This Week

.In my last post, I focused on photos of Black-necked Stilts seen in Paul Rushing Park on July 4th. The park was quiet for birds that day but we did also see a pair of Horned Larks. These beautiful birds are not very common in our area but you are almost certain to see some if you check out the sports fields at Paul Rushing.

One of the birds we were hoping to see either at the park or nearby was Northern Bobwhite. In fact, we had only the briefest glimpse of one along Porter Road End. However, on Wednesday morning I was lucky enough to see a pair on the main entrance road to the CyFair campus.

The same morning was also when I finally found the tree to which the Western Kingbirds had moved their fledglings from the nest above the college basketball court. This pair of Kingbirds has successfully raised 4 young every year since 2004 but I could only see two young birds this time. Perhaps the smaller brood is because the current drought has made insects - the birds' food source - comparatively scarce.

Nearby I was very surprised to see a group of House Finches snacking on sunflowers. This is only the second time that House Finches have been spotted on the campus. The birds were still in the same area yesterday and so perhaps they are going to stay around for a while.

Away

Dee and I will be away on Friday and Saturday. We're going to do our favorite birding loop again: Anahuac, High Island, Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston. This is probably the least productive weekend in the year for birding in our area but I expect we'll still see enough birds to make the trip worthwhile.
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