A Good Day at High Island

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I managed to squeeze in a morning's birding at High Island and was lucky enough to see quite a range of birds.

At 7:00 a.m. the trees on the southern edge of Boy Scout Woods were crowded with Orchard Orioles. There must have been a couple of hundred or more.

An hour later, a patch of trees and bushes were hopping with action: Eastern Wood-Pewee, Warbling Vireo, Yellow-breasted Chat, Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Three Indigo Buntings were popular with the watchers.

So, too, were two Painted Buntings, even if they stayed more hidden.

After that, Boy Scout Woods quietened down, although I did run across a couple of Summer Tanagers, three more species of Vireo, and several Gray Catbirds (below).

With some friends I headed up to Smith Oaks to see if things were better there. The woods were quiet there also, although a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (below) gave us good looks while a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the same tree was more difficult to see.

Back in the parking lot, I noticed a flash of orange in a tree right next to my car: Baltimore Oriole. A small crowd of birders gathered to watch as the Oriole flitted from branch to branch.

We were all so busy admiring the Oriole that it took us a while to notice that a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was hopping around just feet from the Oriole. 

Both birds stayed in the same tree for well over ten minutes.
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