LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 11-26-11

It was a beautiful morning on Galveston Island toady. The mosquitos weren't a problem.

The woods were pretty quiet. Birds seen in the woods included Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers, Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, House Wren, Swamp Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and a couple of hummers. Locals were Mockingbird, Cardinal, Blue Jay, Downy Woodpecker.

The ponds were full of birds. Ducks included Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Mottled, Northern Shoveler. A few Am. Coots were present. Shorebirds were both Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, peeps, Willets and the first ever seen by me in this location was an American Avocet.

There were several raptors hunting over the woods and ponds..No. harrier, Cooper's, Merlin, and Red-shouldered. If you add the Red-tailed, White-tailed Kite and Am. Kestrel seen on Stewart Road on the way to LaFitte's it was a 7 raptor day.

Here are some photos.

Merlin on house

American Avocet - male non-breeding

House Wren

Bulletin #144 - miscellaneous birds

I have finally been able to get out and do some birding this fall. Winter birds are starting to arrive and the last of the fall migrants are about passed through the upper Texas coast.

I have had a number of good photos of hawks since the last bulletin

This beautiful Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) was perched in a low dead tree beside the road on Galveston Island as I was heading to LaFitte's Cove, early one morning. I stopped the car and took the photo out the opened window so as not to disturb him. A number of beginners or non-birders see the white head and think this is a Bald Eagle. However, notice the brown stripe through the eye. On a Bald Eagle, the head is entirely white.

Osprey - Galveston

 On November 5th, on a trip to Brazoria NWR south of Houston, a White-tailed Hawk (Buteo albicaudatus) was in a small dead tree beside the road. This large (20") hawk is a specialty of coastal Texas. It is IDed as an adult by gray back, red shoulders and white underparts. The tail is white with a black terminal band as seen in the 2nd and 3rd photos.

White-tailed Hawk - adult



 One of my nemesis birds to photograph is a Merlin (Falco columbarius). This 10" falcon is just slighly larger than the common American Kestrel. Last year I got my first photo of this bird (only a fair photo), but yesterday, I had one in a tree beside the road and got my best photo. The female is brown backed with brown striped breast. The male has a gray back.

Merlin - female at Brazoris NWR

The Northern Caracara (Caracara cheriway) is a common raptor in Mexico and south Texas. The adults have a black body and yellow legs, but the juvenile and 1st year birds have a brown body and gray legs. I found a family group of 3 birds yesterday and got a photo of the juvenile for the first time.

Northern Caracara - juvenile

I found this weird looking duck at LaFitte's Cove yesterday. I think it is a hybrid between Green-winged and Blue-winged Teals. No one has commented on Texbirds yet to refute my guess.

Hybrid Teal - ?Green-winged x Blue-winged at LaFitte's Cove, Galveston 11/6/2011

The drought all summer has caused most of the damp marshy areas to be bone dry. Thus any remaining wet areas have attracted the migrating shorebirds. One such area is El Franco Lee Park in SE Houston. They kept it wet by pumping water into the area from a creek. In any event, this Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) was spotted about a week ago and hangs out right in front of the observation gazebo. This is the second Ruff in the past 3 years in the Houston-Galveston area and the first record ever for the city of Houston. It is a Eurasion shorebird that does show up regularly in North America, but mostly on the east coast. This bird is IDed by the plump body, small head and short bill. I must admit, I wouldn't have known what it was. Usually they are found by birders from Europe who are very familiar with it. This particular bird is a juvenile because of the beige unstreaked breast.

Ruff - juvenile at El Franco Lee Park, Houston TX

Ruff

Lastly, the Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata) is another shorebird. It usually is difficult to see and photograph as it stays hidden in wet grassy areas. However, with a shortage of marshy places this year, many have been forced to forage in the open. This has given us birders our best looks at numerous birds as well as good photo ops. It is IDed by the long bill, striped head and 3 long beige stripes down the back.

Wilson's Snipe

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

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LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 11-6-11

Another overcast warm day on Galveston Island. On the way to LaFitte's Cove, there was a family of 3 Northern Caracaras. I was able to get a photo of the juvenile. They are brown backed and have gray legs.

Northern Caracara - juvenile

There were more migrants today than yesterday. A pair of Warbling Vireos were seen as well as 3 Indigo Buntings. The only species of warbler was FOS Yellow-rumped.

Indigo Bunting

The local Brown Thrasher is in the open more and allows good looks and some photos. This is normally a species that stays hidden in deep brush.

Brown Thrasher

A couple more winter species were found for the first time today beside the YR Warbler mentioned above. There were 2 House Wrens found as well as a single Cedar Waxwing in a flock of 3 robins?

Cedar Waxwing

I didn't see any new waterfowl or shorebirds in the ponds today but did see this unusual Teal that I think may be a hybrid Blue-winged x Green-winged. If anyone has any thoughts on it parentage or is it just a late molter. However, it seems to have blue feather above and behind the eye.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 11-5-11

Today was still, overcast and quiet in the woods. I saw only 1 warbler species..Orange-crowned. Other birds were Am Robin, Brown Thrasher, BG Gnatcatcher, RC Kinglet. A late female plumaged Painted Bunting was also seen briefly.

There were a few sparrows in the bushes between the ponds and the only one I saw well enough to ID was a FOS Swamp Sparrow.

The ponds had the usual peeps, Killdeer, yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitchers. Several FOS Wilson's Snipes were found and some were in the open allowing good photos of this normally hidden species.

Wilson's Snipe

The ducks were Mottled, Blue-winged Teal, and FOS Green-winged Teal and FOS No. Shoveler.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 10-29-11

It was a beautiful day to be birding - sunny, cool, no wind and no mosquitos. The ponds have filled up finally with several rains and cooler temperatures. There were a lot of shorebirds and Mottled Ducks. The shorebirds included both Yellowlegs, LB Dowitchers, Willets, peeps, and a few Pectoral Sandpipers.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Winter species are arriving in greater numbers of species. In fact I saw 7 FOS winter birds there. These were Am. Coot, Lincoln's and Song Sparrows, Pine Warbler, Eastern Phoebe and 2 heard species - Am Robin and Flicker.

Eastern Phoebe

Including the Pine Warbler above, there were 5 total warbler species - Orange-crowned, Black-throated Green, Common Yellowthroat, Nashville.

I think I flushed a Whip-poor-will, but couldn't relocate it. Also a flyover of a Caracara was a good find.

I saw both the resident picoides woodpeckers.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - female

Downy Woodpecker - male

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 9-24-11

It was a great day again at LaFitte's Cove. The weather was slightly overcast, warm and still. The mosquitoes were out in force, enjoying the half-dozen birders.

There were 10 species warblers seen or heard. I saw Northern Parula, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Prairie, Wilson's, and Hooded. Mike Austin also heard Black-throated Green, Yellow, Nashville and a possible Waterthrush.

Northern Parula

3 species of vireos were seen - Red-eyed, White-eyed and Warbling.

The only flycatchers were empids. Mike Austin IDed Yellow-bellied and Least.

Least Flycatcher

Other songbird migrants were Baltimore Orioles, Gray Catbird, BG Gnatcatcher, Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Buntings.

An accipiter, I think a sharpie, was hunting in the woods and seen 3 different times.

Just before leaving about noon, I found this Chuck-will's-widow roosting on a log about a foot off the ground. I was able to show him to Janet Rathjen and her 2 friends. He was hard to photograph due to lots of vines in front, but I was able to get about 20 feet away and get this one - uncropped. This was my 4th of this specoies to find at Lafitte's so far this fall.

Chuck-will's-widow

On Stewart Road just past 8 Mile Road on the way to LaFitte's Cove this morning, a cooperative Osprey was sitting just off the road.

Osprey

Bulletin #143 - hawks and fall migrant birds

I finally have some available time to look at some of my photos for the past few months after a hectic summer.

I showed a photo of the adult Red-shouldered Hawk picking up the crayfish from early July. I went back and looked at some others, and some were also good. Here are 2 sequential photos 1/8 second apart as he is just about to pick the crawfish off the grass and just after as he is lifting off afterwards.

I also put those photos uncropped with the one before and 2 after in a slide show. The whole clip lasts less than a second. Click on 1 second below the photos to speed it up.  Link

 So here are some other fall migration birds I found the last couple of weeks.

First is an Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi). This large  (7.5") flycatcher usually sits at the top of tall trees. He is IDed by the dark vest. Although he looks similar to an Eastern Kingbird, he doesn't have the white tip on the tail. I saw one of these the last 2 weekends at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston. Often, I don't see a single bird in a year.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

A favorite flycatcher of mine is the Great Crestyed Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus). Of the 4 myiarchus species in the USA, this one is the brightest yellow. I knew thisa bird from childhood, as they nested in a bird house when I was growing up in Ottawa, Canada. There have been about a dozen in the last 2 weekends.


Great Crested Flycatcher - LaFitte's Cove

 And here is one from my backyard who caught a large grasshopper.

Great Crested Flycatcher

A common fall warbler is the Nashville Warbler (Vermivora ruficapilla). This was the first I have seen this fall at LaFitte's last Saturday. It is IDed by the gray head and yellow throat and underparts. The back is olive or green. It has a prominent white eye ring.

Nashville Warbler

This is also the first Wilson's Warbler (Wilsonia pusilla) I saw this fall. It is all yellow and olive except the male has a black cap.

Wilson's Warbler

Lots of Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) are also passing through. They tend to travel in small flocks and suddenly you will se 8-10 or more. Here is a fist fall male plumaged bird. This is the first photo of this plumage I have taken. The bright orange shows it is an oriole, and he lacks the any black on the head.


Baltimore Oriole - 1st fall male

The best bird so far this fall was this Chuck-will's-widow (Caprimulgus carolinensis). At 12" in length, this is our largest nightjar. These noctural birds, like owls, are tough to photograph as they aren't out during daylight hours. One can see them in migration as they tend to flush and fly off, when you approach them. You usually don't see them until they fly. I was fortunate to be standing at the drip at LaFitte's Cove when this bird flew in and perched abot 30 feet away on some low branches. This is only the third photograph I have ever taken of this bird, and by far the best. The diagnostic mark is the brown throat as well as the size.

Chuck-will's-widow - LaFitte's Cove, Galveston

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.