Bulletin 314 - a few Texas sighting in past year

I have not been birding much at home in past year with the major flood and several trips out of the country. But there are always a few interesting photos when I do get out.

A wonderful addition to my yards bird list is the beautiful Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis). This elegant raptor is a graceful flyer. I first photographed this bird a decade ago about 40 miles north of my house. In the last few years, they are now nesting in my area and I see them almost daily. This photo was taken in my yard.

Mississippi Kite - adult

And here is the juvenile. Notice the long wings and goth eye make up. He also has brown streaking on breast and back of neck. This was also in my yard a few weeks ago. These birds are very vocal and call constantly, so I know when they are around.

Mississippi Kite - juvenile

A few vagrants show up in Texas from time to time. One of these is the Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima). It is a bird of the eastern Canadian arctic and they winter south to Carolinas, but a few wander further. This was the first winter since I started photography that one made it to Texas. It was a lifer for me. He has gray chest and back with slight purple cast. The base of the bill and legs are orange.

Purple Sandpiper - non-breeding

Purple Sandpiper - non-breeding (R)

Another good bird was the Tamaulipas Crow (Corvus imparatus). This eastern Mexico resident just used to appear in the Brownsville garbage dump in south Texas. If you saw the movie 'Big Year' it showed the birders driving around the stinky dump to look for this bird. But it has been totally absent until last fall for a decade or more. Then one showed up on the central Texas coast and I drove down and managed to get it. It is a smallish crow with a bluish sheen. It also croaks like a frog rather than caw like a traditional crow. I did hear it to confirm the ID. Here it is with some grackles.

Tamaulipas Crow - left foreground

During spring migration, Anahuac NWR had a family of King Rails (Rallus elegans) right beside the road and I took these pics out the window.

King Rail

King Rail

And there were 3 black chicks.

King Rail - chick

A week later, I found this Clapper Rail (Rallus crepitans) on Bolivar Island. He was catching small crabs in a ditch beside the road at low tide. Notice the gray cheeks and paler coloration compared to the King Rail above.

Clapper Rail

Lastly is a photo of a pair of Green Water Snakes (Nerodia cyclopion) copulating. I have never observed snakes copulating before. They were in a pond on High Island during spring migration. One looks at least 3-4 times fatter then the other.

Green Water Snakes

I have put the different bird families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 38 of the 254 species of hawks, eagles

I have photos of 37 of the 130 species of crows and jays

I have photos of 14 of the 138 species of rails and coots

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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