Bulletin #141 - local wildlife

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
7-10-2011

Thank you for all the comments on the last bulletin with the Red-shouldered Hawks. Everyone seems to love raptors and especially when there is a personal interest story in it. I asked if anyone had any experience feeding non-typical birds like hawks, herons etc like I have done on several occasions. No one responded, so I assume that it is rather uncommon.

I have read of 2 cases. One you have probably seen photos of. That is the person in Alaska who collects dead salmon during the spawning season, and freezes them. He puts them out for the Bald Eagles in winter. He has dozens of eagles sitting around his yard. This is fairly straight forward as it is basically carrion.

The other case was in David Quammen's book "Song of the Dodo". There is an endangered falcon on Mauritius (Mauritius Kestrel). A man fron Scotland went to study them. He was able to train them to come when he whistled. He would throw a piece of beef into the air and the birds would catch it in flight, as they would normally take their prey.

Well my 'pet' hawks are still coming to get crawfish. The adult is now coming regularly as well as the juvenile. She is allowing me to approach closer to her. This photo was taken from 25 feet away.

The juvenile allows me to approach to within 15 feet. This photo is uncropped.

What I really wanted as well was a family portrait. Usually the birds sit on different branches or more often in different trees. Occasionally, they have been together, but by the time I got my camera, they had flown off. Last week I hit the jackpot. They usually are waiting foor me to get home form work to feed them supper. I didn't see them when I drove in, but when I went out of the garage, the juvie started screaming. I looked up and found them side by side. I raced in and grabbed my camera and got a couple of photos.

I love this picture. I am calling it 'Learning to Dance'. They both have a foot in the air, and the juvie is looking at the parent as if to see which foot he needs to raise.

Unfortunately, crawfish seasons ends soon, and I won't be able to buy them at the grocery store any longer. If I can't think of some other thing to feed them, they'll be on their own.

Last weekend,as I was in the yard watching my hawks, a pair of Mississippi Kites (Ictinia mississippiensis) drifted overhead. This dark gray raptor has some brown flight feathers.

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) are a very common swallow over much of North America. They normally nest along cliffs as their name suggests. However, they have adapted readily to overpasses and bridges. This photo was taken under a freeway overpass near my home. The mud nest is shaped like a gourd. The parent is at the opening and a baby can be seen inside.

Cliff Swallows come in 2 forms. The northern population has a pure white forehead. The Mexican population has a dark brown forehead. This adult has a beige forehead, so may be an intergrade between the 2 populations.

I visited Anahuac NWR last weekend. This is a large marshy wetland east of Houston, that serves as wintering grounds for huge numbers of waterfowl etc. It is also one of the 2 best places to see alligators in the Houston area. I wanted to see the extent of our extreme drought on this gem of a wetland. It is devastating how dry it is. For those who are familiar with Anahuac, there is an auto loop around a large pond called Shoveler Pond. The pond is completely gone and dried up. The ditches inside around the loop are 90% dried out and in places have no water at all. This is the only alligator I saw. He is in a ditch that normally would have 2 feet of water. Also, I saw that he was at an opening into the mud bank which suggested it was a burrow.

I saw several more of these burrows as I drove around. Here is another. This section of the ditch had some water. But notice the brown reeds. This should normally be lush green with our normal rainfall. Instead, it looks like California. When I got home, I looked up alligators and burrows. Sure enough, they dig these in winter to keep warm and summer to keep cool.

On the last leg of the auto loop, there was some water in the ditch, but with no rain to aerate the stagnant water, the larger fish are dying. What a shame. I'm sure that we will get some tropical storm rain soon, but many species are suffering in the meantime.

There are nesting Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) at Anahuac. Notice that the nest is also built from mud, but is an open cup like normal bird nests made of twigs. I find this very interesting, that the 2 swallow species use the same material to build their nests, but they have a completely different shape. How many babies can you see in the nest?

During spring migration at LaFitte's Cove on Galveston Island, this turtle walked into the drip. It is a Three-toed Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis), the local subsecies of Eastern Box Turtle. I think it was a life reptile for me.

I mentioned David Quammen's book 'Song of the Dodo' above. The subtitle is Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. It was published in 1996. It is a fascinating account of species diversity around the globe. He visited many islands on a MacArthur Foundation scholarship and this book was the result. I have read it several times. Despite the academic sounding subtitle, it is eminently readable and enjoyable. I would highly recomend it as a natural history read. I found a place where you can download the complete book on pdf  for free.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

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Bulletin #140 - local birds

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood Texas
June 22, 2011

With the summer doldrums upon us, I have to look for local birds of interest to photograph. Of course, this is nesting season, so common birds can provide some interesting opportunities.

The first photo is of a Northern Cardinal nest with eggs. As you know, cowbirds are parasitic. This means that they lay their eggs in nests of other birds and the foster parents raise the cowbird chicks, often losing their own young in the process. This nest has 3 different types of eggs in it.

At 12 o'clock is the large spotted cardinal egg. The 2 smaller, but similar eggs at 3 and 9 o'clock are from a Brown-headed Cowbird. The plain white one at 6 o'clock is that of a Bronzed Cowbird. I rarely get to see birds nests with eggs, but this is a first for me to have 3 different species of birds eggs in a single nest.

This next photo is of a bird house outside our kitchen window. I bought this bird house about 14 years ago. It is made of resin to resemble an old straw hat. In all this time, we have never had any occupants until this year, when Carolina Wrens took up residence. They nest on our patio in hanging baskets etc anyway, so I didn't pay much attention to them until I heard some babies chirping and discovered that they were in the bird house. On Memorial Day weekend, I took a few photos out the window. I wanted to get more photos, but they fledged and were gone several days later. Here is a baby waiting at the entrance for food.

I am fortunate to have a large yard with many trees. Thus, I have the pleasure of having a family of Red-shouldered Hawks that spend a lot of time in my yard. They don't bother the small birds and seem to eat mostly lizards, crawfish etc on the ground. We are in the midst of the worst drought in the 34 years I have lived in Houston. Normally, we have 1" rain per week all year, but with La Nina in the Pacific, we have not had any rain since January, and are about 20" below normal for the year.

My bird bath with a drip is used constantly by birds and squirrels. Several weeks ago, I looked out to see the juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk in the bird bath. He really enjoyed himself and splashed around. I took these photos through the kitchen window.

Next to my amazement, an adult flew down and joined him in the bird bath. In the second photo, it looks like the parent is whispering in his ear or giving him a kiss.

 
Since then, I have seen the juvenile most days go to the bird bath, but I haven't seen and adult return for a drink.
 
The juvenile is quite tame and I can approach him to within 20 feet. The adult flies off when I'm 50 feet away. I was able to get a close up of the juvie on a branch over the bird bath on a day when it was 105 degrees and he had his mouth open like a panting dog. Notice the ridges on the palate inside to mouth!
 

 
Two years ago, we had another milder drought and the local ponds, ditches etc were dried up. I had Yellow-crowned Night-Herons walking around my yard looking for food. So I thought to but some live crawfish and put them out to see if I could feed them. It worked and I had a bird come every evening to feast on the crawfish and take them back to the nest. You can see these photos here.
 
This year, I decided to try my luck at feeding crawfish to these hawks. Sure enough, I put out 4-6 crawfish in the evening and they come down to catch and eat them. The juvenile usually just eats them on the lawn, but the adult catches one and flies into a tree to eat it.
 

 

Anyone can feed small birds with seed etc, but how many of you have been able to feed more unlikely customers like herons and hawks? I would be interested to hear of any stories you may have.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
davidkmcdmd@yahoo.com

photos copyright 2011 David McDonald

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LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 6-4-11

Doldrums for sure. Even the ponds are almost dried up in the worst drought in years.

The ponds along the boardwalk and on the sidewalk to the gazebo are completely dry.
The pond across from the parking lot had water but not a single bird of any variety.
The pond beyond the gazebo had a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Snowy Egret, and a Killdeer with a chick.

The woods had several doves (mourning, inca), cardinals, mockingbirds (including a spotted juvie) and surprisingly a Catbird. This is latest I have seen one, but the checklist shows them as occasional birds all summer. They don't breed here.

I didn't see or hear any woodpeckers or the resident Blue Jays.

(c) 2011 David McDonald

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 5-30-11

I spent an hour at LaFitte's Cove this morning from 10-11am.

The weather was warm and overcast with a strong southerly breeze.

The ponds along the boardwalk are almost totally dried up. Across the raod from the parking area, the pond had 6 Spoonbills, 2 Neotropic Cormorants and no ducks at all.

There were no migrants at all.

Birds in the woods were 3 species doves (Mourning, Inca, White-winged), Cardinal, No. Mockingbird, Blue Jay, and Common Grackles.

Waiting for the birds to come back in the fall!

(C) 2011 David McDonald

Bulletin 139 - other migrants

David McDonald photography
Friendswood TX
5-29-11

Here are some of the other migrants seen over the past few weeks.

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is by far the more common cuckoo that we have in Texas during migration. This one flew down to the drip at LaFitte's Cove and sat there while we clicked away with our cameras. This is full frame photo. One can see the lower mandible and part of the upper is yellow. The bird is also supposed to have a yellow eye-ring, but this may be a young bird as there is just a hint of a few yellow feathers around the eye.

The Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) is a summer resident here. Often we find them during migration in the woods. Notice that they characteristically perch along the branch rather than across the branch. This family of birds including Whipoorwill etc are usually dull brown with some white spots. One can tell that this is the Common Nighthawk as the wings are very lomg and extend beyond the tail. Nighthawks catch insects in the flight. The other birds in the family perch and just dart out to catch their bugs, so don't need as powerful wings and their wings are short.

The Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is one of 4 kingbirds that are similarly colored with green backs and yellow bellies. This is not a usual bird along the coast. It can be differentiated form the other 3 by voice or by the tail. Notice the dark tail with a white lateral edge. None of the other 3 have the lateral white edge. The bird was at LaFitte's Cove.

The Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadfelphicus) is similar to the Red-eyed Vireo in coloration, but the colors are more muted. It is differentiated by the yellow throat.

The Tanagers are the bright red migrants. The male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) is all red in breeding plumage. This bird was at LaFitte's Cove and is the best photo I have ever taken of this magnificent bird.

His cousin, the male Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) is red with black wings and tail. This stunning bird along with the male Painted Bunting, are the 2 birds that most beginning birders want to see.

Shorebirds are another attraction on the upper Texas coast during migration. The ponds at LaFitte's Cove are a good place to look for many of them. They are often a difficult identification problem for begining birders, but with study, most can be sorted out. After 5 years, I can now confidently ID most of them in the breeding plumage that we find in spring migration.

The Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) is IDed by yellow legs, bicolored bill and the clean demarcation of the breast streaking from plain belly.

The Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus) is a long legged bird that has very dark streaking and a rufous top of head and cheek. They often don't obtain the dark streaks until May, so earlier birds are quite pale.The first photo is a bird that is still molting. The second is one in full breeding plumage with bright rufous cheeks and very dark streaking. This was the first time I have seen this bird in full breeding plumage.

Lastly, the tiny (0.11 oz) Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) also makes the 500 mile trans-Gulf flight from the Yucatan to the Texas coast. These little jewels are also seen in good numbers in the usual migrant traps. This year I saw them drinking water at the drip for the first time. Normally they just drink nectar, but I guess they are dehydrated for the flight and need to quickly replace their lost fluids.

Here is a female drinking from the puddle under the drip.

The next week I saw this male sitting on a pebble in the drip to take a drink. Amazing! I had never seen a hummer on the ground before.

So the spring migration is over and we are left with the summer doldrums, until the birds head our way in the fall migration. However, many wonderful memories and photos remain to remind us of the beauty and wonder of this annual act of nature.

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 5-21-11

David McDonald Photography
Friendswood TX
5-21-11

It was overcast on Galveston Island today. I checked out LaFitte's Cove to see if any very late migrants were still passing through.

The pond across from the main parking lot had 9 Mottled Ducks, 1 Blue-winged Teal and 5 peeps (?semi-palmated) but I wasn't sure.

In the woods, I found only 2 migrants, a Scarlet Tanager and a Thrush.

The most unusual sighting was a Purple Gallinule in the pond to the right beyond the gazebo. This is a first for me at LaFitte's Cove and I would expect them to be breeding at this time. I'll have to watch in the coming weeks to see if I can refind the bird and perhaps some chicks.

Here are 2 photos of the peeps. Any ID help would be appreciated

The Purple Gallinule.

(c) 2011 David McDonald

LaFitte's Cove Bird Report 5-15-11

I birded the woods for 3 hours this morning. The weather was sunny with a north breeze.

A few migrants were still present, but fewer numbers than the last 2 days.

Warblers seen or reported were - Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Magnolia, Blackburnian, Black-throated green, Black-and-white, Am. Redstart, No. Waterthrush - total 8 species

Other migrants were a few empids, catbirds, YB Cuckoos, Red-eyed and Philadelphia Vireos.

After lunch another birder found Yellow and Tennessee Warblers (total 10 now), Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Baltimore Oriole and Indigo Buntings. Thanks Lynn.

An unusual sighting in the woods was a White Ibis probing under the sidewalk. I have seen a Great Egret in the woods several times, but the White Ibis was a first for me.

The last 3 days have been as good as any 3 consecutive days during the whole spring, but I'm afraid this is the bitter end and we will have to wait for August to see the warblers coming south.

(C) 2011 David McDonlad