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.