Birding in Unexpected Places
It’s been a while since my last blog post! Over the past year, Chelsea and I have been very busy. We moved from a dumpy apartment complex in Copperas Cove to a quaint house in a small artsy town called Salado. In March, we gave a presentation on our Monarch Butterfly project at the National Military Fish & Wildlife Association Conference held in Virginia. Now we’re halfway through our field season and Summer starts in a few days (although the sultry Texas heat arrived over a month ago).
I finally had free time to sit down and write this blog thanks to a unique subtropical storm called Alberto, which somehow kept spinning all the way up to the Great Lakes. My dad surprised my siblings by flying me to North Carolina for their official adoption date. Unfortunately, my connecting flight was through Chicago O’hare which suffered massive delays and cancellations due to the storm. After arriving in Chicago around noon, my direct flight to Wilmington at 2pm was cancelled. After a visit to customer service, I was rebooked on a flight into Charlotte at 5pm which was pushed back an hour, and then pushed back again until 9pm. This meant I would miss my connecting flight into Wilmington that night, so it was back to customer service to reschedule my connection. Now I thought I was in the clear. The weather was moving out and we were told the plane was en route. Then all of a sudden that flight was cancelled. So I hauled my bags back to customer service for a third time and was rebooked on another flight into Washington Dulles that got in around 1am.To make matters even more confusing, they had two flights back to back out of the gate I was assigned. One to Dulles and another to Dallas. Instead of getting a hotel room, I decided to stay in the terminal and wait for my final flight into Wilmington at 8am. Needless to say, the terminal floor didn’t exactly compare to our very comfortable Tuft and Needle mattress at home. I’ve actually been pretty lucky when it comes to flying, so I was due for a travel nightmare sooner or later. I will say that I was very impressed with the United employees. They stayed calm and friendly in a really unpleasant situation. I finally made it to Wilmington that morning and had a great time visiting my family. Well worth the ordeal!
Anyway back to the fun stuff! With our busy schedule, it's not always easy to find time to go birding. Furthermore, agriculture dominates the landscape and there aren’t a lot of public lands with trails available. Every once and a while, birds will show up in very strange places. About a month ago a few of my birding counterparts reported seeing interesting migrants at the hospital of all places.
Early May is the prime time for migrating birds in central Texas. Usually, migrants can be found in woodlands, dense vegetation, or areas near water. A few of the local birders in our area also work at the local hospital. While walking outside the hospital, they noticed there was a variety of migrant birds just outside the building in a small courtyard filled with mature oak trees. During their migration, birds don’t always have a choice on where they land after a long night of flying. These birds probably landed near the hospital and had to find the closest vegetation to feed in. During that week, the winds were also blowing strongly from the south. Central Texas is renowned for its voracious spring winds. The trees at the hospital were north of the building and thus protected from the winds. The birds may have been taking advantage of this allowing them to forage without struggling in the wind.
Note-not all of these warblers were found at the hospital.
Yellow Warbler Setophaga petechia Bell county Texas 5/7/2018
The Yellow Warbler is one of the most common and well known warblers. It also has one of the most basic names you can give a bird. Many of the warblers found in North America have at least some yellow on their bodies.
Tennesse Warbler Oreothlypis peregrina Bell County Texas 5/7/2018
Warblers are one of the most colorful families of birds. However, not all birds in this family will dazzle your eyes. This Tennessee warbler is modestly colored tan on the belly, with an olive back and grey head.
Mourning Warbler Geothlypis philadelphia Bell county 5/16/2018
The Mourning Warbler usually stays well hidden only giving away its hiding place when it sings from dense vegetation. I was lucky enough to snap a slightly blurry picture of this one.
American Redstart male Setophaga ruticilla Bell county, Texas 5/12/2018
Male American Redstarts are mostly black with bright patches of orange on the sides, wings and tail. Females have the same markings, but are not as bright as the males. They use these colors to their advantage by surprising their prey from the foliage by flashing their brightly patterned wing and tail feathers. This species is polygamous meaning that males sometimes hold two breeding partners at the same time.
American Redstart female Bell county, Texas 5/12/2018
Yellow-throated Warbler Pender county, North Carolina 6/2/2018
Yellow-throated Warblers are sexually monomorphic species meaning that males and females look exactly the same and cannot be distinguished from each other visually. Some species like Northern Cardinals are sexually dimorphic and females and males are different colors. While visiting my dad in North Carolina, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair foraging in his yard! Named after their striking yellow throats, the rest of their body is a mix of gray, black and white.
Yellow-throated Warbler
Canada Warbler Cardellina canadensis Bell county, Texas 5/16/2018
The Canada Warbler is sometimes called the “necklace warbler” because of the black markings running across its chest. They actually spend a very small amount of time on their breeding grounds. They’re one of the last warblers to arrive in the spring and the one of the first to head back south in the fall.
Magnolia Warbler Setophaga magnolia Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
This Magnolia Warbler has a lovely coloration of yellow, gray, white and black. Notice how the black on the neck appears to run down the body like dripping paint.
Golden-cheeked Warbler Setophaga chrysoparia Bell county Texas 3/9/2018
The endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler only breeds in central Texas. That’s why there's a whole team run out of our office devoted to working with them. There are two major issues they face; habitat loss and parasitism from the Brown-headed Cowbird.
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
This Common Yellowthroat male is another very common warbler. This bird flaunts a bright yellow belly and throat as well as a raccoon like black mask across it’s face.
Northern Parula Setophaga americana Pender County, North Carolina 6/2/2018
The Northern Parula relies heavily on the presence of moss when building their nests. In the southern region of their range they use Spanish moss and in the northern part they use beard moss.
Northern Parula
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
The Yellow-breasted Chat is the largest warbler in North America. Unlike other warblers, it has a bigger repertoire of songs and calls than other warblers and its behavior and anatomy differs from the rest of the birds in this famil
Prothonotary Warbler Protonotaria citrea Bell County, Texas 5/7/2018
I wrote a blog a while back about this gorgeous bird. The Prothonotary Warbler is as bright yellow as a lemon with a jet black eye and bill. Definitely one of my favorite warblers.
Bay-breasted Warbler Setophaga castanea Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
This Bay-breasted Warbler is not a common visitor to central Texas and doesn’t have any yellow on its body! On my trip to the hospital oak grove, I was lucky enough to locate two individuals.
Bay-breasted Warbler
Warblers are a very difficult family of birds to get decent pictures of. They’re small birds that move very quickly amongst the branches often times high up in the trees. However, if you're lucky, you might be able to catch them when they come down to a stream or area of water for a drink and a quick bath. I was able to witness that very occurrence one morning on my walk at the park. Standing next to a brook, I noticed different species began dropping from the tall Pecan trees down to the waters edge. It was a nice change of pace from straining my neck to look straight up at the tree canopy.
Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia Pender county, North Carolina 1/10/2018
Black-and-white Warblers are one of the earliest warblers to arrive in the spring. They’re also one of the most striking warblers while only having black and white on their bodies.
Chestnut-sided Warbler Setophaga pensylvanica Bell county, Texas 5/12/2018
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
Not all migrants are warblers! This is a Blue-headed Vireo characterized by a white chest and belly, olive back, and a dark blue head with a white ring around the eye. Vireos are sometimes seen foraging with warblers and all vireos have a hook on the end of their top bill.
Long-billed Curlew Numenius americanus Bell county, Texas 3/21/2018
We’ve covered the songbird migration, but what about shorebirds? We may be deep in the heart of Texas, but that doesn’t stop the shorebirds from migration through on their way up to their breeding ground. The The Long-billed Curlew is North America’s largest shorebird. It’s bill is fantastically long which it uses to probe deep into mud in search of aquatic invertebrates.
Hudsonian Godwit Limosa haemastica Bell county, Texas 4/29/2018
Hudsonian Godwit
Wilson’s Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor Bell county, Texas 4/29/2018
Piping Plover Charadrius melodus Pender county, North Carolina 6/1/2018
The Piping Plover is an endangered shorebird that you may recognize if you ever visit the beach in the summer. Unfortunately, they’re disliked by many due to the fact that a large portion of the beach is roped off and cannot be accessed by the public. This frustrates the general public because they don’t understand the importance of making sure these species are protected, and that the beach doesn’t belong solely to human beings. Piping Plovers make their nests in sand dunes creating a small bowl in the sand and lining it with shells and rocks. Government agencies including the US Fish and Wildlife Service create protective enclosures around the nests for the duration of the breeding season. While this effort to help the species has proven to be beneficial, rising sea levels and climate change threaten this species future. Not to mention the people with bumper stickers that say “Piping Plovers taste like chicken”.
Piping Plover
Willet Tringa semipalmata Pender county, North Carolina 6/1/2018
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis Bell county, Texas 4/15/2018
There’s no shortage of cattle on Fort Hood. What is the bird that benefits from this the most? That would be the Cattle Egret. Appropriately named, these birds are usually found around cattle. While most egrets forage near water, these birds eat invertebrates that are kicked up from the ground by large animals or machines. They’ll also perch on top of cows and pick the ticks off their backs. Cattle Egrets are actually native to Africa and somehow made it to South America in 1877. They first showed up in the US in 1941 and since Americans love their beef, they took full advantage. This cow looks thrilled to have all the attention.
Dickcissel Spiza americana Bell county, Texas 6/17/2018
Couch’s Kingbird Tyrannus couchii Bell county, Texas 6/16/2018
Here in central Texas, Western Kingbirds are a common sight in parking lots and on power lines. However, every once and a while we’ll get a rare visitor from southern Texas that looks very similar. Couch’s Kingbirds are usually only found further south in Texas, but this year one showed up at the local hospital. The same hospital that had the influx of warblers early this spring. While these two birds may look identical upon first glance, there are a few distinct differences. Couch’s Kingbirds Yellow coloration averages brighter than a Western’s and it also extends further up the chest almost reaching the neck. Their bills are slightly larger and they lack white in the outer tail feathers. The easiest way to differentiate the two birds is by hearing the stark differences in the sounds each birds make.
Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis Bell County, Texas 6/10/2018
Great-crested Flycatcher Myiarchus crinitus Pender county, North Carolina 6/2/2018
While in NC I noticed that Great-crested Flycatchers were using the slot for newspapers underneath the mailboxes as nest boxes. Some birds like Carolina Wren are more likely and willing to use manmade items to place their nests. I’ve had Carolina Wrens nest in mailboxes, garages, hanging baskets and even in the hood of a sweatshirt hanging from a fence. Apparently the Great-crested Flycatcher has also adapted to take advantage of manmade objects.
Great-crested Flycatcher nest inside newspaper slot.
A look from the outside.
Speaking of Carolina Wrens, my Dad discovered this nest on his front porch.
As I said, they’ve adapted well!
If your lucky, you’ll be seeing little hatchings running around soon enough! These babies were from a nest that fledged outside of our house a few months ago.
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus Bell county, Texas 5/13/2018
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus Bell county, Texas 5/1/2018
I sometimes find myself taking for granted birds that I see on a daily basis in Texas. The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is not hard to find, but it is also one of the more unique birds that can be found in central Texas. They also have the longest tail of any bird in North America.
Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia Coryell county, Texas 3/12/2018
I won best wildlife picture by submitting this Burrowing Owl at the NMFWA conference!
Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis Bell county, Texas 5/3/2018
This Gray Catbird is a common summer visitor with a call that sound like a cat!
American Kestrel Falco sparverius Bell county, Texas 2/23/2018
Sandhill Cranes Grus canadensis Bell county, Texas 3/2/2018
Sandhill Cranes migrate in massive groups of a hundred or more in the early spring. If your lucky, you’ll hear them before you see them flying overhead. This large group flew right over our house.
Sandhill Cranes
Yellow-crowned Night Herons Nyctanassa violacea Bell county, Texas 5/12/2018
Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla Pender county, North Carolina 1/11/2018
Osprey Pandion haliaetus Northampton county, Virginia 3/30/2018
Osprey carrying nesting material.
This is a Texas Coral Snake Micrurus tener which is dangerously venomous. They’re not aggressive and won’t “attack” humans unless they’re provoked. Unfortunately, these snakes are often confused with
Monarch Danaus plexippus feeding on Basket Flower
Monarch feeding on Purple Prairie Clover.
4th instar Monarch caterpillar.
1st instar Monarch caterpillar.
