracted several Turkey and Black Vultures as well as three Crested Caracaras.

Turkey Vulture

Crested Caracara

American Kestrels and Hawks are plentiful. Over the past few days I've seen Red-shouldered and White-tailed Hawks as well as a Merlin.

American Kestrel

However, the most numerous predator is the Red-tailed Hawk. They are everywhere. Unfortunately, although they are omnipresent, I've been finding them hard to photograph. They typically stay perched on a utility pole while I park the car and get my camera ready. Then, the instant I open the car door they are off. So yesterday I was delighted when I finally came across a Red-tailed that was not so skittish.

Keeping Track

My 2012 year list of species is moving along nicely and has already reached 74. Dee and I are heading to the coast this weekend and I'm hoping we'll see a good variety of new birds on our trip.
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Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T06:08:00.001-06:00

More Yardbirds

2012-01-03T12:16:00.000-06:00

.Now that we have replenished our feeders, our usual residents and winter visitors are turning up again.

Even more American Goldfinches have appeared.

There's always a White-winged Dove somewhere in our yards.

House Finches visit in groups several times a day.

We didn't have House Sparrows until a few months ago but now we get half-a-dozen every day.

A Northern Cardinal came and went before I could get my camera out, but two Carolina Wrens fussed around in our wisteria for ages.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler often poses outside our front windows.

Our suet feeders seem to be irresistible to our Orange-crowned Warblers.

So far this winter we have only had one Chipping Sparrow. I though it had disappeared a while back but when I looked carefully at our cage feeder today ...

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T20:39:00.001-06:00

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As we arrived back from London only last night, we weren't in the mood to leave the house today. However, I did muster the energy to keep an eye on our yards to see what birds were visiting.

The first birds I noticed in our front yard were half-a-dozen of our resident House Finches accompanied by several American Goldfinch.

A couple of White-winged Doves, three House Sparrows and a Yellow-rumped Warbler also visited our front yard feeders.

Meanwhile our resident male and female Downy Woodpeckers made frequent trips to the suet feeder.

The only flyovers I noticed were by a handful of Turkey Vultures.

The backyard feeders attracted Carolina Chickadees, one of which also stopped off at the birdbath.

A Northern Mockingbird was too skittish for me to photograph but a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was less bothered by our presence.

I'm not sure how many Orange-crowned Warblers are spending the winter with us but I saw at least two arguing over the backyard feeders this afternoon.

I was rather surprised not to see our other residents - Carolina Wren, Northern Cardinal, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Blue Jays. Perhaps they stopped visiting when the feeders became empty during our time away. If so, they should start returning soon now that our feeders are again fully stocked!
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Quite an End to the Year

2011-12-30T14:00:00.001-06:00

.Well, our ninth year in Texas is at an end - and quite a year it was, too! The final few months were particularly good.

A short trip to San Francisco let us catch up on western birds, including this Burrowing Owl.

It was also good to see the Pier 39 sea lions again.

However, the most exciting place to be was the Katy Prairie. A few unusual birds always turn up there in the winter and so it was not totally surprising to see the occasional Pyrrhuloxia.

Having three species of Towhee was unexpected, though.

Eastern Towhee

Spotted Towhee

Just as unexpected was seeing Lark Buntings by the score and Harris's Sparrows by the dozen.

Lark Bunting

Harris's Sparrow

The influx of uncommon birds on the Katy Prairie was the main reason I managed to get my Harris County year list to over 200 (203) species for the first time. A great way to end the year!
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-28T06:40:00.000-06:00

Away for Christmas

2011-12-27T06:56:00.000-06:00

Dee and I are in the UK for Christmas and we won't return until New Year's Eve. We're spending the holiday with family but I'm fitting in a little birdwatching.

While we're away, I'm still be blogging about Texas , using photos and other material from December that I haven't managed to post yet.

Here are some photos that I took on a recent visit to Baytown Nature Center. This isn't one of the best birding sites in our area but it usually has a few interesting birds. On my latest visit these included Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Merganser and Hooded Mergansers. Also, it's a great site for watching Ospreys!

Double-crested Cormorant

Snowy Egret

Osprey

Horned Grebe

Spotted Sandpiper

Loggerhead Shrike

Great Blue Heron

Our Yard

2011-12-23T05:28:00.004-06:00

It has been fairly quiet in our yards lately. We still get a good selection birds but not in the numbers that we usually see at this time of year. Unfortunately, there is an exception: House Sparrows. Rather than the occasional bird or pair of these birds that we normally see, there are now often half-a-dozen at our feeders. I hope they are not driving away some of our native birds!

Our most frequent visitors are Carolina Chickadees. They visit our feeders every minute or two throughout the day.

A couple of Orange-crowned Warblers are very regular visitors, too.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet which comes to our suet feeders several times a day is always a welcome sight.

A male and female Downy Woodpecker appear to take turns at two other suet feeders. They usually defend "their" feeders from other birds, and so the other day I was surprised to see a Downy and a Yellow-rumped Warbler both eating from the same feeder without any conflict.

Perhaps like the rest of us the Downys were trying to get into the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately, the Yellow-rumped doesn't seem to know about paying forward. It constantly chases away Orange-crowned Warblers and other Yellow-rumpeds. The other way it chased off the only American Goldfinch that has reached our yards so far this year.
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Our Winter Warblers

2011-12-19T06:50:00.002-06:00

Everyone knows warblers. They're those small, often brightly colored songbirds with thin beaks that dart around eating insects in the tops of trees and shrubs. Most of our warblers are "neotropical migrants" - they live in North America in spring and summer but migrate south in fall and spend winter in Central and South America.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

In Texas we see warblers mainly in the spring, when they drop in here on the way to their breeding grounds further north. On good days in April or May, birders flock to High Island and other southeast Texas sites in hopes of seeing the arrival of twenty or more species of warblers in their bright breeding plumage.

So why am I writing about warblers on a cold November morning? Well, because you don't have to wait for spring migration to see warblers around the Houston area. Right now there are three warbler species in our neck of the woods and they will stay here for months.

Pine Warbler
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The first and most striking of our three winter warblers is the Pine Warbler.
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Adult Male Pine Warbler
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Pine Warblers are year-round residents of our area, although our resident birds are joined in winter by flocks of Pine Warblers coming from further north. They are the warblers that you are most likely to see at your yard feeders, since they are the only warblers that regularly eat seeds as opposed to insects. The males are very easy to identify because they have bright yellow chests with some olive streaking.

They are even easy to ID from underneath.

Adult female Pine Warblers have less yellow, while first year females are very drab indeed.

First Year Female Pine Warbler

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The other two warbler species that are present now - the Yellow-rumped Warbler and the Orange-crowned Warbler - migrate here from the north and decide that Texas is a pretty good place to spend the winter.
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Yellow-rumped Warbler

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is less easy to identify than the Pine Warbler because plumage varies considerably from bird to bird. Typically, it is a gray bird with a gray-and-white streaked breast and with yellow patches under the front of its wings. However, some birds are more brown gray and the yellow patches can be very indistinct. So the best ID mark is the one that gives this bird its name: a yellow rump. Yellow-rumped Warblers also frequently make a distinctive "chip" call.

Sometimes, though, even a quick glimpse is enough to make the ID.

Yellow-rumped Warblers typically scurry about in tree tops, darting up like flycatchers every now and then to pluck an insect out of the air. They are able to winter here because there are plenty of bugs around in southeast Texas even in at this time of year.
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Orange-crowned Warbler

The second of our non-resident warblers is the Orange-crowned Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

This warbler is the hardest of the three to identify because it is a drab colored bird and its orange crown is rarely visible. The best ID feature is the yellow under its tail.

The bird can live here at this time of year because it has been able to adapt its feeding habits. Unlike most warblers, it is an expert at foraging for insects and insect eggs among fallen leaves and in bark crevices.
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Pelicans

2011-12-17T05:50:00.003-06:00

I've always been very fond of Pelicans. They are such extraordinary-looking birds.

Many people prefer White Pelicans, partly because of their plumage but sometimes also because of the way they fish in groups, forming a circle or line on the water with their companions and then reaching down in unison into the water to scoop up their prey.

It's a while since I've had a chance to watch White Pelicans fishing, though, as the only ones I've seen recently are the ones I saw circling high overhead at San Jacinto Monument park last weekend.

I prefer Brown Pelicans. They may be almost prehistoric in appearance but even when they are not in breeding plumage, adults are quite beautiful.

Although they are much smaller than their white cousins, they still have an impressive wingspan.

I always enjoy watching lines of Brown Pelicans as they patrol the shoreline, making spectacular vertical dives into the water when they spot fish.

Oddly enough, the other day I watched several Brown Pelicans using a very different fishing technique. These birds were floating on shallow water. Every so often they would launch into flight but would fly for just a few yards, staying only feet above the water. Then they would splash down to grab their prey.

They would float with their bill held down for a couple of minutes, presumably to let water drain out. Then they would raise their head to swallow whatever it was they had caught.

BTW, the bird in the four photos above is a first-year bird, which is why it doesn't have any white on its head and neck.
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Difficult Subjects

2011-12-15T05:51:00.000-06:00

As you'll have noticed, I use a lot of photos in my blog. This is essential because I'm not a good enough writer to do justice in words to the birds and other wildlife that I see! Luckily, modern camera technology means that taking reasonable photos is much easier than it was years ago, even if you use inexpensive equipment like mine. Having said that, though, some subjects are still difficult to photograph. For example, over the past couple of weeks I've been struggling to take recognizable pictures of two species - American Kestrel and Fox Sparrow.

I've seen a lot of Kestrels perched on wires and posts as I've been driving around our area lately. Unfortunately, they normally fly off as soon as I stop the car and well before I can open the window and use my camera.

This week I finally came upon a Kestrel that was less skittish. (Or perhaps it's just that it was early and the bird was still only half-awake!) Since the bird was silhouetted against the sky, the photos I got weren't great but at least you can see the bird's main features.

Fox Sparrows pose different problems. First of all, they are not at all common in our area. Also, they are generally secretive birds that forage mainly in the undergrowth and don't often spend much time out in the open. Then I personally run into a third problem with them: My camera is so noisy that the birds tend to run for cover the instant that I take my first photo. I then have to wait quietly for ages, hoping that they will re-emerge in more or less the same spot.

So last week I felt very fortunate when I came across a couple of Fox Sparrows that spent quite a while in the open and that didn't seem to be too bothered by the noise of my camera shutter.

BTW, there is another bird that I would love to photograph but haven't yet: Bewick's Wren. Like the Fox Sparrow, it's usually uncommon in our area but is turning up all over the Katy Prairie at present. If I ever manage to get a picture of one, you can be sure I'll be posting it here!
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Bay Birding

2011-12-12T06:29:00.002-06:00

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In my previous posting I mentioned that my Harris County life list had reached 250 species. Looking at the list, I realized that I had seen 196 species in the county this year. So I decided to see if I can get my Harris County year list up to 200 species, a total I had never previously imagined I could reach.

On my way home from work on Friday I added one more bird when a Long-billed Curlew unexpectedly appeared at Paul Rushing Park.

I thought the easiest way to reach 200 species would be to add some coastal birds, such as gulls and terns. (I see lots of these birds in a normal year but usually in Galveston County.) With this in mind, we headed down to the San Jacinto Monument park yesterday morning.

The area around the Monument had few birds, except for an American Kestrel, a Red-shouldered Hawk and four Black Vultures. The reflection pool had a flock of 30 Ruddy Ducks.

The boardwalk was more productive, immediately yielding a handful of Roseate Spoonbills and Snowy Egrets, some Double-crested Cormorants, a Northern Harrier and a Great Blue Heron.

It also had two of my target birds, Herring Gull and Forster's Tern, even though these werre too far away to photograph.

The path beyond the boardwalk had numerous Ruby-crowned Kinglets and a Hermit Thrush.

The open water had a couple of dozen Northern Shovelers while several small groups of White Pelicans circled overhead.

The final sighting was of a female Belted Kingfisher.

After our walk around the Monument park, we crossed over to Baytown via the Lynchburg ferry, accompanied by several Great--tailed Grackles.

Unfortunately, the Baytown Nature Center was almost empty of birds, and the mosquitoes were fierce. There were plenty of butterflies, though, including several Common Buckeyes.

So our trip ended with a whimper rather than a bang. But at least San Jacinto had produced two new species, taking my Harris County list to 198.

If I had 2-3 weeks left in which to add two new species to my list, I'm sure I could manage it. But there is only just over a week (with one weekend) to go before we fly to England!
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Life and death on the prairie

2011-12-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

The Katy Prairie continues to produce interesting sights day after day. Not all of them are beautiful, though.

On Longenbaugh I passed several Black Vultures feeding on an unidentifiable corpse.

On Porter Road I stopped when I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk standing over a cat carcass while a couple of Crested Caracaras and a Turkey Vulture lurked nearby.

When I got out of the car, the Red-tailed flew off and the three scavengers moved in.

More Turkey Vultures arrived.

They proceeded to squabble over the intestines, which they pulled further and further out and away from the body.

This gave the Caracaras a chance to move in and feed.

However, the commotion attracted the attention of some Black Vultures, whose arrival soon displaced the Caracaras.

By the time I left eight vultures and the two Caracaras were arguing over the carcass. At least it seems that none of the cat's corpse will go to waste.

P.S.

It wasn't all blood and guts, though. I finally managed to see and grab a (poor) photo of the Spotted Towhee that has been hanging out on Sharp Road.

The Towhee took my Harris County life list to 250 species.

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The Birds

2011-12-09T05:56:00.001-06:00

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It is not unusual to see flocks of thousands of Brown-headed Cowbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds in the fields on the Katy Prairie. However, when driving along Porter Road End yesterday, I was amazed to see the road ahead totally blotted out by a huge flock of (mainly) Cowbirds.

As well as blocking the road, they lined up on the hedges and gates on both sides of the pavement, making me feel as if I was in a scene from Hitchcock's movie "The Birds".

Then suddenly, as in the movie, the birds moved on.

Spooky!
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Always something of interest

2011-12-08T07:03:00.001-06:00

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It has been very cold on the Katy Prairie for the past couple of days and so it has been less busy. Less busy with birders, that is. The birds have been just as active as ever.

Every time I drive up to the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp, I see the Eastern Towhee and a ton of sparrows. Since spotting my first Harris County Lark Bunting last week, I now keep seeing lots of them along Sharp Road. As always this time of year, Red-tailed Hawks and Crested Caracaras are everywhere.

Speaking of Caracaras, I had an odd sighting on Tuesday morning. I was driving past Paul Rushing Park when I noticed several Turkey Vultures and two Caracaras circling. I stopped and looked through binoculars: Five Caracaras were on the ground together. I rushed over and got a photo of one juvenile Caracara feeding on a raccoon carcass.

Back at the car, I realized that a group of Horned Larks was grazing nearby. The male soon moved away.

However, the females stayed near me for several minutes.

Longenbaugh continues to have the male Pyrrhuloxia, a few Lark Buntings and a whole host of sparrows. Inca Doves often show up there also.

While I was watching the Inca Doves, a possum dashed across the road and disappeared under the bridge.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-07T05:37:00.000-06:00

Saturday on the Katy Prairie

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

.We had a spectacular dawn on Saturday.

Dee and I decided to check out the retention ponds on the CyFair campus, because when I was leaving work on Friday, I noticed that 1000+ water birds had settled on the ponds. Unfortunately, most of the birds had left by the time we arrived on Saturday. All that were left were some 300 Ring-necked Ducks, 100+ Ameriucan Coots, and two Pied-billed Grebes, two Redheads and two Canvasbacks.

Our next stop was at the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp Road. The very first bird I saw there was the female Eastern Towhee that has been hanging out there for weeks.

Two Fox Sparrows were out in the open but quickly fled.

Several other sparrows were feeding but would not let us get close. A Brown Thrasher was more obliging.

Although the wind was really picking up now, we stopped at the Bear Creek bridge on Longenbaugh to see if the Pyrrhuloxia was visible. It wasn't. But as consolation a Wilson's Snipe was foraging in the mud below the bridge.

So it wasn't a good morning's birding but it still produced some nice sightings.
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Sparrows and More

2011-12-03T07:33:00.000-06:00

.I looked in at Cypress Creek again on my way to work yesterday and was rewarded with more great views of a range of sparrows: Fox, Song, White-crowned, White-throated, Harris's and Chipping - plus some House Sparrows.

My main aim was to get a good photo of a White-throated Sparrow. They are very skittish and tend to stay in or quickly run to the shadows. This is a problem because my camera lens doesn't handle low light well. I decided I would try using flash, even though this often makes bird photos look very artificial, almost like paintings. Here are some of the results.

After a few minutes at Cypress Creek I swung by the Bear Creek bridge on Longenbaugh, hoping for the Lark Bunting that everyone else has seen there. Within minutes I had seen 8 species of sparrows but no Bunting. Then three Field Sparrows posed in a tree right next to a singing White-crowned Sparrow. I took a picture of one of the Field Sparrows.

Another bird landed a little higher in the tree. Lark Bunting.

This is a great time to be living and working near the Katy Prairie!
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A Good Hour

2011-12-01T06:54:00.012-06:00

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Birding can be a very frustrating hobby. There are days when you expend a lot of time and effort but see little of interest. Luckily, there are also good days - for example, days when you manage to create a little time for birding and get a huge return on your investment. Yesterday was like that for me.

On my way home I drove up to Longenbaugh Road in hopes of seeing the Pyrrhuloxia that has been lurking near the Bear Creek bridge. It's been a hard bird to find so far this fall but I thought it was worth a try.

I got out of the car, I crossed over the road to the bridge, and the Pyrrhuloxia popped right up.

Okay, so he didn't come right out in the open so I could get really good photos. But he did stay in view for quite a while.

Encouraged by my success with the Pyrrhuloxia, I drove over the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp Road. Another birder, Mark Kulstad, was already there and was enjoying watching a variety of sparrows. However, when I told him about the Pyrrhuloxia, he decided to take off for Longenbaugh.

Since the Sharp Road birds were in shadow and my camera equipment isn't the greatest, I decided to try to get really close to the patch where the sparrows were feeding. I crept up and stood perhaps 25 feet away. Surprisingly, the birds got used to me almost immediately and so I spent the next 30 minutes watching them at close range. (They often came within 5 feet of where I was standing.)

The sparrows included Chipping, White-crowned and White-throated but I was most pleased to see Harris's, of which there were about 8.

A Field Sparrow looked a little out-of-place next to the Harris's.

A Lincoln's Sparrow fitted in better.

Three or four Dark-eyed Juncos appeared several times.

The best sighting of all was a female Eastern Towhee. Towhees are secretive birds and so it's hard to get good photos of them. However, this particular bird was in a very confident mood and she spent lots of time right out in the open, sometimers too close for my lens to be able to focus on her.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-30T06:19:00.001-06:00

Last Week at CyFair

2011-11-28T06:41:00.000-06:00

.The day before Thanksgiving I took a short walk around the CyFair campus, hoping that some new birds might have arrived.

As it turned out, the ponds did have some new birds. About 40 Ring-necked Ducks had joined the 100 American Coots and half-a-dozen Redheads which arrived some days earlier. Unfortunately, the ducks moved to the far side of the ponds when I approached and so I wasn't able to get any photos. The Coots were less nervous.

Songbirds were scarce around the ponds: The only ones I saw were a Yellow-rumped Warbler and an Eastern Meadowlark.

Just as I was leaving, I caught a brief glimpse of a Northern Harrier flying low over one of the parking areas.

The nature trail was very quiet, except for a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Then, walking back to my office, I came across a Red-shouldered Hawk. Unlike most hawks, it was not bothered by my presence but sat there while I took several photos from perhaps 20 feet away.

After that it was back to work!
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Thanksgiving Birds

2011-11-24T09:52:00.000-06:00

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Took a quick drive up to our Tomball campus this morning to see the pair of Hooded Mergansers that spend the winter on the pond there. The light wasn't good but the birds still looked beautiful!

Happy Thanksgiving!
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-23T06:52:00.001-06:00

California 2: Oakland

2011-11-20T17:07:00.000-06:00

.Last Sunday we drove over to Arrowhead Marsh in Oakland, which is one of the best winter birding sites in California. Unfortunately, it was a little early in the year and so we saw a comparatively small range of birds.

The most common water birds there were Western Grebes.

I didn't spot any Clark's or Eared Grebes but there were a few Horned Grebes.

As everywhere we went on our trip, there were Ring-billed and California Gulls aplenty.

An American Pipit was busily beating a large bug to death on a picnic table.

Apart from some Golden-crowned Sparrows, the best bird we saw was a Burrowing Owl. If we had seen no other birds, getting good views of a Burrowing Owl would have made the trip worthwhile!

After Arrowhead, we went over to Lake Merritt, which is also in Oakland. Again it was rather early in the year for this site but we still saw some good birds. The lake had lots of Double-crested Cormorants as well as a colony of Great and Snowy Egrets.

Some young Black-crowned Night Herons allowed us to walk up within a few feet of them.

In nearby trees we watched American Robins enjoying some berries.

A Cedar Waxwing looked stunning as it paid a quick visit to the same trees.

Another tree had a Townsend's Warbler.

Our final views were of a bunch of Dark-eyed Juncos grazing in the grass.

California 1: Urban Birds

2011-11-18T05:38:00.000-06:00

.While in San Francisco, I had a chance to spend a little time in the Yerba Buena park, in the heart of the city. Although the park is small and offers little good habitat, it was busy with birds. Several species were drawn to the various water features.

Some of the birds came to drink. Like this Brewer's Blackbird.

Others came to bathe. Like this Western Gull. Which really took bathing seriously.

European Starlings seemed to like making as much of a splash as possible.

Other birds - like this Western Gull and Red-winged Blackbird - appeared to be happy just hanging out and enjoying the fall weather.

Katy Prairie Towhee

2011-11-17T06:03:00.000-06:00

.Hearing that Jim Hinson was still finding Green-tailed Towhees at the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp Road, I drove out there yesterday morning. As it happened, Jim was there when I arrived and we spent some time birding the creek banks together.

The south side of the road was busy with White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, as well as with several other birds - Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Northern Mockingbird, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker and Brown Thrasher. Before I got there, Jim had been watching a Spotted Towhee, but this was now nowhere to be seen!

We moved over to the north side of the road and Jim almost immediately called up a Green-tailed Towhee, which perched in full view for a couple of minutes.

As soon as the Towhee disappeared, a group of Chipping Sparrows turned up and brought with them a Dark-eyed Junco.

Surprisingly, that's only the third Junco I've seen in Texas. (Of course, I saw a lot more of them in California on the weekend. But I'll start reporting on that trip tomorrow.).
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-11-16T06:14:00.000-06:00

Home and Away

2011-11-15T06:11:00.001-06:00

.Our yards continue to get lots of visitors.

Carolina Chickadees, Northern Mockingbirds, House Finches and White-winged Doves never seem to leave, while Carolina Wrens have been apearing more often than usual.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers pop in now and then, but Downy Woodpeckers visit very regularly. The female always seem rather cautious as she approaches the suet feeder.

The male is usually bolder and flies straight onto the feeder.

Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to visit but I rarely get a chance to photograph them. Our Ruby-crowned Kinglet is much more obliging.

Dee and I are both still thrilled each time we get to see him close up.

Away
When you read this, we'll be in San Francisco. It's mainly a work trip but Dee will be going with me and we're hoping to fit in some birding on Sunday. See you back here on Wednesday!

Katy Prairie Birding

2011-11-13T06:04:00.005-06:00

.Friday morning I arranged to arrive at work late so that I could spend an hour birding along Longenbaugh and Sharp Roads on the Katy Prairie. I was hoping to see at least some of the exciting birds that other birders had been reporting from the area. I was particularly hoping to see Common Ground Doves, which would be a new species for me.

Things started well when I spotted a Crested Caracara in a field along Porter Road End.

Longenbaugh had plenty of Eastern Meadowlarks, Loggerhead Shrikes and Savannah Sparrows but none of the birds I was looking for.

I was luckier at the south edge of Paul Rushing Park, where I saw several Common Ground Doves sitting on a fence. The Ground Doves were too far away for a photo but this White-winged Dove was just above my head.

At the north side of Paul Rushing I saw several more Common Ground Doves - this time too elusive to photograph - as well as my First-of-Season White-crowned Sparrows.

Everywhere I drove there were Red-tailed Hawks perched on utility poles. Unfortunately, not one of them stayed still long enough for me to get a photo. However, as I was driving to work at the end of my birding time, I was lucky enough to get good views of a Red-shouldered Hawk right by the side of FM 529.

CyFair Campus

2011-11-11T06:34:00.000-06:00

.It has continued to be fairly quiet for birds around most of the campus this week, although a pair of White Ibis strolled along the drainage on Wednesday.

By contrast, the retention ponds have been busy. Apart from our resident Great Egret and a couple of Snowy Egrets, the ponds have been hosting a large group of American Coots and a smaller group of Pied-billed Grebes. The two species seem to co-exist quite happily.

I caught this Grebe just as it was preparing to dive.

On Thursday there were also several Redheads mixed in with the Coots and Grebes.

Late on Thursday morning I was talking with a colleague at the library entrance when I notice a bird start climbing up the trunk of a young pine tree. I rushed over and, yes, it was a Brown Creeper, a new bird for our campus list!

The bird let me walk right up to it, and it didn't fly away even when I gently touched its tail feathers. What a great chance for a photo - if I hadn't left my camera in the car. As the bird seemed settled where it was, I ran the couple of hundred yards to where my car was parked, grabbed my camera from the trunk and rushed back to the tree. The bird was still there!

Close Viewing

2011-11-09T06:54:00.000-06:00

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A couple of years ago we started hanging feeders outside our livingroom windows, so that we can watch some of our bird visitors without leaving the house. The birds like the position of these feeders, perhaps because a nearby wisteria provides safe perches from which to check out the feeders before flying onto them.

We normally have one Orange-crowned Warbler in our yards in the winter but this year we seem to have three. Here's one lurking in the wisteria.

As the feeders are only 18" from the window glass, we certainly get close-up views of the birds that use them. Most of the birds fly away if we approach the window but some, like Carolina Chickadees, are bolder. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet which has been wintering in our yard for 3-4 years is certainly not afraid of me.

If I get too close, all that happens is that he/she throws me a very stern look!

Katy Prairie

2011-11-07T08:27:00.000-06:00

After seeing that local birders had spotted three types of towhee along Sharp Road, I headed out for the Katy Prairie on Saturday morning.

I spent a fruitless 30 minutes scouring both sides of Cypress Creek along Sharp Road but saw only a Lincoln's Sparrow and a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk.

I decided to drive home via Paul Rushing Park and Longenbaugh Road.

Paul Rushing was very busy with cars and people, so I stayed only long enough to take a few photos of the one-legged Upland Sandpiper that has been hanging out there.

Longenbaugh was quieter than I expected for birds. There were the usual Loggerhead Shrikes, Northern Mockingbirds and Savannah Sparrows, plus numbers of Brown-headed Cowbirds.

The area below the Bear Creek bridge had several Inca Doves, a bird I rarely see on the prairie.

My final stop before heading home was a field crowded with Eastern Meadowlarks, one of which obligingly hopped up onto a wire to let me take a photo.

The Week at CyFair

2011-11-05T07:47:00.000-05:00

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I kept hoping that successive cold fronts this week would bring a tide of new birds to the campus. But they didn't. At best they brought a few more Yellow-rumped Warblers and Lincoln's Sparrows to join those that arrived weeks ago.

However, a male House Finch was a nice surprise, as it's a species we've only ever seen once before at the college.

Otherwise the nature trail was still mainly inhabited by Northern Mockingbirds.

On Thursday morning I got to the campus just as dawn was breaking beyond the retention ponds.

It didn't take long for the sky to change from golden to silver, black and gray.

As the light improved, I was surprised to find the ponds busy with a dozen or more American Coots and a handful of Pied-billed Grebes.

The banks were busier than normal, too. Apart from our usual Great Egret, there were three Snowy Egrets.

So, overall, not an exciting week at the college. Still, maybe next week will bring more cold fronts and new flocks of birds!
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It has been busy, busy, busy.

2011-10-30T10:27:00.001-05:00

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Unfortunately, I don't mean I've been seeing a lot of bird activity recently. I mean that I've been busy at work. Too busy to do much in the way of birding and too busy to update this blog as regularly as usual. However, things at work will be calming down now and so I should be able to get out and about to see what the birds are up to.

At the college, I've seen a few signs of fall over the past two or three weeks. The nature trail has welcomed House Wrens, Lincoln's Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

I've also seen a couple of Pine Warblers but unfortunately both of them were dead birds, killed by flying into windows.

We always have Killdeer on the campus but they seem to be more numerous than usual at present.

At home the only new birds I've seen have been an Orange-crowned Warbler and, just yesterday, a Yellow-rumped Warbler. However, we have seen plenty of our year-round residents: House Finches, Northern Mockingbirds, White-winged Doves, and Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Our Carolina Wrens and their one surviving youngster have been very visible, too.

As usual, though, at home and at work by far the most common bird has been the Northern Mockingbird. Three regularly visit the suet feeder right outside our livingroom window and at the college I rarely see fewer than a dozen on any 5-minute walk.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T05:29:00.000-05:00

Back to Brazos Bend State Park

2011-10-23T07:52:00.001-05:00

.We wanted to show a visiting friend some alligators and so drove down to BBSP yesterday morning.

We started at the fishing pier at 40 Acre Lake and spotted a group of four baby gators as soon as we stepped on the boardwalk.

Four larger alligators were lurking nearby.

A Pied-billed Grebe paid us no attention as it fished in the shallow water.

A stroll around the lake turned up 16 more alligators and lots of Red-eared Sliders.

However, there were surprisingly few birds. The trail had a few Lincoln's and Savannah Sparrows and the occasional Little Blue Heron and White Ibis.

White Ibis

The water had groups of American Coots, Common Gallinules, Pied-billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal but only a handful of big waders: a Great Blue Heron, a Tricolored Herons, a Snowy Egret or two, and a Great Egret.

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Creekfield Lake had more water than 40 Acre and had scores of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Unfortunately, they were all too far away to photograph.

The trees around Elm Lake held American Crows and a solitary Red-shouldered Hawk while the little water remaining had American Coots and Common Gallinules. An Eastern Phoebe was flycatching from reeds in the water. Just before we left, I noticed a flash of red in the bushes by the water's edge. I hurried over and had good views of one of my favorite birds, a male Vermilion Flycatcher.

Arrivals at CyFair

2011-10-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

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Monday morning was warm and misty, and the nature trail was absolutely covered in spider webs.

I was pleased to see that a couple of House Wrens had moved in over the weekend.

The cold front moving through the area on Tuesday brought with it lots of Monarch butterflies.

Some of the trees on the campus nature trail had bunches of Monarchs hanging from their branches.

The front also brought birds, including more Lincoln's Sparrows to join the ones that arrived a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday I was too slow to get photos of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet or of several small flocks of Scissor-tailed Flyctachers that passed over, but I did get one quick shot of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Thirteen American Coots have settled in on one of the rentention ponds.

Our resident birds have been active, too. Northern Mockingbirds and Northern Cardinals are presebnt in greater numbers than I've seen there in years.

Meanwhile a Turkey Vulture seems to have decided to fly over every day to see what's happening.

All in all, there has been plenty to look at around the college and I'm hoping that the coming week will bring in even more new birds.
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New Trail on Skillern Tract

2011-10-18T12:06:00.000-05:00

.Crossing the bridge, we turned left onto a new concrete path, which gave good views over more flooded fields. The fields seemed to be empty.

Then swarms of thousands of birds would rise up in the distance.

Sometimes the swarms were caused by Northern Harriers diving down onto ducks and other birds grazing in the water.

The path soon ends at an observation platform overlooking a stretch of wetlands that was very busy with hundreds of Blue-winged Teal as well as American Coots, Common Gallinules, Pied-billed Grebes and a single Least Grebe.

We saw few large waders except for this Tricolored Heron.

On our way out of the Skillern Tract, we passed a Loggerhead Shrike that had found a good perch from which to hunt.

Back on FM1985, we were lucky enough to come across a Swainson's Hawk that was too busy grooming to be disturbed by our presence. What a magnificent bird!

Anahuac Revisited

2011-10-16T06:45:00.003-05:00

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No, we haven't been back to Anahuac NWR since our visit there two weeks ago. But I just realized that I never finished blogging about that trip and about the wonderful time we had on the Skillern Tract.

The Skillern Tract is part of the Anahuac NWR but is about 7 miles east of the main entrance. A dirt road takes you south between rice fields for a few hundred yards before bringing you to river with a parking area and a bridge.

On this trip, the rice fields were being scoured by several Northern Harriers.

Down at the river, the vegetation along the river bank was crowded with Red-winged Blackbirds.

We saw no fewer than four Vermilion Flycatchers.

Several alligators were cruising the river or lounging on the bank.

Anhingas looked majestic as they flew overhead.

Two female Belted Kingfishers entertained us for a long time as they either chased or followed each other from perch to perch, clicking loudly as they did so.

On previous trips to the Skillern Tract, we had never ventured beyond the bridge. However, this time we noticed that a new concrete patrh had been built on the other side of the bridge and so we crossed over to see where it would take us.

But I'll have to tell you what we saw in another post because this one is already long enough.
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T06:26:00.000-05:00

The Week at CyFair

2011-10-10T06:25:00.000-05:00

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It was a very busy week at work and so I had very few opportunities to walk around the campus. However, as usual, even walking from building to building turned up some sightings.

The mesquite trees between the Library and the TECH building continued to host visiting Common Yellowthroats and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers as well as at least one Wilson's Warbler (below).

The river had Great-tailed Grackles every day.

I had good looks at a Loggerhead Shrike behind the cafeteria.

The parking lot beside my classroom had a Northern Mockingbird that was snacking on parts of a large bug.

The trees around the outdoor classroom were busy with Northern Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, several Northern Mockingbirds, a Blue Jay, a Brown Thrasher and lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I didn't manage to get a photo of my first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the fall but good views of an Eastern Meadowlark were some compensation.

Bathing at Work

2011-10-08T11:14:00.000-05:00

.Our campus includes an artificial river that at one point runs over a series of stony steps. Great-tailed Grackles love the area.

This male was happy just to potter around in the water.

Later in the day, a female decided it was the perfect place to bathe. She was having such a great time that I couldn't resist taking a whole set of photos!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T05:41:00.001-05:00

.On Sunday morning Dee and I saw several Vermilion Flycatchers on the Skillern Tract section of Anahuac.

The adult males are umistakeable!

The adult females are rather more difficult to ID.

The juveniles are even trickier.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

2011-10-04T06:32:00.000-05:00

.Saturday morning we drove down to Smith Point in hopes of seeing migrating hawks. The previous day more than 8,000 hawks had been spotted from the observation tower but we weren't so lucky. In fact, after 40 minutes without seeing a single bird, we gave up and headed over to Anahuac NWR.

The entrance road was lined with Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.

There were other flycatchers, too, including this Western Kingbird.

The area near the visitors center was busy with hundreds (if not thousands) of Brown-headed Cowbirds.

A few European Starlings were keeping the Cowbirds company.

As the road around Shoveler's Pond is currently closed, we drove down to Frozen Point, passing several Loggerhead Shrikes and Turkey Vultures along the way.

Frozen Point was very quiet for birds. Apart from a Great Blue Heron and a Laughing Gull, we initially saw only a Wilson's Plover.

A walk along the water's edge then turned up a Black-billed Plover.

There was a solitary Willet.

Just as we were leaving, a couple of Seaside Sparrows came foraging through the rocks on the beach.

As it was now late afternoon, we decided to call, it a day and head to the motel where we were going to spend the night. On our way we say the first hawk of the weekend.

It wasn't too difficult to ID this one as a Red-tailed!

Katy Prairie

2011-10-02T06:58:00.005-05:00

.On my way to work one day last week, I managed to look in at Paul Rushing Park on the Katy Prairie.

Most of the lakes had very little water and even less bird activity. However, one lake was hosting a handful of Roseate Spoonbills. Some were hanging out on the boardwalk.

A White-faced Ibis (or Glossy?) Ibis was feeding right along a group of Spoonbills in the water.

A Snowy Egret was dashing around in the background, trying to scare up prey with its yellow feet.

A couple of Dowitchers were too far away to photograph but some Yellowlegs were closer.

As usual at Paul Rushing, the short grass held several Horned Larks.

A more surprising bird was a Clay-colored Sparrow, a new bird for my Harris County list.

Weekend Away
By the time you read this, we'll be enjoying a weekend away from home. We're heading down to Smith Point to watch some of the hawk migration. We may also drop in at Anahuac and perhaps even High Island to see if any migrants are passing through there.
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Wherever You Go

2011-09-30T06:47:00.000-05:00

.One of the great things about living in southeast Texas is that you don't have to go birding to see birds. You can see them in your yard, on your commute, at your work, in the mall parking lot - just about anywhere, in fact.

I was reminded of this the other day when I had to take my wife to a local medical center. While she was with the doctor, I took a walk around an ornamental pond behind the medical building. As I expected, many of the birds at the pond were exotic ducks. However, there were also some other birds.

First up was a Eurasian Collared Dove.

Nearby a Snowy Egret was fishing.

A male Great-tailed Grackle was showing off.

And a female Grackle was looking interested.

A family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks crossed the path ahead of me on their way to the water.

Several other families of Whistling Ducks were already enjoying the pond.

An hour later, on my drive to work, I had a good look at a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher enjoying its lunch.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T07:03:00.002-05:00

Sheldon Lake

2011-09-27T06:20:00.000-05:00

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When I visited Colorado and Montana last month, I was bowled over by the beauty of the mountain scenery in Rocky Mountain and Glacier National Parks. I was constantly asking myself why on earth I live in flat-as-a-pancake southeast Texas.

However, after getting back to Houston, it took only a brief visit to Sheldon Lake Environmental Center to remind me why I like southeast Texas. It's because the whole area is just bursting with life - plant life, bird life, insect life, reptile life ...

Let me show you what I mean by giving a quick photo report on just some of the wildlife I saw in 90 minutes at Sheldon.

New Feature
I was impressed to see that Sheldon Lake now has a fantastic new observation tower, which even has an elevator!

From the top you get great views of the lake.

In a few months the tower should also make it possible to get good views of the large flock of Snow Geese that usually winters on the site.
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Good Friday

2011-09-24T06:57:00.001-05:00

.Friday was a good day at CyFair.

The mesquite trees betwen the Library and the Technology Building had a Wilson's Warbler.

However, this time they also had a Common Yellowthroat, a bird that I've never managed to get a good photo of.

A Great-tailed Grackle was bathing in the artificial river.

He did not look pleased to see me.

The nature trail was quiet for migrants, except for a male American Redstart and an Eastern Wood-Pewee (below).

However, I did get a brief glimpse of an Inca Dove, a bird that I don't think I've ever seen before at the college.

Near the start of the trail, I was surprised to see what looked like a 9" or 10" black worm thrashing about in the undergrowth. When I got closer, I realized it was a very large and very agitated cottonmouth.

It's easy to see how this snake gets its name.

I don't know what had made the snake so upset. It can't have been me, because its tail was thrashing about when I was still yards away. Also, even with me standing very close by, the snake soon calmed down and closed its mouth.

So, a Common Yellowthroat and a Cottonmouth. That certainly made Friday a good day.
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Vultures

2011-09-22T07:18:00.001-05:00

.Driving along Porter Road End yesterday, I came across a bunch of Turkey and Black Vultures picking the flesh off what looked like the skeleton of a cow. Most of the Vultures flew off when I stopped but a couple of brave Black Vultures stayed where they were.

It's easy to distinguish between our two Vulture species. Black Vultures have gray/black heads and necks and their plumage is black except for white wing tips.

Turkey Vultures, which are significantly larger, have red faces and they have white feathers all along the trailing edge of their wings.

The two species have very different flying styles, too. Once they are in the air, Turkey Vultures rarely flap their wings. They don't need to, because they are incredibly good gliders. Black Vultures are less good at gliding and they have to flap their wings frequently to stay aloft or to gain altitude. So if you see a Vulture in flight and it's flapping its wings, you can be pretty sure that it's a Black Vulture.
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Quite a Change

2011-09-20T06:55:00.000-05:00

.After months of heat and drought, this weekend was quite a change. This was brought home to me on Sunday afternoon, when I dropped in at Russ Pitman Park to see if any migrants were around. Within a couple of minutes I had spotted a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a Black-and-white Warbler and a Great Crested Flycatcher.

Unfortunately, I had no sooner photographed the Flycatcher than the heavens opened and I had to run from the rain.

On Monday morning I took a walk along the nature trail on the CyFair campus. I was hoping that the weekend's storms would have blown in some migrants. At first all I saw were common residents, such as Northern Mockingbirds and Mourning Doves.

To be honest, though, I was pleased to see Mourning Doves yesterday and to have seen dozens of them on the campus over the past weeks. A few months ago I was starting to worry that our numerous White-winged Doves had driven away their smaller and less aggressive cousins.

I was just about to leave when migrants began arriving, starting with a male Baltimore Oriole.

A Great Crested Flycatcher was nearby, its rusty red tail making ID easy.

Then I was thrilled to see a Prairie Warbler, a bird I've only seen twice before and that we've never seen on the campus.

Finishing Off Montana

2011-09-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

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After leaving Kalispell on my final day in Montana, I headed south to check out Swan Lake.

I was lucky enough to catch a flock of Red-eyed and Warbling Vireos and a few Yellow Warblers foraging in bushes by the lakeside, while Cedar Waxwings were flycatching from nearby trees.

Further along the lakeshore I came to an observation platform looking out over marshland. Unfortunately, the only birds around were Barn Swallows.

It was nice to feel that down here by the lake I could walk around without worrying about bears. I wouldn't have felt quite so relaxed, though, if I had noticed this sign next to where I had parked.

My next stop was at a small city park in Polson, a town at the south end of Flathead Lake. I was hoping to find Pygmy Nuthatches there. Amazingly, I spotted one within 10 minutes of my arrival.

The only other birds in the park were Ring-billed Gulls.

After that, I headed over to a site I was really looking forward to visiting - the town's wastewater treatment plant. As every birder knows, birds love sewage!

I was crushed to find that the plant was closed because it was Sunday. I can't imagine why they would close the plant on the best day of the week for people to visit it!

Disappointed, I headed back south, stopping off again at the Ninepipes reserve on my way. As it was now mid-afternoon, there were very few birds about, except for the Grebes and other water birds that I'd seen on my earlier visit. However, I had wonderful views of the Mission Mountains from the reserve and from the road from there to Missoula.

So my Montana birding ended with a whimper rather than a bang. Overall, though, I enjoyed the trip. I hadn't seen anything like the number or range of birds that I had expected but I had seen some. (The trip took my bird year list up to 304 species.) And I had seen some incredible landscapes.
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Meanwhile, Back in Texas

2011-09-15T06:24:00.097-05:00

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Although I haven't quite finished reporting on my trip to Montana, I think it's time to catch up on what's been happening here in Cypress since I got back home.

Our yards haven't been as busy as usual with birds, because we still haven't put up any seed feeders. (We took them down a month ago to disperse the flock of House Finches that had become a permanent feature in our yards and that was suffering badly from an outbreak of avian pox.)

However, we have been getting some visitors. Several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been hanging around daily, taking advantage of the one hummer feeder we've put up while they're migrating south through our area.

Females arrived first. They chased away the only male that appeared last week.

Then more males turned up. Ever since, they've dominated the feeder and have kept the females at bay.

A few of our resident birds have been showing up, too, including Blue Jays, Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals. I sometimes forget just how beautiful Northern Cardinals are.

I started to put peanut butter on our fences to feed the resident birds but squirrels wolfed most of it down before the birds could reach it. What was left after the squirrels came was quickly polished off by another non-bird visitor.

Fall migration usually brings a few new birds to the CyFair college campus and this has been true this year, too. The most common migrants have been Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I've seen at least a couple every day for the past two weeks. They're tricky birds to photograph because they never stop moving as they move through the trees (and occasionally down to the ground) looking for bugs.

They may be small and fidgety but I love watching them because they have a lot of personality.

A pair of Baltimore Orioles popped in one day but were very shy. Easten Wood-Pewees have been more visible.

Warblers have been few and far between. Except for a glimpse of an American Redstart, the only ones I've spotted have been Yellow Warblers, either along the nature trail or in the group of mesquite trees near the entrance to our library.

So it hasn't been too exciting for birds in our area but, as always in September, there have been enough residents and migrants around to keep me entertained at home and at work.
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Kalispell, Montana

2011-09-13T07:28:00.000-05:00

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After arriving in Kalispell from Glacier Park, I spent a little time in one of the town parks. The residents included Black-billed Magpies, Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese.

However, I was surprised to find lots of pairs of Wood Ducks there.

The park had plenty of Cedar Waxwings, too.

It also had a young American Robin that looked to be in a very agitated state!

The next day I checked out a local nature reserve, where I was greeted by Black-capped Chickadees.

An Osprey was a fine sight in the morning sky.

Northern Flickers were calling and hammering everywhere in the reserve.

As I was leaving, I had great views of a pair of adult males who appeared to be carrying out some kind of ritual. For over 5 minutes the one on the left constantly ducked and bowed to the one on the right.

If one had been a female, I would have assumed it was a mating display. Since they were both male, I have no idea what the ritual was about!

After the reserve it was time for me to start the drive back to Missoula - stopping off at a few birding sites along the way, of course.
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Glacier National Park, Montana

2011-09-11T05:45:00.003-05:00

.As soon as I drove into Glacier NP, it was clear that I was going to see some wonderful scenery.

I spent an hour or two checking out a couple of possible birding sites but spotted only a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Common Raven.

Most of the rest of my time was spent driving up the Road to the Sun, stopping off at pull-offs along the way to admire the incredible views.

At one point I had to slow down to allow a deer to cross ahead of me.

At another I had to stop to take photos of a Mountain Goat at the side of the road.

The visitor center at the top of the road was packed with people, many of them watching a couple of small herds of Bighorn Sheep on the mountainsides.

There were smaller animals, too.

In every direction the scenery was spectacular.

After six hours in the park, I headed back down towards the entrance and to Kalispell, where I had booked a motel room for the night. Glacier NP hadn't produced the birds - or bears - that I had hoped for but it had certainly been well worth a visit.

And I still had one day left in which to explore some nearby birding sites on the way back to Missoula.
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Ninepipe NWR, Montana

2011-09-09T09:59:00.000-05:00

My drive from Missoula to Glacier National Park took me north and past the Ninepipe NWR. I stopped off to spend an hour birding the refuge with mixed results.

Most of the ponds/lakes were fairly inaccessible, being set well back from the loop road around the refuge. So I wasn't able to get good photos of the American White Pelicans, Tundra Swans, American Wigeons and other birds that I saw on the water. A pair of Western Grebes were the only water birds that didn't stay well away.

I didn't see a single shorebird except for a Killdeer.

Utility wires alongside the loop road had Barn and Violet-Green Swallows, while the fences had numerous Savannah Sparrows.

A Fox Sparrow was my first of the year.

A family of Chipping Sparrows made a cute picture.

A male House Sparrow with one of his offspring seemed rather out of place.

I was hoping to see raptors but saw only a solitary Red-tailed Hawk.

If the birding was a little disappointing, the scenery was certainly not, with the Mission Mountains rising majestically to the east of the refuge.

However, I was expecting to find much more spectacular scenery at my next stop - Glacier National Park.
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Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-07T07:15:00.000-05:00

Missoula, Montana

2011-09-06T07:05:00.000-05:00

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During my three days in Missoula I had very little time for birding. A couple of early morning hours in Rattlesnake nature area produced only a few American Robins, Cedar Waxwings and Northern Flickers. I must confess, though, that I spent part of my time there looking over my shoulder to make sure there were no bears rather than focusing entirely on looking for birds.

Two early evening hours in a city park didn't produce the number of birds I was hoping for either - except for yet more American Robins, Cedar Waxwings and Northern Flickers.

Things improved when I spotted a Black-capped Chickadee and then a Black-headed Grosbeak.

The highlight came as the light was falling and I was crossing a footbridge on my way out of the park. I looked down to the swirling water.

Was I imagining it or had one of the stones in the stream just moved?

The stone had moved, because it was actually an American Dipper.

I was thrilled! The Dipper was one of my target birds for the trip and a bird that I'd only seen once before, in Utah, many years earlier during my first-ever week of birding. So I watched the bird for 15 minutes as it pottered around in and out of the fast-moving water.
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Looking Back: Colorado 2

2011-09-04T07:30:00.000-05:00

.If Rocky Mountain National Park was rather disappointing for birds, it certainly wasn't disappointing as regards scenery.

The drive from the lush meadows and forests of the lower sections of the park up to the Alpine Center (at 11,000 feet) is spectacular.

I was surised to find that wildflowers were still blooming everywhere.

The higher sections of the drive take you through tundra, a landscape that seems fairly barren and uninteresting until you look carefully and see that it is absolutely alive with small plants and lichens.

After spending most of the day in Rocky Mountain, I headed back to Denver, stopping off at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Nature Reserve. A hot afternoon is not the best time to bird this site but it still turned up some interesting birds. Based on what I saw on previous visits, a Horned Lark was a pleasant surprise but I was expecting a Swainson's Hawk.

I also had good looks at a Loggerhead Shrike and a Western Kingbird.

Tuesday morning I flew back to Houston, where I spent the night before hitting the road again on Wednesday. This time I was going up to Missoula, Montana. I was excited because I'd never been to Montana before and I was going to have time to spend two days in and around Glacier National Park. I was hoping for dramatic scenery and perhaps some new birds. I wasn't disappointed.
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Foto Friday

2011-09-02T06:06:00.003-05:00

Looking Back: Colorado 1

2011-08-31T10:04:00.001-05:00

On August 21st I followed up my early morning encounter with an angry mommy elk by driving into Rocky Mountain National Park. As on my previous visit in 2010, birds were few and far between. However, this time there were plenty of mammals around.

My first sighting was of several deer wandering near the road.

Higher up I kept seeing marmots, sunning themselves on rocks.

This one was doing some stretching exercises to prepare itself for the day ahead.

Pikas were easy to recognize because of their large pale-colored ears.

Chipmunks, of course, were even more distinctive.

I saw only a few elk until I reached the Alpine Center. From there it was possible to see two large herds, each comprising 200-300 elk.

If mammals were plentiful, birds were not. On my 3-hour drive I saw only: one Steller's Jay, one American Pipit, three Chipping Sparrows and four Black-billed Magpies (below).

However, on my way out of the park I dropped in at Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, where I was a little luckier. American Robins (below) were everywhere, as were Mountain and Western Bluebirds.

There were a few Lesser Goldfinch and Yellow Warblers, and lots of Cedar Waxwings.

A Broad-tailed Hummingbird disappeared too fast for me to get a photo but I had more luck with this Mountain Chickadees.

So certainly not great birding but definitely much better than in the park itself!

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Back Home!

2011-08-30T07:23:00.001-05:00

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I got home yesterday afternoon and was surprised to find that Houston was just as hot as it had been when I left.

There was one nice surprise waiting for me, though. Our yards have several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

It will take me a couple of days to sort through my photos of Montana. In the meantime, here are some pictures of those hummers.

Notes from Montana

2011-08-28T19:36:00.000-05:00

.Not doing as well as I hoped for new birds up here in Montana but the landcapes are incredible - and it's quite a bit cooler than Houston.

Glacier Park yesterday was impressive.

Didn't see any bears but lots of Bighorn Sheep.

Some of the mountain goats were not at all shy.

I always confuse American Crows and Common Ravens. Unitil I see a Raven. Then I remember how huge they are. (This was one of only four bird species that I saw in Glacier in 7 hours!)

Currently in Karispell, where Wood Ducks hang out in the town parks.

Heading back to Missoula early today, stopping off at some birding sites long the way. Wish me luck!
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Parking Lot Birding

2011-08-25T06:46:00.001-05:00

.Monday morning I was sitting drinking coffee in front of the hotel where I was staying in Denver. The view wasn't exciting - rows of cars, lines of lampposts and a few small trees - so I didn't have my camera with me.

Suddenly a rabbit hopped across between the cars and passed by within 3-4 feet of me. Then three Magpies flew down and searched the edge of the lot for food. As I turned to leave, I saw another bird out of the corner of my eye. It was largish and brown and/or grey, and as it flew I thought I glimpsed a white rump and blackish tail. I couldn't think what it was.

The next morning I was in front of the hotel again, but this time I had my camera. Luckily! A loud call from on top of a lampost made me look up to see - a male Northern Flicker. What an odd bird to see in an urban parking lot!

A few minutes later his mate arrived.

I realized this was the bird I had glimpsed the previous day.

She proceeded to do her morning grooming.

Turning back to enter the hotel, I looked up to see a Double-crested Cormorant cross the sky above, followed a moment later by an American Crow. Then I noticed a bird on the corner of the hotel roof. An American Kestrel.

It just shows that even the most unlikely places can produce interesting bird sightings - and that you should always carry a camera.
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