Bulletin #112 – Spring Migration #7 misc birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas

May 31, 2010

Bulletin #112 – Spring Migration #7 misc birds

Hello friends,

Here are the last of the photos from spring migration.



The first is the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus). This of course isn't a migrant, but a resident bird all year round. However, it is another of my nemesis birds and this is the first time I have seen this bird since starting photography in 2006. I have spent hours looking for one to photograph, and as luck would have it, one of the people who receive these bulletins happened to email me that they had a male in their backyard. I was invited to go over and immediately I jumped at the opportunity. Thanks Jim.



The bird is IDed by the black and white facial pattern.

Some young birds are already out of the nest here in SE Texas. Here is a juvenile Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis). It is likely a female as there is no red on the breast. Notice that it is a juvenile by the black bill.

I also am interested in injured and or sick birds when I can find them. I have several photos of birds with injured feet. Here is a Swainson's Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) who was holding his right foot up.

As you have observed flocks of birds on the beach or on wires, they usually face into the wind. I assume this is to keep their feathers unruffled. Well sometimes, they get turned around. Here is a Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina) that appears to have a collar of feathers.

There are 6 vireo species that we find during spring migration. These are Red-eyed, White-eyed, Blue-headed, Yellow-throated, Philadelphia and Warbling. The Philadelphia and Warbling Vireos, at least for me, are the rarest and this year I saw 1 of each, but some years I don't find a single bird. These 2 also pose the most difficult ID problem for beginners.

Here is a Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadelphicus). Notice that it has a yellow throat. The black line extends through the eye to the beak, so that the lores (the area between the beak and eye) is dark.

In contrast, the Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) has a white throat. The dark line just extends backwards from the eye. The lores are light. Here are a couple of photos of the same bird.

After the above photo, the Warbling Vireo flew to a branch by the drip (LaFitte's Cove). However, there was already an Indigo Bunting on the branch and they got into a squabble.

I managed to photograph the whole episode, so you can see the 7 photos and outcome in a slideshow here. Set the delay to 1 to speed it up. The photos are about 1/3 second apart in real time.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

I will be giving several talks in the evening on bird photography, Photoshop etc.


The price will be $1960 double to $2380 single. This includes hotels, all meals, guide, transportation in Costa Rica etc. The only other cost will be airfare and personal purchases (alcohol, souvenirs etc) . Space is limited to 10 persons to maximize our opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I have birded in Costa Rica previously. It is a wonderful country to visit and the bird life is exceptional. I hope that you can join us.


Here is the schedule of payments for the trip.


$ 25 reservation fee (not refundable)
$ 575 due April 30, 2010
$ 600 due July 30, 2010
$ 740 due January 15, 2011
Please send deposits to:


ScoBar Inc.
34 Galway Place
The Woodlands, TX 77382


Note - we will try to pair up singles and triple would be $1890 per person.


There are only 2 spaces left for this trip as of today, so please email me, if interested.


All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2010 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Bulletin #111 – Spring Migration #6

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas
May 11, 2010


Bulletin #111 – Spring Migration #6


Hello friends,


Spring migration is winding down here on the upper Texas coast. However, last Saturday was still pretty exciting.


I am going to highlight various birds that I photographed over the course of the spring that I didn’t have an opportunity to include in previous bulletins.


Here is a Yellow-throated Warbler (Dendroica dominica). It is an easy ID with gray back, black and white breast and bright yellow throat. This is another of my nemesis birds. It is a common early spring migrant, but I have not seen a single bird in the last 3 years until last Saturday.

Next is an even better photo of a male Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) than the one in the previous bulletin.

This is the best photo I have ever obtained of a male Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula). This well known bird has a black head and wings with white wing-bars. The rest of the body is bright orange.

The female is duller orange with just a smattering of black on the head. This bird is disheveled as she had just finished bathing.

The male Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) is all blue without wing-bars.

The Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) is a brown backed flycatcher with gray throat and yellow belly. It is a long time favorite of mine as they nested in a birdhouse in our yard when I was growing up in Ontario. I still remember their harsh song and I can ID this bird by voice (one of the few bird songs I know).

Another flycatcher is the dapper Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus). It looks like he is wearing a tuxedo. The white tip on the tail confirms the ID.

Lastly, we have a non-passerine migrant, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus). It is a long-tailed slender bird with brown back, white breast and yellow lower mandible. When flying, the rufous color on the wings is visible.

Now, to identify the Quiz bird from Bulletin #108, we need look closely at the few parts of the bird that are seen. It has a thin bill, some black on the face, yellow cap and a white wing bar can be seen on the right wing. The bill suggests a warbler rather than vireo or finch. There are only 2 species (golden-winged and chestnut-sided) that have yellow caps. Both can have black on the face, but the golden-winged has bright wide gold wing patches, while the chestnut-sided has white wing-bars. This bird however, has no chestnut bands along the flanks. But if you look at the first winter female in Sibley, she lacks these chestnut stripes. So, our bird is a first winter female Chestnut-sided Warbler. Thank you to those who responded to the Quiz. Almost everyone, who answered, got the correct ID – congratulations.

So here is a new Quiz. This bird puzzled me at first when I saw it last weekend. Please email me with your answers.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

I will be giving several talks in the evening on bird photography, Photoshop etc.


The price will be $1960 double to $2380 single. This includes hotels, all meals, guide, transportation in Costa Rica etc. The only other cost will be airfare and personal purchases (alcohol, souvenirs etc) . Space is limited to 10 persons to maximize our opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I have birded in Costa Rica previously. It is a wonderful country to visit and the bird life is exceptional. I hope that you can join us.


Here is the schedule of payments for the trip.


$ 25 reservation fee (not refundable)
$ 575 due April 30, 2010
$ 600 due July 30, 2010
$ 740 due January 15, 2011
Please send deposits to:


ScoBar Inc.
34 Galway Place
The Woodlands, TX 77382


Note - we will try to pair up singles and triple would be $1890 per person.


There are only 2 spaces left for this trip as of today, so please email me, if interested.


All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2010 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.

Bulletin #110 – Spring Migration #5 – more warblers

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
May 4, 2010

Bulletin #110 – Spring Migration #5 – more warblers

Hello friends,
Last weekend was rather slow except for Sunday afternoon. I was back at LaFitte’s Cove sanctuary on west Galveston Island.

The bird of the day for me was a male Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerula). He appeared ‘out of the blue’ in the drip puddle as I was taking photos of other birds and he was in my camera viewfinder. He is an easy ID with the blue back, white underparts and blue/black breastband.

A short time later he was on a branch above the drip.

A male Bay-breasted Warbler (Dendroica castanea) showed off his chocolate cap, throat and flanks.

In the previous bulletin, I showed some photos of a Blackburnian Warbler (Dendroica fusca). This day, there were at least 4 birds, more than I have ever seen at one time. Here is a male.

And for the first time I saw a female. Here colors are muted and tend toward the yellow rather than the flaming orange.

Several Canada Warblers (Wilsonia canadensis) also showed up. This bird is more common during fall migration, so it was fun to see them. I got my best photos ever of this species. Here is a male. He is IDed by gray back, yellow breast and a ‘necklace’ of black streaks. The large white eye-ring is an easy mark to see.

Also, a female was seen. Her necklace is faint, but the eye-ring is still clear.

The breeding male Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magnolia) is a dramatic looking bird with gray and black back and head; black face with white over the eye; large white wing patch and bright yellow underparts with extensive black streaking.

A nice male Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) also came to the drip to be photographed.

I showed a male Chestnut-sided Warbler (Dendroica pensylvanica) in the last bulletin. On this day, there were many of this species. On one occasion, there were 5 of them bathing in the puddle at the drip.

The female by comparison, has gray on the face and shorter chestnut stripes. Notice that she is on the same branch that the male was on!

I also found several plumages of the American Redstart (Septophaga ruticilla). The male is black, orange and white. He sort of looks like a small Baltimore Oriole.

The female American Redstart is gray where the male is black, and yellow where he is orange. I thought this was a female, but when I got home and processed the photos, I noticed that he has some black on his face and breast. This is actually a 1st summer male. He will assume the full plumage above by August.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

I will be giving several talks in the evening on bird photography, Photoshop etc.

The price will be $1960 double to $2380 single. This includes hotels, all meals, guide, transportation in Costa Rica etc. The only other cost will be airfare and personal purchases (alcohol, souvenirs etc) . Space is limited to 10 persons to maximize our opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I have birded in Costa Rica previously. It is a wonderful country to visit and the bird life is exceptional. I hope that you can join us.

Here is the schedule of payments for the trip.

$ 25 reservation fee (not refundable)
$ 575 due April 30, 2010
$ 600 due July 30, 2010
$ 740 due January 15, 2011
Please send deposits to:

ScoBar Inc.
34 Galway Place
The Woodlands, TX 77382

Note - we will try to pair up singles and triple would be $1890 per person.

There are only 2 spaces left for this trip as of today, so please email me, if interested.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2010 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask for subscribe.