First Hummingbird of the Season

This last week I finally saw my first hummingbird on my feeders. I took the day off on Monday and looked out at the feeders when I got up and there was a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on the feeder I had up. I put another feeder up with the hopes of attracting more hummers to them. So far I've seen up to three at a time with the male still standing guard over the two that are there. They seem to be a little late coming in this year. I wonder if the drought has anything to do with it.

I would like to get out and see what kind of fall migrants are coming through, but the mosquitoes are really bad right now, and it's still pretty hot. I may wait for a cool front to push through before I try getting out and doing much birding on the property.

Long, Hot Summer

Birding in the summertime doesn't happen very much between the craziness of my schedule and the heat. But I do get some birding in while I'm at camps and doing different activities with the teens. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Painted Buntings were everywhere at the Gulf Coast Christian Youth Camp just east of Columbus. I could hear them singing all over and found several of them.
• While doing a door-knocking campaign in Mont Belvieu, a Swallow-tailed Kite flew above us for several minutes, giving me the opportunity to point him to people who would have never seen him.
  
• An Eastern Bluebird pair build their nest in one of the poles at the camp. I saw the female leave the nest cavity one day. I decided to investigate and four four eggs in it. I haven't been back since then, so I don't know what happened.
• The Northern Cardinals are bringing their young birds to my feeders. It's always fun to watch the young ones beg for a seed and for the adults to patiently crack one open and feed it to them.
• I decided to take the slow way to work one morning and as I drove along, a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers landed on a tree just ahead of me. I stopped the car and was treated to great looks at them for several minutes.
  
• At the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, there were several Black-necked Stilts, a couple of Purple Gallinules, lots and lots of all the common herons and egrets, several Roseate Spoonbills and a few Wood Storks.
  
• Yesterday, lots of Black-bellied Whistling-ducks flew over us as we had a water fun day at a house right on the San Jacinto River in Highlands.

Normally I dread summer because of the lack of activity and the heat. But this summer I decided I was going to enjoy the birds wherever I was. It was fun!

The Purple Martins that nested in my gourds successfully fledged all four young birds. Just before they fledged and right after, lots of SY martins would come and check out the cavities and just hang around the housing in general. I'm hoping some of them decided that they like what they saw and join the pair that was there this year.

Fall migration will start happening soon. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes through. I have my hummingbird feeder out ready for them to show up. So far I haven't seen one. I'm going to try and get out in the woods more this fall to see any warblers and other neo-tropical migrants that come through. Hopefully I'll start blogging more about what I see.