Edith L Moore Nature Center

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Earlier this week I popped in to Edith L Moore Nature Center in Houston in the hope of seeing migrating songbirds. The latter were comparatively few and far between but I did manage to see some: Baltimore Oriole, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Redstart, Great Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler and Golden-winged Warbler.

Most of the migrants were well out of reach of my lens but a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak flew down to the birdfeeder at the cabin. She looks very different from her beautifully colored partner but that beak is unmistakable.

The most exciting sighting was of an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a life bird for me.

While a group of us watched, the Flycatcher flew up and caught a huge dragonfly.

Then it started to do something very odd. It dropped the dragonfly and then flew down to catch it again as it fell. It went on to do the same thing several times.

 

Was it just being clumsy? Was the dragonfly a particularly elusive big? Was the bird playing with its prey? Was it practicing its flycatching technique? Who knows! It certainly made for interesting watching, though.

Before I left, I spent some time taking pictures of a family of four Yellow-crowned Night Herons at the pond. The two juveniles were not very active.

 One of the adults put on quite a show when it caught and ate a crawdad.

 

Once it had dealt with the crawdad, the bird decided it was time for preening.
 

 

At times the Heron looked more like an abstract sculpture than a bird.

The bird was very tolerant of people and let me get near enough to take head shots from different angles.

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Sunday at Edith L Moore

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In spite of the forecast for clouds and rain, Sunday dawned clear, sunny and dry. So Dee and I drove over to Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary to look for migrating warblers.

We enjoyed a 90-minute walk along the wooded trails even though we saw and heard virtually no birds except N Cardinals and a Great-crested Flycatcher.


Back at the entrance, a few other birds turned up. We watched a couple of Carolina Wrens chasing each other through the undergrowth and then caught glimpses of several warblers. The only warbler I saw clearly was a Magnolia, although other birders also spotted Canada Warblers.

We were about to leave when two women in the parking lot asked me if I had seen the Chuck-will's-widow. I hadn't and was very surprised when they showed me where the bird was sitting just 20 feet above my head. Apparently the bird had been on the same branch for hours.




I went off to bring Dee to see the bird, which was a new species for her, but when we came back to the parking area, the bird had flown.

Just then, local birder Jim Hinson turned up and we chatted for a minute. I complained to him about the Chuck-will's-widow's departure. He chuckled and pointed up above my head. The bird was still sitting exactly where it had been all morning.

Doh! I really must improve my observation skills!
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Tomorrow
More on my trip to the Yucatan.
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Spring Migrants Are Arriving

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Late Saturday morning we went to the Edith L Moore Nature Sanctuary in west Houston. On a good spring day - which Saturday was - there is no prettier place to visit. Plus there is the added bonus of an opportunity to see spring migrant songbirds. At the pond near the cabin, we had very good views of a Green Heron, standing absolutely motionless in the water.



The pond had Red-eared Sliders, too. These tend to be very skittish critters but the ones at Edith Moore are so used to people that they let you get very close.


Until the last few minutes of our walk, we saw very few birds: a dozen Cedar Waxwings, some Ruby-crowned Kinglets, several Yellow-rumped Warblers and a single White-eyed Vireo. (The latter was year bird #144 for me.) However, we did see our first Monarch butterfly of 2010.


Then we came across a small pond in a clearing that was hopping with birds. First up was a Black-and-white Warbler that was scuttling around in the leaves by the water's edge.


Then we were lucky enough to spend 10 minutes watching a pair of Hooded Warblers bathing in a tiny puddle among the leaves. The lighting was terrible but I managed to get a recognizable shot of one of the bathers.


A couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers tried to get in on the sene and the activity also brought in a Northern Parula. Like the Hooded Warblers, this was another new year bird. Back at the cabin, the feeders were drawing in common yardbirds, including a striking orange-variant male House Finch. The final treat was watching a Tufted Titmouse feeding a youngster.


Weekly Birdwalks
If you live in Houston, you should really try to get over to Edith Moore during the next few weeks. A good time to go would be for one of the weekly birdwalks (Wednesdays at 8:30 from April 7th) which Jim Hinson leads every spring.
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Warbler Walk

We decided to spend Sunday morning looking for warblers at the Edith L Moore Sanctuary. At most times of the year this isn't a great birding site but in the spring it's a good place to see warblers on their northern migration.

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As it turned out, our warbler walk started even earlier than expected. When we walked out of the house, we noticed movement in the tree next to our garage. It was a Tennessee Warbler, a new yard bird for us.

After admiring the Tennessee Warbler - and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet that was buzzing it - we drove down to Edith Moore. There we got out of the car, looked up and immediately saw a Northern Parula.

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The gardens at the cabin and the area around the pond were almost startlingly green as a result of recent rains.

The garden had butterflies ...


while the pond had a group of Red-eared Sliders.



We really enjoyed walking the creekside trails for the next 90 minutes, although we weren't very successful at finding warblers. The most common birds were White-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. However, we did see another Northern Parula and a Nashville Warbler. Then came the sighting of the day: A very helpful birder called Charmaine showed us a Worm-eating Warbler, US life bird #426 for me.

Back at the cabin, the feeders were attracting a succession of Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves and American Goldfinch.

American Goldfinch

Our final bird of the day was this White-eyed Vireo.

Edith L Moore
The sanctuary entrance is at 440 Wilchester Boulevard, just south of Memorial a few hundred yards west of the West Sam Houston Parkway. It is open 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. every day of the year and entry is free.

Each Wednesday in the spring there is an 8:30 a.m. birdwalk, led by a great local birder, Jim Hinson.