Couch's Kingbirds in Williamson County

I am grateful to a local birder who gave me a head's up about the nesting Couch's kingbirds in my neighborhood.  I went out a couple of days ago and located them easily, but it was mid-day, not the right time of day for photography not to mention the heat.

I got out tonight with my big lens, hoping they would be cooperative.  Henry and I saw them immediately upon parking. One was even in good position for a photograph, but before I could get it located in the lens, it flew to the top of the tree.  The adults were vocal when we first arrived, so I was glad to hear their call.

These birds are listed in TEXBIRDS on the Austin Rare Bird Alert. This is only the second record of this species in Williamson County.  They are normally found in Texas only in the Rio Grande Valley.

I had another opportunity when one of the birds landed in the interior of the tree.  I suspect this is near the nest, although I have not seen the nest itself yet, although I have looked for it.

I have pictures from the Texas Panhandle of Western Kingbirds so I am anxious to dig them out and compare so that I will be better able to distinguish between the two species. 

Hutto's Pond at Riverwalk

Henry and I have been trying to get out and walk regularly. When we first moved to Hutto, we had to drive to Pflugerville or Round Rock to find walking trails. As Hutto has grown, we are now getting more walking trails. We've been over to the pond just south of Brush Creek across from the soccer fields. I don't know that it has a name, but the walk is .7 of a mile. For me it has the added attraction of having some great birds.

My bird list to date from my walks there:
barn swallow
starling
blue winged teal
redhead
coot
pied bill grebe
northern shoveler
red tail hawk
red shouldered hawk
red wing blackbird
little blue heron
great blue heron
green heron
great egret
snowy egret
great tailed grackle
yellow rumped warbler
mourning dove
Eurasian dove
double crested cormorant
savannah sparrow
house finch
killdeer
greater yellowlegs
lessor yellowlegs
downy woodpecker

It is quiet there in the mornings. In the late afternoons, there is soccer practice across the street, people fishing on the pond, families with kids and dogs walking with us. Such a feeling of community! While it has been sad to watch Hutto go from being a rural in nature to urban, it is also nice to have great places to walk!

There is another lake that is being developed as a park for Hutto. We're going to check it out soon!

Galveston's Featherfest

Galveston's Featherfest will be held April 2-5, 2009. I just checked the Schedule of Field Trips. This will be a great event!

While the bird populations are different after the hurricane, this is a great opportunity to observe and learn about the changes after the hurricane. In addition, the presence of birders will bring much needed tourist revenue to help Galveston area businesses as they get back on their feet.

If I get to go it would be my first visit to this birding festival. I've learned that bird festivals are a great place to get better at identifying birds, learning where to look for the different species, and to meet interesting people.

Mark your calendar, register early to get the field trips you are most interesting in, and enjoy a great weekend!

Upset Killdeer

I was sitting on the backporch letting my daughter's two small dogs have their time to "do their business" outside. I heard a long string of flutelike bird whistles - not in the normal bird calls I hear every morning. I was sitting under the large life oak tree so my field of vision was impaired. It was not until I got out on the front porch to enjoy breakfast and my daily morning time that I discovered which birds were making those calls. It was two killdeer - two very agitated killdeer.

Usually I see killdeer running along the ground, these were flying patterns over my yard and calling frantically. In the spring I had seen the killdeer parents with their young. I had enjoyed watching the parents fly away with their "broken" wing and then hearing them call to reunite their little family. But today there were only two and they seemed most disturbed. They flew and called and flew and called for 30 minutes to an hour.

I will probably never know exactly the story behind this unusual behavior, but I have my guesses. My dove hunting neighbors had been out shooting the doves. I suspect these killdeer or one of their flock was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Either the noise and the falling buckshot scared them . . . or . . . perhaps one of the killdeer was too close to one of the doves that was the target. Maybe these two were calling for their lost chick or mate, or parent.

On principal I'm not opposed to hunting - if you use the meat and as many other parts of the kill for useful purposes . . . if you follow the rules and adhere to the bag limits. However, I've been feeding doves for several years now. This dove hunting season I'm hearing many more shots being fired from many sources around me. It is a little disconcerting to be sitting on my deck and all of a sudden have buckshot hitting my roof while I'm out in the open with the dogs. I heard shots the other night well after sunset when it was almost dark. I don't know the rules - how early and how late can you shoot, how many can you "bag" each day, etc?

I saw a juvenile white winged dove recently - the first one I'd seen that had the obvious juvenile markings. Will this chick survive the hunt? How many of the doves I feed regularly will survive for next year? Yes, I had more than ever at the feeders this summer. Yes, I don't want them to "over populate." But in so many ways, these are "my" birds - the killdeer that live on MY property, the doves that I feed.

Killdeer are too small to eat and I don't think you're supposed to be hunting them. But I suspect that these killdeer were in the
wrong place at the wrong time. I was distressed to hear them so upset.

The Green Heron

I've been spending time on the dock behind Evelyn and Gene's house soaking in the serenity and remembering.

Bird watching is good down there. Two different evenings I've seen a turkey hen and a solitary chick. The first night they roosted in the tree just above where I was sitting. Last night I disturbed them and they moved on around the lake. The chick would linger and then run to catch up with the hen. They finally came back around and roosted in a different tree near the dock. I could also hear the big flock of turkeys across the road as they were settling in for the night.

I had been watching a green heron fly back and forth across the cove. It landed on some dead branches right over the water. Looking intently at the water for some time, it suddenly leaped into the water. Now I know for a fact that the water drops off steeply here. I think of herons as wading birds, not swimming birds. It flapped around for a few seconds in the water and then popped out of the water back onto the branch with a good sized perch (4 or 5 inches long) in its mouth. Even with the binoculars I could not tell if it had stabbed the fish or just had it tightly in its beak. Rather than trying to eat it where the fish could escape back into the water, it hopped back along the branches onto the grassy shore (out of my sight) to enjoy its catch.

While I always enjoy watching the hundreds of vultures settle in for the night, the heron's leap into the deep water was the highlight of the evening.

The Dipper Revisited

Visiting the different wildlife refuges, we have learned that often you will see certain birds (or other animals) at the same area each time you visit or make the "rounds." Once we found the spot in the creek where the dipper was feeding, we saw him regularly there. And of course, we kept going back both to enjoy watching him and for me to try to get that award winning photo. The weather in Breckenridge this year was cold and snowy. I kept hoping for a day that would have just the right combination of sun angle or high light clouds. I wanted photos of the dipper with enough lighting for a sharp, crisp photo and with the lighting at my back so I was not shooting into the sun and fighting the silhouette effect. I had one more chance with better lighting. I put my teleconverter on and spent probably an hour moving upstream with the dipper. While these are not "prize winning" or commercial quality shots, I am pleased, because I got a set of intimate shots of a very shy creature. Plus I got the enjoyment of watching his antics. I was so surprised to see him disappear underneath the ice at the edges of the water. I even saw him go under an ice bridge and surface on the other side. Because I spent so many days watching and observing, I feel an affinity with this individual dipper. I find myself searching other icy creek beds hoping for a glimpse of another dipper.