26 May 2014 SW Ponds / Private

What a difference a day or two makes! We had lower oriole numbers and diversity, higher phalarope numbers, MUCH higher peep numbers and generally similar flycatcher numbers.

White-faced Ibis primary flight feather.

Other than a probable Zone-tailed Hawk on the way to the ponds (FOS ZTHA being seen yesterday), and a White-faced Ibis primary on the berm (none seen since the 3rd, likely due to lack of observers), the eBird list pretty much says it all...

31 Species:

10 Mallard (Mexican) Anas platyrhynchos diazi

2 Blue-winged Teal Anas discors

3 Green-winged Teal Anas crecca

6 Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis - Accurate count

4 Scaled Quail Callipepla squamata

2 Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura

3 Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis

6 Killdeer Charadrius vociferus

2 Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius

1 Stilt Sandpiper Calidris himantopus - Pronounced white eyebrow. Taller, longer-necked than neighboring Western SPs. Drooping bill longer than width of head. Tail reminiscent of yellowlegs spp.

5 White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis - In flight, U-shaped broad white rump patch. Comparable in size to nearby Stilt and Western SP. Slightly larger than nearby Spotted SP.

1 Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri - Smaller peep compared to nearby Stilt SP.Clean white underneath w/o connecting collar. Upperside tail whitish with dark middle stripe (inner retrices) above when in flight. Dark legs.

5 Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor

3 White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica

1 Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

Year + old box turtle shell, sun bleaching.

1 Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor

1 Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya

2 Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens

2 Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans

4 Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis

3 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus

4 Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

2 Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva

1 Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus

1 Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos

3 Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus

5 Black-throated Sparrow Amphispiza bilineata

2 Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuatus

3 Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater

1 Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius

3 Bullock's Oriole Icterus bullockii

The Glass Mountains from the south, as seen from the ponds.

24 May 2014 SW Ponds / Private

From my Texbirds post:

Better late than never -- yesterday morning's pre-work jaunt to the ponds (private property) with Dale Ohl, Bill Sain, and Julie Oesper yielded an underwhelming variety of waterfowl but an excellent visit overall. I guess the summer waterfowl doldrums are expected by now, but I hadn't anticipated such good oriole diversity: multiple Scott's, Bullocks, and Orchard, and a stray Hooded; last spring one male Hooded stuck around Post Park, but the habitat there is far, far better than at the ponds! One stray Wilson's Phalarope was nice, along with a late, unspotted Spotted Sandpiper.

Otherwise, it was the usual suspects - Lark Sparrow, Curve-billed Thrasher, Vermilion Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Cassin's and Western Kingbirds, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Scaled Quail, itty-bitty Killdeerlings, and lots of ruckus from Killdeer parents.

Good birds, good company, what more can you ask for!

***

There's a pond over there somewhere... Dale, Bill, and Julie's shadow.

6 Mallard (Mexican) Anas platyrhynchos diazi
4 Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
3 Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
2 Scaled Quail Callipepla squamata
5 Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
4 Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
9 Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
1 Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
1 Wilson's Phalarope Phalaropus tricolor
8 White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
2 Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
1 hummingbird sp. Trochilidae sp. - likely BCHU
1 Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya
2 Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
2 Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens
2 Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans
2 Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis
2 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
1 Bell's Vireo Vireo bellii - heard only by Dale
1 Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
2 Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
7 Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva
1 Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
1 Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
5 Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus
1 Yellow-headed Blackbird Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
3 Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
1 Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
2 Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius
1 Hooded Oriole Icterus cucullatus
3 Bullock's Oriole Icterus bullockii
2 Scott's Oriole Icterus parisorum

* post is backdated for the date of observations, not date of Texbirds post nor compiling of blog post!

Big Day Details

Check out The Painted Bunny for Big Day details!

http://paintedbunny.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-colima-death-experiment-big-day.html

Barfly, a weekend update

Saturday night at the Famous Burro: one of the owners, Scott, brought out a very fresh Mourning Cloak that had been in the building for two days. It loitered for about an hour and then reluctantly stepped over to the [Mexican Olive?] tree when prompted. 

Of course, the following day, a text came that it - or another Mourning Cloak - was back inside! Photos by Tiffany Harelik. 

Not two hours earlier, instead of the wildlife being brought to me, I was out grabbing it. This Mourning Dove was picked up at the ponds, unable to escape. Wings, feet, and tail were fine. Eyes bright. Flappy but not going very far... turns out crop was ruptured and there may have been keel damage - it was pretty far from the power line and any barbed wire, but it wasn't far enough from he power line to definitively rule out the possibility of strike. Rehabber updates will be posted as available. (Photo by Steve Collins)

I won't spoil the news, but The Colima Death Experiment may have done an excellent job with their Brewster County Big Day as part of the Great Texas Birding Classic! Mad props to Cameron Carver, Steve Collins, Ryan Shaw and Ross Rickett!

Cameron, Steve, Ryan, and Ross, two hours before Saturday's madness officially began.

Posting from a small gadget - hope the format isn't too messed up!

Edit: Check out The Painted Bunny for Big Day details!

http://paintedbunny.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-colima-death-experiment-big-day.html

Black Bear Adventures

Recently there's been a video circulation of "rock climbing bears" from Big Bend National Park... and it's amazing! Mad skills, I think the kids would call it...

Black bears at Santa Elena Canyon, video by Stephanie Latimer:

Belated Guadalupe Mountains...

I was intermittently in the Guadalupe Mountains between 25 April and 5 May, with some surveys in Carlsbad, NM that are unfortunately beyond the regional scope of this blog.

Dell City, however, is totally appropriate (this from 1 May, on Texbirds):
It's ok, I would have had to Google it, too - but it is a little town west of the Guads with some farm fields on the SE side of town being watered... So if you'd like White-faced Ibis by the dozen, a few stilts, Violet-green Swallows, White-throated Swifts and slow cruising on side roads for Burrowing Owls, there's plenty of good stuff around.

***

... then there's the matter of research housing. Big, shiny windows. And a window-killed male Indigo Bunting. A female Lazuli had been loitering behind the building, on the safer side. So sad. So preventable.

Male Indigo Bunting, window kill at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

***

From my 27 April Texbirds post ("Oh. My. Guad.")

In spite of gale force winds pre-dawn, McKittrick Canyon was crawling with Townsend's Warblers and Bushtits and good numbers of the usual suspects. Gobs of vireos (3 species) as well. It was the hike down that tried to literally blow me away. But such good birding before the winds kicked up... more on the Guadalupes to come, I am sure.

Amistad was phenomenal last week at the Pecos launch just off of 90 - almost every swallow other than VG, White-throated Swift, mixed warbler flocks. The San Pedro campground has some really nice diversity in the evenings - including "skidding" Lesser Nighthawks.

Day before yesterday was Fort Davis - the fort, of all places - which proved quite productive on the trails (map available at the visitor's center) for much easier Rufous-crowned and Black-chinned Sparrows as well as plenty of Rock and Canyon Wrens.

No rest for the weary, but great birding is an excellent consolation!

***

Wow. Tired. There's supposed to be mention of Virginia's Warb and Grace's in that post!

***

Since the Fort has already been covered on the blog, I'll stick to the Guads here. Williams Ranch has a row of hills just to the west: one transect was a Guad forsaken hill on earth, but it sure was beautiful. Most of the lower elevation surveys were generic creosote/stabby veg mixtures with Painted Buntings and Black-throated Sparrows and Cassin's Sparrows and Ash-throated Flycatchers and questionable terrain. Oh, but McKittrick... what a gem.

McKittrick Canyon had singing Grace's Warblers (click here for audio on youtube via the American Bird Conservancy), Virginia's Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Plumbeous Vireo, Cassin's Vireo, and on my last round of surveys, Red-eyed Vireo. One silent Cordilleran Flycatcher was nearly the highlight of my first survey, but considering I probably could have died of happiness, I can't credit just one bird.

Unfortunately, between work and drive time and general chaos, most of my documentation is point-and-shoot snippets of trail or roadkill - I did not keep up with location/county/day lists, much less anything else. I suppose that's the tradeoff of living in the moment. Savoring the air temperatures, slight breezes, earth-moving gusts: the things a librarian doesn't often experience in a library. Not that I'm much of a librarian, but my last few jobs have been in enclosed spaces. So notes took a back seat to the thrill of simply being. And I am ok with that. Besides, I saw birds!

* post is backdated to reflect dates more accurately