Bulletin 207 - fall birds

I have found some interesting birds the past few weekends. As you may recall, several months ago I featured the Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) in both male and female plumages. They are very common at Anahuac NWR and one can easily see a dozen or more. In the Sibley bird guide, he also shows a juvenile plumaged bird which he lists as being found from July to September. He didn't point out the differences, and I studied the photos for a long time before I saw that the juvenile has white tips on the primary wing feathers. So I looked for a juvie at Anahuac and never saw one.

On Oct 12, I found this bird at LaFitte's Cove on Galveston. He has the white tips!

Common Nighthawk - juvenile
 

Another juvie was a male Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). These birds tend to be skittish and when you try to approach them for a photo, they fly away. I saw this one on a post in a canal and stopped the car and took the photo out the window. The juveniles have a mahogany brown breast band, that gradually molts to blue the first fall. This one is partially molted.

Belted Kingfisher - juvenile male

One of the rarer warblers in Houston is the Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia). I have probably seen it fewer than 5 times in 25 years here. I got my only photos in Michigan last summer. Here is a first winter plumaged bird at LaFitte's Cove on Oct 19th. Because it was the first juvenile plumaged bird, I wasn't sure what the ID was. Several experts confirmed it. The grayish hood is discernible and along with the dark breast band points to either Mourning or Connecticut, but the yellow throat is the field mark for Mourning.



Mourning warbler - 1st winter

The black streaky breast band is seen better in this photo. There is also a partial white eye ring which is lacking in the adults to add to the confusion. This is the first juvenile I have ever seen, and without a photo to review afterwards, I would not have known which bird it was.





Mourning warbler - 1st winter



Another juvenile was a Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) who flew in and landed overhead at LaFitte's Cove. He was so close, I couldn't get the whole bird in the photo.

Cooper's Hawk - juvenile

 The last photo is of a skink I saw at the drip in Lafitte's Cove. It is a Broad-headed Skink juvenile. It is very colorful with orange head and blue and purple tail. The ID was made by a Texas reptile expert. When birds are slow, I photo other nature. This was a life reptile for me.

Broad-headed Skink - juvenile

 

 

 Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

Lisa Kelly-McDonald lisajanekelly67@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2014 David McDonald & Lisa Kelly-McDonald

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Bulletin 180 - Texas summer birds

Summer is a slow time for birding, but baby birds can be interesting and are readily found.

I had a quick trip to Kerrville in the hill country of Texas. That is the location of 2 special birds, the Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo, both of whom are endangered. I had only seen them each once before, but before I was doing photography.

We went to the Kerr Wildlife Management Center outside of the town of Hunt. Both birds can be found there.

The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) is a Texas specialty bird, as it only breeds in Texas and winters in Mexico. The male has a black throat, cap, and back. the bright yellow face has a black line through the eye. It superficially resembles the Black-throated Green Warbler, but the green is replaced by black. This bird was preening and pulled a small feather out which was stuck in his bill.

Golden-cheeked Warbler - male

He flew to a lower branch and I got another photo.



Golden-cheeked Warbler - male

I wasn't as lucky with the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus). I found a pair of them, but they did their best to avoid any photographs. I finally got a single photo, but will need to go back. This vireo is IDed by the black head with white lores.

Black-capped Vireo

A pair of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) on the fence allowed close up photos. The distinctive pink bare skin head is the field mark. Although they look black at a distance, the body is brownish in the sunlight.

Turkey Vulture - adult

Back home in July, I made several trips to Anahuac NWR. This is one of the best spots to find the Least Bittern  (Ixobrychus exilis). I saw about 6 this trip and this one sat in the open for an extended period of time.



Least Bittern

Anahuac is also a great place to find Common Nighthawks  (Chordeiles minor) roosting on fence posts at eye level. Notice the primary wing feathers have no markings beyond the white patch. The Lesser Nighthawk I found in the spring has buffy spots all the way along the primary feathers.

Common Nighthawk

I found a very young rail, which is most likely a King Rail (Rallus elegans) in the marsh at Anahuac. Notice how gray he is. The primary feathers are just about 1/2 inch long starting to sprout. There was a pair of them walking around below the boardwalk. He appeared to be fully grown in size.

King Rail - juvenile

I went back the next week, and refound one of them. The wing feathers are now perhaps 2" long.

King Rail - juvenile

Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) downy chicks are black with red bills and a black ring around the bill. This one appears to have feet way too big for his size.



Common Moorhen - downy chick

I found a family with fully grown juveniles sitting up on some reeds..an adult with 3 young.

Common Moorhen - family group

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2013 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 175 - odds and ends from the spring

There were a couple of interesting and rare birds  at the end of migration.

The first I saw with my buddy from NYC on Sunday April 28th at the Texas A&M woodlot on Galveston Island. It was a nightjar that flushed up from close to the ground and landed on a dead fallen tree. We observed it closely for about 20 minutes as it flew back and forth between perches. The 3 nightjars here in Galveston, are the Common Nighthawk, Whip-poor-will (WPW) , and Chuck-will's-widow (CWW). I had been hoping to find a Whip-poor-will to photograph. The Common Nighthawk has very long wings that extend beyond the tail. The other 2 have shorter wings and the tail extends to or beyond the wings. This bird became an ID challenge.

Here are my first 2 photos of the bird perched, both showing the tail as longer than the wings.

Also, we clearly saw that when it flew, it had a buffy stripe across the wing near the tip. I knew that Common Nighthawks of both sexes, have a white stripe across the wing. So both of these marks, the shorter wings and no white wing bar, led me to believe it wasn't a Common Nighthawk. I have photographed several CWWs and they have a very dark brown throat. Obviously not our bird. So by default, I was left with an ID of a Whip-poor-will. I have never seen them flying, so I didn't know what they looked like aloft.

I posted the images to Texbirds, and had a few responses, but the important one was that this bird is a Nighthawk. Only in Sibley can you find the field mark shown of the white feathers under the edge of the wing at the shoulder when perched. This bird clearly had those white feathers at the shoulder. This IDs the bird as a nighthawk.

So I was disappointed that I didn't have a WPW photo, but what was this bird? I want back to the same place after work the next day on Monday 29th and fortunately, he was still there and I had a chance to look at it again. Definitely, it had a buffy wing bar. The only other nighthawk possible is a Lesser Nighthawk. This bird is a bird of the south Texas to south Arizona. It is listed as an occasional vagrant here, but I can only recall a couple of mentions in my 20+ years birding here. The female Lesser Nighthawk (Chordeiles acutipennis) does have a buffy wing stripe and the male has a white one. Bingo! Also, the Lesser Nighthawk has a tail as long or longer than the wing tips.

The other interesting thing was that a Lesser Nighthawk had been reported at the west end of Galveston Island 2 weeks before. The next week, one was positively IDed at LaFitte's Cove in the center of the island. Then I had this bird at the extreme east end. The following week, a Lesser was found at High Island, a further 40 miles east along the coast. It appears that this bird was moving slowly up the coast.

The other important field mark is small buffy spots on the primary wing feathers of a Lesser. This can be seen in this photo.

Lesser Nighthawk - female

Here is a Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) for comparison. Notice the white patch on the primary feathers, but there are no buffy spots at all.

Common Nighthawk

So this was a great find. I have never seen a Lesser Nighthawk perched before as they normally roost on the ground. I only had a couple of photos in the air.

The other rare bird was the European subspecies of Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) found by an astute birder on Bolivar. This distinct subspecies (N. phaeopus phaeopus) has a white back, rump and tail. The local subspecies (N. phaeopus hudsonicus) is all brownish. This subspecies is a rare visitor to the Atlantic states (perhaps 6 records). There is also a Siberian subspecies that has a few records for Alaska and also has the white back and rump. This is the first Texas record of this subspecies.

The Whimbrel has already been proposed to be split into 2 species, Hudsonian Whimbrel and Eurasian Whimbrel. The British Ornithology society as well as the International Ornithologists' Union are both considering this split. So it is neat to have the bird already recorded prior to the split.

Here is an article I found discussing the proposed split and why some of these similar species in North America and Eurasia eventually drift apart genetically.

So here is the bird. The curved bill and striped head indicate the Whimbrel. The white back, rump and tail are obvious.

Eurasian Whimbrel

Large owls often eat small rodents and as they eat them whole, they regurgitate the fur and bones in a lump called a 'pellet' after the digestive process. I found a pile of these pellets at a spot in LaFitte's Cove. They appeared like a glob of mud. However, a close up shows it is mostly fur.



Owl pellet

I pulled it apart and sure enough, there were numerous small bones.

Owl pellet

Lastly, we had a pleasant surprise at home when we first unfurled the umbrella over the table on our patio in mid April. A tiny bat was found roosting inside the umbrella. It flew off with the commotion of the party and being exposed, but he returned the next morning. He has been present ever since, now going on 6 weeks. I have named him Mr. Ding.

I dug out my mammal book to try and ID the species and also looked up to see what species were recorded in the Houston area (11 species). I measured him while he was asleep and found him to be only 2" long. I took some photos, as one of the important features that help in bat ID is the shape and size of the ears. My diagnosis was Tricolored Bat (Perimyotis subflavus). It was formerly known as the Eastern Pipistrelle. It is named for the fur which is black at the root, lighter brown in the middle and dark at the tip. I sent the photos to Bat Conservation International in Austin and my ID was confirmed.

So here are 3 photos of Mr. Ding.



Tricolored Bat

Tricolored Bat

And lastly, a face on photo to show his ears clearly. The ears are rounded. The tragus (the small cartilaginous flap in front of the ear canal) is short and rounded.

Tricolored Bat

Male Tricolored Bats are solitary in the summer, while the females roost together in small colonies of 10-30 animals to raise their pups. It will be fun to see how long he stays with us and whether he returns next year, as the life span is up to 15 years.

This is the first bat species I have been able to photograph, as well as being a life mammal.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2013 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 139 - other migrants

David McDonald photography
Friendswood TX
5-29-11

Here are some of the other migrants seen over the past few weeks.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is by far the more common cuckoo that we have in Texas during migration. This one flew down to the drip at LaFitte's Cove and sat there while we clicked away with our cameras. This is full frame photo. One can see the lower mandible and part of the upper is yellow. The bird is also supposed to have a yellow eye-ring, but this may be a young bird as there is just a hint of a few yellow feathers around the eye.

The Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) is a summer resident here. Often we find them during migration in the woods. Notice that they characteristically perch along the branch rather than across the branch. This family of birds including Whipoorwill etc are usually dull brown with some white spots. One can tell that this is the Common Nighthawk as the wings are very lomg and extend beyond the tail. Nighthawks catch insects in the flight. The other birds in the family perch and just dart out to catch their bugs, so don't need as powerful wings and their wings are short.

The Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is one of 4 kingbirds that are similarly colored with green backs and yellow bellies. This is not a usual bird along the coast. It can be differentiated form the other 3 by voice or by the tail. Notice the dark tail with a white lateral edge. None of the other 3 have the lateral white edge. The bird was at LaFitte's Cove.

The Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadfelphicus) is similar to the Red-eyed Vireo in coloration, but the colors are more muted. It is differentiated by the yellow throat.

The Tanagers are the bright red migrants. The male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) is all red in breeding plumage. This bird was at LaFitte's Cove and is the best photo I have ever taken of this magnificent bird.

His cousin, the male Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) is red with black wings and tail. This stunning bird along with the male Painted Bunting, are the 2 birds that most beginning birders want to see.

Shorebirds are another attraction on the upper Texas coast during migration. The ponds at LaFitte's Cove are a good place to look for many of them. They are often a difficult identification problem for begining birders, but with study, most can be sorted out. After 5 years, I can now confidently ID most of them in the breeding plumage that we find in spring migration.

The Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) is IDed by yellow legs, bicolored bill and the clean demarcation of the breast streaking from plain belly.

The Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) is a long legged bird that has very dark streaking and a rufous top of head and cheek. They often don't obtain the dark streaks until May, so earlier birds are quite pale.The first photo is a bird that is still molting. The second is one in full breeding plumage with bright rufous cheeks and very dark streaking. This was the first time I have seen this bird in full breeding plumage.

Lastly, the tiny (0.11 oz) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) also makes the 500 mile trans-Gulf flight from the Yucatan to the Texas coast. These little jewels are also seen in good numbers in the usual migrant traps. This year I saw them drinking water at the drip for the first time. Normally they just drink nectar, but I guess they are dehydrated for the flight and need to quickly replace their lost fluids.

Here is a female drinking from the puddle under the drip.

The next week I saw this male sitting on a pebble in the drip to take a drink. Amazing! I had never seen a hummer on the ground before.

So the spring migration is over and we are left with the summer doldrums, until the birds head our way in the fall migration. However, many wonderful memories and photos remain to remind us of the beauty and wonder of this annual act of nature.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

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