Bulletin 260 - Spring Migration

After last years pretty dismal migration, this year was spectacular. I actually was at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston for 2 days when we had fall outs and the trees were teeming with birds. These were Monday April 18 and Saturday April 30. What fun! 

I still had 2 birds to photograph despite 10 years of spring migrations. These were a male Golden-winged Warbler, and an adult Black-billed Cuckoo.

Here are a few highlights from 1/2 dozen trips to the coast.

The Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea) is a beautiful bright yellow with blue-gray wings. This is the only 1 I saw this year and it was on the 18th.

Prothonotary Warbler

A Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) was practically at my feet in the open. This is unusual for this normally shy bird. The bold spots on his breast can be seen to be individual feathers.

Wood Thrush

My friend Martin Jackson from New York and his son Thomas from LA flew in for a day of birding and they hit the jackpot on the 30th. Martin especially wanted to see a Yellow-headed Blackbird. Well as you know, that is a western species and is rare here. Well as luck would have it we found a pair at Anahuac NWR. I didn't get any photos, but Martin saw both the male and female!

There were a pair of King Rails (Rallus elegans) in the open at Anahuac as well.

King Rail

We headed to High Island after lunch and on the way to the famous rookery, I found my Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) right overhead. He is gray with gold wing patch, gold cap and black facial pattern.

Golden-winged Warbler - male

Next we went to LaFitte's Cove to see if there were any late afternoon arrivals as a strong front with rain had come through and that may bring in a fall out. Well it sure did. When we arrived, we were told that both golden-winged and the cuckoo were in the woods.

Martin spotted the Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus) in the canopy. It is IDed by the red eye, black bill, and long tail. This was the first one I had seen in the 10 years of doing photography.

Black-billed Cuckoo - adult

A short time later, another male Golden-winged Warbler flew into the drip. So 2 of them in one day. Most years, I don't see a single bird.

Golden-winged Warbler - male

At LaFitte's Cove on April 10th I had some interesting photos of a Great Egret hunting. This long legged wader can be found walking the trails in the woods and I always wondered what he was eating. Well that day I found out.

First he caught several lizards.

Great Egret with lizard

Later he tackled an 18" garter snake.

Great Egret with Garter Snake1

The snake wasn't excited about what the egret had in mind and he tried to grab onto a stick or anything when he was dropped. This stick however was broken and didn't help.

Great Egret with Garter Snake2

On a couple of occasions, the snake was able to get wrapped around the bill of the egret and he had to drop it once again.

Great Egret with Garter Snake3

Finally, the egret is making progress and gets the snakes head in his mouth and starts to swallow it, but the tail is flailing around and wraps around the neck of the egret and starts to choke him, so again he lets go and drops the snake.

Great Egret with Garter Snake4

After once more wrapping itself around the beak of the egret, the snake itself ends up tied up in knots, and the end is near as he can swallow it now.

Great Egret with Garter Snake5

And after more than 6 minutes, the egret completed the task.

Great Egret with Garter Snake6

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 206 - Panama #13

Parrots are the another special bird. Everyone wants to see them, especially the macaws. However, as anyone who as actually done birdwatching in the tropics can tell you, they are difficult to see perched. Flyovers are very common. Despite the fact that there are 22 parrot species in the Panama bird book, we got photos of only 3. The sexes are similar.

The first was a distant photo of the Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus menstruus). This 9.5" parrot was perched at the top of a bare tree. Fortunately we were on a 100' canopy tower, so able to get him at eye level, but he was still about 100 feet from us.. He is green with a blue head and red undertail. Also this genus, pionus, is noted for their deep wing beats when flying. Most other parrots have very shallow wing beats.

Blue-headed Parrot





The other 2 species were parakeets. These birds have long pointed tails, unlike the parrots which have square tails. The first was the Brown-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula pertinax). This is a 9" green parakeet with brown cheeks and throat. There is an orange patch under the eyes that is helps with the ID.

Brown-throated Parakeet



This bird has a more yellow than orange patch. Maybe a juvenile?




Brown-throated Parakeet

The small (6.5") Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis) gave us the best photos of any parrot on the trip when several came to a feeder. His colors are almost iridescent. And like many birds, the name of the bird is a field mark that is almost never seen because it is so small. However, his orange chin can be seen in the photo. The brown shoulders are the best ID mark. This is the most common parakeet in Panama.



Orange-chinned Parakeet

We also photographed 3 species of swallows. The first is the Gray-breasted Martin (Progne chalybea). This 6.5" swallow has a bluish back, white chin and gray breast. It has a moderate length forked tail.

Gray-breasted Martin

The tiny (4.5") Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) is similar to our Tree Swallow, but has a white rump. here is a frontal view showing the blue-green back and the snow white underparts.




Mangrove Swallow

Here he is turned around to show the white rump.

Mangrove Swallow

Lastly is the 5" Southern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis). It is brown-backed and has a cinnamon throat.. The underparts are light. This may be a juvenile with the rusty flanks and white edging on the wing feathers.

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Most surprising to me was that I caught a glimpse of a Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and snapped a single photo. This bird has been a nemesis bird for me to photograph in the USA. It migrates through east Texas spring and fall but I have had only a couple of photos in 8 years. Also, I missed it last summer in Michigan on its breeding grounds. It is listed as a fairly common winter bird in Panama. It is IDed by the golden crown and wing patch and black facial pattern.

Golden-winged Warbler

We saw only a single member of the manakin family. This is a 52 member family of small fruit-eating songbirds in the neotropics. You may have seen videos of the courtship routine of these birds in which several related males will perform an elaborate dance routine to attract a mate. The males are brightly colored and the females are usually dull olive. The Blue-crowned Manakin (Pipra coronata) is a tiny (3") bird. The male is black with a blue crown and the female is bright green. We saw only the female, but she was close and sat still until we got some photos.

Blue-crowned Manakin - female

A common distinctive neotropical bird is the Masked Tityra (Tityra semifasciata). It is a medium-sized (7.5") mostly white bird with black on the face and wings. The bill is red and it has red periorbital skin.



Masked Tityra - male

The female has a brownish wash to the head body.



Masked Tityra - female

The last bird is called a tanager, but it is actually in the sparrow family. The Common Bush-Tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus) is a 5" bird with a dark head and distinctive white spot behind the eye. The back is olive and the underparts yellow.

Common Bush-Tanager

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2014 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 174 - more end of migration birds

A formerly nemesis bird for me was the American Golden Plover (Pluvialis dominica). I first saw this bird on the Texas coast in 2010. Now I see it annually. This was my first time to find them on Galveston Island, on Settegast Road, very close to my favorite haunt at LaFitte's Cove. I actually saw about 5 birds over 2 weekends there. This is a beautiful bird in breeding plumage, but unfortunately, it doesn't molt to breeding plumage until it reaches breeding grounds in the Arctic.

American Golden-Plover - non-breeding

The Dickcissel (Spiza americana) is a sparrow like bird with its brown back. However, as can be seen by the large beak, it actually is in the cardinal family. The large beak, yellow breast and black throat actually make it look like a small meadowlark. This is a male. The female lacks the color on the underparts. It is named for its call (like the Killdeer and Chickadee). The rufous ahoulder patches are distinctive in both sexes.

Dickcissel - male

and

Dickcissel - male

My most exciting photos were finally getting some of the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera), This is one of the rarer birds in Texas during migration. I started doing photography in 2006, and finally got a glimpse of one last year but didn't get a photo. this year I saw 3 of them. It was a great year for Golden-wingeds on the coast. This bird is overall gray with a bright gold wing patch. It has a yellow cap. The female has a plain face.

Golden-winged Warbler - female

The male has 2 black marks on his face. This photo from behind shows some black. These aren't the best photos, but I was ecstatic to finally get any photos of this tough bird.

Golden-winged Warbler - male

The Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) is the later of the 2 waterthrushes to migrate. It is brown with breast streaks and a buffy eye stripe. The sexes are similar.

Northern Waterthrush

Magnolia Warblers (Setophaga magnolia) especially the male are dramatic with dark backs, wing bars, bright yellow breasts and black streaking on the breast. Here is one bathing in the drip puddle.

Magnolia Warbler

A tough to photo bird is the Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens). This large  (7.5") bird was once in the warbler family, but now is in a family by itself as ornithologists try to resolve where it belongs. It is normally secretive and stays well hidden. However, I got lucky and this bird popped out onto a bare branch. The bright yellow breast, olive brown back and black and white facial markings ID this bird. The sexes are similar.

Yellow-breasted Chat

Everyone's favorite is the male Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris). I only saw 2 of them this spring, but this greenish female came to the drip.

Painted Bunting - female

I got another photo of a male Scarlet Tanager (Piranda olivacea) with a green hackberry seed in his mouth.

Scarlet Tanager - male

The 1st year male Summer Tanagers (Pirangra rubra) are greenish and molt into their all red color in the spring. Sometimes they have some weird patterns. Sibley says that the amount of each color can be quite variable. here is one that is almost all red, with just some green on the belly.

Summer Tanager - 1st year male

This one is really peculiar looking. He sort of looks like a green bird with a sunburn on his face.

Summer Tanager - 1st year male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2013 David McDonald

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