Medical Center Birding

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Our doctor's office is in the North Cypress Medical Center complex at Huffmeister and 290. As luck would have it, behind the buildings there are two beautifully landscaped ponds, which attract quite a variety of birds. Since the birds are used to people, they are much less skittish than they would be in a less urban environment.

We were at the center on Friday and it was a good opportunity for me to try out the new camera that is my Christmas present this year, a Nikon D3200 with a 55-300mm lens.

A Great Blue Heron posed nicely.

A Great Egret was less cooperated but eventually allowed a couple of photos.

 

While the ponds are stocked with numerous exotic ducks and geese, they also attract lots of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. 

Six ducks lined up neatly in a row. Then, of course, one just had to turn to spoil the photo.

American Coots are often present in or around the ponds.

There are usually a couple of Neotropic Cormorants also. On this visit there were half-a-dozen. I always enjoy watching them as they dry their wings.

I was surprised to see that they were catching lots of fish.

Their necks look quite odd as they swallow their catch.

We were there in the morning, when the light produces some rather nice reflections on the water.

 

The new camera and lens combo seems to work well, although it's going to take me a while to learn how to use it really effectively. However, as the holiday season is approaching, I should have more time for birding and to practice my photography fairly soon.
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A New Site

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A couple of weeks ago I realized that I hadn't yet seen any Bald Eagles this year. Other birders had reported seeing them in several different places in and around Houston but I had somehow missed them on birding trips I had done in the area.

Then I noticed that someone had reported online seeing a pair of Bald Eagles at a retention pond in Cypress. I checked the map reference and found that the pond was only a mile or so away from our house. So last weekend I headed over there. 

The pond turned out to be much larger than I expected and, sure enough, there were two Bald Eagles perched in nearby trees.

As the light wasn't very good, I went back to the site the next day and managed to get better photos.

Since the eagles have built a nest in one of the treetops, it shouldn't be long before I get the chance to see the birds raising their young.

BTW, the eagles weren't the only birds at the pond. The other birds there included a Red-shouldered Hawk, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Great Egret, a Great Blue Heron, a Little Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorants, Red-winged Blackbirds, Barn Swallows and Greater Yellowlegs.  

A score or more American Coots were paddling about.

Several Pied-billed Grebes were also feeding on vegetation in the pond.

I'm really happy to have found a site that attracts water- and wading birds so near our house and I'm sure I'll be visiting it often in the future.
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Mixed Emotions

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Spring is always a time of mixed emotions for me. On the one hand, it is sad to see the departure of some of the birds that have wintered in our area and to know that we won't see them again until the late fall or winter. On the other hand, it's exciting to see new birds moving in and to watch our residents getting ready for their main nesting season. It's invigorating, too, to watch plants emerging from their winter torpor to burst into blossom and to see the insects that emerge to take advantage of the new plant growth.

Almost all of our winter visitor birds have gone now. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Orange-crowned Warblers and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have moved north. When I've walked around the college campus this week, I've noticed that the flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers have left, although the odd individual is still lingering.

Most of our winter sparrows have also moved on. The only ones I've seen lately were a couple of Chipping Sparrows that visited our yards on the weekend.

On the brighter side, our Downy Woodpeckers have been mating, while we've noticed our House Finches and Northern Cardinals have started passing food to each other, which is a pre-mating bonding ritual. Meanwhile, male Northern Mockingbirds have been singing and displaying to attract females.

I mentioned some days ago on most days I've seen a of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks circling the college campus. Well, on Monday dozens of Whistling Ducks arrived. 

At one point it seemed that they were on every lamppost in the parking lots and even on the fences surrounding the construction work area. 

If we're lucky, several pairs will nest around the retention ponds again this year.

Evening Primrose and thistles are popping up all over the campus.

 

Honeysuckle seems to be thriving and its scent is almost overpowering along the nature trail.

While mosquitoes haven't appeared yet, other insects have been turning up in numbers, including several different species of butterflies.

 

 

So what comes next? I'm hoping the answer is that our summer-resident Western Kingbirds will arrive in the next week or two. If this year is like previous ones, several pairs of these beautiful birds should appear soon and should nest in various sites around the campus, including in the roof of the basketball court. In addition to watching out for the Kingbirds, I'll be watching our Purple Martin houses. Half-a-dozen Martins have already taken up residence there and I'm sure they'll be joined by others over the coming days.
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Cypress

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On Saturday it was good to get out of the house again after the big freeze. Dee and I went over to the college to take a walk around the retention ponds. As usual of late, these were busy with scores of Ring-necked Ducks accompanied by a few American Coots. At one point the ducks flew up when a juveniles Red-shouldered Hawk swooped over the water. The hawk then went to perch on a nearby post.

The ducks seemed less concerned when a Turkey Vulture flew low over the water.

The other birds around the ponds were the expected Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Eastern Meadowlarks, White-winged Doves and Savannah Sparrows.

Our last sighting was of a Loggerhead Shrike perched near our car and trying to look dignified while being buffeted about by the wind.

 

 At Home

Back at home the yards were once again crowded with American Goldfinches. Some 70 of them were spread out on the various feeders, the bird bath and the ground. 

This time I was very excited to see that there were no fewer than five Pine Siskins mixed in with the Goldfinches.

We had a good range of our normal residents and other winter visitors, including the inevitable sprinkling of White-winged Doves.

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Around Cypress

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Yesterday dawned dry and clear for a change. As if to celebrate the return of good weather, a Bald Eagle flew over as I was on my way to work. That was species #122 on my year list.

At the college, the nature trail area was too muddy to allow me to get close to most of the birds that were around. A flock of Cedar Waxwings stayed out of camera distance, as did the Pine Warblers which have been appearing in good numbers for the past few days. Only one of the many Yellow-rumped Warblers came close enough for a photo, showing the yellow that decorates both its rump and the breast just below the wings.

At home our yards continued to be very busy as dozens of American Goldfinch shared the feeders and the birdbath with Blue Jays, Carolina Chickadees, Northern Cardinals, Hoiuse Finches, House Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned Warbler, Pine Warbler, Downy Woodpeckers and Red-bellied Woodpecker. Dee spotted a Tufted Titmouse, a bird we very rarely see at home. I missed out on the Titmouse but I did see a Chipping Sparrow appear only to be chased away by the Yellow-rumped Warbler that has been trying to dominate our front yard. We have had many fewer visits by Chipping Sparrows this winter but perhaps this is because the Yellow-rumped has been keeping them away.

I keep watching the Goldfinches in hopes of seeing a Pine Siskin mixed in with them and one has been turning up occasionally.

BTW, I've been waiting for weeks for stores to restock the lens I wanted to replace my barely functioning zoom. Then at the end of last week I gave up and ordered a similar but probably inferior lens. It arrived yesterday and I'll try to give it a field test later today. Fingers crossed!
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So Far, So Good

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On Sunday I spent a couple of hours birding the Little Cypress Creek Preserve at the junction of Telge and Spring Cypress, just a few hundred yards from our house.

It was busy with birds, including many Yellow-rumped Warblers.

The best sighting was a brief glimpse of an Eastern Towhee, a new life bird for me. Unfortunately, I never managed to get a photo of it. 

It was back to work on Monday but there was time for me on both days to look around the campus, where the most exciting event was the arrival of 80 Ring-necked Ducks on the southern retention pond. Later in the week the ducks were joined by an American Redhead, two Lesser Scaup and a pair of American Coots.

Our yards have been busy, too, although no new birds have turned up. American Goldfinches continue to hog the sock  and tube feeders so that it's often hard for our Carolina Chickadees and House Finches to find a place to eat.

White-winged  Doves have been turning up by the dozen, while the Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers and Northern Mockingbird have had to share the suet feeders with an Orange-crowned Warbler, a Pine Warbler, a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Our resident pair of Carolina Wrens were looking for a nesting site yesterday. They checked out a nesting box on our shed but it looked as though the female rejected it. I'm hoping they'll end up choosing to nest in one of our hanging baskets.

Talking of our shed, Dee has had several good looks at the rat family which lives underneath it. The other day she watched as the two adults brought their two offspring out to eat sunflower seeds that had fallen from our feeders.

BTW, by the end of Wednesday my 2011 bird list had reached 72 species.
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Around Home

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There wasn't much time for birding this weekend but I did manage an hour yesterday morning in Little Cypress Creek Preserve, which is just half-a-mile from our house.

With its ponds frozen over and the vegetation covered in frost, the preserve looked beautiful. The cold meant that mosquitoes weren't around and that the trails were less muddy than usual.


For some reason the site is never great for birds and yesterday was no exception. I'd hoped for sparrows but didn't see a single one. On the other hand, Yellow-rumped Warblers were abundant and I was often in the middle of small flocks of them.


An American Kestrel flew off just as I was trying to get a photo.


A Red-tailed Hawk stayed a little longer.


At Home
Back at home, another hard frost killed off more of our plants but also brought in more birds.

The biggest surprise was to see 60 White-winged Doves take over our front yard and feeders.




Later, American Goldfinches finally discovered our thistle sock. It has taken them weeks to work it out.


Having a seed and a suet feeder right outside our living-room window has meant that we see many more of the birds that visit us. Now that the regular visitors are used to us, it has also made it easier for me to photograph them. They often let us walk up to within three feet of them now.

Although lots of Chipping Sparrows drop in constantly, I never tire of watching them. They are such neat-and-tidy-looking birds. They perch on a wisteria while waiting their turn at the feeders and their plumage really stands out against the blue of our garden shed.


An Orange-crowned Warbler occasionally manages to push its way in.


A Carolina Wren has started using the feeders, too, although it never gets in quite the right position for a good photo.


One of our Ruby-crowned Kinglets was posed more photogenically.