Recently at CyFair

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This week has been fairly quiet for birds on the CyFair campus, except for normal residents, such as Great Egret, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal, Great-tailed Grackle, White-winged and Mourning Doves and Black-bellied Whistling Duck (below).

Early in the week I had occasional looks at Gray Catbirds, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles, and then a female Scarlet Tanager decided to hang out for a couple of days at the entrance to the nature trail.

On the campus, as everywhere in our area, Eastern Wood-pewees have been common sights.

Except for Common Yellowthroats, warblers have been few and far between. However, a couple of Bay-breasted Warblers turned up on Tuesday. 

They were joined by a Magnolia Warbler.

While I missed getting a photo of a Blue-headed Vireo, I was luckier with this Philadelphia Vireo.

Our martin house is full of nesting Purple Martins and it seems there is never a time when the sky near the nature trail is empty of these birds.

The campus now has several Western Kingbirds, and I am waiting to see if one pair nests in the roof of the basketball court, as has happened every year since about 2004. In the meantime, I always enjoy seeing these beautiful birds at different places around the campus. 

Incidentally, we have also had a couple of interesting flyovers. On Thursday morning I spotted a Crested Caracara, a bird we see only rarely at CyFair, although the species is very common a few miles west of the college. The same afternoon I was surprised to see an Osprey flying above the northern retention pond, a fish grasped in its talons. We had an Osprey around the campus all winter but I assumed it had moved on. It will be interesting to see how long it stays. It will also be interesting to see how long Cedar Waxwings remain: The flock that once numbered over 1,000 birds is now down to a couple of dozen.
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