Summertime Birding

Summertime in Southeast Texas can be boring as far as birdwatching goes. The excitement of spring migration is over. The birds that are here are breeding birds and they can be seen most of the time. But, summer holds rewards that no other time of year does. Watching cardinals feed their young ones at the feeder is one. The Red-bellied Woodpeckers have brought their young ones to the feeder and are teaching them how to find food. Purple Martins and Eastern Bluebirds have chicks in the nest. The Purple Martin chicks should fledge on June 24 and the bluebird chicks should fledge on June 27. It's so fun to watch the juvenile bluebirds as they learn to use the birdbath in my backyard. As the summer progresses, the anticipation for the fall Ruby-throated Hummingbird migration builds. We normally see their numbers greatly increase late August into September and October. Summer is just a different kind of activity. I think we try to convince ourselves that nothing is going on so we don't have to deal with the heat and mosquitoes.

I set up some feeders down in the woods. I had an extra pole and decided to use it for that purpose rather than holding our windchime. Within five days of putting it up, I noticed that several seeds were cracked and something had been eating the peanuts. I went down on Friday afternoon and watched them for a while. After fifteen minutes, a group of Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadees came through and visited the feeders. The titmice were feeding young ones. They were the only ones I saw at the feeders, although cardinals and woodpeckers were nearby. Hopefully I'll purchase an Audubon Wingscapes BirdCam soon and be able to put it down there to take pictures of the birds. While watching the feeders, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was flying around in the canopy. I watched him catch a katydid and eat it. That was fun to observe him. I had hoped that he would catch an insect and take it to a nest, but he didn't. I'll go back down there soon and watch for him to do that.

The Eastern Bluebirds seem to be doing well. They fledged five in their first brood. Then they hatched five more eggs in the second brood. Unfortunately, House Sparrows got into the nest and killed the chicks. So, the bluebirds decided to try again and laid five more eggs. I purchased a Sparrow Spooker to keep the sparrows out of the nest. Four out of the five eggs hatched this time. The chicks look very healthy.

On my way to check the bluebird nest one day, a female Killdeer began performing her "broken wing" display. That is a defense display to lure potential predators away from the nest thinking they'll have an easy meal of an injured bird. I began to look closely where I was stepping and found four eggs neatly arranged on the ground. I put a marker near the nest to make sure they do not get destroyed by a lawnmower. I have no idea how long they've been there so I don't know when to expect them to hatch.

The three Purple Martin chicks are two weeks old now. They'll be in the nest for another nine days. I still only have one pair. This year was weird for martins returning. Many people reported the martins arrived very late at their colonies. That was the case here. Most of the time the adults return in February. It was early May when mine returned. I had given up on having martins this year. Hopefully next year will be more normal and I'll have several pairs.

We planted several shrubs yesterday. As I watered them in, several birds came and enjoyed a cool shower. Northern Cardinals, Northern Mockingbirds and House Sparrows bathed in the sprinkles. I need to set up my mister in the trees and give them a place to bathe. They love getting under the water dripping off the leaves. It also helps keep them cool on hot summer days.

Spring Migration Wrap-up

Spring migration has come and gone. Now instead of seeing reports of the migrants people are seeing, we start seeing the results of breeding bird surveys. I have never really tried to find breeding birds on our property. A couple of years ago, I happened to look up and see a Yellow-billed Cuckoo sitting on a nest. Last year I found a tuft of Spanish moss where a pair of Northern Parula had built a nest. I know that Hooded Warblers, Kentucky Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos and Summer Tanagers nest here, so they should be out there. Most of the time it's just too hot and the mosquitoes are too bad to spend the time in the woods to find the nests.

I had a good spring on the property. I saw 21 species of warblers, both tanagers, both buntings and both orioles. I saw all of the thrushes that migrate through here, as well as all of the swallows. I did miss several warblers that I normally expect to see - Yellow-throated Warbler, Canada Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Swainson's Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler and Yellow Warbler. I added one property bird to my list this spring - Prothonotary Warbler. That brings my property list to 194. I missed seeing a Philadelphia Vireo and Warbling Vireo on the property this year, although I saw them at High Island. The best bird of the spring for me was the Fork-tailed Flycatcher seen at Smith Oaks in High Island. They normally don't range farther north than central Mexico. We had a period of strong west winds that brought several rarities to the Upper Texas Coast including the flycatcher. Overall spring migration was a lot of fun this year.

The last time I checked the Purple Martin nest, they still had three eggs in it. There was a lot of activity today with some SY martins flying around the gourd. The male and female that have the nest in it were trying to make them leave. I didn't check the nest today. I did check the Eastern Bluebird nest and found it empty. The babies should be a week old today and not nearly ready to leave the nest. I blame House Sparrows for this one. I'm going to make a sparrow spooker and see if I can keep the sparrows out of the nest in the future. I am intensifying my trapping and hope to take care of the sparrows around here.

Last Days of Spring Migration

Walking in the woods was a joy yesterday. The sweet smells of Chinese privet and honeysuckle filled the air. The bees busily gathered nectar from the privet and grapevines. Giant Swallowtails, Pipevine Swallowtails and a couple of Monarchs also feasted on the flowers. The wind was strong and that made looking in the tops of the trees difficult. But, there were several birds in the woods. I added three new ones for the year - Bay-breasted Warbler, Magnolia Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher. I have probably seen the flycatcher before, but they look so similar to four other species of flycatcher that come through here that I don't count them unless I hear them call. The Magnolia Warbler was one of the first birds I saw as I entered the woods. He was hopping around in some yaupon thickets. It has always been my experience that when the Magnolia Warblers show up, migration is just about over. There were several throughout the woods. The Bay-breasted Warbler was hanging around with a mixed group of Carolina Chickadees and Red-eyed Vireos. Seeing him gave me what I like to call "The Big Three" for the year - Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler and Bay-breasted Warbler. I'm not sure what it is about those three that I like to see every year, but they are high on my list each migration. The Acadian Flycatcher was showing off his flycatching abilities along with an Eastern Wood-Pewee. He would fly off a dead branch, catch an insect, fly back to the branch and sing. It was a lot of fun watching him! I haven't seen nearly as many Indigo Buntings, so they must be moving on north. Several Yellow-billed Cuckoos called their frog-like call. Swallows and swifts flew overhead almost constantly. Kentucky Warblers and a Hooded Warbler called from deep within tangled understory.

The Purple Martins that showed up last Sunday have just about completed their nest in gourd #5 on my gourd rack. I keep checking hoping to see a pure white egg in the nest, but nothing yet. The SY male that has been trying to attract a female is still not giving up. He sits on top of the house and sings frequently. He may end up being an unmated bird this year, but will return next year and have more success. The unmated males actually serve a purpose at martin colonies. They will hang around throughout the breeding season. When the young martins fledge, these unmated males will harass them and give them a negative impression on the colony. Next year, those newly fledged birds will not return to their natal colony, but will join a new one or establish a new colony. The gene pool is kept much cleaner that way. So, unless a late-arriving female joins the SY male out there, I'll have one pair again, but should have more next year. Hopefully they'll arrive sooner next year and be here to sing their dawnsong to attract more SY birds to the colony.

The Eastern Bluebird eggs should hatch on Monday, May 17. There are five eggs again. I still haven't seen the young from the first brood. Normally they come to my birdbath within two or three weeks of fledging. I've seen the parents flying around, but the juveniles have been absent. I hope they're okay. The first year of life for a songbird is extremely perilous. Fewer than half of all the birds that hatch this year will live to see their first birthday. That's why they have so many at a time. I'm thinking of trying a time-lapse photo session with the bluebird chicks this time and seeing how it goes. I'll take pictures every day at the same time (weather permitting of course!) and then put them into my video editing software and creating a video that shows each day of their development. That could be fun. I hope they cooperate!

Birds seen 5/10/10 (37 species): Great Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Barred Owl, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher*, White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Purple Martin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, European Starling, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler*, Bay-breasted Warbler*, Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, House Sparrow

Property Stuff and Church Camp

On Saturday, June 6, I kept hearing a warbler-like call and finally found a male Yellow Warbler in the trees to the west of the house. I know I've never seen one here that late.

The juvenile Purple Martins are doing well. They should fledge between June 16 and June 18. Yesterday was the last day I could safely lower the gourds to check on them. The general rule of thumb is not to lower the housing once the babies reach 20 days old or you run the risk of premature fledging. So, I'll have to just wait and see what happens. Here's the last picture I got of them. It was kind of bitter-sweet seeing them for the last time. I'm looking forward to years of having Purple Martins nesting with me!



I spent Sunday through Thursday at the H.E. Butt Foundation Camp north of Leakey, TX at a church camp. I completely forgot my binoculars, but as it turns out I didn't need them at all. The most exciting bird I saw was an Ash-throated Flycatcher. He was life bird #368 for me. I was sitting by myself in the pavilion and he flew into a tree about 15 feet from me and sang. I listened to their call on my iPod and it matched perfectly. Two other pretty exciting birds for me were the Zone-tailed Hawk that flew along the cliffs that overlook our campsite. I could hear him early in the morning calling from the tree or rock where he perched and then he would fly and call. Also, Golden-cheeked Warblers were everywhere. Here's my list of birds I saw at the camp:

HEB Birds (27 species): Green Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Zone-tailed Hawk, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Chuck-will's-widow, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Black-crested Titmouse, Canyon Wren, Bewick's Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Northern Mockingbird, Golden-cheeked Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting

I checked the bluebird nest box yesterday and there is no sign of a second brood being started at all. I'm surprised they haven't even started constructing a new nest. I'll keep checking.

Purple Martin update

I checked the Purple Martin nest today. The babies are between four and six days old. They're really growing quickly! Here's a picture. Notice the dragonfly in the mouth of the one furthest to the right.


I also took some video of the parents going in and out of the gourd. Some slow motion of them doing both. It's pretty cool to see how graceful they are!

Purple Martin Hatching Day!!!

Knowing the Purple Martin eggs were to hatch this weekend, I went out this morning and hoped I'd see some chicks in the nest. I wasn't disappointed! Below are pictures from my first ever Purple Martin hatching in housing I provided for them.




Needless to say, I'm very excited about this! I'm looking forward to watching them grow and fledge successfully. If all the eggs hatch today and tomorrow, we are looking at a fledging date of of June 16 or 17.

In other news, the Eastern Bluebirds haven't started their second nest yet. It shouldn't be too long. I have seen the parent bluebirds busy catching insects, but haven't located the juveniles yet. I have an idea of where they are, but haven't actually seen them. It won't be long before they're coming to the water in my birdbath in my backyard.

A Swallow-tailed Kite flew over yesterday giving me some great looks at him. I ran inside to get a video camera, but by the time I found it and got outside again, he was just going behind the trees across the street. When will I learn this time of year to have a video camera handy so I can get some shots of him?

Nesting Updates

I checked the bluebird nest yesterday morning and one of the five had left the box already. When I checked it yesterday afternoon, all five of the chicks had left. I always have mixed feelings on fledging day. On one hand, I'm really happy to know there are five more bluebirds out there and a second brood can get started. On the other hand, I'll miss checking on them and taking pictures to post here. Hopefully in about three weeks we'll have more eggs in the nest.

I took the camera out to the gourd rack to take pictures of the complete clutch today. It's interesting to me that they are using willow oak leaves as their green leaves. There is a big pecan tree about 60 ft. away from the gourd rack, but for some reason they're flying over to the woods and picking off willow oak leaves. Anyway, here are the pictures.



While I was mowing today, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flew overhead. That's the first one of the year for me. That was fun to see.

Spring Migration 2009

Spring migration is winding down. Over the past few weeks we've had strong southerly winds at the surface which help the migrants fly right over us. Those that do stop only stop for a few hours to refuel and then take off again. The past two weeks that I went out, there were very few migrants to be seen. In fact, the woods were very quiet, with the exception of the hordes of mosquitoes. On May 1, the mosquitoes were so bad they literally chased me into the house. They weren't quite as bad on May 8, but the birds weren't there. If I had been a migrating bird and stopped here for a little bit of food, I wouldn't have stayed long either with as many mosquitoes as I would have had to deal with!

I ran a report of my spring numbers on the property. I ran the report from March 1 to May 8. I saw a total of 112 species. Here are the migrants I saw:

Swallow-tailed Kite, Mississippi Kite, Broad-winged Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Upland Sandpiper, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbird, Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Canada Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Dickcissel, Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole

It was a good spring for me on the property. I got 23 species of warblers (including Yellow-rumped which are winter residents, but do start changing into breeding plumage while here), both tanagers, both orioles, both grosbeaks and all of the swallows. I was a little disappointed in some of the species I missed, though. So far I haven't seen a Painted Bunting. Some of the warblers I missed include Louisiana Waterthrush, Northern Waterthrush, Bay-breasted Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler and Nashville Warbler. I didn't see a Veery, Chuck-will's-widow or Common Nighthawk (yet). There are always some misses every spring.

On a positive note, the Purple Martins have laid four eggs in the gourd. They laid the last one on Saturday, May 9 and the female started incubating that day. With the eggs taking 14 - 18 days to hatch, I have projected a hatching day for Sunday, May 24. I'll start checking them on the 22nd. I'm so excited to see them nesting with me!

The Eastern Bluebird chicks are doing well. All five of them are growing quickly. They should fledge on May 14 or 15. Then it will be onto the second brood! Here's a six-minute video I shot of the parents coming to feed the babies, and then of the babies at the end of the video. I actually shot an hour of video and was able to condense it to six minutes!

Eggs!!!

I checked the gourd where the Purple Martins had been building their nest and there were two eggs in it! The first one was laid yesterday. It will be interesting to see how many eggs they lay being SY birds. At this point, I'm just excited to see eggs in the nest! I'll take some pictures when they've finished laying all the eggs.

The bluebird chicks are doing well. I checked them on Monday and they're getting their feathers in slowly. I need to check them again today and make sure they don't have any parasites affecting them.

Update on the Martin Nest

I checked the gourd the Purple Martins are using and there is some significant progress on the nest. I grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures:

As they collect mud for their nest, some gets on the entrance hole.


The entrance is to the left. There is quite a bit of stuff toward the front. You can see the mud mixed in with the nesting material. They are using the pine needles that we collected for them. We watched them land several times, grab a beakful of pine needles and take them into the gourd. This picture is already outdated!

I am so excited to finally have martins nesting! It's been five years of waiting. I'm looking forward to having them every year from now on!