LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 9-11-11

It was only a fair day at LaFitte's Cove this morning. No drips were running.

There were 4 species warblers - the usual Black-and-white and Canada, but also an American Redstart, and an Orange-crowned (seemed pretty early for the OC). Here's the Redstart.

There were 2 pecies of vireos - White-eyed and Warbling. Here's the White-eyed.

There were several species of Flycatchers - Great Crested, Eastern Kingbird, several empids and an Olive-sided. The Olive-sided was perched at the top of a dead tree as is his custom.

He darted out and snagged a large bug and returned to the same perch.

After eating the bug, he flew to another tree and allowed a good photo of his olives sides.

This is an uncommon bird for me to find. I had one at LaFitte's in the same tree this spring, but these are the only 2 sightings so far this year.

Other birds were Brown Thrasher, 1 Chuck-will's-widow (seen only because he was harassed by a pair of Mockingbirds and flushed),  and several Baltimore Orioles.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 9-10-11

It was a beautiful day to be birding, sunny with a few clouds and light breeze. The drips were on today. The schedule is Wednesday and Saturday mornings due to water restrictions on Galveston Island.

The woods had lots of birds this morning. There were 4 species of warblers seen - 2 Black-and-white, 3-4 Canada, 1 Ovenbird and 1 Mourning. Here is a Black-and-white enjoying the drip.

There were several Warbling Vireos. There was a number of flycatchers including an eastern Wood-Pewee, an empid, a couple of Great Crested Flycatchers and maybe 10 Eastern Kingbirds. including this one.

There were numerous Baltimore Orioles with numerous juveniles. Here is a juvie male at the drip.

Other migrants included a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo  and best of all 2 Chuck-will's-widows. I was watching the drip when this one flew into the back of the drip area. Best photo ever for me (only the second one) of this species. I don't think I have ever seen the feet of any of this family of birds. His toes can be seen wrapped around the tiny branches. Talk about a stroke of luck!

It was so much fun today, I'll check it out again tomorrow.

PS - another birder was at LaFitte's before 8am and saw Veery, Dickcissels, Worm-eating Warbler and Red-eyed, and Philadelphia Vireos besides the birds I listed.

Bulletin #142 -fall birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
9-5-11

Well my 'pet' hawks don't hang around anymore as I can't get any more crayfish. I don't know what happened to the juvenile, as I have not seen it since July 11th. I don't know hawk behavior. Perhaps the adults drive off the young to find their own territory? I certainly am going to hope that is the case rather than something bad happened to the bird.

There are currently 3 adults in the area, and I don't know whether they are trying to pair up for next years breeding season. While I still had some crayfish in mid July, I wantd to try and get an action shot of the adult swooping down to pluck the crayfish off the grass. I just used a 24-105 mm lens and focussed on the crayfish and then set the focus to manual. I managed to get a few photos and here is the best of them. These large birds are quite aerobatic!

Fall migration has begun. I have had several hummingbirds coming to the feeders since I put them up last week. At first there were just single birds, but now I have several in the yard at once.

I have been to LaFitte's Cove in Galveston to look for fall migrants. Here's a Black-and-white Warbler.

The next one is a Canada Warbler.

The last of the warblers I was able to photograph, was a Magnolia Warbler.

Several species of flycatchers were also seen. Here is an Eastern Kingbird.

Several species of empidonax flycatchers were found. They are a difficult ID problem, so I usually have to post them to Texbirds and ask for help. This one is a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.

An unusual bird for LaFitte's Cove was this Magnificent Frigatebird soaring just above the trees last Saturday.

August was the hottest month in Houston history with 100 degrees or more for daily highs for 30 of the 31 days. It was just too miserable to be out birding, so I plan to make up for it as the cooler fall days bring us some relief.

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.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 9-3-11

Galveston Island finally has some water. The tide is very high from the tropical storm in the Gulf. Many of the low areas are flooded with sea water. (along Stewart Road, 8 Mile Road etc) At least there will be some mud flats afterwards for shorebirds.

At LaFitte's Cove this morning, there was an osprey flying low over the entrance road on the way in.

The weather was windy and sllightly overcast, but a little cooler than last weekend.

The woods were free of migrants except for a single Black-and-white Warbler.

The sprinklers were on in the woods watering the trees and thus the drips were running, but no birds were around to enjoy the water.

The best bird was this Magnificent Frigatebird soaring just above the trees. A first for me at LaFitte's.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 8-28-11

I spent a couple of hours at LaFitte's Cove his morning. Migration is heating up.

There were 5 warbler species - Yellow, Canada (at least 6), B&W, Magnolia, Yellow-breasted Chat (2).


Canada Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Black-and-whiteWarbler

Flycatchers included eastern Kingbird, Great-crested Flycatcher, this unknown one.

Unknown Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Others were Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, numerous Baltimore Orioles, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Brown Thrasher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 8-14-11

I checked out LaFitte's Cove this morning to see if any early fall migrants were present.

The whole of Galveston Island is bne dry in the drought with many ponds along Stewart Road etc totally dried up.

The ponds at LaFitte's are 10% or less of normal area. There were s few shorebirds in the pond across the street from the parking area.

In the woods, neither drip was running and several of the small trees planted in the last year or two since Ike appear to have died.

There were 2 warbler species in the woods.  A pair of yellow warblers were seen first.

Then I found a flock or perhaps 1/2 dozen Black-and-white Warblers.



The most common migrants were empids. There were perhaps 10-12 individual birds, but it is hard to count thses little guys. For those of you who are budding empidemiologists (to coin a word form ornithology and medicine) this is a great place to see several different species at one time.

I have tentatively IDed several of them but will confirm with Texbirds and correct the IDs if needed. here are a couple of Least Flycatcher photos.

This one is a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (the easiest to ID).

And this one may be a drab juvenile Yellow-bellied, but I'm not sure and will update the ID once the experts have passed judgement.

For people interested in going to LaFitte's for fall migration, the best time is 9-12 noon, as the birds migrate south in the early mornings. This is according to a Galveston Island birding guide.

Resident birds included 3 dove species (Inca, Mourning and White-winged) and Mockingbirds. There were no Cardinals or Woodpeckers seen.

Bulletin #141 - local wildlife

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
7-10-2011

Thank you for all the comments on the last bulletin with the Red-shouldered Hawks. Everyone seems to love raptors and especially when there is a personal interest story in it. I asked if anyone had any experience feeding non-typical birds like hawks, herons etc like I have done on several occasions. No one responded, so I assume that it is rather uncommon.

I have read of 2 cases. One you have probably seen photos of. That is the person in Alaska who collects dead salmon during the spawning season, and freezes them. He puts them out for the Bald Eagles in winter. He has dozens of eagles sitting around his yard. This is fairly straight forward as it is basically carrion.

The other case was in David Quammen's book "Song of the Dodo". There is an endangered falcon on Mauritius (Mauritius Kestrel). A man fron Scotland went to study them. He was able to train them to come when he whistled. He would throw a piece of beef into the air and the birds would catch it in flight, as they would normally take their prey.

Well my 'pet' hawks are still coming to get crawfish. The adult is now coming regularly as well as the juvenile. She is allowing me to approach closer to her. This photo was taken from 25 feet away.

The juvenile allows me to approach to within 15 feet. This photo is uncropped.

What I really wanted as well was a family portrait. Usually the birds sit on different branches or more often in different trees. Occasionally, they have been together, but by the time I got my camera, they had flown off. Last week I hit the jackpot. They usually are waiting foor me to get home form work to feed them supper. I didn't see them when I drove in, but when I went out of the garage, the juvie started screaming. I looked up and found them side by side. I raced in and grabbed my camera and got a couple of photos.

I love this picture. I am calling it 'Learning to Dance'. They both have a foot in the air, and the juvie is looking at the parent as if to see which foot he needs to raise.

Unfortunately, crawfish seasons ends soon, and I won't be able to buy them at the grocery store any longer. If I can't think of some other thing to feed them, they'll be on their own.

Last weekend,as I was in the yard watching my hawks, a pair of Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) drifted overhead. This dark gray raptor has some brown flight feathers.

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) are a very common swallow over much of North America. They normally nest along cliffs as their name suggests. However, they have adapted readily to overpasses and bridges. This photo was taken under a freeway overpass near my home. The mud nest is shaped like a gourd. The parent is at the opening and a baby can be seen inside.

Cliff Swallows come in 2 forms. The northern population has a pure white forehead. The Mexican population has a dark brown forehead. This adult has a beige forehead, so may be an intergrade between the 2 populations.

I visited Anahuac NWR last weekend. This is a large marshy wetland east of Houston, that serves as wintering grounds for huge numbers of waterfowl etc. It is also one of the 2 best places to see alligators in the Houston area. I wanted to see the extent of our extreme drought on this gem of a wetland. It is devastating how dry it is. For those who are familiar with Anahuac, there is an auto loop around a large pond called Shoveler Pond. The pond is completely gone and dried up. The ditches inside around the loop are 90% dried out and in places have no water at all. This is the only alligator I saw. He is in a ditch that normally would have 2 feet of water. Also, I saw that he was at an opening into the mud bank which suggested it was a burrow.

I saw several more of these burrows as I drove around. Here is another. This section of the ditch had some water. But notice the brown reeds. This should normally be lush green with our normal rainfall. Instead, it looks like California. When I got home, I looked up alligators and burrows. Sure enough, they dig these in winter to keep warm and summer to keep cool.

On the last leg of the auto loop, there was some water in the ditch, but with no rain to aerate the stagnant water, the larger fish are dying. What a shame. I'm sure that we will get some tropical storm rain soon, but many species are suffering in the meantime.

There are nesting Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) at Anahuac. Notice that the nest is also built from mud, but is an open cup like normal bird nests made of twigs. I find this very interesting, that the 2 swallow species use the same material to build their nests, but they have a completely different shape. How many babies can you see in the nest?

During spring migration at LaFitte's Cove on Galveston Island, this turtle walked into the drip. It is a Three-toed Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis), the local subsecies of Eastern Box Turtle. I think it was a life reptile for me.

I mentioned David Quammen's book 'Song of the Dodo' above. The subtitle is Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. It was published in 1996. It is a fascinating account of species diversity around the globe. He visited many islands on a MacArthur Foundation scholarship and this book was the result. I have read it several times. Despite the academic sounding subtitle, it is eminently readable and enjoyable. I would highly recomend it as a natural history read. I found a place where you can download the complete book on pdf  for free.

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.