Bulletin 184 - Anahuac NWR birds

Anahuac NWR east of Houston has always been a favorite destination of mine for birding and photography. 2013 is their 50th anniversary year.

I haven't been there this year until the summer and then several visits this fall. I am happy to see that they have recovered from the effects of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and the devastating droughts of the last 2 years.

The Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor) is often seen there is large numbers, when it is uncommon elsewhere on the upper Texas coast. It is identified by the rusty color, dark back and white flank stripes and rump. The sexes are similar.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Another secretive bird that is easily seen at Anahuac is the Least Bittern (Ixobrychus exilis). This bird is our smallest member of the heron and egret family at just 13" in length. This one was walking in the wide open. This is likely a female. The male has a mahogany colored back.

Least Bittern

An identification problem that I often have is with the juvenile night-herons. There are normally a lot of Yellow-crowned at Anahuac, but seldom do I see a Black-crowned. On a visit on 8-11-13, I found both. They are easy to tell apart if flying or standing completely in the open. But if they are in weeds or grass, so that you cannot see the leg length, it is more difficult.

The Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) has extensive yellow on the bill and large white spots on the wings.




Black-crowned Night-Heron - juvenile

Here is the facial detail showing the yellow on the beak.

Black-crowned Night-Heron - juvenile detail

In contrast, the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron (Nyctanassa violacea) has a solid black bill and small white spots on the wings.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - juvenile

Here is a first summer Yellow-crowned. It is grayish, but the white facial stripe is starting to appear.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 1st summer

An interesting sight was a group of 5 Neotropic Cormorants (Phalacrocorax brasilianus) on a dead bush in the middle of the pond. There were 4 on the branches and as I was taking the photos, a fifth bird flew in to land in the center between the others.

Neotropic Cormorants

At the old destroyed visitor center, many swallows nest. There are 2 species, barn and cliff and although they both build mud nests, the nest differences are readily apparent. The barn swallows have a typical nest with the opening on top. the cliff swallows build a gourd like nest with the opening on the side. Here is a Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) nest with 2 babies at the opening.

Cliff Swallows in nest

An unusual find was this European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) molting from his drab gray-brown juvenile plumage to the spotted adult non-breeding plumage. An illustration is shown in Sibley with just the gray head. This one really looks ragged.



European Starling - juvenile molting

I have about exhausted the USA birds, so it is time to extend my travels further afield and bring some new birds to the blog. Stay tuned.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2013 David McDonald

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Bulletin 165 - Maui#1 marsh and shorebirds

Lisa and I spent last week on Maui supposedly attending a wedding. However, the wedding was cancelled, so we had the honeymoon in Hawaii!

There are a number of familiar North American breeding shorebirds, that winter on Maui, so it was fun to see them again. Maui has 2 wetland areas, both of which are wildlife refuges. The commonly occurring birds have local Hawaiian names but some of the rarer birds do not.

The Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alae) is known locally as 'Alae Ke'oke'o. It was recently split as a separate species from the American Coot. It looks identical. It is an endangered species. I had seen the coot on an earlier trip to Maui before the split, so it was not a lifer.

Hawaiian Coot

The local subspecies of Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) is also endangered. Locally it is known as the Ae'o. The population was estimated at 1300 birds in the islands a decade ago. Like the coot above, this might be a potential split in the future.



Black-necked Stilt

The familiar Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is known locally as 'Auku'u.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

The most common shorebird is the Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva). The local name is Kolea. As well as in the wet lands, this bird is found on lawns, golf courses etc all over the islands. In North America, however, it is found only in western Alaska while breeding, and occasionally as a vagrant along the west coast. Here are a couple of photos of the plover. Some golden feathers can still be seen on the back.

Pacific Golden-Plover

Pacific Golden-Plover

The next 4 birds were all firsts for me in Hawaii. The Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) is known as the 'Akekeke. It was fairly common in the pond areas and is IDed by the bright orange legs.

Ruddy Turnstone

Some Sanderlings (Calidris alba) also winter in Hawaii, where they are known as Hunakai.

Sanderling

The last of the common wintering shorebirds I found was the Wandering Tattler (Heteroscelus incanus). Its local name is 'Ulili. This 11" shorebirebird is all gray with a white belly and yellow legs. It is found on the west coast of North America, but seldom in the east. I have only seen it a few times in the past.



Wandering Tattler

The last shorebird is uncommon in Hawaii and does not have a local name. It isn't even illustrated in the Audubon Hawaiian Birds guide. A local survey of birds on Maui had been done a couple of weeks before and found just one of this species, so it was a stroke of luck to see it on a large mud flat among hundreds of other birds. This is the Semi-plamated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus). This bird summers in Alaska and mostly winter in the Americas, but a few must head over the ocean to Hawaii.



Semi-palmated Plover - Maui

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2012 David McDonald

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