Wordless Wednesday

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Cooks Slough, Uvalde

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Our Friday visit to Cooks Slough was brief but we were really impressed by the site. We would have been impressed even if we had gotten no further than having lunch in the parking area. Why? Because our lunch companion was a Vermilion Flycatcher, surely one of the most beautiful birds anywhere.

After the excitement of watching the Vermilion, we took a short walk out to one of the ponds. Blue-winged Teal and Gadwall took flight as we approached.

So, too, did Double-crested Cormorants and a Great Egret.

A pair of Golden-fronted Woodpeckers were even quicker to disappear out of camera range, but a group of House Finches stayed around longer.

 

After lunch, I had to lead my workshop for teachers in Uvalde. Work can certainly get in the way of birding!


Then it was off to the B&B where we were spending the night, Utopia on the River. On the way we passed Red-tailed Hawks and Crested Caracaras, before getting a drive-by view of a family of four Harris's Hawks.

The B& B was excellent, if a little pricey. As we drove onto the property, we disturbed a group of deer eating from a feeder right in front of the house and the deer were regular visitors throughout our stay.

By now the light had faded too much for photos but a walk around the grounds turned up Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, a Verdin and several Eastern Phoebes. So not a bad place to spend the night.
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Our Weekend

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We had a great weekend in the hill country. In spite of all the forecasts of bad weather, we didn't see any rain at all although a cold front did make it cooler on Saturday and Sunday.


We squeezed in an hour at Cooks Slough in Uvalde on Friday afternoon and were so impressed by the beauty of the site that we returned there the next morning. I haven't had time to process the bird photos yet but here are a few of the butterflies that we saw there.

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A Short Trip

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Dee and I are going to be away for a couple of days from this evening. I'm leading a teacher-training workshop in Uvalde and we're taking it as an opportunity to spend some time in the hill country.

We've never been to Uvalde but it has at least one good birding site - Cooks Slough. With luck we will see some interesting birds, including perhaps some of the following: Great Kiskadee, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Verdin, Green Jay, Black-crested Titmouse and Long-billed Thrasher. There's even a good chance that we'll see a couple of life birds: Green Kingfisher and Common Ground-Dove.

Friday night we're staying in a B & B in Utopia. It's expensive but it looks very nice and has a good bird list!

On Saturday afternoon we'll head for San Antonio, perhaps after visiting Lost Maples to see the fall foliage.

Sunday morning I'd like to check out Mitchell Lake in San Antonio before we drive back to Cypress.

I'll start blogging about our trip (and hopefully uploading photos) on Monday morning.

In the meantime, here's a photo of one of our male House Finches. Like the Wren I posted the other day, he has his feathers puffed up to keep out the cold!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Winter residents are continuing to arrive at the CyFair campus. A Brown Thrasher seems to have settled in on the Nature Trail, where I also saw an Eastern Phoebe and an American Robin on Friday. That's several weeks earlier than Robins have turned up in previous years. When I walked the trail yesterday, I also saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Yellow-rumped Warbler, as well as hearing Sedge and Winter Wrens.


One small patch of scrub behind some temporary buildings has been very busy with sparrows this fall. I usually see Lincoln's there but on Friday there were also White-crowned Sparrows and this first-of-season Swamp Sparrow.

Back at home I'm still waiting for winter residents to appear. The only one I've seen so far is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. However, our yards are a little busier than they have been for a while. I haven't seen a White-winged Dove for weeks but one was grazing in our front yard yesterday. Given how quickly one W-w Dove can turn into 20 or 30, I'm not sure whether I'm glad to see one return. I have mixed feelings about another bird that has visited our front yard several times lately - a male House Sparrow. It's quite an attractive bird but I certainly don't want to see our yards overrun by this invasive species. I probably shouldn't worry, though, because our Northern Mockingbird is being very territorial at present and keeps chasing the Sparrow away.

As usual, our backyard feeders are attracting lots of House Finches all day every day. Now that it's colder in the mornings, they have their feathers puffed up so much that they all look grossly overweight. The same is true of the Carolina Wren that has recently taken to singing on our fence in the mornings and then visiting the feeders. Usually a very trim-looking bird, this one looks anything but trim at present.
 

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No Pain, No Gain

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My wife and I both like passionflower (passiflora) vines and we have a couple in our yard. One has small yellow flowers but the other has those large, very exotic-looking purple blossoms.

Unfortunately, the vines are not doing too well at present. In fact, they're looking awful, because their leaves have been nibbled half to death by bugs.

The culprits are these orange-colored caterpillars.
  

 

It won't be long until these little fellows have eaten through virtually all of the vines' leaves. Then, if previous years are anything to go by, at least one of the vines will die.


However, we aren't going to try to get rid of the caterpillars. This is because they will eventually transform into beautiful Gulf Fritillary butterflies. These butterflies need passifloras because they are the only plants that the Fritillary uses as a site for laying their eggs and where their caterpillars can later feed.

It's a pity that we'll probably lose one of the vines but I suppose it's a case of no pain, no gain. And the Fritillaries are worth it.

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Our Favorite State Park (2)

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As we headed from Creekfield Lake to 40 Acre Lake, we swung by the end of Elm Lake - just in case there was something interesting around. We were rewarded with good views of a Red-shouldered Hawk.

 

As usual, the trees around the 40 Acre parking lot looked majestic and were draped in Spanish moss.

The lake itself was very quiet. There were half-a-dozen small alligators but few birds except Common Moorhens. Some of the Moorhens here were accompanied by juveniles.

A solitary Great Blue Heron was fishing.

Further along, a Tricolored Heron was prowling the marshy area beside the lake.

Before rounding the corner at the observation tower, we walked a hundred yards down the path toward Elm Lake and almost immediately came across a much larger gator sunning itself right next to the trail.

The first Belted Kingfisher I've ever seen at BBSP was posing on a snag but flew off before I could get a photo. A pair of White Ibis were less concerned by our presence.

As we walked back to the parking lot area, we came across a few songbirds - Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Northern Parula.

After that it was a picnic lunch near the parking area - entertained by N. Mockingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Yellow-rumped Warbler - before heading home.
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Our Favorite State Park

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Saturday morning we headed down for another visit to Brazos Bend, our favorite state park. We couldn't have chosen a better day, because it was warm and sunny but neither hot nor humid.

Our first stop in the park was Creekfield Lake, which seemed to be even more beautiful than usual. Or perhaps it's just that you can appreciate nature better when you don't constantly have sweat trickling down into your eyes.

There were plenty of bugs around but, luckily, mosquitoes were totally absent.

Red-eared Sliders were everywhere, sunning themselves on convenient rocks and logs.

There were several alligators, too. As it is now fall, they weren't looking to eat and were quite content to share their resting places with the turtles.

The only sound came from Common Moorhens working the lake and occasionally squabbling with each other.

It was good to see that American Coots had returned. 

The center of the lake had a Great Egret and a Mottled Duck, while the edges had several groups of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.

A Tricolored Heron was sharing a log with some more Whistling Ducks while a Green Heron prowled nearby.   

We stopped to watch a couple of White Ibis that were foraging through the reeds.

Then we stopped again to watch an Eastern Phoebe flycatching from a treetop.

While we were watching the Phoebe, a juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron flew in and landed on the railing of the small bridge where we were standing.

The heron seemed unconcerned by our presence. We all stood there only yards apart for several minutes, enjoying the view and the noonday sun.

Then we said goodbye to Creekfield and moved further into the park.

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