An Uncommon Bird

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Swallow-tailed Kites are exceptionally beautiful birds but unfortunately they are uncommon in our area. In fact, I have only ever seen one and that was years ago at High Island. So I was very excited to read a Texbirds postings that mentioned Swallow-tailed Kites were nesting in Crosby, which is east of Houston and less than an hour from our home.

Sunday morning I drove over there to look for the birds. Arriving on Aweigh Drive, I parked where the road crosses a flood ditch and I set off exploring the edges of the ditch. There were Great Egrets, a Snowy Egret, an Eastern Bluebird, a Red-headed Woodpecker, a Red-shouldered Hawk and several Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (below) but no Kites.

Then I glanced down the street and saw that several large, whitish birds were perched in a tree in front of one of the houses. I walked down towards the tree. Yes! The tree held no fewer than eight Swallow-tailed Kites!

A few minutes later the birds took off and flew across to the large flood ditch that runs parallel to and south of Aweigh Drive. They settled down in two different trees on the north side of the ditch.

I waited, hoping that they would take off again and this time give me a chance to photograph them in flight.

Five minutes later they launched into the air and circled over my head for several minutes. What a wonderful sight!

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A Local Site

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Friday morning I drove to the Longwood retention pond. It's a site that's just a mile from our house and that I only discovered in April.

The edges of the pond were ringing with the calls of Red-winged Blackbirds. Meanwhile half-a-dozen Cliff Swallows were swooping over the water as a Great Blue Heron flew over.

A Great Egret took offense and flew off as I approached.

So, too, did an immature Little Blue Heron, with more white plumage than blue. 

A Green Heron perched high up in a tree seemed not to notice me.

I was surprised to see an Anhinga fly in, dive a couple of times, and then stand on a post to dry off its wings.

However, I hadn't come to the site to watch wading or diving birds. I had come to see how the nesting Bald Eagles were doing. I hadn't been for several weeks and so I thought perhaps they had already raised their young and had left. So I was relieved to see one adult still perched by the nest.

Another adult was perched nearby but launched itself into the air when I approached.

It circled over me several times.

Since there was no sign of any young, I decided to leave. But as I was walking to my car, a juvenile Bald Eagle came out of nowhere and flew over me. 

The adult then flew off to the west, followed by the eaglet.

Although I stayed at the pond for a while, I didn't see another juvenile and so I assume this pair is raising just one young this year.
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CyFair Campus

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Overall it is still quiet for birds on the CyFair campus.

That is, it is quiet excluding Northern Mockingbirds. They are busy -and typically noisy - all over the campus.

Our Purple Martin house is a hive of activity, too, and the sky above it is usually filled with the cries of the 20+ Martins that occupy the house.

The retention ponds are surprisingly empty of birds. I walked down to them on Thursday expecting to find at least a Great Egret and a Green Heron, but all I found was a solitary Black-bellied Whistling Duck.

Meanwhile the Western Kingbirds in the parking lot are fussing over their nest. The male is never far away.

The female spends a lot of her time on the nest, where she can be hard to see.

Occasionally, though, she leaves the nest and perches nearby to do a spot of grooming.

I don't expect to spend much time birding over the weekend. However, I am going to check on the Bald Eagles that are nesting a mile from our house. I also hope to pay a quick visit to Crosby, where I hear there are some nesting Swallow-tailed Kites.
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Watching and Being Watched

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Because of work pressure, my birding at present is limited to watching the Western Kingbirds that are nesting in one of the parking lots on the CyFair campus.

The male is a very handsome bird indeed.

He doesn't seem to mind my looking at him. However, yesterday morning he clearly found the noise of my camera intriguing.

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Kingbirds Breeding

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Every summer I enjoy watching Western Kingbirds nesting on the CyFair campus. I normally watch the pair that nests under the eaves of the basketball court but this year I'm watching another pair. This pair nests annually in trees alongside the lot where I park my car every day.

These particular W Kingbirds have been around for several weeks and I've been keeping an eye on them to see which tree they would choose this time.

The Friday before last I saw the very first signs of nest-building. It wasn't too impressive!

However, by the following Monday morning the nest looked to be complete.

The next day the female was sitting in the nest.

The male, like all typical dads-to-be, was hovering nervously nearby.

The eggs should hatch on about June 15th. After that, it'll be fun watching the parents feed and clear up after the nestlings until early July.
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This Week at CyFair

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Now that migration is over, we've entered our quiet summer period on the CyFair campus. There are still some interesting birds around, of course. Common Nighthawks are swooping over the parking lots and at least one Green Heron is fishing the retention ponds. Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (below) are perching on lampposts, buildings and fences, although I haven't seen any on the ponds yet this year. 

On my only walk down to the nature trail, I came across a Turkey Vulture with a damaged wing. It scampered away when I approached but it clearly was not able to fly and so I don't expect it will survive very long.

As is to be expected, many birds are busy raising their young, like a Northern Mockingbird that was watching over its offspring on a parking lot gate.

Also in the parking lots I noticed what I thought was an adult Mourning Dove nuzzling up to its offspring.

As I watched, though, it soon became clear that what I was watching was an adult male with an adult female!

Nearby a Great-tailed Grackle was investigating a fast food wrapper.

The Western Kingbirds that come to the parking lots every year have been busy also. But I'll comment on them in my next post.
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