Although spring migration is now well underway, I've seen few signs of it on the CyFair campus. I did hear and even get a glimpse of a Chuck-will's-widow early in the week but I was too slow to get a photo of it. There are signs of spring all over, however.
Rabbits are everywhere.
Male Northern Mockingbirds are singing and displaying desperately to attract mates.
Our Purple Martin apartment complex is fully occupied.
When we think of Purple Martins, we tend to picture the handsome males.
However, the females are also handsome-looking birds.
Handsome is not a word I've ever heard applied to Black Vultures. I mention Black Vultures because a student showed me where one has laid two eggs deep in the undergrowth by the nature trail.
We didn't go near the eggs but, even so, the mother emerged to keep an eye on us.
I've asked the student not to back to the eggs, in case the mother abandons them. Luckily, they are are well off the beaten track and should be safe until they hatch.
P.S.
I keep noticing Black-bellied Whistling Ducks by the campus detention ponds. This is something I haven't seen for two years; in fact, since they did a lot of work reshaping the edges of the ponds in 2011. I'm hoping it means that adults will bring their ducklings to the ponds later in the year, something that I used to enjoy watching every summer. In the meantime I'll settle for watching two Whistling Ducks which have taken to grazing on a small patch of grass between the library and the technology building.
They don't seem to mind that, every hour, hundreds of students and staff walk by just a few yards away.
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