More Spring Migrants Showing Up

This morning I went birding on the property and had a few more FOS birds show up. Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows flew overhead. A Hooded Warbler called several times. The highlight of my day were the two Swallow-tailed Kites that were circling with a couple of Black Vultures. I was able to watch them for a quite a while. There are still lots of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers around. I even heard a few White-throated Sparrows. Cardinals are singing everywhere. White-eyed Vireos sound their calls from the dense blackberry vine tangles.

I put up the Barred Owl box I built over a year ago. I'm not sure why I waited until now to put it up. It's too late for them to use it this year, but maybe next year. I still have no Purple Martins in my house or gourds. The Eastern Bluebirds haven't started building their nest yet. I hope they get started soon.

Yesterday as I was working on my four-wheeler, I could hear a couple of American Goldfinches calling from the hackberry tree in my backyard. I finally found them and the male was nearly in complete breeding plumage. It's been a long time since I've seen a male goldfinch in breeding plumage. That was fun.

Bird Species Seen 3/21/09 (32 species): Little Blue Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Swallow-tailed Kite (FOS), Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow (FOS), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (FOS), Barn Swallow (FOS), Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hooded Warbler, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird

Swallow Migration

Every year during October, swallows of all kinds migrate right over my yard, flying from northeast to southwest. I can sit for a few minutes and literally see hundreds of them fly over my yard and the pasture. It's amazing to see how many of them there are! On Sunday afternoon, I stood outside for about twenty minutes just to see them. The vast majority of the swallows flying by were Northern Rough-winged, but several Barn were in the mix as well. Last year every swallow that migrates through this area came through at some point. It was just one day when about all I saw were Bank Swallows. The Tree Swallows come through a little later than the rest. It is always fun to look out my window and see the swallows heading south for the winter.

More Tropical Storm Birds

There were a couple of other interesting bird sightings during the tropical storm on Tuesday. After the "eye" had passed over us, I went outside to check on a couple of things and to put some more seed out for the birds that were showing up in large numbers. I had ten cardinals, six Eurasian-collared Doves and four Blue Jays. The Carolina Chickadees were trying to figure out where their feeders went and never got the idea to head to the ground to pick up a seed. I put the feeders back out pretty quickly once I saw that. As I was putting the feeders back out, a flock of about 50 Tree Swallows flew over. They were flying against the wind so the entire flock was doing a zig-zag pattern as they flew. They flew right over my head, so I got great looks at them. I've seen a flock like that once, but it was in January several years ago. The other interesting sighting was the hundreds of Purple Martins that were soaring overhead. It sounded like I was standing next to a large colony with all of them calling. I tried counting at one point, but couldn't. I would estimate there were 150 to 250 martins at a time flying around.

I sure wish I could have gone down to Galveston to see if any pelagics had been pushed onshore by Edouard's winds. I guess I'll have to look at Texbirds and live vicariously through those who had the chance.