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

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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 180 - Texas summer birds

Summer is a slow time for birding, but baby birds can be interesting and are readily found.

I had a quick trip to Kerrville in the hill country of Texas. That is the location of 2 special birds, the Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo, both of whom are endangered. I had only seen them each once before, but before I was doing photography.

We went to the Kerr Wildlife Management Center outside of the town of Hunt. Both birds can be found there.

The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) is a Texas specialty bird, as it only breeds in Texas and winters in Mexico. The male has a black throat, cap, and back. the bright yellow face has a black line through the eye. It superficially resembles the Black-throated Green Warbler, but the green is replaced by black. This bird was preening and pulled a small feather out which was stuck in his bill.

Golden-cheeked Warbler - male

He flew to a lower branch and I got another photo.



Golden-cheeked Warbler - male

I wasn't as lucky with the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapillus). I found a pair of them, but they did their best to avoid any photographs. I finally got a single photo, but will need to go back. This vireo is IDed by the black head with white lores.

Black-capped Vireo

A pair of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) on the fence allowed close up photos. The distinctive pink bare skin head is the field mark. Although they look black at a distance, the body is brownish in the sunlight.

Turkey Vulture - adult

Back home in July, I made several trips to Anahuac NWR. This is one of the best spots to find the Least Bittern  (Ixobrychus exilis). I saw about 6 this trip and this one sat in the open for an extended period of time.



Least Bittern

Anahuac is also a great place to find Common Nighthawks  (Chordeiles minor) roosting on fence posts at eye level. Notice the primary wing feathers have no markings beyond the white patch. The Lesser Nighthawk I found in the spring has buffy spots all the way along the primary feathers.

Common Nighthawk

I found a very young rail, which is most likely a King Rail (Rallus elegans) in the marsh at Anahuac. Notice how gray he is. The primary feathers are just about 1/2 inch long starting to sprout. There was a pair of them walking around below the boardwalk. He appeared to be fully grown in size.

King Rail - juvenile

I went back the next week, and refound one of them. The wing feathers are now perhaps 2" long.

King Rail - juvenile

Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) downy chicks are black with red bills and a black ring around the bill. This one appears to have feet way too big for his size.



Common Moorhen - downy chick

I found a family with fully grown juveniles sitting up on some reeds..an adult with 3 young.

Common Moorhen - family group

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.