Bird Photo pages news ~ We have removed over two dozen
of the fuzzy poor photos and put up a few dozen new
ones that are much less hard on the eyes, we think.
The three pages that have the most new stuff are the
REGULARS, ASSORTED, and the HAWKS & SUCH page.
There are also some more new pictures now on the pages for
Brush Country, and Hill Country "specialties"pages.
We will work to get the rest of the fuzzy stuff off shortly.
For the meantime those pages will entertain anew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The BIRDING SITES page has been completely updated, finally!
The BIRD LIST page has also been updated, now over 300 species
known from the Sabinal River Valley, with status of each.
***A note for sending bird reports***
A bird report should have a date, species, location, observers,
and most important, some details of the observation and bird,
like field marks *that you saw*, and how you eliminated similar
species. These are the standard minimum basic requirements
for any level of bird reporting. Just take a picture,
it is easier! :) But don't send to me if over a meg!
I thank you all for your reports! :)
I am collecting Uvalde County rare bird photos if you have any.
Please no pictures over 1 meg, and prefer 200-400 kb small files.
If you need help in resizing them, I have written instructions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Okay finally ... here's the news:
Male Cinnamon Teal coming out of eclipse plumage
at Utopia Park Sept. 12, 2009, Blue-winged Teal to right.
Check out this page with a 200+ sps. local wildflower and tree list.
CRITTERS-plants
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BIRD & NATURE NEWS ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
July 21 ~ A few light spritzes over the day were nice for the
moment cooling things down, then the sun comes back out. Part
of the birdbath Evergreen Sumac is dying, from that dang Porcupine
I was so happy to see in the yard. It ate so much bark
off I can't believe it. I wouldn't be surprised if the
whole thing died. FIVE YEARS it took to get it to bloom.
It was probably a few years old when we got here. It gets
the runoff from the birdbath, so surely its bark was the wettest
juciest bark here on muy Seco Ridge. Thanks a lot Mr. Porcupine.
Why can't you eat a juniper? :) What could I have done,
kicked his arse out of there? I think not! Almost forgot,
another Dickcissel passed over low, southbound, calling early this a.m..
July 20 ~ The SR Zone-tailed Hawk has begun molt, with inner
primaries now dropped on both sides. That will be easy
to keep track of as they are replaced. Most of the Turkey
Vultures are nearing completion of primary molt, if not done
already (probably mostly females not quite done yet).
And Zone-tailed is just beginning to molt. Remember if
there are a hundred Turkey Vultures soaring around the sky,
the one with the swallows and martins mugging it is the Zone-tail.
A cuckoo called down the draw. This is a bird on the move,
likely a done breeder heading south. I heard one "wills-widow"
from a Chuck tonight at prime-time Chuck-thirty. I know each
night now, it might be the last one I hear until next April 7 or so.
July 19 ~ Finally two juvenile Scott's Oriole are about! The
first of the year, and like the Hooded, I think they lost their
first brood. There is another just-fledged Scrub-Jay around.
Three Chuck-wills-widow sang at dusk, one giving a good long
series. That will be over too soon. The Common
Nighthawks have young out and a male is still booming. Way
fewer hummers, still departures taking place on good levels.
Some relief.
July 18 ~ A hatch-year female Golden-cheeked Warbler was out back
in the live-oaks and juniper, then landed on the TV antenna (which
is really just a bird nest box holder) and jumped from tine to tine
twice before it flew off. A Black-tailed Jackrabbit was out
front mid-day, odd they usually shy the heat big time. There
were 5 juvenile Painted Buntings at once in 10 sq. ft., on the seed
in the p.m..
July 17 ~ Finally juvenile Hooded Orioles outside.... I think the
first set was lost, as there are the first of the year I've seen.
Thankfully the hummingbirds are blowing out - departing. They
were too thick. Adults in heavy molt, immature males all with
5 o'clock shadows of the first gorget feathers coming in. Still
nothing besides Black-chinned, but that will change very quickly.
July 16 ~ A Golden-cheeked Warbler outside in the a.m. may have been
the one around in thep.m. last evening. A group of 3 Dickcissel
took off early, southbound gaining altitude it seemed, from the edge
of the draw, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through the yard.
A dark Tropical Buckeye came in to watered caliche. The Chuck-wills-
widow called briefly.
July 15 ~ I had to go to Uvalde for some errands, but played some hooky
and met Ken Cave for a look around Cook's Slough. I found a good
dragonfly, a Straw-colored Sylph, there that Ken got a good pic of in flight.
Later over at the hatchery we saw a Marl Pennant, and a first of fall
Least Sandpiper. The Orchard Oriole nesting there is still singing.
Common Grackle still there too, also nesting.
The road along 187 to Sabinal had a pair of Harris's Hawks about 6 miles
north of Sabinal, and the immature Shrike was still down at the 187 x 127 jct..
There and along Old Sabinal Rd. there were still lots of Dickcissel singing,
I mean dozens, and most of the same regular expected suspects. See
reports from June 5 or 26 to see what is along this great road.
A Golden-cheeked Warbler was about the yard for 10 minutes near dusk.
July 14 ~ Hutton's Vireo still singing, and a Golden-cheeked Warbler was
about. I got a report from LeAnn Sharp that Sid Chaney mentioned
he has been seeing Green Jays again around his place. This would
be the first summering record on the Edwards Plateau, and if a young
could be found and documented, it would be the first proven breeding on
the plateau, Which would be very remarkable.
July 13 ~ Hutton's Vireo singing out front down in the draw. Funny
was a Chimney Swift slowly cruising over the yard at dusk catching insects,
and as I've mentioned the Black-chinned Hummingbirds are chasing everything
that moves in the yard, and so yes, one goes up after the swift.
Would have made a great picture or video, since swifts and hummingbirds
are the two families that make up the order Apodiformes.
July 12 ~ At UP the pair of Barred Owls were duetting at 6 p.m..
There was another migrant adult female Black-and-white Warbler too.
In the yard was a Neon Skimmer, the brightest of red dragonflies here.
Chuck-wills-widow, Common Nighthawk and Common Poorwill all calling,
the latter doing speed calling. This when they increase the
cadence to double or triple the normal speed, and surely means they are
going to or are nesting again.
July 11 ~ Worked around the hovel so the same ol' dull birds:
male Scott's and Hooded Oriole, male Painted Bunting and
Blue Grosbeak singing, etc.. Just kidding about the
dull part. The female Painted Bunting had another
just fledged juvenile, number two for the year. Besides
the ad. male Hooded there was a AHY (after hatch year, a year old)
male with black hour-glass on throat, and the bird that looks
like a year old female but sang. It is more orange than the
year old male which is still fairly green and yellow. But
has no black on throat, and very worn brown (year old) remiges
and rectrices. An adult Chipping Sparrow showed up, the
first I've seen in the yard since mid-May or so. 1 Bushtit,
which might not sound like much but you try to do that.
We went down to town and the park the last hour of light.
There were no Martins around, must be roosting somewhere else.
There were 10 Western Kingbirds at the north end of town, and
a few singing Dickcissel, so some still with nests.
No swallows at the 1050 bridge, they must be done and gone.
There best thing was a dragonfly, great looks at a Cyrano Darner
again up by the island at the north end of the park. There
were also about 4-5 Prince Baskettail along the pond/river edge.
July 10 ~ A couple Golden-cheeked Warbler out front first
thing this a.m. was nice. One adult female in molt,
the other a hatch year bird. Odd was the first local
Chipping Sparrow I've seen in over 7 weeks, a streaky juvenile
that just fledged from somewhere nearby, but it only stopped
briefly and continued northeastward. A Chuck gave a
few calls, but weakly and briefly.
Some dragons were about at UP: Rambur's and Citrine Forktail,
Double-striped Bluet, Blue-ringed and Violet Dancer, Checkered
and Swift Setwing, Widow Skimmer, and lots of Blue Dasher.
A Yellow-billed Cuckoo called there, and besides a couple
Viceroy there was a nice big black morph female Eastern
Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on Buttonbush. A huge beauty!
There is a Black-chinned Hummingbird here with some snow white
inner and outer rectrices (tail feathers) that looks neat.
I haven't seen the one with 3 snow white outers in a week
or so and maybe it departed after about 7-8 weeks here now.
But the new one showing up shows they are on the move already.
I wish a few hundred of these would leave here. :)
Particularly the first set of juveniles from May of which the
males are now getting purple in their throats, and are chasing
if not being just pure hell to everything around. They
chase the Golden-cheeked Warblers out of the yard, which I am
fairly sure is a federal crime. Pity the poor House Finches,
Cardinal, and even the male Painted Bunting is harassed.
A White-winged Dove flys by and there's a train of immature
Black-chins on its keister.
July 9 ~ Probably 3/4" of rain today from TD 2 which is
roughly running along the already very flooded Rio Grande
just south of the border. Circulation and bands of rain
despite not being a named storm, very similar to the Alex rains.
At UP there was an adult female Black-and-white Warbler.
There were a few Widow Skimmer (dragonfly) there, and one
male in the yard up on SR in the p.m..
The bird of the day got away. You can often count
on that. I saw it through the window from the office
in the (old crummy) binocs I keep in here for emergency.
It was a smallish raptor with a long tail and long pointed
wings that was dark charcol above. I just saw it too
quickly to say for sure, and it just kept going so when I
got outside with the good bins it was the north end of a
southbound speck going over the knoll on the ridge here.
If there was a gun at my head and I had to guess it right or die,
I'd say it was an Aplomado Falcon. Considering the recent
weather patterns, two consecutive tropical disturbances making
landfall just to our south, I couldn't say one being displaced
would be out of the question. I just didn't get the kind of
confirmatory look required to claim a positive identification
was made. Ya gotta let a lot of 'em go.
July 8 ~ Tropical Depression 2 making landfall around
Brownsville and Matamoros. Lucky it came ashore
before it could build to a storm because its big and wet.
We got about 3/8-1/2" of rain from it so far. The
hummers went through about a gallon of sugar water, or
a couple pounds of sugar, meaning 500 to 1000 birds.
I suspect the higher number is closer to the truth.
Besides the adults that returned to breed, and the batch
of young produced in May, there is now a second set of
young out, so we are at peak Black-chinned Hummingbird
numbers now. Can't wait till they start thinning out.
That's when the window for the good stuff opens up. :)
July 7 ~ The Arizona Sister was about in the a.m. here at
SR. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed southward through
the yard. An adult male and a hatch year Eastern Bluebird
have been feeding regularly on the powerline out front.
I was quite surprised to see when the Ladder-backed Woodpecker
landed in the top of a small nearby Oak snag, they BOTH
dove straight at the woodpecker, from two points 20' apart
on the wire, and when they got to the trunk, the Ladder-back
bolted for more friendly parts. I guess they see it
as nest site (cavity) competition and therefore "bad"?
Very interesting piece of behavior to see. This to me
is the most fascinating and interesting aspect of birdwatching.
The things they do. How did the adult and young bluebird
communicate to each other that now was the time to do such
and such a thing like launch a co-ordinated assault at a
woodpecker?
The goatsuckers are still singing, a Chuck gave a very long
song period, might be nearing its last for the year, the couple
Poor-will were going at it, and Common Nighthawks are still
booming, but much less, and the Tex-Mex (Eastern) mccallii
Screech-Owl is calling.
Between the still pooled up remnant moisture from Alex, and
the approaching Tropical Depression 2 we got about a quarter
inch of precip via lots of drizzle today.
July 6 ~ The second Common Mestra (butterfly) of the year
passed by the office window. A sister was outside too,
I think #4 for the year. A dozen Lyside Sulphur passed.
July 5 ~ still some drizzle left over from all the tropical
moisture deposited by Alex. The dragonfly flight continues
with a thousand Spot-winged and a hundred Wandering Glider.
2 Red Saddlebags, 3 Black Saddlebags, 3 Green Darner.
After dark 2 Poor-will calling loudly.
July 4 ~ Happy Independence Day! I had Golden-cheeked
Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher move through the yard.
A Large Orange Sulphur (pale morph female) went by northeastward.
Another 800 Spot-winged and 50 Wandering Glider dragons passed.
At least 3 Chuck-wills-widow and Eastern Screech-Owl still calling.
Another quarter inch of Alex rain, so we got a total of about
2.5" of rain from it over 4 days. Down in Monterey Mexico
they got about 20" of rain in some places. It was big,
powerful, and wet.
July 3 ~ A little more showers and drizzle but we missed most
of it, maybe a quarter inch here on SR. A male Painted
Bunting was singing in the rain. A couple Poor-will
were calling too. Another major dragonfly movement day
with about a thousand Spot-winged Glider, 200 Wandering Glider,
1 Black and 2 Red Saddlebags, and best, my second ever as a
migrant in these movements, a Four-spotted Pennant.
July 2 ~ We got about an inch of rain from Hurricane Alex over
before noon, and another half in the p.m.. It was going
west in the a.m., and north in the p.m.. One Golden-cheeked
Warbler outside, and a Goatweed Leafwing butterfly. The
big movement was dragonflies. The annual march of the Pantala.
Gliders, perhaps 100 Wandering but at least 500 Spot-winged,
probably a thousand of them.
July 1 ~ JULY !?! Had some pre-dawn showers from Hurricane
Alex, and a bit of showers through the day. Kept it nice and
cool, about 80 deg.F all day, absolutley wonderous. As was
having a couple Golden-cheeked Warbler in the juniper right out
the front door first look out this a.m.. They moved down the
draw and a Black-and-white Warbler appeared. Ahhhh, Utopia.
Now get to work. In the afternoon Kathy spotted a big bearded
Tom Turkey walking out the office window. I've heard them alot
here, but this is the first actually walking IN the yard here on SR
that I've seen. Black-chinned Hummingbirds have been thick
for over a week as the second batch of young of the year fledge.
I saw a just-fledged juvenile Painted Bunting with the ad. male,
so they got at least one young out this year here, finally.
A flock of 16 Bushtit moved up the draw past us.
Overall LOTS of fledged baby birds out there, many wandering on their
own already, as are some of the adults that are not nesting again.
Many have nested twice already. If we have indications of
continued rains, many will nest a third time. But not Golden-
cheeked Warblers, which only rarely nest twice, and usually only
if they lose the first nest very early in the season. Based on
the numbers we've had in the yard this year, where they don't breed,
Golden-cheeks had a GREAT breeding season. Bunches of them in
June. Them, Black-and-white Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
are all already on the move. Southbound. On the way out of
Dodge. Until next March. Amazing isn't it? For many
it is probably 3 nest attempts in the the three months of April,
May, and June, to loosely generalize. Between the fire ants
and racoons, not to mention squirrels, I don't know how anything
gets young off and out. Add for the day one Ground-Dove and
a male Vermilion Flycatcher in the yard.
We finished June with 50 species of butterflies
locally with the AZ sister on June 29.
June 30 ~ Clouds from outer bands of Hurricane Alex kept us cooler
again today, sure nice after last years summer with 100 days at 100
degrees out here on Seco Ridge. Weird northeast winds, and
very very moisture laden. Late in the afternoon we finally
got a bit of rain, hope we get a bunch more. There was a
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher out back (migrant) and the male Cooper's Hawk
buzzed the place. Another Coop in town was a female.
Zone-tail over SR too. At UP there were a half-dozen of the
Orange-striped Threadtail (Protoneura cara) damselfly, including a pair
ovipositing in that odd posture with the long abdomen first going up,
then doubling back down, and being held between the wings.
I heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler chip at UP. The Chickadees
here in the yard have 2 more fledglings just out of the nest.
June 29 ~ a bit of spritzing, just a trace, but sure beat the heat
again today. Heard a Golden-cheek outside. Looked like
south of town might have gotten some good rain though. The
Hooded Oriole went to singing quite a while it felt so good apparently.
The biggest thing today was finally another Arizona Sister butterfly,
only the third I've seen this year, came in to watered caliche.
June 28 ~ An outflow boundry beat the heat of the day, but we didn't
get any rain. Begging Chuck-wills-widows down in the draw.
The dark Tropical Buckeye was still around, day 2 for #3.
June 27 ~ Watering the caliche we had 20 Common Buckeye again
and one dark Tropical Buckeye, #3, all have been different this
past month. After last weekend's (6/19) two new butterflies for
the local monthly list (Viceroy and Streaky Skipper) we're at 49 sps.
of butterflies for the month. That doesn't count anything down
in Uvalde, just the local Lost Maples to Utopia and Seco Ridge area.
Heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler outside this a.m..
June 26 ~ I've mentioned the Loggerhead Shrike pair we've been
seeing down by Sabinal, and today we saw a brown JUVENILE near
an adult, so we have successful nesting!! We saw all the
regulars along Old Sabinal Rd. heading over to Uvalde, but a
run over Diamondback Rattlesnake was a bummer of a way to see
the first one I've seen in years.
At Cook's Slough there was a Groove-billed Ani, I think the first
one reported this year around Uvalde where a few show every summer.
A juvenile Olive Sparrow with an adult was neat, and I heard the
female Wood Duck we saw had 6 young. Over at the hatchery
there were good numbers of dragonflies (as at the slough) and we
saw a dozen Halloween Pennant, and a few male MARL Pennant.
Lots of Swallows at both places including many Purple Martin,
Bank, and numbers of Cave.
The best bird of the day was over Main St. in downtown Uvalde,
a PEREGRINE Falcon, probably the first mid-summer record here.
Looked like a SY (second year) bird, or first summer, about a
year old now, fairly dark below with heavy streaking still.
After we got back to SR, at 8 p.m., I had THREE Golden-cheeked Warbler
in the yard. One an adult male with a hatch-year bird trying to
beg unsuccesfully. They fluttered straight up 10' above the
juniper beak to beak the HY begging from the adult. Very cool.
As if all that wasn't enough for a day, just before the last trace of
light in the sky, I saw movement coming up the driveway. Thought it
was a dillo, so low and squat with a silly swagger. Turned out to
be our first yard PORCUPINE !! It drank for 3 or 4 minutes straight.
I had some flash problems with the camera, but got ID shots anyway.
I could smell it when I got about 5' away.
June 25 ~ Hutton's still singing, one Golden-cheeked Warbler.
June 24 ~ Hutton's Vireo singing out front.
June 23 ~ I finally saw Orange-striped Threadtail (3) damselflies at UP.
Far better to me was a CYRANO Darner, which I've only glimpsed a couple
times here so far, but got great extended close range binoc looks
this time. Good enough for me to put it on my local list of
things seen. There were also just fledged Yellow-throated Warbler
and White-eyed Vireo, and I heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler chipping.
At SR there were 20 Common Buckeye that came into watered caliche,
and another dark Tropical Buckeye, #2.
June 22 ~ The second year (SY) female Scott's Oriole bathed as did
the male Summer Tanager. A Zone-tailed Hawk flew over heading
for the ridge with prey in its talons, that is carrying food, so
surely to a nest. A couple dozen Spot-winged Glider dragonfly
passed southbound over SR late in the early evening.
June 21 ~ HAPPY SOLSTICE !!! TWO Golden-cheeked Warbler were outside
in the yard (SR) in the a.m.. Both Painted Buntings bathed in the
afternoon heat. A Red-eyed Vireo was singing a bit down the draw (taped).
Rather odd, they don't nest here. A dozen Spot-winged Glider dragonfly
passed southward over SR.
June 20 ~ heard another Golden-cheeked Warbler, didn't chase it
down to age it. Hutton's Vireo singing again, and Kathy
saw the male Blue Grosbeak eating seed.
June 19 ~ Well it's fall migration for sure now, as a landbird
migrant was seen moving southward. An adult female
Black-and-white Warbler in the gallery corridor forest along
the river at UP was moving south slowly. Likely a finished
local breeder on its way out, done for the season.
I saw the big fields mowed at the north end of town and the
Dickcissels weren't out. Kinda looks like they lost their
nests? Odd there was an adult male Hooded Oriole coming
out of the Mesquite patch just north of the bend/curve in 187
at the north end of Utopia. At UP there was a beautiful
fresh FOS Viceroy with the thinnest of dorsal hind wing bands.
A beauty it was, as was the American Germander (Wood Sage)
blooming there now. Some Drummond's Petunia is up at the
county line (356) crossing as well as more Am. Germander.
I couldn't believe it this a.m. when I heard rolling thunder,
and saw must have been a hundred Harleys of every size, shape,
pan, and knucklehead, going around the back loop of 357, dump
road, on SR. You know the one with the nice new oil and
loose rocks? Someone took a wrong turn, and the whole
pack followed is my only guess, as they found the way out
after disturbing two miles worth of people having a quiet
Saturday morning at home. Of course if you live within
hearing distance of any of the major roads out here you get
such disturbance regularly, which is why most of us out here,
are out here. How nice of them to bring the sounds of the
city to us out here trying to avoid it. Sometimes it seems
ya can't get away from the citiots. Did I mention down at
the park, yes UP, some of the weekend warrior citiots again are
using the trail at the north end of the park as their toilet,
I guess to complete their outdoor nature experience, the restrooms
are out of the question. I suppose that is what they do in the city?
They also catch the Lepomis sunfish and throw them on the ground to
die! We saw four left like that. Use it or leave it, is the law.
At the butterfly garden was a Streaky Skipper and a pale morph female
Large Orange Sulphur. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail went by
somewhere. Here at the hovel on SR early in the a.m.
there were two Golden-cheeked Warblers outside, with an adult
male landing on the powerline for 15 seconds. Late in the
p.m. the male Painted Bunting was eating millet seed out back
in the sun, and singing. They lost their first nest to a
dozer (WMD), sure hope the second set gets to fledge this year.
June 18 ~ My FOS Stick Insect (walking stick) was out back, over
5" long, with legs and anntenae extended forward about 8" total!
Saw my second late in the p.m., when a Roadrunner jump/flew 6'
up on a juniper and ripped one off, and ate it. Amazing
was one of those big Meloid blister beetles flying right by me
(Lytta fulvipennis) here at SR. Another FOS was a Desert
Checkered-Skipper, to go with the building high pressure and heat.
June 17 ~ More low clouds and spritz for the a.m., but just
enough to wash leaves. The pair of Summer Tanager came
into the bird bath again. I keep forgetting to mention the
Purple Martins are really flocked up now over each area where they
breed (boxes) with all the juveniles fledged. The Mountain Pink
is really getting going with patches of pink all over, in some places
making the mountain, pink. Whooda thunk!?!
June 16 ~ 'nother golden-cheeked Warbler calling out back.
Didn't chase it down to age it. WOW have you noticed
how the morning chorus is already quieting down markedly?
Major difference already! OK, here's what is nesting
around the hovel here out on SR.... Black and Turkey Vulture
nest on the cliffs of the divide, so a mile away but are
here daily in large numbers. Cooper's, Red-shouldered,
and Red-tailed Hawks also nest nearby somewhere. Mourning,
Inca, Ground-, and Collared-Dove are all nesting here too.
Then there is Roadrunner, Eastern Screech-Owl (mccallii),
Common Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, Chuck-wills-widow, Chimney
Swift nearby somewhere, same for Purple Martin, Black-chinned
Hummingbird too common, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe,
Ash-throated Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay,
Common Raven, Barn Swallow near, Carolina chickadee, Black-crested
Titmouse, Bushtit, Carolina and Bewick's Wren, Mockingbird
(singing out on the road, don't know if it is mated), Summer Tanager,
the pair which bathes regularly, male always lets female go first,
Rufous-crowned and Lark Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting,
Brown-headed & Bronzed Cowbird, Hooded and Scott's Oriole, House Finch,
and Lesser Goldfinch. Eastern bluebird families have been regular
moving around the last few weeks. If I had time to do nothing
but watch, I would surely record Zone-tailed Hawk weekly or less too.
Total of 40+ species nesting nearby in, around, or flying over the hovel
daily at the back of SR. As I call it, the daily grind. :)
June 15 ~ 'nother Golden-cheek calling out there this a.m..
They're coots. A less than 30 day fledged Cardinal juvenile
took a big green katydid by itself no problem today. Good,
maybe a little quieter at night. They are so abundant now,
the roar is deafening. A fancy Underwing moth, (Catocala sps.)
of my favorite flavor, the pink hind wing types, landed outside
long enough for me to get a picture (and hopefully an ID then).
Probably of the variety known as Sweetheart Underwing (C. amatrix).
That was the a.m.. There was some afternoon shower activity,
we got maybe a tenth of an inch of rain, and beat the peak heat.
Spray a little puddle on some caliche every hot day, and check it.
A dark Tropical Buckeye was outside puddling from 2 to 7 p.m., with
up to 10 Common Buckeye at once. Yes I got a field guide plate
picture of them side by side. The other good butterfly was
a Common Mestra, the first I've seen locally since fall 2008,
that flew through the woods out back.
June 14 ~ I led a very nice couple up Can Creek at Lost Maples SNA this a.m..
I saw almost a dozen, and heard almost a dozen Golden-cheeked Warbler,
for a 20+ morning total. Many (most) were hatch year juveniles
that had just fledged, some still being fed. Several adult
males were seen, a couple adult females. We also saw Black-and-
white Warbler feeding young, but best was a pair of Yellow-throated
Warbler feeding 2 young, possibly a first park nesting record?
It is to my knowledge. Lots of the other regulars like Louisiana
Waterthrush, Acadian Flycatcher, Red-eyed, White-eyed, and Yellow-throated
Vireos, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Black and Eastern Phoebe, Bushtit, a Hutton's
Vireo or two, numbers of Blue Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting, heard a
Scott's Oriole, no Green Kingfisher. Lots of Spicebush Swallowtail
and Red-spotted Purple, one Two-tailed Swallowtail. We had a great walk.
June 13 ~ Mostly cloudy in the a.m. so in 70's and nice. Scoped
a first summer (AHY or SY) male Blue Grosbeak singing 150 yards
away, with very very little blue on it still. Crazy Ladder-
backed Woodpecker perching on powerline like songbird again.
It's like he's up there saying OK Mr. size shape and structure,
what kind of songbird am I perched like this on a power line?
Then it contorts itself into postures imitating other bird shapes
(that it no doubt saw in the Texas Peterson roadside silhouettes pages).
Did I mention Friday I got pix of one on a metal fence pole, one of the
barbed wire heavy steel T stakes? A whole forest of trees,
and a plethora of wooden fence poles, and just what was it thinking
it was going to do to a T post? Do you remember me mentioning
the one that flew a full 360 loop in the opening in the back yard?
Crazy Woodpecker would have been an absolutely correct name I would
have no problem with. That stacatto cackle sounds like a crazy nut
laughing too. It actually makes much more sense than say
Orange-crowned Warbler or Long-tailed Duck.
June 12 ~ Still the overcast but the low is finally ejecting
NE clearing by late afternoon. A Two-tailed Swallowtail
was something different as of late. They are huge!
A Red-spotted Purple was the other butterfly yard highlight.
Ten Bushtits went by late, no Black-eared, so they are now
banding back up. Is it all juveniles and the adults are
still nesting (again), or is it a couple family groups?
To update, here are the flowers still blooming around the yard:
Two-leafed Senna, Yellow Wood-Sorrel, Rock Flax, Narrow-leaf Thyrallis
(great stand), Queen's Delight, Mountain Pink (really gettin going),
Cynanchum, Silky Evolvulus, Purple Bindweed, Blue Gilia, Texas Vervain,
Gray Vervain, Dakota Vervain, Frog-fruit, Prairie Brazoria,
Purple Horsemint (Lemon Beebalm), Mock Pennyroyal, Yellow Ground-
Cherry, Baby's Breath (Bluets), Prairie Fleabane, Blackfoot Daisy,
Mexican Hat, Zexmenia, Golden-wave (Coreopsis), Navajo Tea,
Straggler Daisy, Sneezeweed, Slender-stem Bitterweed, Parralena,
Sida, Illinois Bundleflower, plus Dandelion and Sow Thistle which
are introduced non-native vermin, so I don't count them.
So 31 species without the last two listed, and there are a couple
others blooming I can't name. At least a dozen other species
are done and over, finished blooming in May. Still hoping
the Angel's Trumpets sends up some blooms, though the big patch
down the road a bit did. Might be some Drummond's Skullcap
still in bloom out there. The Texas Mulberry has fruit for
the first time in 5 years, which I hope ripen enough for me to
try one before the dang deer eat them.
Plateau Agalinis has burst out thickly, because of the 6" rain
event, but of course won't bloom until late summer to fall when
the hills will turn pink if the buckeye caterpillars don't eat it
all first. The same 6" rain it takes to get it to sprout
gets the Buckeyes to hatch. Brickel-bush is another common
yard bush not blooming till fall, but I never see a thing on it.
June 11 ~ There was a big pre-dawn cell that came off the
Sierra Madre in Mexico yesterday afternoon, marched across
the Rio Grande around dark, and made it up here, as if often
the case. We got about an inch of rain from it.
Now I wasn't going to say anything about this sighting.
I was going to just keep it to myself and forget about it.
But since our two dogs died a few years ago, and we only have
3 readers left now, I'll risk mentioning it here. Please
don't tell anyone. It'll be our secret.
Shortly after I saw the adult female Cooper's Hawk that
nests nearby fly over, I saw a most unusual small buteo,
very well, since I had my binocs on when I spotted it.
It was going south low over SR. Without photos I don't
recommend reporting super rarities that would be considered
unprecedented by the birding establishment, which generally only
believes that which is well established. Unless the bird
is tied down and staked out. Sometimes discretion is the
better part of valor.
With aerial species, or one on the move, say like the Short-tailed
Hawks I've seen go by, there isn't anywhere to go looking for it.
It's like seawatching, you have to be there, but there are
always plenty of people that don't do it, that can tell you
what you did or did not see. Sometimes birds just fly by.
Bird record committee types usually do not like that kind of bird,
and disparage sightings of birds just seen flying by. I mean
what kind of bird would just fly by? And what kind of fool
would report it?
Anyway, this bird was a very small buteo with all brown upperparts,
especially the wing, uniform without pale crescent at primary base,
but rather all remiges unmarked above. Tail was not black,
with no white bands, and astonishingly long for a small buteo.
It had nearly finger-width (very thick) bands of rufous going
horizontally across underparts from the breast to lower belly,
that were rough, or uneven, of edges, on a cream background. The
wing-linings did not contrast with ventral remiges, all generally
creamy, lightly or sparsely marked. I see Red-shouldered,
Cooper's and Red-tailed near-daily, all nest nearby. It was
none of those. Longer tailed juv. Red-shouldereds hang over
the hovel high up, begging, regularly, this was far from that,
a very small, small buteo.
I have known those species for 50 years. Stucturally alone,
this was no North American hawk. Plumage too defied matching
any N.A. species and supports that. There were no black and white
remiges or rectrices, but thick rufous bars on underparts, very small buteo
size, shape and structure, with long tail of obvious, low contrast bars.
After the sighting and typing some notepad on the bird, I went to re-reading
the books. So I would mention how it struck me in remembering
what I just saw, that though I wasn't specifically looking for it,
I saw it had an obvious pale eye. I didn't think anything at the
time besides "note pale eye" to myself when I saw that on the
bird. Obviously I am inexperienced with what I saw, which I can
only conclude was a Roadside Hawk.
I have half-expected a Gray Hawk up here, and fully expected it around
Uvalde. No love there yet. I have seen a few Short-tailed,
including light and dark morph birds, a couple Common Black-Hawk (1 ph.),
a couple Aplomado Falcon, and another raptor I'm afraid to mention,
so about one good one per year, with a couple or few hours of being
outside sky watching daily. Especially before and after Mexican origin
MCS events with hundred mile long outflow boundries that march a couple
hundred miles from the foothills of the Sierra Madre in Coahuila doing 40-50 MPH
all the way to Utopia as happens dozens of times per year every spring
to summer/fall (4 days in a row this week by time the low ejected NE
out of NE Mexico).
A HY (hatch-year) Vermilion Flycatcher was out front late in the p.m..
A Hackberry Emperor was in the garden, a species I missed
yesterday, not among the 26 noted then, as was the N. Cloudywing.
June 10 ~ More fog mist and coolish a.m. temps with hot humid
afternoons. The SY male Hooded Oriole (just black throat)
bathed today, first time I've seen it at the bath, and it looked
like the first time it had seen the bath, as scared of the water
as it was. It took 10 minutes to take a one minute bath.
Stared at its reflection so long I'm going to have to name it
Narcissus. Changing eyes, staring, not sure, like it didn't
know whether to attack it, or fall in love with itself, but eventually
seems to grasp that reflection, is it. It is interesting because
this has long been this major major contention in science of intelligence,
self-awareness. Do you recongnize yourself in a mirror? We do,
chimps do, and I think dolphins and elephants do. So I couldn't
help but wonder what was occurring during this painfully long
and what seemed to me extraordinary staring event. About ten times
I was thinkin' GET IN THE BATH ALREADY! as goldfinches and other
things were piling up waiting. It was like he'd never seen
himself like that up to that point, which seems hard to believe
at a year old.
Butterflies in the yard today were: Giant, Pipevine (20), and Black(8)
Swallowtail, Checkered White, Lyside and Dainty Sulphur, Little Yellow,
Sleepy Orange, So. Dogface, Gray and Olive Juniper Hairstreak,
Bordered Patch, Queen, Red Admiral, Question Mark, Goatweed Leafwing,
Buckeye (10), Tawny Emperor, Gulf and Variegated Fritillary (20 ea.),
Funereal and Horace's Duskywing, Common Checkered-Skipper,
Fiery Skipper, Nysa Roadside-Skipper, Orange Skipperling.
Surely I missed some (like Am. Lady), but that was 26 species.
June 9 ~ more fog mist most of the a.m., but in the clearing in the
p.m. a Great Purple Hairstreak flew across the yard, and a Northern
Cloudywing was about. There are about 39 species of birds now
breeding around the hovel here out on the back end of Seco Ridge (SR).
That is, species seen daily in or over the yard, or heard singing or
displaying. I come up with another 30 species nesting in the
riparian corridor forest along the river. About 10 more species
nest around town or in more open areas like fields, edges of ranches, etc..
And I think as many as 10 more species either nest periodically, or
sparingly, or occasionally, or possibly sparsely in the southern parts
of the Sabinal Valley.
We can safely say that there are at least 85 species, and maybe
90 species, that nest in the Sabinal Valley (Utopia area and vicinity)
from Lost Maples to Clayton Grade. An often used term for birding
in summer is "the summer doldrums" which could not be more of a
misnomer for bird activity or birding here in summer, when we are at
absolute maximum peak action and diversity, except a few somewhat
unpredictable peak days in spring migration, before all of our nesters
are even back.
Remember most of these birds eat almost only bugs during the 3-4 month
nesting period, that would take many countless thousands of hours and
dollars to kill, if you could, and you couldn't. And, half or so
(42) are migratory species that winter in Mexico or Central America, only
visiting here to nest, sing beautiful songs, and eat bugs for us.
:)
June 8 ~ a low pressure system over NE Mexico is keeping us under clouds,
so highs ca. 90 deg. F., but the humidity is so high heat indices are
about 100. Male and female Painted Bunting seem to have re-setup
shop across the road and I hear him singing and see her at the seed
again daily. A probably Meridian Duskywing butterfly puddling.
June 7 ~ Another Golden-cheeked Warbler heard calling outside this
a.m., is number 4 so far this week and post-breeding dispersal season.
I bet they had a good year. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is another
post-breeding dispersant that passed through the yard today.
Also a Bushtit was about, and has been for a week nearly now.
But still singles, not flocks so part of a mated pair nesting
nearby, OR, a young that is on its own, which is rare? Boy
the White-winged Dove colony gets to chorusing great, a mild roar.
June 6 ~ This a.m. there were TWO Golden-cheeked Warbler out in
the back yard! They were interacting, or one of them wanted
to, it seemed like begging of a sort, and were moving together.
At one point they both landed on the power line! In general they
seem to have disdain for landing on man-made objects, but I have
seen them on the power-line before. It looked like an adult
and a juvenile. They were 2' apart one gave a chip, the other
flight notes and that got faster and faster, until they then fluttered
up and at each other and got beak to beak as they rose a couple feet
over the powerline, before they dropped back down to it.
One changed direction at the last moment and flew across the dirt road
instead of re-landing on the powerline. It looked like a hatch year
(juvenile), and the one that did come back down to the line had a full
solid black chin, throat and sides so looked to be an adult male to me.
It quickly flew across the road following the young bird. They had
to be and adult/chick pair.
June 5 ~ Another roll down off the plateau into the brush
country to Uvalde. Before we left there was probably the
last northbound spring migrant of the year singing down in the
draw, a male Yellow Warbler. The roadside flowers were still
great, most still uncut so getting to go to seed, though some areas
were seemingly cut prematurely. Mostly the same birds
now since it is breeding season, Mockingbird the most common
bird, with Red-winged blackbird and then Dickcissel next.
The pair of Loggerhead Shrikes continue north of Sabinal
a mile and are surely nesting, a rare event locally.
Down old Highway 90 (Old Sabinal Rd.) there were the same
expected suspects: many dozens of Dickcissel, N. Mockingbird,
Red-winged Blackbird, Mourning and White-winged Dove,
good numbers of Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and small numbers
of Painted bunting (6 singing males), Vermilion and Brown-
crested Flycatcher, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, N. Cardinal,
Pyrrhuloxia, heard both Cassin's and Olive Sparrow, several
Caracara, few Curve-billed Thrasher, one Long-billed Thrasher,
couple Cactus Wren, lots of Bewick's singing, few Ground-Dove,
few Western Kingbird, missed Verdin though. Just go
real slow with windows down and you can hear all the birds
singing, stop when you want, there is hardly ever traffic,
and it really cuts through some nice Tamaulipan thorn-scrub.
We decided since migration was over, and we didn't feel like
sweatin' it out with the odes, we'd just do the errands and
get out of town by the heat of day. So we did a quick look
at the hatchery to make sure it was quiet and it was dead. Lots
of Dickcissel, Red-winged Blackbird, Bank Swallows sometimes
came down low over ponds, many swallows higher up.
NOTE THE HATCHERY HAS A NEW HOURS SIGN POSTED AND IS NOW
CLOSED ON SUNDAYS, AND AFTER 3:30 ON WEEKDAYS!! Access has
taken a great beating there, I suppose as a result of the
other sign there: your recovery dollars at work.
June 4 ~ A beat worn Arizona Sister butterfly was only the
second one I've seen this year! Texan Crescent, Bordered
Patch, 5 Buckeye amongst other things outside. I went to
the park the last hour of light to pretend to be smart enough
to catch a Rio Grande Perch, and a calling Cedar Waxwing flew
up and landed in a big dead Cypress snag and proceed to flycatch
for a while. Probably the last one of those around for
the season, and a good early June record. The real show
though was at dark when all the fireflies lit up. OMG it
was for about 5-10 minutes when it first really starts rippin',
amazing, astounding, electric neon greenish yellow tracers
and trails everywhere, a hundred at once, going in every
direction long blinks, short series of fast blinks, hovering
still in place blinks, zipping around chasing each other,
close, far, all over the place, it never ceases to amaze me.
I guess because I grew up in CA where they don't have them.
The lawn under the big live-oaks between the river and the
main road into the park was the best area.
June 3 ~ The first juvenile GOLDEN-CHEEKED WARBLER of the year
passed through the yard this a.m.. Post-breeding dispersal
is underway. Chips, flight notes, fly-catching, at one
point it flew by me less than 5' away across the yard opening.
June 2 ~ Well I got a better look today as I flushed the male
VARIED BUNTING as I walked out on the back porch. They are
always so ginchy. A couple Cloudless Sulphur passed by.
June 1 ~ JUNE !?!?!? I stepped out on the back porch and a
bird flushed I thought sure was a male Varied Bunting. Now is
the time for them. An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was down SR,
and an all black Tenebrionid (Iron Clad Beetle) was out front.
At dusk a huge TARANTULA was outside, a most wanted beast for the
yard list! It was almost as big as my hand! Yes I got
some pix. Made our day! Just one good beast is all it takes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
May summary ~ It was a very weak spring (going back to April)
for migrant landbirds overall, probably due to extensive
greenery due to a badly needed wet winter. Bad for us
to see them is probably good for them to find food and cover
on their journey. The flower show on the other hand
has many saying it is the best they ever saw, as it is for
me here in this area. Dragonflies have been slow to
get going and I think like butterflies are in recovery mode
from the two years of drought preceeding this spring season.
I saw 48 species of butterflies locally in May, up from 40
in April, only a Mexican Yellow being a significant find.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
May 31 ~ The bird of the day was at 11 p.m. when I heard a
BARN OWL, so surely that represents a locally nesting bird.
I still count 25 species of wildflowers in bloom around the yard.
May 29 ~ At the north end of town there are a few Dickcissels
on territory right at the UvCo 356 x 187 junction. At UR
(Utopia on the River) there was a Little Wood Satyr, the first
I've seen this year, and at UP there was a female Mourning Warbler,
the second of that species this spring, no MacGillivray's this year.
The mccallii Screech-Owl song I timed at 3 seconds. Just
a straight barely trilled on same pitch "toad call."
May 28 ~ A cool wasp has been around that looks fairly close to
Gnamptopelta obsidianator, an ichneumon, all black with orange
anntenae. Lots lots fewer hummingbirds around as the
first batch of young produced have dispersed. Major
difference in a few days, doesn't bother me a bit not having
to fight keeping feeders with fluid. A male Widow Skimmer
was patrolling the yard here at SR for a while.
May 27 ~ Flushed a Chuck-wills-widow at Utopia Park, my first for
the park, since I don't hang out there at night enough obviously.
also there was a male Green Kingfisher, and a Macromia (River Cruiser)
dragonfly, plus a Roseate Skimmer and still Springtime Darner.
At SR there were the usual Poor-will, Chucks, and 6 Common Nighthawk.
May 25 ~ One Blue-gray Gnatcatcher adult male was a post-breeding
wanderer, probably did a couple clutches or broods (or attempts)
and is done for the season already. The Hutton's Vireo
continues singing out front here at SR. The first summer
male Scott's Oriole (AHY or SY) now has no tail, just a series
of black spots where the new rectrices are just peeking out.
The black of the face and chest is now solid without olive,
but crown and back still have olive. Underparts have
worn yellower but still far from ASY bright yellow. Then
a Hooded Oriole in female plumage was hanging on a window and
singing at its reflection. This is an AHY bird with very worn
dull brown rectrices and remiges, no black in throat, and I got
a couple poor pix through the dirty double window.
A few butterflies were about, best was maybe my first May record
yet of a MEXICAN YELLOW! Also Nysa Roadside-Skipper, Red
Satyr, Reakirt's Blue, Fiery Skipper, numbers of Buckeye, and
after dark the Couch's Spadefoot Toad was serenading me again,
probably due to another 1/2" of rain today, just before dark.
May 24 ~ About an inch of rain in the p.m. was a needed treat.
May 23 ~ We checked a couple tree patches around town for
migrants despite the wind. Nothing at UR or the
354 pecans (besides breeders), but across the field from
the park on Cypress St. by the Mulberries besides 30 Waxwings
there was a singing (male) AHY (after hatch year) American
Redstart, the first I've seen this spring. Nice yellow
tail squares, but salmon on breast, and salt and pepper
charcol on throat, some little black on head and back.
Then further down the hackberry row I found a FOS Willow
Flycatcher. Over in Utopia Park (UP) at the north end
there was a Mourning Warbler, finally an Oporornis this year!
There was also a Least Flycatcher there, for an outstanding
and impressive grand total of 4 passerine migrants at UP
and on the street out front of it, 3 of them, the only ones of
season so far. Another first and only locally I've seen
this spring migrant was a Cattle Egret standing on the dam.
We've had lots in Uvalde, but none up here in the hills.
Also had numbers of Blue Dasher and a couple Springtime Darner
dragonflies at UP.
May 22 ~ Lost Maples for a half day walk up Can Creek.
At least 4, more likely 5 Yellow-billed Cuckoo migrants
were seen or heard, knocked down by the fog/mist. Even
better was a YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER seen, which besides
the FOS for me this year, may be a first for the park. It
is not on the list. Of course little late May migrant
hunting takes place there, most are myopically looking for a
certain warbler or vireo. Check out the Lost Maples
Reports page for a more full report, but Golden-cheeked and
Black-and-white Warbler are feeding young along the trail,
and a just about ready to fledge Mexican (Eastern) Screech-Owl
trying to dry out was great.
Tex-Mex Screech-Owl (Otis asio mccallii)
Flowers are phenomenal both at the park and along 187 between
town and there. Some huge areas of Skeleton-Flower.
In the afternoon here at SR in broad daylight I was struck
how long it took me to figure out it was a Chuck-wills-widow
zig-zagging over the junipers, with a Cooper's Hawk behind
it looking like it was going to run out of steam long before
the Chuck, which despite the rakish ungainly look was making
deceptively fast progress, with seemingly little effort.
May 21 ~ There was a Catbird at UP, and single Yellow Warblers
at UP, UR, and 354. A pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoo seem
to be back at UR. Migrants are passing through of this
latest of migrants too with one calling for an hour here in
the junipers on SR. About 27 Cedar Waxwing at SR.
May 20 ~ It was a heavy fog/mist day almost all day, and I
bet there were some migrants knocked down, but I couldn't
get out to look. Dang work.
May 19 ~ Well I have to face facts, the bulldozing we've
been hearing across the road for a week or so took out the
Painted Bunting nest site. They're gone.
They were back, singing all day every day, eating millet
every morning and afternoon, drinking if not bathing daily,
and I haven't heard hide nor hair, or seen them in days,
after about the second day of WMD (dozer). After the last
five years of having them as daily fare late April to August,
yes, there is a great big hole in my heart, since they surely
had a nest, likely with eggs at this point. Fortunately
so far, apparently it hasn't affected our Blue Grosbeak pair,
or the Summer Tanager pair that are in the yard daily.
But we lost our Painted Buntings to one of modern man's
greatest weapons of mass destruction, the bulldozer.
Which reminds me, have you seen Clayton Grade lately?
Probably TX DOT contractors have surely "fixed" the
drainage on the east side of the road now. You'll
recall a year ago they dozed the biggest public access
Eupatorium/Mejorana patch in the valley, covered it with gravel,
for "drainage control" on the west side of the grade.
I guess someone saw some flowers survived on the east side
of the road so the contractor has scraped it to the bone.
It had Eups too, and was equally great in fall especially.
There were days you could spend HOURS working the butterflies
in the bushes right at the incline, going south out of the
valley, and in just two short years, at taxpayer expense
this wonderful unique habitat has been reduced to rubble.
It was a natural native butterfly garden, and as such had
larger numbers of some species than our artificial man-made
gardens do. It's gone. But we now alledgedly have
better drainage. By removing the plants that held the ground
and replacing them with rocks.
May 18 ~ A Swainson's Thrush was singing down in the draw
out front here at SR. Couldn't get out and check the
trees in town though. Did have a few Buckeye, and a
Julia's Skipper, besides lots of the expected butterflies.
Hutton's Vireo still singing outside. That big male
Eastern Fence Lizard is coloring up out back, but the highlight
today was what I'm fairly certain was a RIBBON SNAKE that
after getting it in binocs out the window, then getting the
camera and running outside, it shot across the hill at the
sight of me so I didn't get a picture. VERY neat yard beast!
May 17 ~ Spotted Sandpiper at UP on the dam was about it for
migrants. A hundred Cedar Waxwing in town, and 30 at SR.
Few Queen (butterfly) starting to show up, and a couple
Stream Bluet (damselfly) were at UP. Field Sparrow
bathed late in the p.m., and a pair of Chimney Swifts were
circling and calling at dusk over SR. The real highlight
of the day was finding my first Purple Dalea (Dalea lasiathera)
locally, one in spectacular full bloom along 355, just outside town.
May 16 ~ a big severe cell was bearing down on us most of the
morning but we only got a bit of spitting out of it for the
most part, besides keeping us from going out for birds.
Got a little tape of the boring Hutton's Vireo song, but it was
raining just hard enough to make that not work very well.
Lots of Navajo Tea blooming now, acres of it on the back section
of 360. The chiggers have been remarkably few in number
so far this spring, considering how wet it has been. Some
locals say a two-year drought puts a hurt on them. I thought
I'd mention it, as I was reminded by one that is driving me nuts
presently. :)
May 15 ~ Another predawn MCS came over another inch or so of rain,
and cool air. We ran for supplies in Uvalde since it
looked like a break for the day. The flowers south along 187
from Utopia to Sabinal are still overwhelmingly specatacular.
At the least, astounding. We stopped a few times and it
was clear some things had gone off and were over and done, in the
three weeks since our last drive down the road, so missed photos
of some things. The Basket-Flower stands were very extensive
in places, a big showy flower of incredible delicate beauty.
Some places had a mile of Firewheel (Indian Blanket) along the road,
and hundreds of acres of Coreopsis, the horses must be happy.
Lots of 3'+ Purple Horsemint is open and the 3' Standing Winecup is
still going strong. You could spend hours checking the road
from here to Sabinal for birds, flowers, and the bugs or butterflies
on them. Besides Mockingbird, one of the most common birds
singing along this strip (except in the juniper hills around
Clayton Grade) was Dickcissel. Dozens in the Sabinal Valley part,
and dozens down in the flatlands, like Red-winged Blackbirds.
A good migrant was an Eastern Kingbird on a fence down in the
flatlands once you hit the ag section a few miles N. of Sabinal.
A pair of Shrikes was near the 127/187 junction where I have
suspected possible breeding before. Then at the pond on
the 127/90 cutoff was 5 Blue-winged Teal, a Spotted Sandpiper,
and a female Wilson's Phalarope in high alternate plumage.
On the way home, near dusk, on the 187/127 cutoff, I couldn't
believe hearing a Couch's Spadefoot Toad right next to the road.
We jogged across 90 to Old Sabinal Rd. to take an enjoyable
ride to Uvalde, if you like driving 45 with the windows down
so you can hear birds. Once we got past the section that
was mowed (too soon) it was quite nicely flower lined still.
There are some pure red Firewheel along it, without the yellow
tips it usually has, and quite nice looking (photos). The road
was fairly lined with singing Dickcissel, several dozens more.
Along the way heard Olive Sparrow, saw Curve-billed Thrasher,
Cactus Wren, Long-billed Thrasher, Verdin, Golden-fronted
Woodpecker, heard several singing Cassin's Sparrow, saw one
singing Pyrrhuloxia, few Vermilion and one Brown-crested Flycatcher,
Bullock's Oriole, all of these species are nesting along this
little traveled gem of a backroad. Mockingbirds are at least
very abundant, the whole way from Utopia to Uvalde.
We took a quick look at the fish hatchery, but just after we
started for the main pond, a crop duster came in and strafed
the sunflower field adjacent to the west, which puts him doing
the pull up and hard bank right over the main best shorebird pond,
so we got to watch almost all the few shorebirds depart 2 minutes
after we got there. Thanks flyboy. I get a peek once
in three weeks and mostly saw one flyby and then north ends of a
bunch of southbound shorebirds. Of course I couldn't wonder
what they spray, and how much drift there is onto the habitat
at the hatchery, and what effects it has? And didn't want to
go stand in it to bird, since I didn't need de-bugging.
We saw two each Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, a couple Baird's
and 6 Least Sandpiper, 1 Semipalmated and 1 White-rumped
Sandpiper, 2 Pectoral Sandpiper, and about 5-6 Spotted Sandpiper.
4 Shoveler and 25 Blue-winged Teal were the only ducks besides
Whistling-Ducks, and one of the drake Blue-wings was a hybrid
with some Cinnamon Teal cinnamon color in the breast and in
the buffy eye crescent. There were many Dickcissel singing
here, a pair of Orchard Oriole, 4 Coot, a Great Blue Heron,
and lots of Chimney Swift, Barn Swallow, Purple Martin, a Yellow
Warbler, and one Black Setwing dragonfly amongst many Odes.
A Savannah Sparrow was getting perhaps nearly tardy.
A quick look around Cook's Slough found very little but a small
group of warblers including a few Yellow, a 1st year male Wilson's,
at least one male Common Yellowthroat which also sang a bit.
The bird of the day was a female BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK eating
mulberries in a tree there, my first one at the slough, and
the only one I've seen this spring so far. Dickcissel,
Painted Bunting, Bell's Vireo, Brown-crested and Vermilion
Flycatcher, Olive Sparrow, Verdin amongst the regulars there.
Lots of Odes but I didn't work them besides taking pix of a
red morph Rambur's Forktail.
Over the course of the drive down, plus the stops in between, we
must have heard about a hundred singing territorial male Dickcissel.
Saw twice that many Mockingbird along the roads, maybe fifty or so
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, a few Bullock's Oriole, a dozen or two of
Western Kingbird, but only heard one Couch's, and no Kiskadee, which
can get quiet in the day when they are nesting.
At home, about 10:30 p.m. I finally got some audio tape of the male
Couch's Spadefoot Toad calling at our kiddie pool puddle we keep.
Chuck-wills-widow and Poor-will were calling too, as well as
Rio Grande Leopard Frog, Barking Frog, Blanchard's Cricket Frog,
Gulf Coast Toad, but it seems the Chorus Frogs (our "spring peeper")
are done now. Common Nighthawk was booming a bit.
Probably nearly 2" of rain over the two events, not bad, and
should help keep this world class flower show going strong.
May 14 ~ With some pea to penny sized hail, about 2/3" of rain
came through with a front, pre-dawn. Couldn't get out
until the afternoon, when it is pointless looking for migrant
landbirds, they get their few hours of sleep in then when grounded.
The only thing new and different was a tardy FOS Green Heron at UP.
It was either eating Mulberries, or things coming in to the berries.
Less than 10 mi. SE of us in NW Medina Co. the cell stalled right
after going over us and dumped up to 8" of rain locally, between
here and Medina Lake. Hutton's Vireo singing at SR.
May 12 ~ News today was butterflies, as I saw two new for the
year species. First in the a.m., a MOURNING CLOAK landed
out back on the caliche briefly, circled around the clearing
a couple times and moved on. Whilst I've seen the species
now the last 3 springs, I did not record one the first 4 springs
I was here looking, and would not have overlooked the species,
having grown up with it being abundant. Then in the p.m. when I
squirted water about a bit a bunch of stuff came in including
my first Theona Checkerspot of the year, and another Buckeye.
I keep forgetting to mention the numbers of juvenile hummingbirds
seems fairly high, we have them thick for a couple weeks now,
since the last week of April. All Black-chinned of course,
and you can tell they are fresh juveniles by their mostly gray
heads right now when they just fledge. We're using a couple
pounds of sugar daily (= 1 gal. of fluid) in the feeders, so
have perhaps 500-1000 birds in the area coming in. Haven't
seen a Ruby-throat in a week and change. They just passed
through quickly this year.
The juvenile Scrub-Jay (again only 1 fledged from first set)
was learning to bathe, and at one point threw so much water
up, when it came back down and landed on its back, it scared itself
out of the bath. It took a couple minutes for it to work
the courage up to go back in after that. Sometimes when you
actually watch birds, it's hard not to chuckle, if you do it right.
May 11 ~ Couple Yellow Warblers and Yellow-billed Cuckoo
down around UR and 360. Bird of the day got away, a
warbler with a strong rich emphatic flight note "seent",
which sounded like an American Redstart to me but I only saw it
against gray skies shooting from tree to tree quickly.
There were over 450 Cedar Waxwings on the Mulberry Trees
on Cypress St.! It doesn't appear they care about
leaving ANY for me, the street (and now my tennis shoes)
stained purple from all those they've carelessly dropped,
wastefully, most with one peck out of them, as if they were
not good enough!?! Yes I checked to see what the problem
with those huge fat purple-black berries was, of course. :)
Very interesting at SR is now two new different Hooded
Orioles that have shown up at the feeders, both looking
like AHY (after hatch year, also correctly SY - 2nd yr.) birds,
about a year old, in their second year. One is an
orange morph male (they come in green/yellow like females also)
and the other a female, which looks superficially quite like
female Bullock's as they have dirty white underparts except
for undertail coverts and throat and upper breast. The
color is a greener yellow than Bullock's but underparts areas
with and without color nearly identical to fem. Bullock's pattern.
This plumage is not well-illustrated in the standard guides.
May 10 ~ I couldn't get out, but at 11 p.m. besides hearing
Chuck-wills-widows, Poor-will, Common Nighthawk, then
Eastern (Mexican) Screech-Owl, I heard what at first I took
for a distant kid goat, but it sounded closer and I wondered
if it was a whirlpool in my tanks outside as water goes down
the overflow drainpipes, but it was getting louder, and
finally a good long burst of song confirmed it, next to the
4' x 1' kiddie pool we keep for a pond, COUCH'S SPADEFOOT TOAD !!
Calling in the yard!! That is about as good a yard
beast as one can get, if you ask me. Made my day!
My observations over the last 7 springs here now indicate
they require a 6" rain event to emerge from estivation.
That is how you can tell if we got over 6". Do you
hear something coming from say a pond or wet area, that
sounds like a gnome with a kazoo imitating a baby goat or sheep?
They are real beauties IF you can see one! But good luck!
Spadefoot Toads have vertical pupils unlike other North American
frogs and toads, and males are olive and black, so quite impressive
in appearance.
May 9 ~ Heavy drizzle most of the a.m., and we didn't get out
until too late as bird activity was quieting down already it
seemed. At UP was the continuing Northern Waterthrush,
and a male Common Yellowthroat. At the 354 pecans there
were 6 Yellow Warblers, one each Wilson's (finally saw one this
spring) and Nashville Warbler. Lots of Dickcissel singing
out in the Thistle (non-native Musk). Kathy spotted the
best bird of the day there, a FOS Eastern Kingbird, finally.
Was thinking we missed the window this spring. At UR
there was a Yellow and a Nashville Warbler, a calling cuckoo,
the singing Acadian Flycatcher. Down by the river, on
360, there were 4 more Yellow and another Nashville. So
about a dozen Yellow over a few stops, and 5 sps. of migrant
warblers total. The flowers are still spectacular as if
you haven't noticed. Still new things popping out I haven't
seen before, like the Brown-Flowered Psoralea I found today,
and some Winecup right past the east edge of town on Lee St..
A couple Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks were at the SLC pond.
Another Barn Owl was heard late, about 11 p.m..
I saw yesterday's big fancy beetles again on the Mexican Poppy
near UR, and checked the other patch of that at the end of Lee St.
which also had some, probably 16 between the two patches, all
devouring the flowers and leaves. Mike Quinn, former TPWD
Entomologist (that's Mr. Bug to you and me) has ID'd them as
Blister Beetles (Meloidae), so I am really glad after consideration
I decided to not grab one. Lytta fulvipennis is the species, and
THANK YOU Mike Quinn beetle man extraordinaire for the identification!
These beasts were gorging themselves, at times hanging upside-down
waiting to expell some frass so they could eat some more is how it
appeared. They excrete a chemical when disturbed that can cause
very painful serious burns, hence the name.
Orange-winged Blister Beetle - Lytta fulvipennis at
Utopia, TX, May 8, 2010, was ca. 1.5" long!
May 8 ~ Moderate east winds overnight with a weak dry frontal
passage usually means migrants at this time of year so I checked
a few spots. On the trail at the north end of UP which I
walked yesterday a.m., I photo'd a pile of Catbird feathers.
So one was there in the last 24 hours. There was a Northern
Watherthrush at the northmost end of the park, #2 this spring here.
Eastern Screech-Owl calling lots lately after dark at SR.
The Mulberry trees on Cypress still have loads of Waxwings, and
finally FOS Orchard and Baltimore Orioles. At Utopia on the River
the Acadian Flycatcher has returned (not here yesterday), and a
couple Nashville and Yellow Warblers was about it. There were
some (8) spectacular beetles (ph.) on some Mexican Poppy at UR. Down
on the other side of the river along 360 I found several Larkspurs
in bloom (Delphinium), some Cardinal-Feather, Scarlet Pimpernel,
and both Celia's and Nysa Roadside-Skippers. Up on SR near
the end of the pavement there are some Barbara's Button's in bloom.
At SR there is Rock Flax that is knee-high and Mexican Hat up to my waist.
Lots of the yellow you see along the roads locally is Coreopsis,
acres of it, some areas have Nerve-Ray, the lavender purple mostly
finishing up now is largely Dakota Verbina.
May 7 ~ FOS local Olive-sided Flycatcher at UP was discovered
due to a burst of song, "Quick! three beers". Music
to my ears. A single Nashville there was my only migrant
warbler at 3 stops. UR had a Great Crested Flycatcher, but
no Acadian has returned yet. Flyover Dickcissels were there,
at UP, 354, and SR. The numbers of Hackberry and Tawny Emperor
butterflies is Asteronomical. A hundred of each in a few spots,
easy. Red Admiral and Question Mark nearly as abundant too.
A Spotted Sandpiper was on the dam at UP.
May 5 ~ Hutton's Vireo singing a lot outside. Two male and
two female Hooded Orioles using feeder, besides the pair of Scott's.
Two pairs of Painted Bunting and one pair of Blue Grosbeak seem to
have settled in again, and one pair (2) Chipping Sparrow is all that
remains of them, the other half dozen leaving the last few days.
First just fledged Lesser Goldfinch about the yard today.
May 4 ~ Errands in town so a quick check yielded very little, a few
Nashville (6 at 3 stops), a Yellow, and good was two Black-throated
Green Warbler, a female at the 354 pecans, and a male that sang at
Utopia on the River. Lots of Hackberry and Tawny Emperor
butterflies about, as well as Questionmarks, Red Satyr daily at SR.
At least 275 Cedar Waxwing hitting the ripe Mulberries around town.
Two less female Brown-headed Cowbirds about the yard.
Interesting was when the just fledged (yesterday) juvenile Scrub-Jay flew
up to the wire near the adult. The adult lifted its leg to scratch
an itch on the side of its face/head, and quickly after the juvenile
lifted its leg and scratched the same place on its face. Now it
could not have had the same itch. Mimicry, same way people learn!
May 3 ~ Here we go high pressure and 90 deg.F, get ready for summer.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds cleared out after the frontal passage
in late April and very few remain, I saw but one female today.
Saw some good Common Nighthawk booms (dive display) and several
Chuck-wills-widows were calling as was an Eastern Screech-Owl.
Female Blue Grosbeak is about the seed, besides the male.
May 2 ~ The winds calmed and skies were clear last night and it
appeared as the migrants high-tailed it out of here, as I saw a
single Nashville (UR) and that was about it for migrants. Oh I
you could call the 3 Western Kingbirds migrants too. At the
end of Lee St. before the first dogleg there is a nice patch of
Mexican Poppy in the corrals, which is fairly scarce here.
Kathy had a Spotted Towhee today we heard yesterday and the day
before (Fri. and Sat.). But since I didn't hear or see one
Tues. through Thursday, I think it was a new migrant that stopped.
Out at the S.Little Creek pond there was a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck,
my FOS local one this spring. A Great Blue Heron was there and
one flew up the river at UP.
There are acres and acres of Coreopsis around town, out along 357,
or just south of town on 187, the abundant yellow groundcover is
this species. Along 360 there are fair amounts of Nerve-Ray,
and all the roads are lined with Engleman's Daisy among other things.
There are also acres of purple Dakota Verbina in between the yellow
things, and all together, holy cow what a color show! Around
Utopia on the River's grounds there are Baby Blue-eyes and Tube-Tongue
for some of the ground-cover. Some Bluebonnets are still going.
One fresh mint Monarch was seen, clearly a new fresh emergence.
May 1 ~ I checked spots around town for migrant birds since a
weak frontal passage turned winds around overnight. I hit
UP, UR, 354 and 360 over a few hours. There were numbers of
Nashville Warbler (15+, at 4 stops), Yellow Warbler (6, at 4 stops),
and Orange-crowned Warbler (3, at 4 stops), so while the most warblers
since Myrtles went through, it was not exactly jumping.
A male Lazuli Bunting was a UR, where there was also a FOS Great
Crested Flycatcher finally.
A pair of Brown-crested were checking holes out at UP, but they
won't stay to nest. The Northern Waterthrush was gone from
UP, but the Least Flycatcher was still there. A Spotted
Sandpiper and a pair of Green Kingfisher were also present.
In the "best bird of the day always gets away" category, I
saw a mostly gray and white warbler with some bold black and white
on throat and face, white tailspots, and what looked like yellow on
the wing as it flew right by me, on 360 along the river. It looked
like Golden-winged Warbler to me, but it landed and then bolted away
so got to watch it fly a hundred yards, then I couldn't relocate it.
Other interesting things were a butterfly that I'd have sworn was a
Spring or Summer Azure (Celastrina ladon/sps.) type of beast, a blue
I've been looking for, wondering if they occur here, which disappeared
after a couple looks of it flying and perched but I was unable to
photograph it. It would be a new species for my local list though
if I had been able to confirm or document it is some way....
There are hundreds of Question Mark butterflies about, thickest
I've ever seen them. A few good flowers are out too, if
you haven't noticed the bloom is spectacular everywhere you look.
I found a Prarie Larkspur (Delphinium - blue here) down along 360 which
is the only one I've seen besides the plant (for the first time now 2)
I know of at Lost Maples SNA up Can Creek, in some honeycomb limestone
(with Canyon Mock-Orange on same piece!).
April 30 ~ Wow so that's it for April already? I spent an
hour checking some trees around town for some more FOS birds.
Dickcissel was singing on 354 as was Yellow-breasted Chat,
both returning breeders. At UP the Northern Waterthrush
was still there, and gave a few short snippets of song! A
FOS there was a Least Flycatcher. Then at Utopia on the River
there were 2 FOS's, a singing Swainson's Thrush, which is the
voices of angels, and finally 2 overdue Blue-headed Vireo. There
were about 7 Nashville Warbler there, and 1 female Tennessee.
The nesting Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Acadian Flycatcher
there have not returned yet. A female Great-tailed Grackle
flew over SR. Several Common Grackle were at the north end
of town, and some were at Feller's place at the Waresville turn.
Saw one migrant Monarch.
Four Carolina Wren fledged from their nest over the back door at 3 p.m.,
so maybe I'll be able to stand on my porch without being scolded again.
This a.m. here at the hovel there was a Spotted Towhee that called,
which I'm sure is a new passage bird as none have been here since
Monday. And a Hermit Thrush drew its bow across the strings
as that calls so sounds. Hutton's Vireo sang for a long time
in the juniper over the bath. Talk about monotonous!
A Black-tailed Jackrabbit was out front this a.m., with fully
brown and gray sides, quite unlike the white-sided one I photo'd
a couple years ago.
April 29 ~ A quick run to town got me out of the car at a couple
of the migrant patches. At the 354 Pecan patch there was
a FOS local Yellow Warbler, and a FOS local Dickcissel. At UP
there was a very nice yellow-washed FOS Northern Waterthrush.
A couple Nashville Warbler were at each stop, but little else.
No Great Crested Flycatcher yet, one Indigo Bunting singing at
Utopia on the River. Here at the hovel on SR I saw my first
female Painted Bunting of the year, a week after the first male.
At about 7 p.m. a Tawny Emperor butterfly landed on a juniper out
front, which I got in the scope for study views, first of the year.
Butterfly species number 42 for the month locally. There are
still 9 Chipping Sparrow at seed here at SR.
The other big butterfly news today was finally seeing a yellow
Swallowtail at the Library, an Eastern Tiger, species #100 on my
library garden list! Finally! I only added about 3 last year,
and none all fall, usually our best season. This was a dumb-miss
category beast. Since they don't nectar a lot it is hard to
get for the garden, and it's just a matter of spending lots of time
standing around when not much goes on there (spring) and getting one
flying through. I saw my FOS Firefly this evening!
April 28 ~ Must have been migrants about because I had a couple in
the yard, but didn't get to go around and check the trees about town.
Besides a Nashville, interesting was a very small Hermit Thrush.
It reminded me of guttatus from the west, and did not appear like
the usual bigger April migrant Hermit Thrushes we get. There
was a green bunting outside, the FOS NON-adult male Painted Bunting,
this appearing to be a first year male, not a female, so still
waiting on them. Two adult males were about the seed this morning.
Heard Blue Grosbeak out there too. Scott's and Hooded Orioles
probably have nesting underway by now and hit the feeders several
times per day. Nice to have a dawn chorus again, and especially
the Painted Buntings! Red Satyr still flopping around the hovel.
Barn Owl, Chucks, and Poor-wills calling at 10:30 p.m. at SR.
April 27 ~ Another Eight-spotted Forester moth outside today.
Nice to have male Painted Bunting singing outside much of
the day again. Stiff northerly winds probably knocked
down migrants but I had to work to catch up from all the
goofin' off birding during Nature Quest. The last week
of April and first week of May is peak chances for eastern
warblers here, IF, we get weather to knock 'em down. At the
seed there are 9 Chipping Sparrow left, but NO Spotted Towhee
today (one was here Monday) for the first time since fall.
One Pine Siskin continues at the sunflower seed tube.
After dark I was listening to a Common Nighthawk call,
thinking it was a female by the pitch, timbre, and tone,
and so wondered when I would hear my first boom (male display
dive) this year of course, and of course just then, vrooooom
there it was. A short quick one but a boom! There
is something special, and reassuring, about hearing the sounds
of nature, the calls of the wild, each spring, like the songs
of Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-capped Vireo, or Painted Bunting,
the frogs calling at night, or seeing the Scissor-tailed and
Vermilion Flycatchers displaying along the roadsides again.
Maybe it is as Rachel Carson once suggested, that they are the
signals of rejuvenation of life.
April 26 ~ Had to run to Uvalde for supplies today, and if
you can, take a drive down 187 for the wildflower show.
It is spectacular, and a little bit of Winecup at Clayton
Grade moves that to my local list from the Uvalde only
section. Down off the drop in the flatlands there was
an area with a couple hundred yards solid of 3' Standing Winecup,
stunningly beautiful. Down along Old Sabinal Road
the entire ground cover for miles was Coreopsis in bloom.
Some of the Firewheel (Indian Blanket) seems to be all red.
A spectacular drive from Sabinal to Uvalde on this quiet, birdy,
little travelled road. One section has some singing
Cassin's Sparrows and another had 8 singing Dickcissel, plus
another Loggerhead Shrike was down there. One Yellow
Warbler flew across the road, and a migrant Monarch as well.
At the Uvalde Nat. Fish Hatchery there were 4 Spotted Sandpiper,
9 Least Sandpiper, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, and 3 male Yellow-
headed Blackbird, but much seemed to have cleared out since
Saturday, which was much changed from two days before that
on Thursday. If someone that knew what they were doing
checked this place daily I bet the list would be fantastic.
But the type of migrants that stop, often don't even stay a
day or two. Constant migrant turnover at a site like this.
Somewhat odd was a single female Brewer's Blackbird at Wally world.
April 25 ~ Today we'll try to do some recovering from all the
early a.m.'s the last 3 days..... I added up how many species I saw
during the Nature Quest field trips the last three days and
come up with 140 species for me personally. So, I'd bet
over 150, maybe 160 something, species of birds were seen by
all the groups put together. If one got real lucky with migrant
fallout, I'd bet over 170 could be done by all groups over the
few days, in the right year with the right weather. The only
different thing I heard of from others so far, was a Black-headed
Grosbeak at Garner St. Pk., which is scarce here. Tony Gallucci
at Big Spring had Northern Parula, which is returning breeders at an
isolated colony or population. One was singing a Yellow-throated
Warbler song.
From the porch this morning I heard my FOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
An earlier Uvalde County report on Texbirds in early April at
Concan of a drive-by on a fly-by bird is erroneous. They simply
aren't here yet in early April. If you keep notes in any sort
of sensible manner, you learn which birds are here or not, when.
Also the TPWD *habitat-based* checklists that are a dollar or so
have bar graphs telling you what is or isn't here when, with amongst 7-8
of them, one for the Hill Country, and one for the Brush Country, so even
without notes, but for two dollars of reference material, and learning to
look before you leap, you can keep your foot out of your mouth easily.
Some folks prefer touting "finds" to knowing what they saw.
A Tennessee Warbler passed through the yard quickly in the a.m..
At Utopia on the River there was my FOS local Brown-crested
Flycatcher, but no Great Crested yet. A couple Nashville
Warbler were there and at Utopia Park (UP). Also at UP was
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Myrtle and Audubon's Warbler. The pond
on South Little Creek had a Killdeer, Great Egret, a pair
of Gadwall, and 5-6 Blue-winged Teal. The little pond
a half-mile to the south had 8 Band-winged Dragonlet, and lots
of mosquitoes.
About a hundred Waxwings eating the unripe mulberries in town.
A Hutton's Vireo singing at SR. If my life depended on it
I'd say the gray and lime-olive bird that I flushed out back in
the p.m. was a Green-tailed Towhee. I saw it in flight
and then sitting in the base of a juniper where the size,
shape, and silhouette were spot-on for one. I couldn't
refind it after I came in and got binocs and chased into the
junipers for it. Did kick up a House Wren though.
Later at 10 p.m. there were Barn Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl,
Poor-will and Chuck-wills'widow calling, plus finally a
Couch's Spadefoot Toad could be heard distantly at the pond
down the draw over a quarter mile away.
Two migrant Monarchs and a Red Satyr were about.
April 24 ~ Today my Nature Quest trip was a Tour de Uvalde.
Ft. Inge first thing early, then Cook's Slough and National
Fish Hatchery. We only heard Green Jay unfortunately,
and only saw one Kiskadee fly by, things are being quiet
probably due to nesting, and no Green Kingfisher either.
One Neotropic Cormorant was there, several singing Olive
Sparrow, Swainson's Hawk including one in the scope.
Great scope views were had of singing Pyrrhuloxia and Cactus
Wren thanks to Dwanye and Marj Longenbaugh and their Zeiss
scope. THANKS !! Anthony Sharp had looks at a
Waterthrush which would likely be Northern there at this date.
A pair of Wood Ducks flew by, lots of Bell's Vireo singing.
A Loggerhead Shrike is still there, heard Verdin, the male
Bullock's Oriole seems to be back on territory at the historical
markers up front, and I heard a flyover calling FOS Dickcissel.
At Cook's Slough there were good scope views of a FOS
Olive-sided Flycatcher and a calling Brown-crested Flycatcher,
a downy natal Black Vulture again. But the post-frontal
wind picked up to 20+ MPH sustained which really makes nature nerding
tough. At the hatchery we saw 4 female Wilson's Phalarope,
three species of Teal, and a Sora, Shoveler, Gadwall, Wigeon.
2-3 migrant Monarch seen over the day, and back at SR in the
p.m. there were 2 Barn Owl, 2 Poor-will, Scott's Oriole, Ruby-
throated Hummingbird, and a local breeder adult Cooper's Hawk.
April 23 ~ Today was a Nature Quest trip to Lost Maples and Kerr WMA.
In town from the cafe at early-thirty I saw my FOS Lesser Nighthawk,
and we heard a Couch's Kingbird calling. At Lost Maples we
had good looks at Golden-cheeked Warblers, my FOS Acadian Flycatcher,
and the best bird was a migrant Swamp Sparrow seen well by almost all.
I had a two second look at a Zone-tailed Hawk, and Dwayne and Marj
Longenbaugh saw a male Lazuli Bunting at the feeding station,
but we didn't see Green Kingfisher. The butterflies and flowers
were great though. We saw about 7 Red-spotted Purple and my
FOS local Arizona Sister finally, plus lots of Two-tailed and Spicebush
Swallowtails.
West of Hunt on the way to Kerr WMA in the afternoon I must say the
consistent dependable presence of European Starling at the Stonehenge
stop really makes for good ambiance.
At Kerr WMA almost all of us got good if not brief looks at a male
Black-capped Vireo as it moved around singing. We heard several.
The real story there was Bluebonnets as far as you could see, acres and
acres, the entire understory was Lupine. Uncharacteristically,
there were so many you could smell them, the air perfumed sweetly
beyond belief. Of the 10 springs I've birded in the hill country I've
never seen it like this with wildflowers. Absolutely mind-blowing.
Was the wet winter the main difference? We needed a good seeding
event after two years of drought! Saved by El Nino, the warming
of water in the Eastern Pacific. We are all connected.
Weird was a fem. Northern Harrier southbound low over SR just before dusk.
Another FOS was had at home late at dusk over SR, a Common Nighthawk.
So with the Lesser this morning in town, and the calling Poor-will
and Chuck-wills-widow this eve, a FOUR species of goatsucker slam
at Utopia today, three from the porch. I guess it should be
noted most years my FOS Lesser is on Main St. near the cafe before
sunup, while meeting birders.
April 22 ~ Nature Quest began and today I led a trip that visited
Chalk Bluff in the NW corner of Uvalde Co., in very heavy drizzle for
the morning, then Cook's Slough and the fish hatchery in the p.m..
At Chalk Bluff there is great habitat, but it is $8 per person
to go in under normal circumstances. And on weekends it is
often a zoo from spring to fall, all week in summer. It is good for
some south Texas brush country species in thorn-scrub, adjacent to
riparian corridor species, so diversity is great. We all saw
Grasshopper Sparrows in the scope singing (thanks again to Dwayne
Longenbaugh), and Couch's Kingbird was there, but conditions were tough
and few migrants besides Nashville Warblers were there. There were
probably returned breeders like my FOS Eastern Wood-Pewee, Orchard Oriole,
Yellow throated Warbler and Vireo, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Pyrrhuloxia
Black-throated Sparrow, and heard Cassin's Sparrow.
It quit drizzling by time we dropped altitude and did the hatchery
where the best birds were Merlin, Long-billed Curlew, Semipalmated Plover,
6+ Baird's Sandpiper, 15 Ring-billed Gull, a White-faced Ibis, and a
beautiful breeding plumaged Eared Grebe, likely all knocked down by the
weather. There were very few birds out by the heat of the afternoon
at the slough, 4 Ruddy Ducks are getting late (3 were at the hatchery too).
The butterflies and flowers were good to great, the diversity of leps
low, but numbers were impressive. A few Western Pygmy-Blue and
several Common Sootywing were seen. A few odes (dragonflies) were out,
one probably Sulphur-tipped Clubtail, I got pix of. Heard House Wren.
Amazingly when totalled up everything I saw and heard was 105 species
of birds for the trip in three stops, 8 hours roughly, almost nothing new
the last 2 hrs.. I think had I gone to say Concan, I could have seen
maybe 10 or more species if lucky? So 125 or more is possible in
a day in the county, if you had a great migrant fallout day.
Kathy had our FOS local (Utopia) Painted Bunting in the yard today
which hanging on a feeder makes it seem the returning yard Alpha male.
April 21 ~ Finally a FOS Blue Grosbeak here at SR. A Scissor-tailed
Flycatcher stopped and called for a bit from a live-oak perch out back.
I heard a bunting call but didn't see it. There are still 20
Chipping Sparrow and 2 Spotted Towhee here at the seed. Some
hawks went over northbound including one group of 28 Swainson's that
had one dark morph (chocolate) bird amongst them. Also there was
one Sharp-shinned, 2 Cooper's, and 1 (migrant) Red-tailed Hawk.
April 20 ~ Counted 60 Blue-eyed Grass (the Iris) flowers in yard,
and I see some Straggler Daisy starting, but new were a couple
Cut-leaf Gilia I've never seen here before. 4-5 Chuck-wills-widow
were calling in the evening, as was E. Screech-Owl, and a Barn Owl.
Question Mark butterfly was nectaring on Slender-stem Bitterweed,
and a Common Buckeye was on the Texas Onion.
April 19 ~ Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Kestrel passed SR northbound.
At UP there was Green Kingfisher, 2 Blue Jay, Black Phoebe,
1 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Myrtle and 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, plus
an 8-spotted Forester moth, even prettier than yesterday's Disparate.
April 18 ~ A neat fancy moth was a Disparate Forester, a FOS at SR.
What looked like a Buckeye (lep) shot across the yard, they need a
good year after two bad ones. Best birds were a flock of 9
Franklin's Gull over SR, one very low and close. Yellow
Ground-Cherry now blooming, and Eastern Screech-Owl calling.
April 17 ~ we had a bit of sprinkles in the a.m., but no real
showers after early a.m. so I checked a few spots around town
again to see what was about. Last night at about 11 p.m.
there were decent numbers of passerine migrants giving flight
notes below the cloud deck, but still passing northbound.
They could not have been using stars, but were clearly all
northbound. I heard a dozen in 10 mintues, of 4 species.
Whether they were coming down, ending a flight, or leaving and
were going to climb up through the clouds, I don't know.
At the park there were a few warblers including my record early
FOS Tennessee Warbler, a couple Nashville, several Myrtle (an
ad. male in gorgeous breeding plumage), an Orange-crowned Warbler,
and non-migrants, the nesting Yellow-throated Warblers.
Finally saw FOS Indigo Bunting (2), still a couple Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
and between the park and town must have seen 5-6 Blue Jay.
There were some Cliff Swallows around the 1050 bridge, but
surely their nests were lost. At the north end of town
there was a FOS Western Kingbird, and at the county-line road
flood pond there was an FOS Spotted Sandpiper and 4 Blue-winged
Teal, the Green-wings gone. A Yellow-headed Blackbird was
on the Senior Center. At Jones Cemetary there was Vesper,
Lark, several Savannah, and a Grasshopper Sparrow, another Western
Kingbird, and a FOS Common Yellowthroat. Out at the buffalo
wallows on S. Little Creek Rd. there were a couple male Shoveller
that weren't there yesterday, but only 1 Am. Wigeon, 1 Coot, but
4 Blue-winged Teal and 4 Gadwall, so things changed overnight.
Also a Solitary Sandpiper was there.
The real neat thing there and at the little wallow a half-mile
south was over a half-dozen Band-winged Dragonlets just emerged,
after a couple years with nothing here due to drought, that is
great to see again. A FOS Northern Rough-winged Swallow
was along Little Creek, probably wondering where the bank was
that had its nest. A complete re-arranging over there
from the major rain of Thursday the 15th. Forgot to mention
a Belted Kingfisher was at the UP. You won't recognize
the area below the dam on the other (west) side of the river,
at the park, scraped clean of 8 years of understory regrowth,
it is a new habitat. A couple other odds and ends were a
FOS Bronzed Cowbird in town, and a Bullock's Oriole at Jones Cemetary.
One male and 5 female Great-tailed Grackle at the Senior Center.
Migrant Turkey and Black Vultures as well as some hawks passed
over northbound again today. A couple Broad-winged, maybe
50 Swainson's Hawks, several migrant Red-tailed and Red-shouldered
Hawks, a Sharp-shinned, couple Cooper's, and still more Kestrel. A
post to Texbirds said yesterday 2000 Broad-winged Hawks went over Concan.
I also saw 2 more migrant Monarchs today about town. At SR
there were 3 Pine Siskin and 2 Spotted Towhee continue. Saw a FOS
summer form Question Mark today, and Giant and Two-tailed Swallowtail.
At UP was my FOS Blue-ringed Dancer (damselfly) finally, and at the
S. Little Creek wallows were a few FOS Red Saddlebags up here, besides
a hundred Variegated Meadowhawk and some Green Darner.
April 16 ~ Only a little bit of spittin' left today for rain, and
just as well since soil is saturated and it's all runoff now.
If you'll recall I have said it before and at the risk of being
redundant, bad weather equals good birds. Migrants are
knocked down that would otherwise procede un-impeded. Birders
hope for bad weather as it is good for them, but not neccessarily
the birds.
Around town today first up on county line road just east of the
bridge there was a well-flooded field. It had a pair each
of Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, one Killdeer, and best was
11 FOS male Yellow-headed Blackbird, amongst too many Cowbirds.
A FOS Cassin's Sparrow was skylarking from mesquites there too.
Bell's Vireo was singing over in the mesquite by the storage spaces.
County line bridge still had 8" of water running over it at noon.
Then out at the Little Creek buffalo wallows there were 3 Gadwall,
5 American Wigeon, 6 Blue-winged Teal, and 3 American Coot.
The Little Creek Crossing of N.Thunder Creek Rd. looked like
water was 6' or more over the bridge at peak. A couple
Broad-winged Hawks were in the area there, in Bandera County.
A pair of Great tailed Grackle were around the stables at the
end of Lee St.. Several Common Grackle, 4 Blue Jay in town.
For Seco Ridge (SR) here there was a decent movement of raptors and such
today from noon-thirty on, with some groups still passing northbound
after 7 p.m.. I could only go peek and check every so
often but small numbers seemed to be trickling north all day.
There were at least a couple or few hundred Turkey Vultures
(not a raptor), about 30 Swainson's Hawks, an amazing 12 Kestrel, Red-tail,
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawk, and a mind-blowing 50 plus FOS
Broad-winged Hawk. I've only seen a dozen or so in 6.5 years here.
Hundreds of hummingbirds have been swarming the feeders due to
the rain and lack of other food opportunities, most of them
Black-chinned of course, but a fair number of male and some
female Ruby-throated are present. One Pine Siskin, 22 Waxwing.
One Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed through yard.
Storm total from Tuesday to Friday is about NINE INCHES of rain!
The down side was the Black Phoebes that were nesting under both
the 1050 and Co. Line (356) bridges lost their nests, as did the
20 pairs of Cliff Swallows that were under 1050. If the water
didn't come up till after dark, we may have lost the swallows too.
I didn't see any around as should have been. I suspect the
Cave Swallows in the culvert 5 miles west out 1050 by the
Bear Creek pond (which also had an Eastern Phoebe nest) were wiped
out as well. It was just too much water too fast, especially
that last deluge after dark about 9 p.m.. One of the cells that
went over us in the day yesterday dropped 4" in 3 hours at Pearsall.
April 15 ~ Well whooda thunk on this day we get flooded? Any
significance to that? :) It rained pretty steady and hard
at times, all day. Total was about SEVEN INCHES !!! The ground
outside is not the same. At some point water was going
way over (a couple/few feet) the 1050 bridge just west of town and
below the park, and the county-line bridge was over-run too.
April 14 ~ about 1.5" of rain, a Field Sparrow among the 25-30
Chipping still here, 2 Spottd Towhee still, and another Kestrel
passed over northbound. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed by
the yard as well as a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
April 13 ~ Another drizzle day like yesterday and tomorrow and the
day after that. A Zone-tailed Hawk soared over SR in the a.m..
Just after 2 p.m. a group of 3 FOS FRANKLIN'S Gulls flew over in the
drizzle! One Pine Siskin & about 30 Chipping Sparrow still.
Common Ground-Dove is still about, as are the regular Doves: Inca
Mourning, White-winged, and Eurasian Collared-Dove.
April 12 ~ The first positive female Ruby-throated Hummingbird of
the spring I saw today at the feeders, actually a couple of them.
Also an Audubon's Warbler was about for over an hour.
April 11 ~ Still two Spotted Towhees here at the seed. Drizzly
all day, best bird Kathy had at a hummer feeder, a male Bullock's Oriole.
This is weeks earlier than we've ever had one up here. We took a
quick look at the park, but not much moving there. One Myrtle Warbler
a Ruby-crowned Kinglet was singing, a couple White-eyed Vireo, several
Lincoln's Sparrow, a Summer Tanager was singing. No Pied-billed Grebe.
April 10 ~ Went to Lost Maples mid-morning to mid-afternoon for a
walk up the Can Creek trail past the ponds. There were a
couple Scissor-tailed Flycatcher just north of town, but darn few
are up here yet, still. At the HQ building at Lost Maples
there was a Tarantula that appeared to have been kicked, HARD,
as to have damaged a couple legs and who knows what internally.
It was still, not moving, and didn't look good. Thanks ya
citiots! You go to a State Natual Area to kill the animals?
It was the first one I've seen there, apparently dying from
human interaction, and completely needlessly, without reason.
It could have easily been moved without hurting, damaging,
or possibly killing it. Do nature a favor and stay in the city.
As if that wasn't bad enough, we saw a sign at the pond that
said "NO Bikes past this point". Which I presume
means they have changed the rules and are going to allow mountain
bikes on the trail to the pond. Which last time I checked bikes
were vehicles, and the loose rocky trail is not whatsoever a vehicle
path, but a pedestrian hiking trail. Bicycle tires on it will
be so loud as to nearly ensure you won't be able to hear birds.
What a great idea from the state to run vehicles through endangered
species nesting grounds. In California where this has all
played out a long time ago, I can can tell you hikers and bikers
do not mix. There will be accidents, injuries, and lawsuits.
Pedestrians will be hit. Bikers like going downhill fast, have
no braking control on this type of loose rock substrate the trail is,
and expect everyone to just get the hell out of their way.
The natural experience of listening to the birds, some endangered
species, will no longer exist. The person that thought this up is
a mental midget that does not care about the experience of the majority
of park users, but of that of a special interest group they probably
belong to, whose presence will diminish the experience of all other
types of users there due to the noise pollution alone, no different
than boomboxes. Locally there are hundreds of miles of roads
for bikers. There are only a few miles of pedestrian hiking trails
open to the public. Now they will have vehicular traffic.
TPWD sees Lost Maples as its cash cow, and exploits, er, manages it,
for maximum cash extraction, not what is was saved for and given to
the state for, PROTECTION. It is not natural to have a bunch
of vehicles going up and down the trail.
Now let me get down off my soapbox and recount a little of what
nature we saw there. Since our last visit a month ago, it
turned green, with most trees leafing out, or starting to.
The flowers were the big show, very spectacular, a great display
from the fall and winter rains. There were very very few
odes (dragonflies) about, a female Common Whitetail, and a gomphid
that looked like a Clubtail that just after emerging flew to the
wrong place and was taken by a jumping spider a 10th its size.
Photographed some type of bumblebee sphinx moth as well. One of
the neatest things we saw was a Snapping Turtle in the pond.
I've seen one across the divide at Big Springs, but this is my
first here.
Heard about 8-10 Golden-cheeked Warbler and one Black-capped Vireo.
There were a few Louisiana Waterthrush singing, and over a dozen
Black-and-white Warbler, one Yellow-throated Warbler, which will
sing a while and depart. For migrant warblers there were
a several each Nashville and Orange-crowned, and 1-2 Myrtle, so
7 species of warblers all together. A pair of Red-shouldered
Hawks seem to be nesting again, and they probably run off any
small buteo that shows up. Only a few Summer Tanager
were back, no females yet, but about 6 Hutton's Vireos were heard.
Other things not back yet are Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee,
Acadian Flycatcher (of course), and while White-eyed Vireo was
in fair numbers, only a half-dozen Yellow-throated were about.
Heard a couple Bushtit, numbers of Ash-throated Flycatcher.
In the bird notebook there were reports of Scott's and Hooded
Orioles, Lazuli Bunting and a Blue Grosbeak. Go enjoy the trails
while you can without constantly listening to vehicle wheels on it,
while you can still hear the birds, and not have to constantly be
watching to jump out of some idiots way.
A Solitary Sandpiper was an FOS up here, in the river at Vanderpool.
After dark I heard the FOS Barking Frog out back, here on SR.
April 9 ~ Today's stonker was out the office window in the a.m.,
a stunning male LAZULI Bunting! Another nice cool a.m. in
the upper 30's was nice. Northern Cloudywing and Dun Skipper
still about. Perhaps 35 Chipping Sparrow left. Heard an
Eastern Screech-Owl after dark.
April 8 ~ A cool 39 deg.F or so in the a.m. felt nice.
Saw two FOS skippers (butterflies) Dun and Sachem, the latter
likely the one I thought I saw yesterday. Also had a
quick pass of what looked like a Buckeye. And saw a
Gray Hairstreak, several Olive Juniper Hairstreak, Horace's
and Funereal Duskywings, a few Two-tailed Swallowtail, Red
Satyr, and the more common stuff. A few male Ruby-throated
Hummingbirds are at the feeders now, and surely a hundred plus
Black-chinned are present. Twenty species of blooming
wildflowers in the yard now. One Pine Siskin, 25 Waxwing.
April 7 ~ After a frontal passage I stopped in town during errands,
and at UP saw an amazingly record early for here locally CATBIRD.
There was one Pied-billed Grebe left, down from up to 4 over winter.
Also my FOS Summer Tanager was singing, as was Yellow-throated Vireo,
so it is really starting to sound like spring and summer down there.
Regulars like Blue Jay, Black Phoebe and Green Kingfisher were seen.
Probably had a Sachem blast by here at SR, and finally saw my
FOS Giant Swallowtail locally here too. Drummond's Skullcap
and Annual Pennyroyal now really starting to bloom as is Yellow
Wood-Sorrel and lots of the white form of Pink Evening Primrose
(50-100 in yard).
April 6 ~ A very orange female Hooded Oriole has showed up so 2
females of them here now, and later in the morning I watched two
male Hoodeds fight falling to the ground, just a flurry of orange
and black feathers, squawking, squeaking, it was amazing.
So 4 Hooded, 4 Scott's now so far. Hermit Thrush bathed at dusk.
The April migrants have an olive tone to the brown back, look just
gray flanked and of decent size. A Ground-Dove was my FOS locally.
April 5 ~ As the overcast broke a few raptors got up and moved over.
A migrant Red-shouldered was escorted away by the resident pair, male
Northern Harrier, TWO Osprey, a migrant Monarch. A few Cliff Swallow
were at the 1050 bridge. I can't believe the height of the
Blue-eyed Grass this year!! Some must be 15-16" tall!!!
Last year all I saw was 4-6". Lots of Blue Gilia going,
Blackfoot Daisy, Slender-stem Bitterweed also has 16" scapes with
flowers so big they're falling over. What a difference some
rain makes. The Deer Pea Vetch is finishing up, it was great,
and the Texas Garlic is starting to get going. A female
Great-tailed Grackle was seen in town.
April 4 ~ At SR there was Nashville Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
that passed through the yard in the a.m., migrants. Around town
there were finally 3+ FOS Clay-colored Sparrow near the storage spaces,
a Ruby-crowned Kinglet at UP, and an Orange-crowned and a Myrtle
Warbler at the Library. Two migrant Monarchs were seen, one in town
and one here on SR. The bird of the day was a first spring male
(or AHY - after hatch year) Golden-cheeked Warbler that came down to
the bath, twice, but was scared off both times. I never see them
away from the breeding territory in spring, only as post-breeding
wanderers in June and July. For instance I've never seen one
at Utopia Park where I've seen over 200 species. Almost forgot
in town saw a male Great-tailed and 10 Common Grackle (a few female).
April 3 ~ Down at UP near dusk sure enough Chimney Swift came in to
drink, surely what I heard yesterday, but I call it FOS today.
Great views of Mercury lower right of Venus (west) just near dark.
Blue Gilia blooming now. An FOS dragonfly was Wandering Glider.
April 2 ~ Thought sure I heard Chimney Swift while driving down Main St.
in town, but didn't see them. If it wasn't a FOS I would call it.
Did see some other FOS's around town though. Three Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers finally made it up here, a FOS Bell's Vireo sang in the
mesquite behind the storage space place, and 3 Grasshopper Sparrow (FOS)
were down that road too, with a couple more elsewhere, including one
in the yard here on SR. Out west of town on 1050 near the pond
the Cave Swallows (FOS) were back at their culvert, I counted 11.
Butterflies are getting better with several Two-tailed and Eastern
Tiger Swallowtail, Northern Cloudywing, Nysa Roadside-Skipper, Lyside
Sulphur. At one point when I had the 3 Grasshopper Sparrows,
right there right then there were also Savannah, Lark, Vesper, Field
and Lincoln's Sparrows. It was like looking at a field guide plate.
April 1 ~ No foolin', April? Northern Cloudywing butterfly
was about the yard, as was a migrant Monarch, and Eastern Tiger
Swallowtail.
March totalled 20 species of butterflies, double February's 10, and
a great increase from January's 5, but only half as many as several
prior March totals, reflecting the long cold winter, and two years
of drought before that. Hopefully with the rains and what
is seeming to be the start of a great wildflower season, the ones
that made it will have a good breeding season, they sure need it
as numbers were already much reduced last season.
I seemed to have missed the late March Swainson's Hawks this year.
Tom Collins had some over in Center Point on that big rain system
about the 24th or so.... and Rhandy Helton had them in Junction
the end of March, but I missed an early date on them here this year.
March 31 ~ Topped yesterdays 80deg.F by a couple degrees today, and
without humidity (<20%) it was quite nice. Two-tailed and
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails about. NO Junco or Orange-crowned
Warbler today! Methinks they left last night. A couple
Pine Siskin and a dozen Cedar Waxwing were around. I got a
positive ID on a Horace's Duskywing. Supporting my long held
theory that "the bird of the day always gets away" there was a warbler
about the yard briefly which only gave flight notes unfortunately,
but what I saw of it I can only imagine it was a Northern Parula.
Which would have been a yard bird had I got a positive ID on it.
The planet Mercury is showing very well just below right of Venus.
March 30 ~ The Oriolefest has begun again, with 4 Scott's, 2 Hooded,
and 2 Audubon's Orioles in the yard at once. Audubon's waits
for Scott's to leave feeder, but they'll disappear any day now until
they come back with a juvenile in June. The Lark Sparrow is
still here as was the Orange-crowned Warbler. There were
several Two-tailed Swallowtail, the Nysa Roadside-Skipper and Red
Satyr were both still about too. A FOS was a small metallic green
Halichtid (bee). The highlight of the day was refinding the
Snakefly (Raphidiidae) in the office, and getting a couple pix before
it was released outside. A lovely female, she was quite the beauty.
March 29 ~ Roadrunner bill clacking for the first time this season.
A second female Scott's Oriole (AHY) arrived, 2 males, 2 females back.
One (pale male) Slate-colored Junco remains, and about 65 Chipping Sparrow.
A couple FOS butterflies were a Nysa Roadside-Skipper and a worn migrant
Painted Lady. The two Poor-wills again called after dark.
The Agarita (Texas Holly) is all but over and done blooming,
while Redbud has passed peak, but still looks pretty good.
A Lincoln's Sparrow bathed at SR, a migrant here, and still no
Clay-colored Sparrow yet. At UP there was a migrant Hermit Thrush.
Had a FOS Bombyliad today.
March 28 ~ This a.m. here at SR there were two male and one female
Scott's Oriole, a male Hooded, and by 10 a.m. the FOS female
Hooded appeared. Let the oriole show begin! Audubon's was
around too, so 3 species of orioles in the yard at once.
The Audubon's will quickly disappear, as soon as caterpillars get
going again. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher passed by, but it
was pretty windy so we worked, saving it for a calmer day.
A Common Checkered-Skipper was about as was an Erynnis Duskywing.
An FOS Red Satyr flopped by the office window about noonish.
Still a evenly pale gray male Slate-colored Junco about, and the
wintering Orange-crowned Warbler continues to fatten up on peanut butter.
Might be in the upper 30's tonight if the wind stops blowing.
The big FOS of the day was at 10:30 p.m. when two POOR-WILL
were calling, finally. The last six years the first detections
were in February, so nothing until late March had me worried.
Did they really hibernate a month plus longer this year?
March 27 ~ A Uvalde run day. The wildflowers down Hwy. 187
from Clayton Grade to past the D'Hanis cutoff are spectacular
along the roadside, probably the seed slurry mostly, but
outstanding and beautiful right now due to the good rains.
Once we bottomed out on the flatlands of the brush country
near Sabinal we saw our FOS Scissor-tailed Flycatchers. They
still aren't up on the hill yet. None of the way down, in the
valley, or on the way back. We saw a dozen at least from Sabinal
to Uvalde.
Still a few Western Meadowlarks, and Loggerhead Shrike, seems like
the wintering Red-tailed Hawks are gone, and just residents around.
Several Caracara. Only did one real stop since the gate
at Cooks' Slough was locked at noon. Ft. Inge had an outstanding
wildflower show going though. We watched a pair of Green Jay
there for a bit, and saw Green Kingfisher, Great Kiskadee, Long-
billed Thrasher, Couch's Kingbird, Verdin, Cactus Wren, and a few
Myrtle Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and White-eyed Vireo, one
Orange-crowned Warbler, few Lincoln's Sparrow, 1 pr. Gadwall,
N. Cardinal, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-crested
Titmouse, some White-crowned Sparrows. Awesome wildflowers.
At Wally's World from the parking lot I saw my FOS Swainson's Hawk.
The best FOS's of the day though were at the hummer feeders this
a.m. before we left around 9 a.m., SCOTT's and HOODED Orioles are back!
At least two male Scott's, what looks like alpha male, and a not-
as-bright dull yellow full adult plumaged male, probably alpha
female Scott's too, and at least one male Hooded, so 4 new orioles
returned at the feeders this a.m.! I sure didn't see them
yesterday afternoon. The Scott's were singing a bit, and
one took a long double bath, which you essentially never see
them do, watching them every day for over 6 months they are here.
March 26 ~ One Slate-colored Junco was still about, black-face,
a lighter gray male with a black face, chin and throat. Two
Audubon's Orioles, and still no Scott's or Hooded back yet.
At least 11 of the white primrose blooming in the front. The
best bird of the day was my first local Raphididae, a Snake-fly,
on the INSIDE of an office window, gone and un-relocated when I
returned with camera!*&(*$! Black,just over an inch long.
Eastern Tiger and Two-tailed Swallowtail flew through the yard,
besides the now numerous Pipevines, and several Black Swallowtail
A Gray Hairsterak passed by as well. Lark Sparrow here was
the first local spring returnee I've seen. Still at least
2 male and 1 female Spotted Towhee here at the seed. There
were at least a half-dozen bats overhead at dusk. Been seeing
a few and it has looked like some were back at the Concan cave from
studying NOAA radar loop images at dusk.
March 25 ~ I heard a bar from a FOS Yellow-throated Vireo at UP.
Otherwise just the Myrtle Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
Couple each Blue Jay and Black Phoebe, 3 Pied-billed Grebe still and
my first local Green Darner dragonfly of the year, ovipositing (ph).
A Swallowtail, probably two-tailed made several quick landings on
a hummer feeder while I was right there. Also saw a couple
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (FOS) going to and in town. I saw
what seemed to have surely been a Cabbage White, which is accidental
here at best. I got good looks in my binocs as it nectared
in the fields of bladderpod and bluebonnets at the north end of town.
Back here at SR there was a FOS un-ID'd Skipperling on Bitterweed.
The male Vermilion is again on territory by the horse trainers.
March 24 ~ drizzle in the a.m. as a cold front approaches.
A FOS Nashville Warbler sang out front in the draw for an hour,
and at 3:45 p.m. a male Black-throated Green Warbler was in the
now leafless live-oak, then the junipers. A serious
squall line went over late in the p.m., with a half inch of rain.
March 23 ~ Two FOS's flew over SR today, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher,
and two male Great-tailed Grackle. Also there Audubon's Oriole
was singing, 45 Cedar Waxwing, 2 Slate-colored Junco, 4 Spotted Towhee
at once was the best count all winter, Hutton's Vireo was singing.
A flower bloomed that looked like the white form of Evening
Primrose, which does occur in nearby Real County.
March 22 ~ Barely froze in town, again about 33 dF on SR.
4 Audubon's Orioles came in in the cold morning. Another
Ash-throated Flycatcher calling on the knoll, a Two-tailed
Swallowtail floated past, a couple Baskettail dragonflies about.
A male Vermilion Flycatcher has taken back to its territory a
half mile down SR before 2nd loop at the horse place. At
UP there were about 10 Myrtle Warbler and 2+ Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Roadrunner cooing (singing), first I've heard this year. It's
that sound like a wimpering or moaning dog. Photo'd the first
Green Darner (dragonfly) I've seen locally this year, a pair ovipositing.
March 21 ~ It froze this a.m. in town, but about 33 up here on SR.
First female Brown-headed Cowbird I've seen this year in yard.
8 Pine Siskin, and Deer Pea Vetch starting to bloom well.
March 20 ~ First day of Spring! But it doesn't feel like it!
A front blew in before dawn, maybe a half-inch or so of rain with it.
Too windy to do anything outside, 20 + gusts to 40 (!), and chilly,
with a freeze forecast for tonight and tomorrow night!
March 19 ~ 1 Pink-sided Junco and maybe down to two Slate-colored
on the Juncos. Sure been nice having them around this winter.
5 Sandhill Crane flew over SR late in the p.m.. A Barn Owl flew
over northbound at about 10 p.m..
March 18 ~ FOS Ash-throated Flycatcher, 4 Audubon's Oriole at SR.
A Northern Harrier lifted off with 10 Turkey Vulture and rose to
migrating altitude before heading off northbound.
March 17 ~ Happy Paddy Day! A Two-tailed Swallowtail flew
by here on SR. Juncos remain the same. 6 Pine Siskin,
11 Cedar Waxwing, 2 Audubon's Oriole, 60 Chipping Sparrow, and
at least 2 of the 3 Spotted Towhee that wintered continue.
March 16 ~ from late on the 15th and overnight we had an inch
of rain, a lot of it in just an hour or so. No Oregon Junco
today, but 1 Pink-side and maybe only 3 Slate-colored left.
Live-Oak is raining yellow leaves, perhaps 40% fell in 2 days.
March 15 ~ Heard the first Turkey gobbling this a.m., for a sign
of spring in the air. Gray Vervain and Mountain Laurel opened
flowers. There were a few Slate-colored Junco, 1 Oregon and
1 Pink-sided still here, and a couple Audubon's Orioles too.
March 14 ~ A post on Texbirds mentioned at Garner St. Pk. on this
date 2 Yellow-throated Warblers, as well as 4 Golden-cheeked Warbler
and 5 Hutton's Vireo. Here at SR, the Prairie Fleabane flower has
finally opened, and the yellow Live-Oak leaves are starting to drop.
March 13 ~ Another Ruby-crowned Kinglet passed through yard,
and down in town there were FOS Barn Swallows, perhaps 4 or so.
We went to Lost Maples to see what the state of spring was there.
We went 2 miles up the Can Creek trail to the last permanent water.
It's still winter. Well barely spring. Most deciduous trees
are just starting to bud, if that. Many show virtually no
signs yet, like Lacey Oak and Sycamore, a few Maples were barely
beginning to flower, the Buckley Oaks are just budding leafs.
The Redbud is just starting to flower, whereas back in Utopia
at 1350' instead of 1800-2000' it is really going. I heard
two Golden-cheeked Warblers, we saw one male Black-and-white
Tree-Creeper (Warbler) singing closely, what a cool bird they are.
Two Hutton's Vireo were singing, as were Canyon Wren and Rufous-
crowned Sparrow, 1 White-eyed Vireo, a pair of Common Raven,
1 Scrub Jay, a couple Lincoln's Sparrow, and a pair of Black
Phoebe at the pond. We did not see Green Kingfisher,
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Zone-tailed
Hawk, Louisiana Waterthrush, though the Kingfisher had been
seen yesterday. There were about 3 Spotted Towhee,
one doing some quiet singing (sub-song), a few Pine Siskin.
There were an amazing number of Anemone flowers, I believe
Wind-flower is the one. But little was going in that
regard, some Dakota Verbena just opening, a few of the Agarita
(Texas Holly) were going good but nothing like around Utopia
500+' lower. Butterflies were good though with about
3 Two-tailed Swallowtail, a few Black and one Pipevine
Swallowtail, one Falcate Orange-tip, a dozen fresh bright
Olive Juniper Hairstreak, a couple Questionmark, a dozen
Orange Sulphur, a few Sleepy Orange and Dogface, one Common
Checkered-Skipper, 10 Erynnis Duskywing likely Juvenal's
but some could be Horace's, one Gulf Fritillary, 5 Red Admiral.
We saw 10 species of butterflies in a few hours, as many as I
recorded in all of February, but these mostly fresh, not last
years beat worn leftovers.
Kathy spotted an Anole at the spring 2/3 mi. past the ponds.
It was 8 deg.F this winter in Utopia, I don't know how they
make it through the winter. That permanent waterhole there
had Mexican Tetra (Astyanax), Long-nosed Dace (Rhinichthys), and
Notropis Shiners I think may be Sand. For Odes we saw one
Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna janata) and a Zygop that
got away un-ID'd (damselfly). Overall still winter.
OK, not quite, more like very very early spring, as all the
the hominids (people) there indicate, actually a very high number
of them seemed to be out. Cabin fever I guess.
Back at the hovel in the dirt road 60 yards away at the
low-spot mud puddle in the caliche (limestone) a Henric's Elfin
flushed again as we pulled in, and on some feces a neighbor's
(100 yards away) dog deposited was a Goatweed Leafwing. Still
a Pink-sided Junco, one Oregon, a few Slate-colored but
departures are taking place. The Chipping Sparrow flock
is probably 50-60, half of just two or three weeks ago.
The Crow-poison (a lily) is blooming now and I wonder if that
is why we don't have Crows here? :) The first
Prairie Fleabane is almost all the way open, maybe tomorrow.
March 12 ~ A few migrants passed through the yard today,
including the FOS White-eyed Vireo, a couple Myrtle Warbler,
and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Only one Slender-stemmed
Bitterweed flower open, so its very popular with the
Variegated Fritillary, a few Parallena are open.
March 11 ~ Kathy saw a big yellow Swallowtail here at SR,
I presume Two-tailed. At least a half-dozen male Black-
chinned Hummingbirds and a couple or few females about now.
Down in town at the park on the river the Bald Cypress are
flowering now. Still no Barn Swallow, barely a Martin.
March 10 ~ Here at the SR hovel still 2 each Oregon and
Pink-sided Junco, and 5 Slate-colored, 6 Pine Siskin,
and 3 Audubon's Oriole. Roy Heideman e-mailed me and
mentioned he had an Acorn Woodpecker at his place in mid-Feb..
It is believed there is still extant a relict population nearby,
by the most knowlegeable naturalist in the central hill country.
All the land is private and so finding one from the roads is
difficult at best. Of course one here could have been a
vagrant from a more distant source, and without excellent
pictures, tape recordings, etc., we can't speculate as to this
individuals origins. It is my most- (only) wanted central
Texas species; if you see one, please call collect (local# 2349).
March 9 ~ Sure enough 3 male Black-chinned Hummingbird
in the a.m., and 5+ by the p.m., and the FOS FEMALE.
A FOS Dung Scarab here at SR, a black velvet ant, and
another Northern Cloudywing (lep) in the yard. In
the afternoon I had to run to town and stopped at the park
where I saw my first dragonflies of the year, finally!
5 Epitheca Baskettails, and 1 Springtime Darner (Basiaeschna
janata) were a treat. Also there was a teneral Zygop
(damselfly) which you have to be an expert to ID when they
just emerged since they are all the same color at first.
Another FOS there was a skink (lizard), and there were
about 2 doz. Blanchard's Cricket Frog. In the p.m.
back at SR there were FOS Goatweed Leafwing, 3 Henric's Elfin,
and a couple Dogface flew by. The Redbud is starting
to bloom just barely, and some of the Agarita (Texas Holly)
is really going now. Like elsewhere it seems the
wintering passerines are leaving in droves with far fewer
Myrtle Warblers about.
March 8 ~ Today's big FOS was Black-chinned Hummingbird,
one male in the a.m., and 2 by the p.m.. In 7 years
of local data this is the latest arrival date I have for them.
A male Brown-headed Cowbird was in the yard, the first here
for the year, though we had one a couple weeks ago a couple
miles south of town. Hutton's Vireo was singing,
a Slender-stem Bitterweed popped a flower open, and another
I think is Whitlow-Grass bloomed too. Lots of Dutchman's
Breeches are starting to open, and the Agarita (Texas Holly)
is starting to bloom as well. Tony Gallucci had the
first Golden-cheeked Warbler I heard of this spring near Hunt.
March 6 ~ A Uvalde supply run day.... and clearly things
are departing from the lower altitude brush country as there
were far fewer Shrikes, Red-tailed Hawks, Meadowlarks (Western)
along the road. At the ponds a mile west of Sabinal
on the cutoff there were 8 Shoveller, a male Cinnamon Teal,
and on the return trip near the ponds there was a beautiful pale
female richardsoni Prairie Merlin. Here at Utopia on
the way out of town near Waresville we saw the FOS Vermilion
Flycatcher I've seen locally this year.
At Ft. Inge there was a Green Jay, Green Kingfisher, Kiskadee, Olive
Sparrow, Long-billed Thrasher, Couch's Kingbird, but many of
the wintering passerines have departed. A few (so new)
migrant White-eyed Vireo were there. At Cook's Slough
there were 10 American White Pelican, a hundred Double-crested
one Neotropic Cormorant, and far fewer passerines as elsewhere,
but a couple that were clearly migrants: a Blue-headed Vireo,
and a male Black-and-white Warbler. Spring is arriving!
We saw no odes though (dragon and damselflies) at either stop.
Saw several Vermilion Flycatcher and a Couch's Kingbird called.
I heard what was surely the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher that
has been there I think a couple months.
March 4 ~ Less than a hundred Chipping Sparrows so departure
has begun for them, but still about 10 Junco including 3 Oregon
and 2 Pink-sided still. Saw a couple Lyside Sulphur again,
2 Olive-Juniper Hairstreak, Black Swallowtail, and probably a
female Dogface blew by. I see 3 Yellow Wood-Sorrel flowers.
March 3 ~ First Lyside Sulphur (lep) of the year, and the first
Cucumber Beetle (Chrysomelid) too.
March 2 ~ I love this FOS stuff the next couple months getting
arrival dates for returning breeders and passage migrants.
Over the years you'll see things will change as the environment
does. Nothin' stays the same but change. Today's
FOS was ZONE-TAILED HAWK, which straffed a Turkey Vulture!
There were a few "TV's" around, and oddly a Golden-fronted
Woodpecker passed over SR southbound. Kathy heard the
Red-shouldered Hawks calling, so display season is here for them.
March 1 ~ A FOS northbound Osprey struggled against the winds over SR
in the afternoon. I saw Judy Schaeffer at the P.O. and she said
there were some Cranes northbound over the dump last Thursday Feb. 25.
She also mentioned Green Jays were back, down at the Sabinal Bird House
near Sabinal, and that someone reported Audubon's Oriole off B & R Rd..
We had 1/2"-3/4" of rain late last night and early this a.m..
Jan. and Feb. 2010 moved to archives, Old Bird News #13.
(first link below)
2010
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June to December 2009 is now archived at Old Bird News # 12.
(second link below)
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