A Quick Walk in the Woods

It had been a week since I filled my feeders in the woods. I want to keep them going so that when the fall migrants come through, they'll be attracted by the resident birds that visit them. I walked down and heard several birds still singing. At one point, there were several Indigo Buntings singing in an overgrown field with lots of dead snags. A juvenile male flew into a tree right above my head and investigated me closely before deciding he needed to get out of there! A female Orchard Oriole was getting nectar from trumpet creeper flowers. A juvenile White-eyed Vireo perched right in front of me and gave me a great look. Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice and Carolina Wrens were all vocalizing quite a bit. A Pileated Woodpecker vocalized from somewhere deep in the woods. It was a quick walk because of all the mosquitoes, but a fun one to do a little summertime birding.

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.

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.

Summertime Birding & Spring Report

I went out this morning and birded in the woods for the first time since June. With all the rain we've had over the past few days, there was a lot of standing water and the humidity is very high. The birds were more active than I anticipated. There were several of the spring migrants that hung around to breed in the area. I saw what I think is a family of five Great Crested Flycatchers hanging out together. I saw Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Wood-Pewees feeding. Several juvenile Red-bellied Woodpeckers explored the trees in search of a meal. A Black-and-white Warbler mixed in with a flock of Carolina Chickadees. It was nice to get out and go birding this morning!

The hummingbirds aren't increasing much at the feeders. I'll see four to five at a time trying to get to them, but so far one dominant bird has done a pretty good job of holding the others at bay. Hopefully it won't be long before they show up in greater numbers.

Birds seen 8/22/08 (21 species): Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow

Species Seen as of 8/22/08: 126
Species Seen as of 8/22/04: 113

I ran a report on my spring sightings and these are the migrants I saw this year on my property:

Cuckoo (1): Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Nighthawk (1): Common Nighthawk
Swift (1): Chimney Swift
Hummingbird (1): Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Flycatcher (4): Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher
Vireo (3): Blue-headed Vireo, Philadelphia Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo
Swallow (6): Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow
Thrush (3): Veery, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Swainson's Thrush
Warbler (21): Blue-winged Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Northern Parula, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Cerulean Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Kentucky Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, Canada Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat
Tanager (1): Summer Tanager
Grosbeak (1): Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Bunting (2): Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting