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.
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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 all you all 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.
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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 the all new page with a wildflower and tree list.
CRITTERS-plants
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ BIRD & NATURE NEWS ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
Feb. 3 ~ Started raining late on the 2nd, and looks to be a
major soaker, perhaps 24 hours or more worth, by morning we
were way over 2", and nearing 4" by the p.m. from this event!
February 2 ~ The Hutton's Vireo was whinnying about the
yard today. About 150 Chipping Sparrows now, and still
15 Juncos including 3 Oregon and 1-2 Pink-sided amongst
the Slate-coloreds, 3+ Audubon's Orioles, and an ad. Sharp-
shinned Hawk that views this as his feeding station.
February ~ February !?!?! January was the 4th wettest ever
on record at Del Rio, and 10th wettest at San Antonio.
We would likely be somewhere in between those two sites.
The El Nino came just in time, because we so badly needed
extra rain after a nearly 4 FOOT deficit over the prior 2 years.
January is normally the driest month of the year here,
and we probably had 4" of rain, at least, which is the
average total in our wettest months. Outstanding!
Jan. 31 ~ I did a chilly quick look through for a few hours
at Garner St. Pk.. The best bird was my first mid-winter
record of Spotted Sandpiper. The ground was carpeted in pecans
in those groves, which support quite a large number of birds.
In places you could walk and crack shells and turn around
and Titmice and Chickadees would be down on the ones you
just stepped on. There were about a couple hundred
Myrtle Warblers feeding on them, and a couple hundred plus
Chipping Sparrows too. Twenty or so White-winged Dove are
also probably pecan dependents as well. I saw one each
of Audubon's, Orange-crowned and Pine Warbler.
I still can't get over how they butchered the most extensive old-
growth closed canopy live-oak grove they had. It is deplorable
habitat management, at taxpayer expense. My understanding
is that this butchery was many many thousands of dollars.
A 500 year old closed canopy now looks like city park tree
trimmers went overboard.
Jan. 30 ~ Green and Belted Kingfisher were at UP, the first
Green I've seen since Dec., or maybe Nov.. They were
quick to bug out when it got cold in Dec.. Blue Jay and
Black Phoebe were about the park too.
Jan. 29 ~ We got another inch of rain today, for about
2" in two days, and maybe over 4" in January, normally
the driest month of the year. Maybe a good sign?
Jan. 28 ~ I found a dead male Fiery Skipper in a bucket,
in fair condition, so it hasn't been there long, a week
at most. It was a worn leftover, not a fresh one,
and is butterfly species number 5 for the month.
We got about an inch of rain today.
Jan. 27 ~ At least 700 American Robin, and 100 Cedar Waxwing
went over SR, the Robins mostly westbound, but a couple
hundred descended on the junipers for berries in the yard.
Jan. 25 ~ Heard a Flicker out back, been a female Yellow-
shaft around. Better was a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
flying into the live-oak out back while I was on the
back porch, 15' away! I had been watching Robins
eat juniper berries from as close as 5' away.
Here's an interesting behavior observation, which to me
is the funnest part of bird watching or study....
I was working at the desk/computer when motion caught
my eye on the shelf below the window. There was
one of the Carolina Wrens, soaking wet to the bone,
must have just been in the bath. It went to a
shallow vegetable tray with dry good soil in it,
and proceeded to spend over a minute taking a dirt
bath. While soaking wet!?!?!? Water and dirt
equal ? Mud? I'm sure there is a good explanation,
like mud smothers bird mites or something, but it was
fascinating and amazing to see it, and wonder what
it is all about. My mom told me to stay out of dirt
when I was wet.
Jan. 23-24 ~ Weekend was a blowout due to winds but another
flower bloomed, a Parralena, and the Sida is still going,
so there are two species of flowers open outside.
Jan. 22 ~ About 50 Robin and 30 Waxwings stopped to eat
Juniper berries, always a treat, they seem to be hitting
the trees here near daily the last couple weeks.
The astounding avaian event of the day was the first
spring migrants of the year passing over northbound,
at 10:15 p.m., White-fronted Geese! Last year I
first detected them January 27, and the 5 previous years
FOS was in February. Down in the lower Rio Grande
Valley and on the coast, a few Purple Martins have
been seen, the first landbird to return always, and
incredibly early too for an insect eater. We don't
get them till later up here.
Jan. 21 ~ Amazing now after a couple days of 70 deg. F,
a veritible burst of butterflies appeared, overwintering
worn, beat as they are. A dozen Snout, and
3 FOS Sleepy Orange, a FOS Red Admiral, blasting us up
to four species for the year with the Variegated Frit
that is about. More unexpected was a flower that
opened on Sida, the FOS flower this year.
Jan. 20 ~ A quick stop at the park and I saw the female
Black-and-white Warbler amongst the regulars there, one
hatch year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Golden-crowned Kinglet
which I haven't seen lately, and finally a local Winter Wren.
There were four Pied-billed Grebes at the pond in the park.
We should get some more new stuff that gets pushed down by
all the cold and storms. Saw a Snout butterfly or two today!
TWO species of butterflies for the year now.
Jan. 18 ~ 1 beat worn Variegated Fritillary butterfly is I think
the first butterfly I've seen around the yard this year.
Jan. 17 ~ Here at SR early there were 130 Robin, 100+ Cedar
Waxwing, a No. Flicker, and amazingly four Shoveller flew over!
Then while down in Uvalde we stopped at Ft. Inge for a quick
look and heard Green Jays and Olive Sparrow, saw Long-billed
Thrasher, Green Kingfisher, Kiskadee, Verdin, 100 Lincoln's
Sparrows, 1 Grasshopper Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo, and the
regulars. At Cook's Slough there were several Couch's
Kingbird and Vermilion Flycatcher, and more of the regulars.
Over the trip we saw about 20 resident Fuertes' Red-tailed Hawk,
3 standard Eastern type Red-tails, and at the Hwy. 90 bridge
over the Frio at Vulcan in Knippa, a western Rufous morph
Red-tailed Hawk! About 3 mi. N. of Sabinal on the way
back we saw (been looking) what is surely a returning winterer,
a HARLAN'S (Red-tailed) Hawk, which should be re-split, but
for the meanwhile means we saw 4 species of Red-tails today!
Jan. 15 ~ We had a good rain today, probably an inch plus,
and the 14th we had a half inch and change, so chalk some
up for the aquifer.
Jan. 12 ~ Great show at the bird bath ca. 11 a.m. here on SR.
A veritible parade of feathers, the medium sized stuff steals
the show. Both sexes of Cardinal, Scrub-Jay, Spotted Towhee,
Robin, interspersed with several Audubon's Orioles. As at
the peanut and sunflower tube feeders, the Audubon's Orioles
dominate the larger Scrub-Jay. One AO moved down to the
bath where a Jay was at the edge and jumped right in and splashed
the SJ. The Jay made a couple quick lunges toward the AO.
As at the feeders the AO opens its beak so the mandible and
maxilla at 90 degrees spread, like two stilletos or daggers
aimed right at the SJ. The fully open beak reveals a bubble-gum
pink interior mouth lining, which is very impressively eye-
catching next to the blue spots at the base of the lower mandible.
With two big sharp dagger knife blades sticking out of it.
The SJ did not lunge again, so the AO did not lunge at the SJ,
which moved away to the nearest perch and made noises while
squirming like a child trying to hold a potty while the AO
bathed putting up a splash like a motorboat. When it was done
it left. The Jay moved in and acted though it were going
to bathe. Another AO flew down, and SJ retreated immediately,
that AO bathed, and left, and the SJ finally got its chance,
when the orioles are done. It really seems to perterb the SJ's
as all the other birds respect them enough to stand down like
good birds.
Jan. 11 ~ A bit warmer, I hate to say that at 20 deg. F this
a.m.. But it got much warmer in the day, a smokin' 50 deg..
15 Robin, 30 Waxwing, 9 Pine Siskin, 2 Common Raven, 2 other raven,
and that dang Hutton's Vireo passed through the yard, now that
count week is well over, finally. Some Cardinal quiet singing.
Jan. 10 ~ Not to lighten up it was still only 15 in JCT, 16 in KVL
and 18 in HDO, so we were probably 17 deg. F here this a.m..
Can't wait till this breaks! Birds going through seed,
peanut butter, and bird bread like gangbusters. 5-6 Audubon's
Orioles using lots of sugar water too. Small Waxwing and Robin
flocks, a few Siskins and American and Lesser Goldfinches. The
Chipping Sparrow flock is maybe pushing 125 now, with a couple Field.
Still over a dozen Juncos with a couple few Pink-sided and Oregon
amongst the Slate-colored, and 3 Spotted Towhees still.
Jan. 9 ~ Brrrr it's worse! Was 8 deg.F in JCT and I heard in
town folks said 8 deg. F here too, and up to 14 deg.F on the
ridges this a.m.! I thought about 12 at Seco Ridge.
They say record coldest here in a long time. Certainly
the coldest since we got here (fall '03). Was freezing
or below Thursday evening to Saturday mid-day, 40 hours or so!
And only broke freezing for 4 hours or so and its teens tonight!
The highlight of the day was the frostweed ice flowers!
I'll have to get a good description of what exactly occurs,
but the moisture within the stems of the frostweed exits the
stem and curls down as it does, making a ribbon of ice, that
often loops and it is not uncommon to have all four sides of
the stem do it making a big ice flower shape at the base of
each stem. I did get some pix and will put them up shortly.
They are stunning beautiful as they are delicate. I expect
it takes a certain amount of cold for it to occur, and it is the
first time I've seen it here in now 7 winters, down at the park.
Jan. 8 ~ WOW its cold !! About 20 in JCT, 21 in KVL,
and maybe 22 here on SR. If any birds show up I won't
know because the windows are too fogged to see out.
The high temp. might have broken freezing by a degree, maybe.
Jan. 7 ~ A big arctic front and blow hitting pre-dawn,
winds gusting to 35-40 mph, temps around freezing, chill
factors in the 20's. Lovely. Supposed to be
in teens in the a.m. tomorrow, with wind chills near ten!
To address some hooey I heard, this does not mean global
warming is not occurring. Another proper term is
climate change, which means there will be more extremes,
like hotter summers, and colder winters. Does this
not sound a familiar theme to anyone? :) Some years
colder winters will result from the planet's overall warming.
Jan. 6 ~ I heard Carolina Chickadee singing whistled song
for the first time this year. Kathy says she heard it a
couple days earlier, apparently she is keeping secrets.
A couple each Lesser and American Goldfinch around, and
a Pine Siskin.
Jan. 5 ~ Last day of count week, picked up a single calling
American Pipit flying over SR. That was it, so 8 sps.
for count week, with 59 count day, makes for a total of 67
species detected count week. Missed Turkey, Caracara,
and Hutton's Vireo, for 3 dumb ones off the top of my head.
Here at SR there were also 6 Audubon's Oriole, and the
Junco flock was 8 Slate-colored, 2 Oregon, 2 Pink-sided.
Chorus frogs are still going very well around dusk daily.
White-winged Dove gave a single burst of under-the-breath
quiet-song. Was 25 deg. F. in the a.m..
Jan. 4 ~ I had to run to town for the P.O., so took a
quick look at the park, hoping for a Green Kingfisher.
No love there, but a Great Blue Heron flew off, for a
count week bird. Saw the Black-and-white Warbler
and the Canyon Wren we missed on the count. The wren
treats giant cypress trunks like a cliff face. There was
an Orange-crowned Warbler there we'd missed too. Again
thought I heard a Pine Warbler, and saw at least 50 Myrtles
along the river. Saw two Autumn Meadowhawks (odes).
They won't make it through the arctic blast on its way.
Tomorrow is last day of count week, and could use a few
dumb easy ones: Caracara, a live Great Horned Owl, Turkey.
Jan. 3 ~ Shortly after sunup 26 Robins dropped out of
the sky into the yard. Where were they yesterday?
Any time you do a count something silly avoids your gaze
all day, and the next morning they fall out of the sky
calling (if your lucky that's all) on your head! I
thought I heard Hutton's Vireo down the draw.
Jan. 2 ~ We did our 7th annual first week of the new year
bird count, our sort of mock pretend CBC, with the same
one party (Kathy & me) doing the same roads and spots, now for
the 7th year. As long as coverage is consistent over the
years, results are comparable, and educational. We saw
59 species around Utopia and up the valley, plus 3 subspecies.
This was our lowest diversity total in 7 counts, and counted
1679 birds, darn near one at a time, scratching for them all day.
Best was the male Vermilion Flycatcher at the park, quite
scarce up here in the hills in winter, and the adult
White-eyed Vireo was still hanging around at the library garden.
127 Myrtle Warblers was astounding, as was not seeing a
Pine (thought I heard one in 3 places). 166 Vesper
Sparrow was impressive and 2 each Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
and Yellow-shafted Flicker was nice. But no Robin!!
Or Turkey, or Caracara, there are always some dumb misses.
That is why there is a count week, 3 days before and after.
The 5 deg. below normal cold all Dec. may have run the
Green Kingfishers off, we didn't see one of them either.
Somewhat surprising was not finding anything unusual though.
Kathy found a couple DOR (dead on road) birds, both freshly
hit/killed, an Eastern Phoebe and a Great Horned Owl.
Now the owl was clearly just hit last night, or it would
have been scavenged, ants would have been on it, etc., so
it was absolutely positively alive, here in the circle,
during count week. And that is not good enough to count
it as a tick for the total. :)
January. 1 ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR !!
2010
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We'll pause briefly for a numerical intermission...
I added a couple lists up I kept this 2009, one a green year list.
The birds I saw without using any gas, walking around the
yard, house, property, wherever I went without burning fuel.
If I had a bike, I'd have rode to town (the river), and surely
then could get much better diversity. But, for being
too far from the river to see the avian traffic using that
highway, up here at 1500' in a juniper patch with oak/grassland,
I think it was a good total, 147 species. All seen from
the yard in 2009. You don't have to run all over the place
to see a good number of birds. But learning birds by call
and in flight will make a big difference, some were only detected
as nocturnal migrants!
I saw about 245 species in 2009 in Uvalde County, which is
funny because the TOS county year list threshold is 250.
A regular average birder should not be ashamed of a 200
county year list here. So their cutoff may be reasonable
for coastal areas, or places with large rivers and lakes, but
obvioulsy one size does not fit all counties as a yearlist threshold.
If one lived in Uvalde near the water hotspots I'm sure one
would get another 10 or 20 more species, but the average
birder might find 250 tough in a year in UvCo. In a
*good year* with *serious skilled effort*, if you were based
near the watered hotspots, 275 may be possible in a year in Uv.Co.
Now my all time Uvalde County (UvCo) list by the most strict
count is about 323. There's a few things I've seen that
wouldn't count if officially submitted, like Gray-breasted Martin.
The 323 is the bare bones. That is 6 years and a couple months
worth. It is right about what I had after 3 years in Bexar Co.
in the late 1980's, with its big deepwater lakes, gulls and shorebirds.
My Bandera Co. list is now about 232, and of course covers
only about the <3% of that county that is the Sabinal River Valley
and canyon up to Lost Maples. An incidental by accident total,
I do not go around the county looking for birds, it is what I've
seen birding locally in my patch. I have had 210+ years ('04)
in my few % of Bandera Co., but didn't keep track this year.
The butterfly list for the year was about 89 species locally
around Utopia. With the rains since fall, we can expect a
next year a better season than this year's dismal offering.
It was the first year here I did not see a Crimson Patch.
End of brief numerical appreciation pause.
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End of 2009
Bdbdbdbdbdat's all folks!
WEEWOW glad that's over with!! Hey next year can only
be better, right !?!? I hope you had a good year, and
We wish you all the very best in 2010 !!
Dec. 31 ~ Best was at Utopia Park I saw the Black-and-white Warbler,
which scores for count week, the 3 days before and after count day,
which we'll do in a day or two, so at least we have it for the week,
and it shows its presence. Which is spectacular as the first
overwintering Black-and-white Warbler on the plateau last year,
to have returned for a second winter. Quite a rare known instance
hereabouts, where there are very very few proven records of vagrant
passerines returning multiple winters. No Kingfishers though.
Did have a Canyon Wren upriver in the giant cypresses again.
Dec. 30 ~ A Merlin here was the first I've seen this winter
around Utopia. There were at least four Audubon's
Oriole about, probably 5. Stunning was a DAMSELFLY
here at SR, seemed like a teneral GREAT SPREADWING!!
It had it's wings spread when I found it, but closed them
when I took the picture, and it flew off quickly.
There were a few Bushtits that passed through the yard.
An Eastern Screech-Owl was calling after dark.
Dec. 29 ~ WOW Sleet !! turned to rain shortly but there were
piles of white ice pellets about here on SR around 9 a.m.!
It sure looked like snow for all intents and purposes!
It was probably a whopping quarter inch of preciptation.
Over 50 White-winged doves, 100 Chipping Sparrow hit the seed
we toss about. Still 16 Juncos including 3 Oregon and
2 Pink-sided, 3 Spotted Towhee, 2 Rufous-crowned Sparrow, a very
few Cardinals, a pair each of Carolinas, Wren and Chickadee,
pair of Bewick's Wren, a peanut, peanut butter, and sugar water
feeding Orange-crowned Warbler believed to be a returnee,
for perhaps its 3rd or 4th year now (!), and 3 Audubon's Orioles
is most of it for now. Oh a few House Finch, and occasionally a
couple Lesser and American Goldfinch. Maybe a Myrtle or
Kinglet (Ruby) will drift by once a day or so, and the Hutton's
Vireo about weekly will be around a couple days.
Dec. 28 ~ another 25 deg. morning. Did a Uvalde run and
some more brush country and fallow ag field birding. We saw
4 MOUNTAIN PLOVER south of Sunny Clime Farms. There were
some scattered Lark Buntings, hundreds of Vesper Sparrows, a
hundred White-crowned, lots of Savannah, some Lincoln's and Lark.
100+ American Pipits, 12 Fuertes' Red-tailed Hawks, a Say's Phoebe,
and it seemed like a hundred Mockingbirds. There were over
30 at once just around a tank south of Knippa! Over at the
fish hatchery there were lots of ducks, several hundred, mostly
Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Shoveller, Pintail, and some
Blue-winged and a Cinnamon Teal. Two Ring-necked and
10 Ruddy Duck, 2 Bufflehead were good diving ducks at the hatchery,
and the Neotropic Cormorant continues since early Dec..
So do the 51 Great Blue Heron in the bare dirt field to the west.
We saw 2 Greater Yellowlegs and 25-30 Least Sandpipers, Verdin,
Pyrrhuloxia, Marsh Wren, Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned and
Myrtle Warbler, and amongst sparrows, Song, Savannah, Field,
and a rarer in winter Clay-colored, and especially a CASSIN'S
Sparrow there. There were a few hundred cranes over WSW of
Knippa, and a few over the hatchery, no geese, or longspurs.
A couple Harris's Hawks were along Old Sabinal Rd., one on a
dumped (poached) deer carcass. A Merlin WSW of Knippa.
Lotsa Western Meadowlarks, good numbers of Loggerhead Shrike,
Some Caracara, and a couple non-fuertes Red-tailed Hawk.
Dec. 26 ~ A little warmer, 32 felt nice. 3 Audubon's Orioles
at least, a couple Lesser Goldfinch, and the rest of the regulars.
Dec. 25 ~ Wow about 25 deg. F again here on SR in the a.m.!
It's almost cold enough to be Christmas! HO HO HO :)
Merry merry happy happy joy joy.
Dec. 24 ~ We got about a half inch of much needed rain!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Dec. 23 ~ A very sweet treat was a singing FOX SPARROW here
at SR, the first I've noted in a couple years or more here,
since one wintered here a few years ago. There were
two Starlings outside the park.
Dec. 22 ~ A N. Harrier was coursing the grasslands on the juniper
covered slopes of SR. At the park a quick look yielded
only one thing of note, a calling RINGED Kingfisher upriver.
At SR a sub-ad. Audubon's Oriole bathed in the bath.
I ran into Syd Cheney and he said there are still two
GREEN JAYS sometimes coming into his place south of town.
Did they attempt breeding, is the $64k question. There is
no record ever of them breeding on the plateau, so the
idea of them having stayed the year is most interesting.
Dec. 21 ~ Three Audubon's Orioles (at least) coming in
daily now here at SR. Best though was a heard only
bird flying over at 8:30 a.m., a RINGED KINGFISHER!
It was so high I couldn't pick it up against the sky.
Just kept hearing that slow measured 50 caliber chak! note.
I've seen them going over the house before, so not a new
yard bird anyway, but I'm at 1550', and a couple miles
from the river, so it never ceases to amaze me. One
Lesser Goldfinch here was the first in a while.
Dec. 20 ~ Around the park and town we saw about 20 Myrtle
Warblers, but nothing else. A Belted Kingfisher was
at the county line road crossing (UvCo 356). Some
Vesper and Savannah Sparrows were out West Sabinal Rd.,
and a hundred Meadowlarks that are probably Westerns.
On Spring Branch Rd. at the West Fork crossing we caught
a bit of a drinking frenzy with 200 Cedar Waxwings, 75 Robin,
a few Eastern Bluebird, a Pine Warbler, two Pine Siskin,
and an Audubon's Oriole. On one of the roads out
thataway we had a Say's Phoebe.
Dec. 19 ~ Hutton's Vireo about the yard, as well as all the
regulars. Early in the a.m. 175 Robins went by SR,
and about 40 Cedar Waxwing. A Variegated Fritillary
(butterfly) was sps. #11 for the month here.
Dec. 18 ~ 3 Audubon's Orioles at least here at the SR yard
peanut and hummingbird feeders. The herd of Juncos and
Chippies continue. A major wave of Myrtle Warblers
hit sometime in the last few days since Monday. Around
town and at the park I had 50 (FIFTY) of them, the biggest
warbler movement of the year, or nearly so. There were
a dozen plus around the library garden, joined by an Orange-
crowned Warbler and an adult White-eyed Vireo. Then at
UP there were 35 Myrtles, a couple Audubon's Warblers, another
Orange-crowned, the wintering adult female Black-and-white,
and new were 2 PINE Warblers. Other things there were
a returning (same hole) adult female Yellow-shafted Flicker,
2 HY (hatch-year) Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, plus a heard
Sapsucker, Green Kingfisher, Blue Jay and Black Phoebe,
Ladder-backed and Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird.
I must say it was amazing seeing 5 species of warblers today at
the park! That is counting Audubon's Warbler as a seperate
species, which it is. Sometimes AOU loses their way and
mistakenly lumps things they later go back and resplit (fix their
mistakes) like Baltimore and Bullock's Orioles. Such will
be the case eventually with Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers.
Consider their digestive tracts are so different only one can
digest the wax myrtle berry, allowing them to winter in much
colder climates (without insects). Guess which.
A couple Dogface (butterfly) today were local species #10 for Dec.
Dec. 16 ~ 16 Junco for sure. Photo of 12 in one frame.
Will try to get pix of some of the funky ones.
Dec. 15 ~ At least 15 Junco now in the daily flock hitting
the seed with about 75 Chipping Sparrow and a couple or few
Spotted Towhee, maybe 4 Cardinal. 3 of the Junco are
good Oregon, most are various flavors of Slate-colored
including western ones with beige sides (females), and a
couple are big black-lored good pure Pink-sided Juncos.
One mucky Slate-colored shows two decent wing bars.
Dec. 14 ~ A Queen (butterfly) was the first of the month.
Dec. 11 ~ A quick look around at Lost Maples was our first
visit since the major cliff collapse at the day use picnic
area. WOW !! I would have loved to been there
and seen it happen! Not many birds as usual in winter, but
a few American Goldfinch. The Lacey Oaks were in very
good color, yellows and golds mostly, and a few Buckley Oaks
were still in good color too.
Dec. 10 ~ Both an adult and an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk
are stooping on the seed eaters daily here now. The
White-winged Dove flock still numbers about 45.
Dec. 9 ~ The Junco flock hitting the seed daily remains
10 birds, with 2 Pink-sided, 2 Oregon, and 6 Slate-colored.
Dec. 8 ~ About 30 Robins came in a roosted at dusk.
Chorus frogs going bonkers again tonight. Lovely!
Dec. 7 ~ The only thing of note today was the Chorus Frogs
still chorusing away, as if it were spring, and it wasn't
20 deg.F two mornings ago! How do they do it, anti-freeze?
I asked Kathy that and she said maybe that's why they're green!
There were 3 Spotted Towhee calling here at SR, the meow cat-call
that sounds like a Catbird, of subspecies arcticus or montanus
methinks. The Chipping Sparrow flock is 75 birds now.
Dec. 6 ~ A Uvalde supply run, and we took the slow way down
Old Sabinal Rd. to look through some brush country and barren
fields, which were unfortunately, barren of birds too.
Lots of sparrows along some of the roads. A couple hundred
Vesper, a hundred plus Savannah, 50+ each Lark and Lincoln's and
50+ White-crowned too. Two different times I had quick
looks of what looked like Harris's Sparrows but they got away.
A dozen Lark Buntings were SE of Knippa, 60 American Pipits,
a couple dozen plus Pyrrhuloxia (more than Cardinals), and
10 Say's Phoebe at various fields along the way.
We had great views of a PRAIRIE FALCON soaring right over us
for 5 minutes, south of Sunny Clime Farms. No Longspurs,
Mountain Plovers, Sprague's Pipit, only 10 Geese (White-fronted),
and about a hundred Sandhill Crane. At a tank south of Knippa
there was a beautiful male Wood Duck, a flock of 20 Ground-Dove,
an immature male Vermilion Flycatcher, and lots more sparrows.
Over at the fish hatchery SW of Uvalde we saw an adult Peregrine
Falcon which at one point stooped on a Snipe, which flushed but
knew all it had to do is keep climbing, which it did, so the
Peregrine gave up quickly when it saw the Snipe knew its way
out of that threat. Lots of ducks are in now, there were
5 male Cinnamon Teal, gobs of Green-wings, bunch of Blue-wings,
Gadwall, Wigeon, and Pintail, and 3 Ruddy Duck which are good here.
The best duck we got scope studies of, a GREATER SCAUP, the first
I've seen here in over 6 years now. It flushed so we got
to see the white wing stripe that extended nearly to the wing tip.
There were 7 Greater Yellowlegs, 10 Least Sandpiper, 1 Solitary
Sandpiper, 3 Killdeer, and 5 Snipe. Then there were 14
Double-crested and 1 Neotropic Cormorant, an amazing 50 (FIFTY!)
Great Blue Heron standing in a barren ploughed dirt field west
of the hatchery, and a few score of Coots. Landbirds
about were Verdin, several Common Yellowthroats, Orange-crowned
Warbler, some Myrtle Warblers, Marsh Wrens, Am. Pipit, Song
Sparrows and Black Phoebe.
Finally, just leaving town I saw a Merlin, again near mega-mart,
so completed a falcon slam with a boatload of Kestrels, the
Peregrine, Merlin, and the Prairie Falcon. Along the way
we saw at least a dozen Fuertes' Red-tailed Hawks, one non-Fuertes.
Dec. 5 ~ WEEWOW about 20 deg.F here on SR this morning!!! It
was down to 18 in JCT and KVL, and 22 in HDO! It's warmer in
Massachusetts! A surprise was flushing a CASSIN'S Sparrow this
morning from a patch of 2'tall dry grass outside that I purposely didn't
weed whack all year, to see if something like this could happen.
The patch is only about 15' by 5' or so. It is the first winter
record I have up here in the hills. Also interesting was
the first insect to move of the day,under the searing 1 p.m. heat
of 45 deg.F, a male Variegated Meadowhawk (dragonfly). They
must have anti-freeze in there somewhere. I did not see the
Selasphorus hummingbird today, hope it made it through the night.
Down at UP there was Song Sparrow, 3 Pied-billed Grebe, 125 Black
Vulture, a few Myrtle Warblers, a Spotted Towhee, and a Blue-headed
Vireo, perhaps the one that I saw Nov. 10. At the hackberries on
Cypress St. there were 6 more Myrtle and 2 Audubon's Warblers. Also
4 Lesser Goldfinch were there feeding in the weeds with Bluebirds.
I had to hit the brakes to miss a Roadrunner that jumped out right
in front of me on SR. 2 Audubon's Orioles about the hovel.
Dec. 4 ~ In the morning there was a solid 20 minutes nearly with
SNOW flurries! Temps to drop in afternoon, and hit about
20 deg.F by tomorrow morning, the first hard freeze of the year.
What appears to be the Nov. 25 Selasphorus hummingbird is back
at the feeders, since it seems to be an adult female (Rufous or
Allen's) with the same exact pattern of gorget color.
Dec. 3 ~ One lone American Goldfinch was at the sunflower tubes,
the rest was the regulars. Still a bit chilly. A spectacular
report on Texbirds was a photographed Northern Goshawk in Kerrville!
Dec. 2 ~ The Junco flock here at SR is now 10 birds, with one
good pure male Oregon, 2 good pure Pink-sided, and most of the rest
Slate-coloreds of various flavors, perhaps one good female Oregon.
December 1 ~ A 1/4" or so of cold rain over the day, with a high
temp of 40 deg.F! 2 Audubon's Orioles and Hutton's Vireo at SR.
I keep forgetting to mention, there is a strange absence of Cardinals
here for over a month now. A male or two, maybe 2 females, and
that is it!?!?!?! We've never, not had, a dozen plus at this
time. So the question is, "Is there an abundance of native food
locally that they are capitalizing on, or are they gone?"
Notice the use of the double negative? It can be done! :)
Some November wrap-up....
November totalled 42 species of butterflies, so-so, its been
60 in good years, but was a surprise since it was the best
November flower bloom I've seen in 7 Novembers here. The
timing of the drought-ending rains made everything sprout,
and the lack of a hard freeze in October made for a great
flower show, comparitively, into November. But due to the
drought, there just weren't many butterflies out this year.
Some of the flowers blooming in November were Tropical & Mealy
Sage, Gay-feather, Navajo Tea, Parallena, Yellow Wood-Sorrel,
Eupatorium havanense, an Aster (White?), Zexmenia, Blackfoot
Daisy, Fireweed (Lobelia), Shrubby Blue Sage (Mejorana),
Black Dalea (early Nov.), Turk's Cap, Slender-stem Bitterweed,
Brickell-Bush, several sunflowers, and a bunch of other stuff.
It appears we made it into December without a hard freeze.
Amazing methinks? I heard the Maples weren't all that great
this year, but the Buckley (Spanish) Oaks were outstanding as
always. They are the real color show here, and you don't
have to fight the fall Lost Maples crowd to see it. Drive any
road across the divides between drainages Thanksgiving weekend.
The Ode (dragonfly and damselfly) season is all but over now,
until next March. Oh there will be a few more leftovers
still in Dec., and a few will emerge in February, but even in
March it is just barely starting. Hope ya had fun this
season! Uvalde Co. added I think about 10 species to its
official county list this year, and now sits at 99 species of
Odes known from the county! The entire state of California
has 113 known species to compare Ode diversity.
One report posted to Texbirds of interest was a Green-tailed
Towhee at Concan I think over Thanksgiving weekend. This
species is surely far more common than reports indicate in Uvalde
Co.. Someone else had a Summer Tanager there too!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nov. 30 ~ A couple Audubon's Orioles were about in the cold
drizzle and showers, maybe a quarter inch of rain, not much.
More supposed to be on the way, and cold too. At UP
there was a Zone-tailed Hawk roosting in a big Cypress.
I haven't seen one locally in two months at least, and they
seemed way down this year, presumedly due to their prey
being less numerous due to the drought. I took a
quick cruise around town and saw four Lesser Goldfinches
at the Schaeffers feeders. A few will winter at feeders,
but for the most part, the wild-food feeding individuals
have departed now.
A couple add-ons from the prior two days I forgot to mention.
First, on the 29th before the front hit in the near 70 deg F
warmth, a couple Poor-will were calling right after dark.
Then on the 28th, there were 2 immaculate PINK-SIDED Junco
here on the seed pile. That makes at least 3 of them
so far this season, a high total already.
Nov. 29 ~ A surprise was a Giant Swallowtail in the yard, the
first I've seen all month, butterfly species #42 for this Nov..
We just went out quickly in the afternoon as much to see the
color in 1050 pass as anything, and it was not disappointing.
The Buckley (Spanish) Oaks are stunning as ever, yellows,
oranges, reds, maroons, the hills are beautiful. These
oaks are a much more dependable color show than the maples,
you can count on these being stellar every Thanksgiving weekend.
Not many birds about, perhaps tucking in ahead of the front
expected just after dark. Amongst some Vesper Sparrows
on UvCo 354 a mile SE of town, there was a GRASSHOPPER Sparrow.
This is the first one I've seen in winter up here, and
a bright fresh plumaged beauty it was. Note Poor-wills
calling this date noted above, and, Chorus Frogs are still
going good too!
Nov. 28 ~ A mid-day check of a few spots about town....
At the library garden there was a Spotted Towhee, Carolina,
and Bewick's Wren, probably eating butterflies. At UP
there was a heard only FOS White-throated Sparrow, a FOS
first winter Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (finally), and a FOS
Song Sparrow below the dam. Sure nice to see water
running over it, even if I can't just run out there in my
shoes anymore. There were a number of Variegated
Meadowhawks, a couple Autumn Meandowhawks, 1 Green Darner,
and 1 Blue-ringed Dancer about the park for Odes.
Note Pink-sided Junco (2) note above for this date.
Behind the P.O. there were some sparrows including Field,
Vesper, Savannah, and Chipping. Down at the UvCo 360
crossing area a couple miles south of town there was a little
action as usual, with 2 Pyrrhuloxia and a Checkered White
(butterfly species #41 here for the month) being highlights.
At least 10 Myrtle Warbler were in the area plus the regulars.
Nov. 27 ~ Audubon's Oriole back again. The duskywing
butterfly I saw late yesterday was about quickly again today
and is not a Funereal, but rather looks Horace's or Juvenal's.
Nov. 26 ~ Second a.m. at about 33 deg. F and an Audubon's Oriole
has shown up for peanuts and sugar water. They'll get
regular in numbers real quickly now as it gets cold. There
were a hundred Robin and 30 Cedar Waxwing around SR. Also
here were 55 White-winged Dove still, Northern Harrier and Caracara
went over, Hutton's Vireo and Ruby-crowned Kinglet about yard.
No hummer though so must not have snagged the Selasphorus yesterday.
Nov. 25 ~ Amazingly another Selasphorus Hummingbird showed up
this afternoon, looked ad. female to me, and a Rufous/Allen's type,
which is #12 for the fall this year! In the front yard
I flushed a Savannah Sparrow out of the tall grass! A lone
Pine Siskin was on the sunflower tube. I heard FOS American
Goldfinch at the Library Garden in town. A Lesser Goldfinch
was at UP, as was Great Blue Heron and White-eyed Vireo. A
Reakirt's Blue and 3 Fatal Metalmark were at the library garden.
Here in the yard a Dainty Sulphur and an Orange Sulphur each
selected fairly matching yellow flowers of Slender-stem Bitterweed
and roosted in the flower for the night (ph.). Pretty smart,
besides the camo, you eat until its too cold to move, and first thing
in the a.m., you eat as soon as your body can move again.
Nov. 24 ~ A Common Raven took aim from above a small circle of
4 soaring Black Vultures. It closed its wings and began a stoop
from several hundred feet above the circle of vultures. I think
the technical term for its speed as it approached the lunking,
slowly climbing vulture cirlce, is "haulin' @$$".
Just before it hit the center of their circle at Mach 2 it
turned upside down, and tucked wings tight against back, so as
to appear as un-vultureflight-like as possible for them. For
maximum effect as it pierced the mathematically exact center of their
circle, at Mach 2, upside-down, it loudly croaked several times,
which roughly translated meant "bet you can't do this".
The raven after some distance upside-down flipped over, and
continued on its way as if nothing happened. The vultures
all seemed to be looking at each other saying "what happened?",
and then began casting espersions about the ravens parentage.
Nov. 23 ~ The immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues
here at the feeders on SR, day 5 for him.
Nov. 22 ~ At UP the White-eyed Vireo continues, and might be a
winterer. There was a 5' Indigo Snake in the woods there.
Down at the big Red Turk's Cap patch right before Clayton Grade
there were a couple Cloudless Sulphur, a Large Orange Sulphur,
and a beautiful female Orange-barred Sulphur, the only one I've
seen this fall. Interestingly, absence seems to be typical
for many species after a previous year that was a record-setter
invasion for them here. A bunch of Pipevine Swallowtails were
on it too, and Dainty Sulphurs were in the many dozens on some
other ground cover. Up on the grade itself at the cut, in the
Eupatorium (Thoroughwort) and Mejorana patch, what wasn't buried
by TXDOT, there were mostly Snouts and Dainty Sulphur, and lots of
nectaring Diptera (flies). A couple Painted Lady, Red Admiral,
more Pipevines, lots of Sleepy Orange were everywhere. A new
different (to me, here) Cerambycid was on some Sunflowers (photo).
The removal of so much of the tree and hedgerow habitat along the
road just north of the grade, across from the former Montana Rocasa,
where all the trees and hedgerow have been removed, seems to have
vacated much wildlife too. I did not hear Olive Sparrows as
usual. Or anything else. Up on top of Clayton Grade I
consoled myself with some Lindheimer Morning Glory, and a few other
flowers, besides a Common Buckeye, the first I've seen this month.
Then at the library garden there were four new different things
that were the first of the month for me here. Ceraunus Blue,
Orange Skipperling, 2 Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks, and 2 Western Pygmy-Blue!
Also confirmed a couple Tropical Checkered-Skippers amongst the
throngs of Common Checkered-Skippers present. An Orange-crowned
Warbler was in the bushes picking butterflies off before I could
ID them! Several Fatal and two Rounded Metalmarks were there.
There were about 3 Clouded, 1 Eufala, 5 Sachem and 15 Fiery Skippers.
I think it is about 40 butterfly species for the month now, and
still no true freeze yet. I saw 33 species today in a couple hours!
Nov. 21 ~ Heard Golden-crowned Kinglet, Cedar Waxwing, Robin,
Myrtle Warbler, while doing some always sooo fun car work.
Had to test the job and somehow, by some fluke miracle, I
ended up at the butterfly garden, can ya believe it?
Clearly it didn't freeze here, no burnt leaves or flowers, but
good numbers (157 total) of the regular expected 24 most likely
species of butterflies at 2:30 p.m. peak heat (ca. 70 deg.F).
Interesting was a Blue-headed Vireo there in the live-oak.
Butterfly killer. :)
I must have fixed it good because when I was coming home,
all by itself it seemed to pull right into the park. Amazing!?!
At UP the water was running (dripping) over the dam in a few
spots on the lower spillway, the ponds above and below the dam
were full, and there was water running below the dam to the
highway (1050). Audubon's and Myrtle Warblers up in the
live-oaks, but nothing different, presumedly it all blew out
with the storm. Water was muddy like the Rio Grande,
and Green Darner and Variegated Meadowhawks were the only
dragonflies flying. Lots of the meadowhawks were in tandem
and ovipositing, more than a dozen pairs. Several types
of damsels were about, though I couldn't ID them all. The
only one of interest for sure for me was a late date here on
a Fragile Forktail (Ischnura posita) that I watched catch and
then eat a mosquito (ph.). Lesser Goldfinch still in the
sunflower patch. Heard the Black-and-white Warbler.
Heard Sandhill Cranes southbound over the park.
Nov. 20 ~ Started a little light showers overnight, maybe an
inch by 7 a.m., but a real cold front hit with temps dropping
by 9 a.m. and over a couple inches of rain fell in a few hours!
It was at least 3.5" by the morning lull, and then there was
another 2/3" in the afternoon, for over FOUR INCHES total today!!
This was the biggest rain event here I think in two years,
at least, since before the drought started in fall 07. WOW !!
For the first time since spring when water quit running over
the spillway at the the park, water ran over it! For the
first time all year I heard a major chorus of Chorus Frogs!
In late Nov.!?! And the Ruby-throated Hummingbird stayed
quite close to the feeders all day.
Nov. 19 ~ At SR there was a single Cedar Waxwing, a lone Robin,
1 each Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers, a Golden-crowned Kinglet,
2 Hermit Thrush, and no hummingbirds for the third day, UNTIL
3 or 4 p.m. when an imm. male Ruby-throated showed up! I
can't believe it, I thought we were done, and they were gone,
and another one finds the place! A Dainty Sulphur in the
yard was not one of the 16 species I saw here yesterday.
Nov. 18 ~ NO Hummers for the second day in a row here at SR!
Was even colder but still didn't freeze here, though was
32 in HDO, 30 in KVL, and 26 in JCT! An Audubon's Warbler
flew over southbound in the a.m., and a male Northern Harrier
later. I saw 16 species of butterflies in the yard
this coldest morning since March.
Nov. 17 ~ Was 28 in JCT, 30 in KVL, and probably 35 here on SR.
Maybe it neared a freeze down in town, but probably missed.
There were NO hummingbirds here today! There were about
50 White-winged Dove, a flock of 25 Robin, a migrant Monarch,
and a few of the regular butterflies. Ken Cave said he
saw 11 Caracara together at the south end of the valley near
Clayton Grade mid-day.
Nov. 16 ~ A front hit pre-dawn a.m. with 20-30 mph winds, gusting
higher, high of 60 maybe and a near-freeze tonight. There
were two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here in the a.m., but I did
not see them in the p.m. and they probably rode the wave on out
of Dodge for the winter, finally. Odd was a duck that flew
over SR after dark, sounded like a Gadwall to me.
Nov. 15 ~ At SR was my FOS Pine Siskin, two at the sunflower tube.
Also at least 2 imm. male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue.
A couple Monarchs passed. A few Lesser Goldfinches still about,
and the Chippy flock is about 50 with a Junco or two as well.
Nov. 14 ~ Here at SR early in the a.m. there was again a single
Cedar Waxwing, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet. Did a Uvalde
run and hit Ft. Inge, Cook's Slough has a closed sign hung on it.
There were no Scissor-tailed Flycatchers anywhere along the highway
there and back for the first time this fall. At Ft. Inge we
heard Green Jay, and saw Winter Wren and Swamp Sparrow, a Neotropic
Cormorant, a couple Rock Wren, Verdin, and White-crowned Sparrows.
We were not there early so birds had already quited down a lot.
The big excitement was the dragonflies there at peak heat of the day.
There were about 5 male Coryphaeschna adnexa Blue-faced Darner.
These were discovered here a couple months ago, and are only known
from a few places in south Texas (besides Florida). I almost
caught one, but it got away, though I did catch a Blue-eyed Darner.
There were still lots of Hyacinth Gliders about with their electric
purple thorax. A Histerid beetle was an odd find (photos),
which I only know what it was due to Mike Quinn and Mike Overton
giving me an ID from the photos. There were both Cloudless
and Large Orange Sulphur at Ft. Inge (one each) too. There
was a Merlin over the supermegamart parking lot for a bit, and
finally, there was a Black Witch moth hit, flopping still, on Hwy. 90,
on the way back.
Blue-eyed Darner - Aeshna multicolor
at Ft. Inge, Uvalde, TX, Nov. 14, 2009
Nov. 13 ~ Friday the 13th, so I thought I see if I could get lucky
at the park with the adult female Black-and-white Warbler, and
sure enough it continues there, and is surely the same bird that
wintered last year, when it also arrived in October. Also
there was a White-eyed Vireo, perhaps the first there in a few
weeks. Usually the last migrants are in the 3rd week of Oct..
There was also a Hermit Thrush, a few Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 8+ Myrtle
and an Audubon's Warbler, and I thought I heard a Pine Warbler again.
Also the regulars like Black Phoebe, Blue Jay, Green Kingfisher,
and Golden-fronted Woodpecker were seen. A Chihuahuan Raven
passed over too. There was a Theona Checkerspot at the library
garden, first one I've seen all fall. Also a couple Monarchs
nectared (migrants). Finally, at SR there was another (!)
Selasphorus hummingbird, which appeared to be a Rufous, imm. male.
This is the 11th probable Rufous here this fall! A record total,
having had 10 one fall in the last 6 years, average is 6 per fall.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues, no sign of the Broad-tail.
Spotted Towhee and a couple normal here Slate-colored Junco of the
odd flavor with partly beige mid-sides (western ones) continue.
Nov. 12 ~ Amazingly the Ruby-throated Hummingbird was still about
today, but I did not see the Broad-tailed! 4 Monarchs passed
over the day.
Nov. 11 ~ Got some pix of the Broad-tailed Hummingbird today,
but the Ruby-throated wouldn't let me get near it. It is
always amazing how quickly they become ingrates. Been here
fattening up for a week or two for a few hundred mile flight,
and can't sit still for one little picture for late date proof?
At least the Broad-tailed was cooperative (see below). Not
much but the regulars otherwise today. 22 Sandhill Crane.
Heard two Barn, 1 Screech- (Mexican), and 1 Great Horned, Owls.
And a Poorwill, plus lots of nocturnal passerine flight notes.
Immature Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Nov. 11,
the fourth one here this fall.
November 10 ~ Good for the yard was a FOS positive visual
on a PINE WARBLER, so close at the tip of a juniper I was
next to, I almost could have used my reading glasses on it.
Then besides the imm. male Ruby-throated I confirmed there
is another hummingbird here, an imm. BROAD-TAILED !! The
fourth one this fall! Amercian Pipit also flew over SR,
as well as the first flock of Robins, 40 of them going NE.
Then I had to run to town so stopped by the library garden where
there was a Great Purple Hairstreak, but not much else. So
over to UP, where there was a small passerine flock of resident
Titmouse and Chickadee with mostly Myrtle Warblers (5+), a couple
Audubon's, a couple Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a FOS BLUE-HEADED VIREO,
and spectacularly, a CASSIN'S VIREO. This is the first one
of them I have seen in 6 years here now, my first in the county.
It was at times in the same tree as the Blue-headed making for
a great comparitive study. This seemed a first fall bird,
since the head was the same olive as the back, and coupled then
with fairly regular wing-flicking, generally they appear more
like a Hutton's Vireo than a Blue-headed, save the big bold
spectacle and whiter underparts. Heard cranes over the park.
November 9 ~ 40 Chipping Sparrows at least now here at SR.
One Ruby-throated Hummingbird continues, and maybe I heard
something else. The regular passerines for the days:
some Myrtle Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hutton's Vireo,
Orange-crowned Warbler all about the SR yard.
November 8 ~ At least one Ruby-throated Hummingbird was
still on the feeders today, and we got a half inch of
still much-needed rain from morning to afternoon.
Every night for the last week there have been passerine
migrants calling as they pass overhead, much sounding like
sparrows such as Savannah, White-crowned, Vesper, but some
stuff I'd love to have seen, flight notes I am not familiar with.
November 7 ~ Town was packed with the craft fair, and I
didn't see any different butterflies at the library garden.
At UP there was an American Coot (photos), and the water from
earlier rains are filling up the pond still. You can
probably get a boat upriver again now, though since the
Black Vultures are using that big cypress to roost in it may
be dangerous to go under that tree. You better hope they
flush before you get there or you may be wearing some stinky
processed road kill. A male Northern Harrier flew south
over SR late in the p.m.. Two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
were still present on the feeders most of the day.
Black Vultures roosting in cypress just
upriver of the park.
November 6 ~ The week of chamber of commerce weather with
lows in the 40's and highs in the 70's under beautiful blue
skies, and with low humidity has been quite appreciated.
At least two Ruby-throats are still hanging out fattening up.
Audubon's Warbler passed over SR southbound, calling.
Spotted Towhee still sneaking around the brush and seed pile.
Oregonish Junco still here.
When I heard the alarm notes and saw the now 30 bird strong
Chipping Sparrow flock flush, I knew there was an accipter
about, either Mr. Sharpy or Ms. Cooper was doing its daily
pass. Then the Sharp-shinned popped up over the trees,
up to 25' to clear the power lines and head down the draw.
It was then I saw the motion high to the right, I looked
up and saw one of the hummingbirds that was here still, an
immature male Ruby-throated. It was climbing, and
must have been at 100' up when it bent it over and went
into a full speed power dive, directly at aforementioned
fiercesome accipter.
From out of the sun I don't think the sharpy ever saw it
coming. It was like a cartoon as the hummer built up an
impressive head of steam, powering all the way to the bottom,
and was at nearly mach 1 when it hit the middle of the back
of the Sharp-shinned Hawk, as it bent out of the photon
torpedo power dive. I saw the feathers move and
become disheveled on the back of the Sharpy. It
parlayed the ricochet into a 60+ mph escape, and was gone
as fast as it happened. The Sharpy had to break stride
and hesitate to shake itself out to correct misplaced feathers.
I think I heard the hummingbird say "and stay outta here"
as it blew the Sharp-shinned Hawks feathers out. Nice to
see the hummers using that sugar we buy for maximum effect.
November 5 ~ 2 Ruby-throats at least are still here.
Myrtle Warbler moving S. past SR. Eastern Bluebirds
going over near daily too, both north and south, high.
Heard a flicker but didn't see it to know what type.
November 4 ~ Still 3 Ruby-throats, Hutton's Vireo, Ruby-
crowned Kinglet, the Oregonish Junco. Poorwill and
Eastern (Mexican) Screech-Owl still calling regular.
November 3 ~ At least 3 Ruby-throats still here, and early
there was a SOS - second of season - Golden-crowned Kinglet
out front, besides two Ruby-crowned, a Hutton's Vireo, and
a mostly Oregon Junco.
A stunning shock was at 10:40 a.m. looking up off the back
porch and seeing a little "V" of white birds.
I ran in the house grabbed bins, got back out and saw them,
SNOW GEESE !! Flying south over SR !! And one of them was
a ROSS'S GOOSE! Clearly smaller with a faster wingbeat,
there were 6 SNOW, and 1 ROSS'S GOOSE! My first seen for the
Sabinal Valley. Very interesting is that there is a
record (1 of only 6 for the whole plateau as of 2000) before
of ROSS'S GOOSE nearby. It was seen flying overhead
with Snow Geese (!) at Lost Maples (!) in Nov. (!) 1999!
Small world, but I'd hate to have to paint it.
Makes 216 for the yard list, 304 for the Sabinal River Valley.
Sometimes the excitement of birding is having the data to
know when it is almost lightening striking twice, ten years
apart, on the same ridge, someone looked up at the right
time in a few seconds window, as a migrant flock of southbound
geese passed over, that knew what they were looking at.
WEEWOW!! KAPOW ! Data! Dots to connect, that I must say,
fit rather neatly and well in this case, as it usually does.
November 2 ~ A FOS Cedar Waxwing flew over calling this a.m.
at SR. I heard a FOS Hermit Thrush down the draw too.
There are still 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here at the
feeders, the first November I've had them in 6 years now.
Hasn't frozen yet, so they're fattening up to go I'm sure.
Audubon's Warbler passed by southbound, calling, at SR.
I'm hard pressed to explain the begging as if just fledged,
looking just fledged Lesser Goldfinches (2), attended to
by an adult male, acting as to just fledged young, other
than to say they are just fledged fledgling Lesser GF's.
A guy in SAT just reported feathered nestlings a couple
days ago, so there were probably some late nestings.
Amazingly late, taking advantage of a late "spring"
this fall after the rains finally came and everything bloomed.
November 1 ~ At SR early in the a.m. was a FOS American Robin.
The numbers of leafy lookie-loos at Lost Maples in fall, can
make birding there very difficult, if not nearly impossible.
Just the sheer din of footsteps is enough to often keep
the animals away from the trails. But it is a great time
to go to Garner St. Pk., as the crowds have left there.
So we did, and it was fairly nice, though we just skimmed
it quickly for a few hours.
We saw 26 species of butterflies, many at the garden at
the visitor center (old entrance), including a White Peacock
which is a good animal up here in the hills. Up the
Wild Horse Canyon trail there was a latish Red Satyr and a
FOS Winter Wren. Near there at the edge of the Shady
Grove area there was a little flock of passerines that had
6 Carolina Chickadee, 4 Black-crested Titmouse, Hutton's Vireo,
some Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and surprisingly 3 warblers moving
together. A Nashville, a Black-and-white (ad.fem.), and most
remarkably, a hybrid HERMIT x TOWNSEND'S Warbler. These are
regular on the west coast, but it is likely the first one of
its kind to be reported from the Edwards Plateau. I hear
there are a couple sightings in the state of Texas at Big Bend.
We got great close looks, I saw it 6 times in the open over 6 mintues,
at close range in full sun. I'll post a sketch on the
oddities page shortly. There were only a few scattered
Myrtle and Orange-crowned Warblers, and I may have heard a Pine,
but no big "winter" flock was found.
One of our former favorite great places there was butchered in
the tree trimming job. Which I guess they consider it
improved, but from a habitat standpoint I can assure you it was
destroyed. Wasn't a single bird where there used to
always be many, one of the best spots, completely butchered.
Complete and total alteration of a habitat that is
*hundreds of years old*, likely for no real good reason,
is not a sign of human intelligence.
Black Rock Squirrel is perhaps most easily seen locally
at Garner St. Pk., around the rental cabins in
the live-oak grove near the south end of the park.
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October butterflies totalled 52 species, up over the last
two months, but not particularly impressive, and numbers
overall remain way down, undoubtedly drought related.
The Monarch migration was west of us this year and we
only got a few per day instead of the major wave we get
some years. Nice article on Monarchs in the TPWD
Parks & Wildlife magazine in the October issue.
A prehistoric dinosaur for Halloween.
Oct. 31 ~ Wow, 5 Ruby-throated Hummers in the a.m. at SR.
Another was at the library garden working the flowers.
Three migrant Monarchs were nectaring there, but best was
a Dusky-blue Groundstreak, my only one of the month.
At UP Kathy found a FOS dull immature Golden-crowned Kinglet
high in the crown of one of the big live-oaks. Also
there were 5 Pied-billed Grebes now, and at the Sr. Ctr.
Lantana was a Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak. Back at
the seed pile here on SR there were 2 adult White-crowned
Sparrow. I think it was upper 30's deg.F in the a.m..
Orange Bluets photo'd in wheel at UP.
Oct. 30 ~ Probably at least 3 Rubys still on the feeders.
A juvenile White- crowned Sparrow was at the seed. At the
park (UP) was 4 Pied-billed Grebe, and the best bird was
a bug, a Carmine Skimmer dragonfly, quite rare up here on
the hill. There were at least 3 FOS Autumn Meadowhawks
as well. Also there were some butterflies on the
Maxmillian Sunflower like Vesta Crescent, Checkered White,
and Bordered Patch. Over at the library garden there
was a Soldier (Eresimus) which has been nearly absent this year,
50 Queens, 10 American Lady, several Red Admirals, 2 Lyside,
and some of the regulars.
Oct. 29 ~ The 4 Ruby-throats continue, as does Spotted Towhee
skulking at the perimiter brush piles. Was almost 80 deg.F
just before noon when a cold front hit, dropping it 10 deg. in
10 minutes, then blew 20 mph till midnight.
Oct. 28 ~ There are still four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds here
at the SR feeders. A couple migrant Monarchs passed by,
and a Texan Crescent stopped on some Zexmenia flowers.
Oct. 27 ~ A nice chilly 40 deg.F this a.m. felt good.
A flock of 4 House Sparrows circled high overhead calling,
and moved on. These country birds sure aren't anything
like their city breathen. I bet their DNA is changing too.
Down SR I finally saw an FOS White-crowned Sparrow. There
were at least four Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the a.m..
An Audubon's Warbler called as it flew over southbound.
An Orange Sulphur and a Phaon Crescent were at UP. There
were about 85 Queens and 2 Monarchs at the library garden, and
a few other migrant Monarchs passed by, 1 fem. Whirlabout, a
couple Bordered Patch. Odes were dismal at park save
bluets out over the water, probably Familiar.
Oct. 26 ~ Rain early in the a.m. to morning was probably
an inch or so, of still much need wet stuff. There
are still at least 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, seeming
like most left Sat. and Sun., and now these are stuck
until it clears. The high temp was at 12:01 a.m.,
and the front hit at 6a.m. or so so it dropped from
65 to below 50 by time ya got out there early, and stayed
that way with 20 MPH winds on it, drizzly all day.
Oct. 25 ~ There were a couple male Cinnamon Teal at the
fish hatchery in Uvalde, one Merlin, one Osprey, one
Harrier, one Greater Yellowlegs, a few Common Moorhen, a
hundred Coot, the last dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks,
two FOS Ring-necked Ducks, Yellowthroats and Marsh Wren,
500 Barn Swallow, 2 Plegadis Ibis, Vesper and Savannah
Sparrows. A female Red-tailed Pennant (dragonfly) took a mating
pair of bluet damselflies. There were 3 Thornbush
Dashers there too. At Cook's Slough there were a
couple Osprey, some Kiskadee, good numbers of Wigeon
and Teal, Yellowthroats and Marsh Wrens, Green Kingfishers,
a Black-crowned Night-Heron, Harris's Hawk, and a few migrants,
or winterers like Myrtle Warbler, Kinglet and Gnatcatcher.
Oops, some Water Pipits were at the hatchery.
Along the roads were numbers of Meadowlarks, presumed Western,
one looked Eastern, a dozen Scissor-tailed Flycatchers,
a half dozen Caracara, numbers of Shrikes and Mockingbirds.
Had at least two dozen migrant Monarchs on the day down there.
Lots of Phaon Crescents at the hatchery on the Frog-fruit.
Later p.m. on the way back there was a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
just south of town, and N. Harrier was below 3 mi. bridge, and
one was over town.
Oct. 24 ~ Finally saw TWO FOS Spotted Towhee while I was
tossing seed around the brush pile. I bet it was
them I heard a few days ago. Going down SR near
Morris' I saw a nearly 5' Indigo Snake cross the road.
By some miracle I got it just at the right angle to the
sun, and it lit up bright neon indigo iridescent all
along the back. Like a curving moving s curved
tube of neon dark indigo. It was stunning, breath-taking.
I've seen a bunch of Indigo Snakes and have seen the bluish
tint on the sides once maybe (they usually look black),
but this was actual iridescence with it between me and
the sun at just the right angle, and it was bright blue! WOW!!
At UP there was finally the first vagrant butterfly
from the south of the year, a White-patched Skipper,
Chiomara georgina (photos). The Maxmillian Sunflower
is pretty active now. In the oaks there was a flock
of passerine migrants. With Titmice and Chickadees
joining them there was Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned
Kinglet, 6-7 Myrtle Warbler, 2 Audubon's Warbler, and one
other warbler chip that sounded like a Pine to me. Also
there was an adult female Black-and-white Warbler, which I
bet is the same bird seen in earlier October, and is the
same bird that wintered last year, and is attempting to
winter again. Spectacular if so. Time will tell.
5 more Monarchs.
Oct. 23 ~ A chilly 45 for a low this a.m.! WEEWOW!!
The FOS Slate-colored Junco showed up today at SR. At
UP there were 4 Blue-winged Teal and an Audubon's Warbler.
Between there and the library garden in an hour and change
I saw 22 species of butterflies, with nothing unusual amongst
them. Less than half the diversity of prior years, an
effect of the drought. At SR there were at least 20
Chipping Sparrow, and at dusk to dark Poor-will and Eastern
(Mexican - mccallii) Screech-Owl called.
Oct. 22 ~ Still a dozen Ruby-throats because rain moved in
in the late p.m. yesterday, and overnight we had a much needed
over 1.5" by mid-morning here on SR. an Orange Skipperling
was on the Zexmenia out back. 2 Migrant Monarchs passed.
The OREGON and PINK-SIDED Juncos continue. At dusk a
flock of 26 Sandhill Cranes were my FOS locally. The first ones
can be counted on to ride the first big post-frontal blow down.
Oct. 21 ~ I SAW TWO Juncos today, so I DID hear them yesterday.
Even more amazing was that one was a bright dark OREGON,
and the other was a beautiful PINK-SIDED!! Both of these
more western types are truly scarce here. I got to study
them for 5 minutes at 10' through the office window in the binocs.
Oct. 20 ~ A dozen Ruby-throats continue and Selasphorus sps.
probably Rufous #10 of the year came in late in the day.
I heard a Flicker call, and I heard a FOS Junco but did not
see it to confirm. I also heard what I thought sure
was a Spotted Towhee which would also be an FOS. The
Black Swallowtail is still about.
Oct. 19 ~ The avian event of the day was at dusk when a flock
of 400 Barn Swallows swirled overhead and then headed down towards
the river, presumedly to roost. It is the largest concentration
of migrants I have seen of them locally.
Oct. 18 ~ Turned out to be the last day the two Tricolored Herons
were seen at UP. 14 bagworm moth cocoons on a cypress at the
edge of the river. One Ceraunus Blue below the dam, and since
the first cold snap dragonfly populations are crashing. Nearly
a shocking difference, and other than bluets (Enallagma sps., mostly
Familiar -civile), nothing was numerous. At the library garden
there were TWO Great Purple Hairstreaks (Atlides halesus) which are
nothing short of stunning every time. another Monarch, 1 Ocola
Skipper, 20 Queens, a Fatal Metalmark, a Hummingbird Hawkmoth type
of Sphinx that was not Hemaris diffinis, and one Ruby-throated
Hummingbird. At SR there were a dozen Chipping Sparrows meaning
the FOS returning winterers are arriving as there had been 6 since
September. At dusk a FOS Flicker flew into the "perching snag"
a hundred yards from the porch, and scope views showed it to be a
pure RED-SHAFTED. A Black Swallowtail was about the yard, and
a dozen Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue at the feeders.
Ended up with 5 Monarchs for the day.
Oct. 17 ~ My FOS Sharp-shinned Hawk was about today. Way early
sightings posted on the web in August from Uvalde are erroneous.
There are more Ruby-throats than feeders here so a problem, since
not enough more to break down their territoriality issues, the
mean little &#@!*&@#. Probably more than a dozen including
one adult male. The Selasphorus (Rufous?) is still slugging it
out with them too. Move the 8 feeders all together, spread them
all apart, repeat, repeat, I give up. Two Orange-crowned
Warblers bathing at the bath were new arrivals. Most hummers
left by late afternoon.
Oct. 16 ~ Several more Ruby-throated Hummingbirds showed up today,
with all 8 feeders being guarded by afternoon, and more birds around.
The Selasphorus (Rufous or Allen's, probably an immature male) was
guarding one feeder all morning into the early afternoon, until enough
Ruby-throats showed up that it coulnd't hold them all off.
It was a pretty good wave of that came in during the afternoon,
with perhaps over a dozen here by late in the day, including a new
adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird showing up at about 6:15 p.m..
Interesting wave, since Oct. 11-12 there were NO Ruby-throats here.
A migrant flock of about 35 Turkey and 10 Black vulture showed up
to roost on the back (west) knoll of SR just before 7 p.m..
There was a FOS winter form Question Mark butterfly about the yard
with more orange instead of black hindwings. A Barn Owl passed
over SR southbound at 10 p.m..
Oct. 15 ~ In the a.m. there was the Selasphorus hummingbird, plus
two imm. male Ruby-throats, and two more Ruby-throats showed up
in the afternoon, apparently riding the front wave down. It was
a toasty 92 or so in the afternoon with the front hitting about
5:30 p.m. or so. A couple cooler days allegedly ahead.
More Vultures streaming over southbound, but nothing else.
Oct. 14 ~ It seems two imm. male Ruby-throats are here now, and
one adult female or imm. male Selasphorus, probably a Rufous.
Two warblers were in the live-oak out the kitchen window in back
this a.m., an Orange-crowned and a Black-throated Green.
Some more Black and Turkey Vultures are streaming over southbound.
The imm. male Indigo Bunting continues. The pair of Scott's
Orioles were in once briefly late in the day. They'll be gone
any day now, and the Hooded are gone already. A Julia's Skipper
was on some Zexmenia (flowers) as was a Funereal Duskywing.
Oct. 13 ~ A new immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird showed
up, after a couple days without any present. But I don't
see the Broad-tailed which was present seemingly too late yesterday
to have left, and may mean it was predated. One adult
Swainson's Hawk went over in a kettle of Turkey and Black Vultures.
The imm. male Indigo Bunting continues. A spectacular beetle,
Plinthocoelium suaveolens, a large metallic green Long-horned
Beetle (Cerambycid) flew right by me down the road here on SR.
There is a picture of one on the critters INSECT photo page.
Oct. 12 ~ A bright very green backed eastern Warbling Vireo
was in the live oak out back today giving great views for 5 minutes.
The Broad-tailed Hummingbird continues, as the only hummer here.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet and House Wren were about. The
Cooper's Hawk flushed the dove flock for a good count,
75 White-wings remain here still. Pair of Scott's Orioles
continues, no male Hooded for almost a week now.
Oct. 11 ~ A Uvalde run so checked Ft. Inge and Cook's Slough,
despite the mist and drizzle there were some neat birds about.
At Ft. Inge where we looked most, we saw some migrants including
a late Mississippi Kite that Kathy spotted, 10 Indigo Bunting,
2 Baltimore Oriole, 5 Great Kiskadee, a few Couch's Kingbirds
and some Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, a Solitary Sandpiper,
lots of Lincoln's Sparrows, some Common Yellowthroats, a few
House Wrens including one good singer still going at it,
a hundred plus Northern Rough-winged Swalows, a couple dozen
Barns and some Caves. Also one Audubon's Warbler, a couple
Nashville, and an Orange-crowned Warbler. A warbler with
a zeet flight note flew by with bold wingbars and tail spots,
that looked most like a Blackpoll, but it got away. Most
interesting were two Chaetura swifts, that were very stubby-winged,
never stopped flapping, or called, with distincly contrasting very
pale rumps. They looked to me to be Vaux's Swifts, not Chimney.
Over at Cook's Slough we had a flock of 23 FRANKLIN'S GULL
circle but they could apparently tell it wasn't really bathing or
drinking water as they only dropped down so far, and then
climbed back up, circled over towards the hatchery, returned,
and then moved off southward without coming down. It is my
first fall sighting of the species here, where it is normally
only a spring migrant. There were good numbers of
Scissor-tails (35) and Vermilion Flycatcher (4), and a couple
Couch's Kingbird gorging mostly on some fat caterpillars in a
field there. An Empi whit seemed too soft for Least, but I
didn't get to see it. A couple Swainson's Hawks passed
over with some southbound Turkey Vultures. Ducks included
a pair of Pintail, a Gadwall, a dozen Wigeon, 2 dozen Blue-winged
Teal, and a couple dozen Coots were back as well. Good numbers
of Cave Swallows continue and there were at least 4 Bank Swallows
still present at the slough. A Great Pondhawk was a good
dragonfly (ph.), only the second I've seen of this hard-to-find
species in the county.
Along the way there were dozens of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers,
good numbers of Shrikes, and some Meadowlarks starting to show up.
Over 100 Barn Swallows were a mile south of the 3 mile bridge
south of Utopia coursing the fields there. On SR, 32 Eurasian
Collared-Dove in a single flock on the wire on the way out in the
a.m. was not interesting except in a "wonder how they taste" way.
Glad they're not at my place, where of course they can't sit around
like that, and know it. Clearly they are increasing here,
and I wonder what they will displace?. An imm. male Indigo Bunting
was at the seed here at SR.
Oct. 10 ~ A FOS Audubon's Warbler flew south over SR early in
the a.m.. A FOS Vesper Sparrow was down SR a bit.
There were 6+ Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the morning, and
the Selasphorus, which is a Broad-tailed, my third this fall. All
the Ruby-throats left over the first half of the day or so, and
only the Broad-tailed was left in the afternoon. After dark,
at about 10 p.m. I heard a passerine migrant call a flight note
as it passed over that sounded like a Green-tailed Towhee to me.
Major Snout (butterfly) movement with peak of 1000/hr. going
East over SR.
Oct. 9 ~ Perhaps only 6-8 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds left, but
a new immature female (?) Selasphorus showed up that I didn't ID.
A lone Barn Swallow passed southbound. A frontal passage
early pre-dawn brought about 3/4" of rain, and cool temps.
Probably birds too but I couldn't leave the desk. I heard
an Indigo Bunting outside, besides Kinglet, Gnatcatcher, and Orange-
crowned Warbler. It's that time when the insect eating
migrants are about gone, and it's more the wintering birds
arriving now, the 2nd half of fall migration.
Oct. 8 ~ At UP a warbler or two got away, and I saw one Nashville
Warbler, Belted Kingfisher, 2 Tricolored Heron, Great Egret,
the 7 Blue-winged Teal, and now 3 Pied-billed Grebe there.
Hutton's Vireo around the yard, the pair of Scott's and male Hooded
Oriole still here. Today was the first time this year I've
seen Snout butterflies passing at 100 per hour or more.
Still just 6 Chipping Sparrows present which appear to be the
breeding pair and their young of the year.
This is one of the immature Tricolored Herons
that spent most of the fall here at the park.
Oct. 7 ~ Amazing was a CATBIRD out back this morning with the
frontal passage. Very rare here in fall. There were a couple
Gnatcatchers and Kinglets that passed through too. Male and female
Scott's Orioles, and a male Hooded continue at the sugar water.
Lyside Sulphur butterflies are passing southbound in moderate numbers.
Oct. 6 ~ At UP were the 2 continuing Tricolored Herons, 7 Blue-winged
Teal, and an adult female Black-and-white Warbler. That is interesting
in that it could well be the female that wintered last year returning,
and is not necessarily a migrant. Time will tell. There were dozens
of Green Darner dragonflies at UP, many ovipositing pairs and singles.
Oct. 5 ~ 4 Barn Swallows passed over southbound, Ruby-crowned Kinglet
and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers continue to pass too. Finally no
adult male Ruby-throat today, probably not again now until late March.
(the above proven wrong about 10 days later when a male showed up Oct. 16)
A much advertised major rain event for the weekend failed to materialize,
and we had fog/mist, and a trace each day for the last 3, so plants
got a little. There is a great early October bloom going on,
with even a very few Plateau Agalinis, and good Thyrallis showing.
Oct. 4 ~ About a dozen Ruby-throated Hummingbirds still here, and
one adult male still. Seems some left in the day. A few more
Stenaspis Cerambycids were about, and a Hutton's Vireo at SR.
House Wrens scattered about, and at Utopia on the River there were
a couple Warbler sps., 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, and 2 imm. male
Vermilion Flycatcher. At UP there were just the regular birds.
A couple Red-tailed Pennant dragonflies continue and one Twelve-spotted
Skimmer was there too. When we got home on SR another 12-spot was
guarding the 4' kiddie pool pond! A Neon Skimmer female was
ovipositing in it earlier in the day.
October 3 ~ At UP there were 3 Ringed Kingfisher, my local high count.
Also the two Tricolored Heron continue as does the Great Egret, and
there were 4 Blue-winged Teal. On the frontal passage there were
four new species with it that were FOS - first of season. There
were two FOS's below the dam: 4 Common Yellowthroat and 2-3 Lincloln's
Sparrow. Then first at SR, and then everywhere I looked there were
FOS House Wrens, I saw 6 in an hour or so. Finally, heard the FOS
Ruby-crowned Kinglets. This fairly well certifies fall is here.
At UP there was an adult male Green Kingfisher with a juvenile that
looked freshly fledged, all buffy below, like when they just come out.
A damselfly that Kathy spotted I got a couple pix of before it dis-
appeared was later ID'd by Tony Gallucci as Fragile Forktail (Ischnura
posita). We don't see many here.
Around the north end of town was the annual fall buildup flock of
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, I counted 50 birds at least. They'll
soon be gone until late March next year. A zeet note got away at UP.
An imm. male Indigo Bunting was at SR and the one adult male Ruby-throated
Hummingbird continued in the a.m. at least, with about a dozen or so
immature males still present. Male and female Scott's Oriole
still hitting the feeder, and ad. male and female Hooded, but I'm not
seeing the young of the year anymore, for perhaps all week. White-
winged Dove flock still about 50, and 6 Inca in yard today. There
were 2 mating pairs, and a few singles of the beautiful Cerambycid
(Long-horned Beetle) Stenaspis verticalis insignis but my floppy
malfunctioned so I didn't get any new pix of them.
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We've moved Sept. 30 and prior to June 1 to Old Bird news archive # 12.
(first link below)
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