. Another northern front is passing through, knocking temperatures down from 90 to 75, but I still haven't see any of our winter residents at home or on the CyFair campus.
Just as I turned onto the campus yesterday, though, I saw three Roseate Spoonbills fly over. They looked like three pink angels against the bright blue sky. On my drive home I spotted a hawk that looked different from our usual Red-tailed ones. I was able to grab a quick look and photo from the car. Broad-winged?
It's my birthday Monday, so we're heading to Austin for the weekend. It'll be great to be in hilly country again. We don't have any firm plans for when we get there but we'll probably visit either the Zilter botanical gardens or the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. On the way back we may pop in at either McKinney Falls Park or Bastrop State Park.
However, I know for certain where I'll be early on Sunday morning. The Hornsby Bend sewage plant. Nowhere better for birds than a good sewage plant, and Hornsby Bend is a really good sewage plant. I can't wait!
. At 8:30 a.m. on Saturday I was sitting near the hummingbird garden in Kleb Wood. It was a wonderfully cool and damp morning, and I was being treated to quite a display.
The main actors were Northern Cardinals and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. About a dozen (mainly male) Cardinals were flitting around the trees at the edge of the garden and flying to and from the seed feeders. Inevitably, given the number of birds involved, there was a lot of squabbling and jockeying for position.
Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were even more numerous and even more argumentative. There was no real reason for them to squabble, because Fred Collins and his staff have put out so many sugarwater feeders that each bird could probably have had its own feeder. Plus there were plenty of nectar-laden flowers. But most of the humminbirds seemed to have decided that a few of the feeders were superior to the rest and worth arguing over.
So for the next hour I watched as some hummingbirds tried to assert their rights over three feeders within 7-8 feet of me while the other hummers tried to drink from them.
Some of the "intruders" were sneaky and would try to reach a feeder without being noticed by the bird guarding it from a nearby twig. The guarding bird would swoop on the intruder and the latter would instantly fly away, often passing within inches of my head. Other intruders were much bolder and would openly confront the guard. When challenged, they would hover and spread their tails. The guard would hover facing her and would spread her tail, too. In most cases, the intruder would back down and be chased away. However, sometimes the intruder would get the better of the encounter and it would be the guarding bird that backed down and was chased away. Then the intruder would perch on a nearby twig and try to defend the feeder from other hummers.
If Cardinals and hummingbirds were the main actors, they had a good supporting cast. This was made up of several Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice. These two species behaved in much the same way. They would perch in and make a few calls from one of the trees near the garden. Then they would swoop onto a feeder, grab a seed and immediately fly back into the trees to enjoy their snack.
Meanwhile, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Blue Jays acted as a chorus, flitting around high in the surrounding trees and filling the air with their harsh calls.
I had gone to Kleb in the hope of seeing unusual migrants but in the end I saw only common birds. I wasn't at all disappointed, though, and I'll remember my hour at the hummingbird garden as one of the most enjoyable spells of birding that I've had this year. The only disappointment - and it was minor - was that the light was so poor that I was able to take very few photos and none at all of the hummers in flight.
. The weather changed abruptly yesterday when a northern front arrived bringing much cooler temperatures and yet more rain. With any luck, the front will bring in the first of our fall and winter birds.
If other years are anything to go by, our elm tree and should soon see the return of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-rumped Warbler
The suet feeders are almost certain to attract Ruby-crowned Kinglets, as well as Orange-crowned and Pine Warblers.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Orange-crowned Warbler
Pine Warbler
I would be amazed - and very disappointed - if the House Finches at our seed feeders don't have to compete with numerous Chipping Sparrows.
Chipping Sparrows
I'll be putting up thistle socks shortly and it shouldn't be long before they are crowded with American Goldfinches.
However, it will probably be at least another month before the tops of our oak and sycamore trees are graced by flocks of Cedar Waxwings.
If we're lucky, we may even get some less common visitors. This time two years ago saw the arrival of Red-breasted Nuthatches, which stayed to brighten up our yards throughout the winter.
In England I used to dread the approach of winter. Here I just can't wait for it!
. We spent Sunday lunchtime at Brazos Bend State Park, hoping for a repeat of our excellent sightings there two weeks earlier. However, this time the weather was dull and drizzly, and there was much less to see.
The Least Grebes didn't put in an appearance at Creekfield Lake. Instead we had to make do with close-up views of Common Moorhens ...
and young Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.
Not all the birds were so obliging, though. A pair of Wood Ducks, my first of 2009, wouldn't allow close-ups.
The situation was similar at Elm Lake, where several pairs of Wood Ducks kept their distance while young Common Moorhens were happy to feed just feet away.
As always at Elm Lake, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were everywhere. Very sociable birds, most of them were grazing in groups or resting together in dead trees.
Occasionally, a less sociable one perched in a tree of its own.
Our bird list at the two lakes: Wood Ducks, Blue-winged Teals, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Common Moorhens, Anhingas, Great Egrets, Snowy Egret, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, White Ibis, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, American Crows.
We got to the Audubon beach on Bolivar Peninsula at noon on Sunday and were greeted by hordes of mosquitoes and deer flies. We quickly covered all our exposed areas with lemon eucalyptus insect repellent and this kept the bugs off our skin, although the flies congregated in large numbers on our dark colored pants/shorts and stayed there throughout our walk.
Caspian Terns were hanging out around a pool just where the road opens up onto the beach. They were surprisingly tolerant of our presence, as were most of the birds we saw later.
The public section of the beach was quiet for birds but the pilings that block vehicle access to the Audubon beach were occupied by a pair of juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons.
The pilings that sit in the sea were occupied, too, in their case by Double-crested Cormorants and Laughing Gulls.
The tide was high and so most of the beach was under water. This may be one reason why the number of birds was fairly small. As always on Bolivar, though, there were enough birds and species to keep our binoculars and camerabusy.
Pools above the vegetation line had a Great Egret, a Snowy Egret and a very handsome Reddish Egret.
Reddish Egret
The same pools had a range of shorebirds. For some reason, most of the latter were much less shy than they usually are and it was easy to get within good camera range of many of them.
Willets and Long-billed Dowitchers walked gracefully through ponds ...
Willet
Long-billed Dowitchers
while Piping and Semipalmated Plovers scuttled busily around.
Piping Plover
Semipalmated Plover
The sea’s edge had Black-bellied Plovers, Western Sandpipers and small flocks of Sanderlings.
Sanderlings
A solitary Long-billed Curlew did not let me get too close.
Further out into the gulf, the waters were constantly patrolled by Forster's Terns and Brown Pelicans.
As we were leaving, we noticed the pilings were now occupied by a much less happy-looking Reddish Egret.
We finished our outing with lunch at Mario's on the seawall in Galveston. If you haven't eaten there, you really should try it. We think it's the best Italian restaurant we've found in the USA - and we spent ten years in San Francisco. The pizza margherita and rosemary roasted chicken are to die for, while the gelati are even better! The prices are very reasonable, too.
