Badger feet, claws

Note: this photo is from Aug. 28, 2010 and the post will be archived to that date.

 I'll spare you the less photogenic side of this badger who was no match for a 70 mph speed limit.

East of the Pecos, West of the Pecos

Better late than never, and better to be slightly within the greater region than entirely in the wrong state, I hope! After surviving all that Big Bend threw at me, surveys at Amistad and the Devil's River were on the menu. Thankfully I was home for the first measurable rain that Marathon had all year (0.35 inches!) over Easter weekend before heading back. But...

The adventure started with a Myotis bat of some sort, unfortunately crisped and lodged in the front of a park vehicle. Sad, seems most of my bat work is with the deceased. At least this wasn't work related.

Myotis spp.

Overlooking the Devil's River.

Overlooking the Devil's River.

Overlooking the Devil's River.

What the...? Oryx.

San Pedro campground.

Horse crippler.

Excellent slopes to hike on. Kidding.

Just a cactus spine. That got pulled out of my leg.

The quick return home revealed a pile of mail with a copy of Texas Highways that included an article about the Davis Mountains. Those two folks on the left look awfully familiar...

Davis Mountains State Park, plus Trudell, York, and a team of volunteers.

Flip over a few more pages, and there's Jack Johnson of Amistad. Small world, considering that bat pic is from his work truck! Serious world shrinkage is occurring.

Jack Johnson, Panther Cave.

After the Amistad / Del Rio adventures, it was on to Fort Davis, then the Guadalupe Mountains... but Amistad certainly held its own with excellent bird diversity: White-throated Swift, Chimney Swift, Lesser and Common Nighthawks (Lessers making their amazing, skittery calling screeches) along with a nearly full set of swallows: Cave, Cliff, Northern Rough-wing, Bank, Barn, just about everything but Tree and Violet-green. Purple Martins and the Chimney Swifts made my head spin, feeling so very eastern. And on one afternoon, a bit of scouting around Del Rio proper turned up Great Kiskadee, Olive Sparrows, plenty of Long-billed Thrashers, Painted Buntings, and enough oriole activity to make me think I was in the Rio Grande Valley.

More adventures later!

The quail that tried to cross the road

 Without knowing why the quail tried to cross the road, all we can say is that it DID reach the other side. Just not the other side of the road.

Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata) is our default quail in Brewster County, and much of the Trans Pecos. It is also called blue quail, cottontop, squail and... nature's nachos. Those last two aren't commonly used, but are still rather fitting!

This one was obviously not on a deer corn bag when found, but Highway 90 just east of the bridge near 67 isn't a spot with great visibility for a portrait session in situ.

The breast and belly are dusty-buffy in bright light.

Bleu-gray tones got washed out a bit here, sadly.

There's the blue!

This individual has a pronounced crest, so it may be male. But it has a dark auricular patch (ear patch) so it could be female. Further details pending, if we can find streaking on the throat.

Check out the sweet 'speed fin' ...gives them their 'cottontop' name: for a diagram of what and where a speed fin is, see Bird and Moon's diagram.

Increasingly blurred barring on the belly, vs. crisp scaled breast feathers.

Scaled Quail... get it?

I was surprised to see the non-homogenous wing and mantle: the olive tones are really too subtle to see in the field.

A bird in the hand is educational, for sure - you never know what you'll learn!

** We have state and federal permits to salvage roadkill.

Mergs and ethics

Please start here for the Merg saga.

In all parts of life, one must take into account factors beyond one's control. In the case of a particular Common Merganser, the factors were involved were deceptively simplistic. While our rehabber was only 90 minutes away, her flu symptoms were only worsening as the merganser's recovery was speeding up. Our rehabber, unfortunately, had the same basic facilities available (read: bathtub), though more experience and likely a more streamlined routine - but she, herself, had no energy. So what were we actually up against?

* Strengthening merganser.
Average energy level had increased from death's door to... standing, flapping, diving, bathing, preening, and attempting to exit the tub.

* NEED for different facilities.
Our tub, our rehabber's tub, both were inadequate for a bird that needed to dive. Merg's energy levels were becoming an injury risk: our bathroom was not designed to keep a flapping, hopping, heavy duck safe from accidental injury (faucets, toilets, floors... birds are as bad as toddlers when it comes to potential injury).

* Beak out of alignment.
While the beak was being wrapped every night in hopes that it'd heal with proper alignment, it only improved slightly from day one. STRONG bite, however, was reassuring, as was normal beak functioning during preening, feeding and drinking. But still not perfect.

The factors above are understatements, mere highlights, the things we knew all too well. What we were now facing was this - Merg's fish benefactor had already headed back to Houston by the time we realized what was going on - and that's where the best wildlife rehab facilities in the state are located. San Antonio does have wildlife rehab facilities, but not for diving ducks. Lubbock? Same deal. Albuquerque was our next call: they had an Osprey using their diving pool enclosure. No go.

If only this (The Virginia Living Museum) could be in our bathroom, our problems would be solved....

Post by Karl Rebenstorf.

Unfortunately, mergansers are high-stress creatures. They, along with other diving ducks, are not exactly the best patients. The longer they are in captivity, the less likely they are to continue improvement. It's kind of an odd bell curve. Add a minimum of 6-10 hour drive to get them to facilities that would allow for more room and high quality care... you take a possible 2 steps forward and 1-3 steps back, depending. No matter how cushy the box, it's not the natural habitat for a diving duck: not to mention, neither Albuquerque nor Houston would be able to release Merg where she was found. Obviously in water, not on the side of Hwy 90.

Local release options would involve minimal stress to Merg, have a shorter rehab time (due to lack of facilities, mostly), and the only down side would be a strong, if unaligned, beak. Post Park never has diving ducks, recently has very few fish, and really isn't ideal for a merganser... so that option was out. The SW ponds have tons of ducks, all the time, but never mergansers (yet), nor much else in the way of long-term fish-eater inhabitants. Then, of course, Balmorhea. Two hours of a drive, but with cormorants, mergansers of three species, and plenty of fish. Fluctuating Common Merganser numbers, but for December 2013, not fewer than one, though no more than 30 or so. Plenty of habitat as well...

Several late night phone calls with multiple rehabbers in NM and TX led us to the conclusion that we had done what we could, and without adequate local rehab facilities, it'd be better to wish her luck and do a local release than to risk further stress with excessive transportation.

***

So on the morning of December 31st, we aimed for as soft of a release as possible. Using the 'food coma' method to ensure a mellow Merganser, Merg was fed and then placed into the glassy waters of Lake Balmorhea.



...we were only able to stay for an hour before we had to leave, but there's plenty of footage where that came from.

Bathtime with Tub Dragon

Apologies for the gap in updates: when life kicks into high gear, it GOES. (Bonus: this time it resulted in two 'life' airports, one 'life' state, one 'life' birder and two 'life' Snowy Owls! Matt got Red-throated Loon for TX and a repaired vehicle.)

On to the Merg... (Please start here if you're new to the thread!)

Last we checked on the Merg, it was December and she had her first batch of whole fish. Scales and bones and improved alertness and energy... and her first major bath. I missed the first ~30 seconds of it, but it was intense!

It was quite the bath. And there was more of it.

...and for the first time, we could truly see the beginning of the proverbial end. The end of her time in our tub. Her time in rehab. She wasn't a decoy, a lethargic lump of feathers and flesh waiting to return to the earth.

She became a dragon.

This was a day or two later:

That is a bird probing boundaries. We raised the water level to encourage more diving.

We subsequently lowered the water level to discourage escape attempts from the tub.

Bonus clips: preening after bath. And more preening.

Oh... and did we mention preening? Feather maintenance is important!

Introducing dead fish...

Please start here.

This is the segment in which we are glad that there's no 'scratch-and-sniff' feature on the internet. Dead fish, live fish, and digested fish are our themes for today.

Our biggest challenge in tending the Mergus was finding REAL fish. Scales and bones are hard to find in the canned food aisle, and in even shorter supply in the dog food and fish oil diet. A day of rest and a few days of kibble puree is probably enough to make any respectable fish-eater swear off of non-fish... but this happened to be right before Christmas in a little desert town where no bait shops existed within a three hour drive. There are two saints in this story, and they're not us. One sent a donation to offset expenses, the other showed up with a giant cooler of WHOLE FISH, a small tank of goldfish (training fish, we hoped), PILES of paper towels, and a heart of gold. And came from half way across the state to bring us these fishy gifts.

After Merg's first meal of REAL fish, her energy levels increased dramatically.

Coordination continued to improve, floating became basically level, foot action was strong. Dabbling became more frequent, as did the 'rearing up' - of course, no attention at all was paid to any of the dead fish in the tub. Float time was consistently after meal time, however, so that may explain some of it.



Giant, smelly, interesting poop (honestly, I thought we had a poop tag for this blog, but apparently we do not - unfortunate, really, we should remedy that). Kibble poops were uneventful until they began to smell like ammonia, at which point we tripled the amount of food per meal; but even 15 ml of slurry is feeble compared to one juicy finger mullet. The struggle to get 3 servings of sludge down a throat is just not as serene as the easy, slick, head-first slip of the fish... almost like the bird and fish are made for each other...

Oh, and happy very-belated Darwin Day!

 I have no idea why the photo below looks so... frosty? Sticky? Weird - it just looks dark and wet until it's on the big screen. Eyes closed, resting after a VERY splashy adventure... we'll call that progress.

Bonus videos: click here (#17)

and here (#19)

and here (#20)

Dexterity challenges

Please start the Mergus saga here: Mergus in waiting, round 1

*** the weird angled sides on the vids are driving me up the wall, haven't figured out how to make those go away, apologies!

When Mergus first arrived, we had little hope. As her range of motion increased, however, the progress was undeniable. She was able to scratch her beak with her left foot fairly early on, but it took a bit longer for the left foot to be used.

Initially, when placed in her box after a float, she was unable to stand. Mustering the strength to not only stand, but to PREEN (feather maintenance is critical, after all), it was a little snapshot of near normalcy in a situation that was anything but normal.

Range of motion for Merg's head: vastly improving. Instead of tucking slightly left and drooping, well, see for yourself:

Bonus video from the preening session: still too dark to see much detail on anything but the beak, which still looks pretty bad, in terms of alignment. Click here to watch the video.

Drinks like a sailor... and that's about it

If you're just joining us, please start at the first post for back story on this Common Merganser in rehab: Mergust in waiting, round 1!

We catch up with Mergus still fairly new into this floating business, and she's thirsty:

While she's gradually leveling off (in terms of floating), a trend of concern is starting to become apparent: most of her movement is going backwards, and clockwise.

Now, back to our previously mentioned drinking like a sailor... and floating lethargically...

Dead man's float

If you're just joining us on the adventure of "there's a merganser in the tub" please see the first post for context!

Apologies for poor video quality, and less than stunning scenery.

The two videos here are for the purpose of illustrating lethargy and uneven floating. Other than drinking, the first day of floating might as well have been with a decoy in the tub.

Second day of floating involved a little more kicking. We wanted to limit movement for the first few days in case of internal injury that could be aggravated with too much movement; our fears seemed to be mostly unfounded, thankfully.

Mergus in waiting, round 3

If you are just tuning in, you may wish to investigate Mergus in waiting, round 1, and Mergus in waiting, round 2. 

I guess at some point I should clarify that this bathroom was in the midst of being destroyed for a remodeling project that stalled due to life. And the low lighting combined with mediocre iPod pics, eh, you get the idea. This is not art. Just be glad it's not scratch-and-sniff! As for the overall experience: would not try again. I mean, if I had to, but I don't suggest trying this at home. REALLY.

When post #2 last left Merg, she was floating, leaning heavily to the left. That was actually a bit improved over the previous day (she didn't get float-tested until day 3, so that pic may have even been from day 4). With a bird that is not landworthy (as opposed to seaworthy, which is at least a real word), one must be very careful about the keel: floaters are designed to float, with weight distribution, well, floating. Weight is on the surface of the feathers of the belly, mostly - not on feet, leg joints, and keel. That breast bone is prone to issues when improperly cushioned, so our most immediate non-hydration issue was to get the bird in its natural form. Floating.

The leftward-lean had been noticed in the box, but it wasn't clear just how BAD it was until the float test: I thought she was going to flip her canoe. Leaning so heavily to the left could have been caused by many things, but without x-rays, we'll never really never know. Her tail was generally a bit off-center to the right for the first few days, which I suspect had at least something to do with the float angle, but it could have been due to spinal injury, neurological issue, or... something. All I could do was work with the symptoms as presented. And call my rehabber constantly for reassurance. With the flu, she sounded pretty horrible, but her words of support kept things sane.

The right leg, sticking out? It doesn't actually stick out. She's just leaning to the left so much that it just happens to be there. Awkward. To get her equilibrium and merg-ness back, float time went from 15 minutes on day 3 (mostly to soak the poo off of her vent) to 30 minutes of float time after each feeding. To keep her keel and feet and leg joints happy, or at least as happy as we could manage when not floating, her box was padded with 2-3 layers of shelf liner - you know the kind: 

....that went under ~3-4 layers of paper towels. Since her strength was low, we didn't want to risk snagged toenails on actual towels, so her only exposure to real fabric was to dry off after float time on either t-shirts or pillow cases before going back into the plastic tub where we could leave her unsupervised. Float time was agony for the first few sessions: a duck too weak to keep her head out of the water is a drowned duck if you're not careful. Head mobility was also a concern, as
she seemed to only move her head left and right, never more than 180 degrees. At rest, as in the photo below, she would either turn her head slightly left and droop into the water, or straight ahead, and droop her beak into the water. When the nostrils would blow a bubble, I'd nudge her beak out of the water and she'd shake her head slightly before leaning back in. Not good.

Thankfully by the time we were able to have extended float sessions, feeding levels (via pipette down the throat) had increased enough to give her some energy. Energy, in this case, being what keeps the nostrils out of the water, and self-hydration, but not much more.

A note on chaos: I still have no idea where my rehab supplies are. I barely used them after leaving Illinois in 2005. Some things did at least make it to the Double Bacon (pipette, tiny tupperware, Tylan powder for House Finches with conjunctivitis, you know, stuff), but while they all likely survived the move, there's no telling WHERE in this house they are. Boxes, we still have to unpack a bunch.

Somewhere on day 1, I did make it to the local grocery store where I found canned sardines and canned ..something else. Grabbed everything that wasn't seasoned and took it home. Not ideal.

So it was the day before Christmas Eve when I made an Alpine run because surely the drug store in town would have eyedroppers and syringes and... yes, actually. But 1 ml is pretty tiny, as is 5 ml, but I snagged one of each and the adventure began. I probably should have grabbed cat food, but I wasn't thinking and 4 different brands of dog food at home served nicely as backup. The big pup had already donated eye ointment to the cause, and his fish oil supplements were hijacked as well. Small dog had the highest fat and protein content in her kibble, so that's what was added along with water and sardine chunks. Crushing the kibble before soaking was important, but it'd take a few tries to perfect the technique. With a bit more energy and a non-broken beak, the 2 day fast was over.

Photo above is FANTASTIC PROGRESS, whether it looks like it or not. Standing. Standing was probably around day 4... the tub has fogged a bit from the moisture of her bath: the lid is off center to vent, and the box on top is just in case. Also, the box on top was emptied once a day of the copious amounts of paper towels that we went through. Pretty much a roll a day. On average, there were 1-2 poops overnight, 2 after feeding (during float time), 1 mid-morning, 2 after feeding (during float time), 2 mid-afternoon, 2 after feeding (during float time) and then back to the night schedule. After-feeding poops varied. Let's just say that there were sometimes 3 water changes per day.

The double bath mats beneath the box were due to floor vibrations - even in the most isolated room in the house, Merg would turn her head when footsteps were felt. So, two bath mats, 2-3 shelf liners, ~3 layers of paper towels... that was a relatively cushy box. The only awkwardness was that across the bathroom, the red-eared slider we're fostering would clunk around.

Merg went from float time in a plastic tub to the big tub, but partitioned for initial use. Action shot above shows dabbling prior to drinking, and a rare moment of appearing to go forward and right. "Decoy-like" describes the first few floating sessions, aside from dabbling and drinking. This photo must be pre-feeding, due to everything being clean. So very thankful that the new house is named Dos Baños. 

At this point in time, however, panic is slowly setting in - there is a merganser, she is in our bathtub, our rehabber is in the first few days of flu that just knocked her hubby out for two weeks, we have no source of bait fish, the critter has not died yet (huge surprise, as almost everything dies overnight) - so this is excellent, but... now what?! 

Mergus in waiting, round 2

We last checked in with Mergus, the female Common Merganser (Goosander, if you will - Mergus merganser) on Dec. 21 / day 1 - her arrival - and with this post, we're pretty much still there. Here's the first post, in case you missed it.

Since then (it has been a month and week since she arrived!) we've reconsidered her injuries. We think she was not directly struck by a vehicle, so much as 'rolled.' Hindsight, we now have the luxury of time to ponder these things.

Her left eye, seen below, was what we used as our standard for 'normal' when assessing the right eye. The bloodied and dislocated beak, slightly weak left leg, but perfectly intact wings leads me to think that she was 'rolled' by a vehicle. Either sitting on, or next to the road, her wings would have already been tucked when jostled/tumbled by a passing vehicle. Beak/head are extremities, and not well padded, so more susceptible to being damaged making contact with the road.

Female Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), detail of beak: nostril, tongue, serrations.

When folks talk about serrated beaks, 'all the better to catch fish with,' they might as well be talking about feathery sharks: four rows of tiny steak knives, all pointing down the gullet. All the better to catch fish with, indeed: and for that reason, feeding time involved gloves. General handling wasn't hazardous* (take precautions anyway - every animal is different, and usually they go for the eyes!) because she was so lethargic, but there's nothing like fish-eater mouth-bacteria scraping bare skin... so avoid it.

Upper mandible and lower mandible (the collective 'beak') did not align when closed - not broken, but dislocated.

 Beaks and eyes are understandably very important for a bird: a one-eyed merganser could possibly survive in the wild, but if the beak was useless, it'd starve. Hydration being most important, and not having the fluids or needles required for subcutaneous administration, the 'rural medicine' method was pretty basic: water dripped on the tongue, every two hours. Roughly one teaspoon per session. Not enough, but couldn't do much more without additional stress. At least the exposed bit of lower beak and tongue served as an easy option for drips, without having to touch her, restrain her, or move her at all.

Merg's swollen right eye, day 1, pre-ointment.

The right eye, swollen and crusted shut, was something we could at least be mildly proactive about. Our big pup had been on eye ointment in the fall and hadn't needed it in a while: Neo Poly Dex - antibacterial anti-inflammation goodness. A tiny dab was applied, and the waiting game began.
 Glad we had it on hand, as the Sunday before Christmas is never a good time to call a vet. Or have the flu, but at least I was able to call my rehabber every 30 minutes with a new question!

Due to the very fresh nature of the injuries, and not wanting to aggravate or further stress a bird already likely in shock, the decision was made to otherwise provide water, darkness, warmth, and just wait. As folks who have been through major trauma can attest, sometimes time is half the battle.

Rehab is 10% headache and 90% heartbreak, so if she was alive in the morning, we'd take it from there. 

*** Texas is one of those states where you need permits for even transporting injured wildlife, so
we followed our rehabber's instructions and stabilizing the bird as best as possible with hopes that she could be transported with less risk (to her). Some states have a 'Good Samaritan Clause' for folks bringing injured wildlife to rehabbers - we wish TX would get on board with that.

* post is from a month after the fact

Sneak peek: she did wake up on day two! This pic is likely from day three, though...

Mergus in waiting, round 1

21 December: Vehicle-struck female Common Merganser brought to us; body mass is good, legs are good, wings are good, rudder may or may not be good, but some pretty massive head trauma means survival odds are questionable. Common Merganser is not a big deal for Balmorhea, but given the lack of water in Brewster Co, she's a bit out of her element. Given that she was found on the side of Hwy 90, very out of her element. Fingers crossed that she'll stabilize enough for transportation to rehabber (and fingers crossed that our rehabber will recover from the flu in time to accept the merg!)

Photos by Matt York:

There's definitely an issue with the left eye, but for the time being, crusted closed is not a bad thing.

Both wings are in good shape, legs are kicky, plumage is in pristine condition (other than the ruffling from transportation).

Long road ahead - no pun intended - for this Mergus. Fingers crossed that she'll pull through.

*** Texas is one of those states where you need permits for even transporting injured wildlife, so
we're following rehabber's instructions and stabilizing the bird as best as possible so that she can be transported with less risk (to her). Some states have a 'Good Samaritan Clause' for folks bringing injured wildlife to rehabbers - we wish TX would get on board with that.

* post is not chronologically accurate, seeing as it's 2014 now.

'tis the season for... roadkill?

Well, if this hasn't been an interesting month, I don't know what to call it.

7 December: Long-tailed Duck at the ponds... alive, alive is good. Rare winter visitor to WTX.

Same day, road-killed female Bufflehead west of town (no pics - yet, guest sighting by both Steve Collins and Sky Stevens). Regular winter visitor to WTX, if you can find suitable water. Very hard to find bird for Brewster Co.

14 December: Ring-billed Gull, roadkill west of town. Mad props to Andy Bankert who ID'd the creature based on this photo alone:

Guesses included harbor seal, domestic dog, pied deer, horse, thrush, sandpiper, owl, etc.

First 'gull' guess does need to be credited to a fellow from PA who tries to remain anonymous, though!

Lest anyone wonder:

Ring-billed Gull roadkill, 14 December 2013, Brewster Co, TX

Ring-billed Gulls are incredibly hard to find in Brewster Co. and we suspect that the heavy fog and strange weather events have been contributing to their presence - previous records (for us) for the county include the summer of 2012 at Maravillas Creek (one individual) and 7 Dec - a flock of 31 at the ponds. 

21 December: Vehicle-struck female Common Merganser; disposition to be determined.
* Update - check the link above!

First witch of the year

Thoroughly dessicated, with legs falling off all over the place... the first Black Witch of the year surfaced today from a shed at the Gage, probably a week old. There should have been a quarter in here for scale; the witch isn't quite hand-sized this position because its wings are partially folded, but hopefully that's a good indication of just how impressive a Black Witch can be.

Perhaps we need a Lepidoptery guide (butterflies and moths); we can call it 50 shades of neutral. The pale cream and buff colors to the deep, rich browns are quite well represented.

They're certainly more fun when alive, but never so cooperative - these are ventral views - top left is Tawny Emperor, on its back, top right is Question Mark, wings only (it would be on its back if it still had one). Bottom is male Black Witch.

Some bright colors when seen from the top; a female Black Witch would have bold white scalloping on the wings. The Question Mark had not yet fallen apart, so it is actually doubled over in the shot.

And as tradition requires:

Sign of the 'butcherbird'

You'll know it when you see it.

And once you have seen it, you can spot it a mile away.

Well, maybe not a *mile* away, but it tends to stand out.




















...blatantly obvious, right? Especially at 25 mph on a gravel road?

What could be more apparent than a grasshopper impaled on a yucca blade?

This particular grasshopper was a few miles south of Alpine, a few feet off the ground.




















Loggerhead Shrikes are famous for impaling small creatures, generally on thorns and spines and fence barbs and anywhere they can cache a dead vertebrate, invertebrate or competitor* (not sure if it was perceived as competition or prey, but a shrike can kill a mockingbird and they're roughly the same size).

From the link above, here's their biggest, meanest, most vicious evolutionary adaptation:





















That, my friends, is the beak of a beast. All the better to sever your spine.

If you're a small rodent.

Shrikes are actually songbirds, their feet are not capable of the same death-grip that hawks, owls and eagles can inflict. Songbirds they may be, but their dinner comes at the expense of anything that is smaller than it is. Thankfully they're rather petite as far as predators go, so neither pets (hawks, owls and eagles have been known to take cats and dogs), nor people are at risk from this delightful bird of the open grasslands.




















See? No death grip here.

* photos of the Loggerhead Shrike are from our other blog, See Trail, where it is documented for curiosity's sake, and includes this disclaimer:
Note: state and/or federal permits are required to pick up birds.
Our permits are through Texas A&M; this shrike was collected with their permit ~20 miles north of Study Butte, Texas on 23 March, 2011.

* from Matt * For more shrike cache goodness:
http://mwyork.blogspot.com/2008/06/kids-gotta-eat.html

This from a cache belonging to a "San Clemente Island" Loggerhead Shrike (L. l. mearnsi).

Winter Sparrow Workshop

Welcome to the online version of Marathon's First Annual Winter Sparrow Workshop! Officially it covers Highway 90 from Marathon to Alpine and misses a few winter species but does include fall species, so perhaps it's more accurately a north Brewster County Fall Migration Sparrow Workshop.

This week has been a busy one for roadkill, unfortunately, with plenty of contributions being fresh off our own hood/windshield. Oof. So to make the most of killing three birds with one vehicle (in as many days), we bring you a collection of reasonably identifiable roadkill. Thanks to several other vehicles for their contributions...


Top row, L to R:
Vesper Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow,
Grasshopper Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow.

Bottom row:
Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow,
Lark Bunting.





To focus on what's passing through these days, we'll focus primarily on Vesper, Grasshopper and Clay-colored Sparrow. While Lark Buntings are starting to show up in good numbers, they are quite distinctive with their huge white wing patch, large size, black tails and distinct flocks. Savannah should also be included, but it froze in an impractical position (excuses, excuses).















Size in the field looks rather different than size in the hand. Only the Clay-colored, of these three, really jumps out as being much, MUCH smaller in the field. They can look frustratingly similar to young Chipping Sparrows and Brewer's Sparrows (for a good bit of Brewer's v. Clay-colored discussion, check out Lauren's post).















Back patterning varies from thick, heavy streaking to drop-shaped markings or fine streaking. The back of the neck/nape is distinctly a clean gray on Clay-colored and the tail is also much longer, proportionately, than on the other sparrows (except, of course, Brewer's and Chipping).















Crown streaking! Everybody's favorite... or not. Vesper has no central crown stripe to speak of, Grasshopper has a nice pale, buffy one, and Clay-colored has a rather indistinct one (and sometimes mostly absent).



















Vesper is the only one of this batch that has a streaky chin/throat (Savannah also shows streaking down the breast as well but lacks the tail markings), and it's also the only one of our winter sparrows that has crisp, white outer tail feathers. This is one of the best visual hints when they flush from the roadsides - Lark Sparrow does have white outer tail feathers, but the white edges in towards the center of their distinctly rounded tail. Vesper's tail will appear quite flat across the bottom in comparison.















The Grasshopper Sparrow, above, shows warm, buffy tones on its face and a nice splash of golden yellow on the shoulder. The slightly orange face gradually blends into a streaky gray and rufous crown. The call note is a fantastic light buzz. The full size photo barely does the subtle colors justice, they really look wonderful in natural light.

Maybe one of these days we'll have another batch of comparison photos - for now I hope this crash course in sparrows has been interesting, if not terribly photogenic!

As always, we promote picking up roadkill, window-kills and otherwise intact dead birds in the name of science: state and federal permits are required to do so, however, so please contact educational institutions or people who have permits to find out how you can help. Our permits are through Texas A&M University and all of our specimens go to the Texas Wildlife Cooperative Collection unless permission is given for certain specimens to go to the collection at Sul Ross State University.

Not dead yet...

Apologies for the blog silence lately; a few things are afoot. There's been a bit of travel, job shuffling, a bit of summer school overload, some baby-bird-emergencies, helping a neighbor move, and generally a lot of *stuff* that simply hasn't been able to wait. So the blog has borne the brunt of our negligence.

There are at least two Zone-tailed Hawks along Hwy 90 between Marathon and Alpine - at least one of them, most frequently seen over Marathon, is missing the tip of a primary on its right wing. There's one with a ratty tail but symmetrical wings that has been seen over Post Park. And then there's one that lurks along the Alpine end of 90 which has symmetrical wings as well (tail condition wasn't noted).

A few exciting roadkills have piled up since the freezer was last emptied: Ash-throated Flycatcher (2!), Greater Roadrunner, Eastern Meadowlark, Black-chinned Hummingbird... the latter, might I brag, was spotted at about 65 mph. Unfortunately, the freshest Cassin's Sparrow on record was removed from under a wiper blade. Poor thing.

Since I don't have a photo of a wet baby bird fished out of a fountain (House Sparrow, if you must ask), here's a photo from Post Park before the 4th of July dance: no fireworks this year except in Fort Davis. Of all places, it had nothing left to burn!