David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
April 26, 2009

Bulletin #76 – Upper Texas Coast spring migration #2
Hello friends,

(Note - click on the images to see a full size photo)
(Also - see all of my photos on my Pbase photo site)

I have been out several times so far looking for the spring birds.I have found several warblers and managed to get some improved photos.


One of my target warblers for this spring was the male Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea). I found a female last year, but have not seen a male in 3 years of doing photography. Well High Island came through for me. Here are 2 photos of the same bird. I used the first photo on my blog header. The ID mark for this bird is the blue back, wing bars and white underparts with the black throat stripe.

Here is my favorite warbler, the male Blackburnian Warbler (Dendroica fusca). This black and white bird with a fiery orange throat is a stunner.

Here is a male Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata). He is black and white with white face and solid black top of head. He has a slight wash of yellow on the wing edges, so maybe not finished molting yet.

To show the comparison between the above bird and the Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia), here is a male of this species. Notice the striped crown and black across the face.

In the mulberries at High Island, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (Pheucticus ludovicianus) were gorging themselves after their trans Gulf of Mexico flight. Here are the male (below right) and female.

Here is a breeding male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) taken at LaFitte’s Cove in Galveston.

Here is his cousin, the Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) who has black wings and tail.

Here is a male Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius). He is a small oriole at 7.25” in length. The ID is easy with the chocolate brown body, black wings, head and tail.

Lastly, is a Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). This all gray bird with a black cap is an easy ID and a common bird. However, he is hard to photograph as he is very skittish and tends to stay in deep brush. He also has rufous undertail feathers that don’t show in this photo from High Island.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2009 David McDonald

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