Nighttime Birding with Cooler Temps

Last night, the kids and I decided to enjoy the cooler temperatures and went outside. We got a fire going in the chiminea and just sat around it visiting. It was amazing to me how many Indigo Buntings I heard flying overhead. After hearing probably 20 of them, I started keeping count of how many calls I heard. It was well over 50 in about two hours. There was also a strange call that I heard that I couldn't identify. It sounded closest to a Whooping Crane, but not exactly. I'm not ready to write that down on my list from the call. It was definitely something I've never heard before. I also heard a Killdeer (which isn't that uncommon at night around here) and what sounded like a Green Heron.

Yesterday was the first day after the cool front came through, and I still had two hummingbirds at the feeders. I'll be interested to see how many stick around. On Monday, I'm going to work at building up my brush pile a little bit to provide some cover for the wintering sparrows while they're here. I'm also going to get some plywood for a ground feeder for them.

I signed the kids and me up for Project Feederwatch. It's sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Basically you pick two consecutive days of the week to watch the birds in your backyard from November through April. If the bird is attracted by something you've done for them - coming to a feeder, coming to water you've provided for them, coming to berry-producing plants you have planted - then you count those birds. There are some special rules about how to count the birds that you have to follow. It will be a fun project for us to be involved in. I'm thinking of doing an Excel spreadsheet for our own records to see what the winter bird population does from year to year at our feeders. It's a fun project for the whole family that allows regular people to contribute scientific information to help those at Cornell.

Slow Fall Migration

So far the fall migration here has been slow. The kids and I went out in the woods on Monday as a part of their science. They have expressed an interest in learning about birds and birdwatching. So we went out and weren't impressed! We would walk 50 feet, stop and scan the trees and understory for movement, not see anything and move another 50 feet. Nothing was moving. Not even the resident birds. I think in the whole time we were down there we saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker, caught a fleeting glimpse of a Barred Owl as it flew away from us and heard a few others. I'm ready for the winter residents to come in so I'll have something to see when I'm down there!

The hummingbirds are still holding about 20 at the feeders. It will be interesting to see if the front this weekend takes them all away. It's getting to be that time where they go away until spring.

Nothing is eating from my feeders except for one Mourning Dove and a couple of Eurasian Collared Doves. I've had several customers in the store ask me where the birds are. It's a slow time at feeders in October and November in this area. The plants produce their seeds and the birds eat them. No matter how fresh the seed in the feeder is, it's not going to be as nutritious and fresh as what's recently been produced on the plant. So, the birds eat the wild seeds to fatten up for winter. I know at some point after much of the wild seed has been eaten or knocked to the ground, they'll be back and the blackbirds will flock to my feeders and eat all the oil sunflower within a day. Maybe I should invest in some safflower!

Autumn Birding

I went birding on the property this morning. It was nice to be out there again. The mosquitoes were awful, but I just covered myself with Off! and they pretty well stayed off me. I pretty much saw the birds that one would expect at the end of September. Some of the highlights were Gray Catbird, a Swainson's Thrush that posed for me and an Osprey flying overhead. I saw three FOS winter residents: Brown Thrasher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Northern Flicker. Hopefully we'll get some cooler weather in here soon and the mosquitoes will slow down.

The hummingbirds are still pretty slow around here. I counted about 20 around the feeders last night and this morning. Others are having an above-average year. I guess all of mine decided to go to other peoples' feeders this year!

Today was also a good day for reptiles on the property. I came across a Three-toed Box Turtle crawling through the woods. An Eastern Hognose Snake and Prairie Kingsnake were around the pond. A Banded Watersnake was swimming in the pond.

Birds Seen on Property 9/28/09 (26 species): Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker (FOS), Pileated Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (FOS), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Swainson's Thrush, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher (FOS), Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle

Hummingbird Numbers Down & Butterfly Garden

The numbers of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at my feeders is way down this year. We haven't really had a cool front push through to help bring them down, so maybe that's it. Maybe it's the lack of flowers because of the drought, and they're just passing on through without stopping long at the feeders. Yesterday and this morning I have noticed more birds around the feeders, probably ten to twelve. Normally by now, I've got 50+. Here's what I had last year on September 20.




Yesterday, the kids and I worked on making a butterfly garden. I got some blue mist flower and some lantana from the Texas Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg when we were there over the Labor Day weekend. I also planted some lantana that I rooted in it as well. With plants and all, the whole thing cost about $50. I'm really looking forward to seeing what butterflies we get when the plants are fully blooming! Here is a picture of our new garden and a picture of a male Queen butterfly I took on some of the blue mist flowers at the Texas Wildseed Farms.

Window Birdwatching

I was doing a little window birdwatching this morning. The hummingbirds continue to increase around the feeders. This morning, even with the rain, I had 10 to 12 buzzing around. It won't be long before they're really thick. While watching the hummingbirds, several other birds flew into my backyard. A Great-crested Flycatcher perched in one of the trees and showed off his flycatching skills for me. Six Eastern Bluebirds flew in and came to my birdbath to quench their thirst. A male and female Baltimore Oriole flew in and feasted on the hackberries along with a Northern Mockingbird. A little bird was flitting around in the trees. I suspected a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but that wasn't what it was. I never got a really clear view of it, but what I saw reminded me a lot of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. If that's what it was, he would be a month early. Hopefully as it cools more, I'll start getting out to see what kind of fall migrants are coming through. My first warbler on the property was a Canada Warbler in September 2003 just after we moved here.

We spent the weekend in Fredericksburg with my mom and step-father and extended family. We go every year to their place. I didn't get a chance to do any birding this year, except for what I saw in the backyard. There wasn't much to report. I did see some Black-crested Titmice. The boys and I slept in a tent and early on Saturday morning a Great Horned Owl called from somewhere to our east. I am still amazed at the numbers of White-winged Doves. They are everywhere there. What amazes me more is how they have naturally expanded their range from the Rio Grande Valley to areas far north of their historic range. I commented to my step-father that if we had been there 15 years ago and saw a White-winged Dove, we would have jumped up and grabbed our cameras to document the occasion. Now, they're just everywhere.

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.