LaFitt'e Cove Bird Report 4-27-11

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood TX

I wasn't able to get to LaFitte's Cove today, but Tad Finnell reported an exceptional day of birding.

The winds finally cooperated and large numbers of birds dropped in.

He reported 22 warblers species including No. Parula, Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Canada, Cerulean, Blackpoll, Kentucky, and Blackburian.

 3 species of thrush were found - Swainson's, Gray-cheeked and Veery

Several western species were also reported including Western Kingbird and Clay-colored Sparrow.

Good birding,
David McDonald

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 4-24-11

I was at LaFitte's Cove from 1-4:00pm.  There was a strong south wind and thus few birds.

There were only 3 warblers seen or reported - female Cape May, Blackburnian and Northern Waterthrush. The waterthrush stayed in the drip for about 1/2 hour and caught several worms. He was the yellowish type described in Sibley.

Other birds were Bronzed Cowbird, both orioles, Blue Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Indigo Buntings, YB Cuckoo. No tanagers or vireos were seen during this time.

Maybe a front this week will bring in some birds, but the last week has been dismal for birders, but good for the birds.

David McDonald
(c) David McDonald 2011

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 4-22-11

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas

I went to LaFitte's Cove in Galveston in the morning from 9-11:30am and again in late afternoon from 5-6:30pm. The weather was overcast with occasional sun and calm to south winds.

There were few birders and few birds.

A total of 6 warbler species were seen - Tennessee, Nashville, Orange-crowned, Yellow, B&W, and Blackpoll. The most surprising to me was the 3 Blackpoll seen this evening. I have never seen 3 of this species in the spring. In fact, it was the only warbler that came to the drip, that I saw.

Other birds were Bronzed Cowbird, both Orioles, both Buntings, both Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, White-eyed Vireo and Eastern Kingbird.

The ponds had numerous shorebirds and waders. The sandpipiers were Least, Solitary, LB Dowitcher, and both Yellowlegs.

I'm sure that the woods will be full of birders on the weekend. I hope that the birds are there as well.

David McDonald
(C) David McDonald 2011

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 4-20-11

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood TX

I spent a little over an hour at LaFitte's this evening and it was the quietest yet this migration season.

There were only 7 birders! And not many more birds.

4 warbler species found - Blackpoll, Tennessee, Common Yellowthroat, N. Parula.

Other migrants were 1 Painted Bunting, half-dozen each of Indigos and Orchard Orioles, 2 Easten Kingbirds.

1 each Catbird, Summer Tanager, Eastern Wood-Pewee

The most unusual sighting was the Brown Thrasher walking along the sidewalk as there were no people there!     Photo1     Photo2

As I was leaving someone pointed out this FOS Common Nighthawk on a branch of the large dead oak in the center of the woods.

Hopefully better birding on the weekend.

David McDonald
(c) David McDonald 2011

Bulletin #136 – migration #2

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas

April 18, 2011

(Click on the photos to see a larger image)

I will be posting the reports of the birds found on my various outings on the blog now. I posted the first one Sunday April 17th from LaFitte's Cove, Galveston. Please feel free to check in often to the blog to find my field reports.

Last weekend provided better birding and we actually had a fall-out on Friday, with a front that came through before noon and the winds shifted to the north. I birded at Quintana on Friday and LaFitte’s Cove on the weekend.

The rock-star bird in the spring is always the gaudy male Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris). I had good looks at several of them at Quintana and here are 2 photos.

There were many Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) all weekend. The male is all blue, but sometimes some will not be completely molted and still showing some brown feathers during spring migration. This one at the water feature in Quintana was all blue.

The female Indigo Bunting is light brown, with a slight bluish wash on the wings and tail. Also, there is some streaking on the breast. This streaking, on the breast, is an important field mark to differentiate the female Indigo from the female Blue Grosbeak who lacks the breast streaks.

In keeping with the colorful birds, here is my best photo ever of a breeding male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra). It is a simple ID as it is the only bird in North America that is all red (even the cardinal has black on the face).

A nice treat was a pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) that landed in the Quintana sanctuary. This spectacular bird has the longest tail of any songbird in the USA. The male has the longer tail.

The female has a tail about 1/3 shorter.

Now I turn from the beautiful non-warblers to the plainest of warblers. I got my best photos of the waterthrushes. These 2 species are difficult if not impossible for beginners to separate in the field. I still have trouble myself and I like when an expert is present to call the correct ID. With these photos, I think it should be easier to see the differences in the species.

So here is the Louisiana Waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla). The field marks are the wide white eye-stripe that goes a long way down the back of the neck, the buffy flanks best seen in the second photo, and the pink legs as seen in the first photo.

Here is the Northern Waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis). The differing field marks are the narrower eye-stripe that doesn’t extend as far down the neck, the flanks are white to slightly yellowish, and the legs are grayer.

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.

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 4-17-11

David McDonald Photogrphy
Friendswood TX

I spent time at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston from 12:30 TO 3PM
The weather was poor for a fallout with gusty south winds.
A few birders were there and a few birds were still to be found.

The Golden-winged Warbler was refound from Saturday and glimpsed briefly by several of us, but again no photos were obtained.

Other warblers were Hooded, B&W, Kentucky, Tennessee, Am Redstart, Blue-winged, Northern Waterthrush. Another birder reported Blackburnian

Other migrants included Catbird, Scarlet & Summer Tanagers, Swainson's Thrush, many Indigo Buntings, Orchard Oriole

Good birding
David McDonald
(C) David McDonald 2011

Bulletin #135 – migration #1

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
4/14/11

Spring migration has been slow so far, but is starting to pick up as we near mid-April and the peak time for large numbers of birds to show up. There have been some birds, but usually only 1 or 2 of each species.

However, while looking for migrants, some other interesting birds have been seen.

The most exciting bird for me was a Sharp-shinned Hawk  (Accipiter striatus) at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston. This is the first time I have ever seen this bird perched. It is a juvenile with the brown back and orange-brown breast streaks.

The difficult ID problem of this bird is with its cousin, the Cooper's Hawk. The adult birds are virtually identical, but at least the juveniles are slightly different in that the Cooper's Hawk has dark brown breast stripes as shown here for comparison.

Here is an unusual bird I photographed at LaFitte's Cove (Galveston) last weekend. It is a quiz bird. What is the species of this bird? I'll give the answer at the end of the bulletin.

One of my friends, who receive these bulletins, called me recently to say that there was a bird sitting on eggs in the parking lot behind a Mexican restaurant near my office. So of course I had to check it out.

You can see the eggs surrounded by bark mulch. The green is a ground cover used here in Houston. Notice how the mottled eggs blend in. There is no nest at all, the eggs are just laid in a depression in the mulch. Anyone have an idea of the species of bird that laid these eggs? Most of us rarely get to see nests and eggs.

Well the bird is one of my favorite and more beautiful shorebirds. Here is the parent doing the broken wing routine to draw the intruder away from the nest. The orange rump and breast stripes are visible.

And here it is on the concrete curb. Obviously, it is a Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). I find it amazing that she would nest in a parking lot with people coming and going all day when there is a 20 acre field about 30 yards away!

The American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica) is an early migrant through Texas, such that the birds are still in non-breeding plumage. I saw this bird for the first time 2 springs ago. But like all things, once I saw one and realized what it was, I have seen several more the last 2 years including 5 so far this year. It is the typical plump plover shape like the Killdeer above, but has a small thin bill, black cap and white line above the eye. The location was

Yacht Basin Road

on Bolivar, just west of Rollover Pass. That seems to be a good location on the coast to find them.

Here is a female Northern Parula (Parula americana). This small (4.5") warbler is IDed by the yellow throat, gray back with a green patch and yellow lower mandible. The female has incomplete or absent breast bands. Also, the broken white eye-ring differentiates this bird from its cousin the Tropical Parula (no eye-ring at all)

All the birds this day seemed to want to face the camera to make sure I saw their field marks. This Nashville Warbler (Vermivora ruficapilla) has a yellow breast and throat, olive back and gray head. It also has a prominent white eye-ring.

Lastly, this White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) made sure that I saw the 'whites of his eyes'. Seldom is one close enough in the field to see the white iris of his eye, so you have to use other field marks. He is IDed by the 'yellow spectacles', gray throat and 2 white wing-bars.

Answer to the ID of the quiz bird above.  First we need to figure out which family the bird belongs to. All black songbirds, in North America, are either crows or icterids. It is black with some brownish tones and has a conical bill. The size and bill don't fit for a crow. This looks like an icterid or blackbird. We can rule out meadowlarks and orioles as none of them are all black. It isn't a grackle as the tail is too short. There are no wing patches either white, red or yellowish, so it can't be a Bobolink, Red-winged or Yellow-headed Blackbird. Tricolored Blackbird is a CA bird and never seen here, but it also has the wing patches. Two more,  Brewer's and Rusty Blackbirds can be seen here but they both have white or yellow eyes, so we can rule them out as well. So what we have left are cowbirds. It isn't a Brown-headed Cowbird as the male has a brown head and this is lacking in our bird. So it must be either a Bronzed or Shiny Cowbird. Both are rare visitors here. Everyone knows that the field mark for Bronzed Cowbird is a red eye. Our bird has a brown iris. So when I looked this bird up in the field guide, I noticed that both the juvenile Bronzed Cowbird and the Shiny Cowbird have dark irises. Only the adult Bronzed Cowbird has the red eye. Notice the back of the neck with the ruff of feathers sticking out. This ruff of feathers is a characteristic of the Bronzed Cowbird. The juvenile Bronzed Cowbird is brown, so this bird is a 1st spring Bronzed Cowbird, as he still has a few brown feathers that haven't molted to black, nor does it have the red eye. It was an interesting identification problem for me. I assumed it was a Bronzed Cowbird with the neck ruff of feathers, but the brown eye threw me off at first, when I saw it at home.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: 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.