At Oso Bay Wetlands, the chaparral areas with trails meandering through the mesquite and cactus, I heard MANY Painted Buntings singing in the early morning! The first I spotted was the male atop a tree with the sun in his eyes....the female was feeding on what looked like a praying mantis, just below the male on the trail...
photos taken: Oso Bay Wetlands - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Bunting
There were three B N Stilts in the muddied marshland as I was viewing from the observation tower for the last couple of weeks...over the previous weekend, when I walked there early in the morning to check for chicks, she was still on the nest... Tomorrow, [at the time of this typing] I plan to go back and perhaps find some babies...
BLACK NECKED STILT [nesting]
photos taken: Oso Bay Wetlands - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Stilt
NOTE: I went back the next day after I composed this post for a pre-scheduled publishing, and the bird wasn't there, and I couldn't even FIND the nest. But!!!---there was a 'new' nest some distance away and another [perhaps the same?] Stilt was sitting on a nest.
Below is the 'colony' of parakeets that I sighted this Spring. The caretakers of the cemetery have done a lot of tree trimming and removing of some dead trees near the parakeet nesting site in a palm tree. This last month, I checked it out, and they also trimmed the palm tree now...but did not disturb the nesting...the 'keets were still busy building a communal nest - perhaps this is the 2nd nesting for the season??
MONK PARAKEET
photos taken: Holy Cross Cemetery - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Parakeet
Two different swallow species sharing the nesting area [2nd nesting for each of these as they were here in March, breeding and nesting]. When you're out birding, and the swallows are nearly identical in color/markings...if the swallow has a forked tail, it's a Barn Swallow. The Cliff Swallow has a squared off tail. Plus, if you're fortunate enough to be able to compare the mud nests, the Barn Swallow has a 'dish' nest with an opening at the top, like a cup...while the Cliff Swallow has built a 'gourd' shaped nest with a side, circular, opening. ALSO NOTE: The Cave Swallow is nearly identical to the Cliff Swallow with squared tail, but where the Cliff Swallow has light/off white forehead, the Cave Swallow is russet brown.
BARN SWALLOW
photos taken: Tule Lake - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: B. Swallow
CLIFF SWALLOW
photos taken: Tule Lake - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: C. Swallow
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That is very interesting to see the two swallow species nesting so close together. While we were a way for a few days we had a whole colony of Cliff Swallows start to build their nests on the stucco wall under our upstairs porch in New Mexico. They stopped when we were back and occupying the space. The mud was very hard to wash off.
ReplyDeleteYour Swallow nest I.D. will be good to keep in min. I can identify a swallow in flight, but not which kind. And they rarely stay still enough to get a good look. Of course my favorite here is the Bunting singing with his beak wide open!!
ReplyDeleteyou have such beautiful birds in your area. Love what you share.
ReplyDeleteThe barnswallows are here but I see no nest but I am sure there are in the stable of the ridingdchool :) Have a great birding week :)
What a bright green those parakeets are!
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful week-end!
Hi Anni. Oh I love the Barn and Cliff Swallow photos. They are such awesome birds, taking down all of those naughty insects. They do their jobs extremely well, don't they ;)
ReplyDeleteI have none near our home, but we have delightful Chimney Swifts that take care of plenty of insects alongside the KY Brown Bats. I hope that you enjoyed a wonderful week.
AS far as I can remember I don't believe that I have ever seen a Painted Bunting and image shares are more often than not the males. Wow the females are also pretty!
Happy 4th of July weekend~
The Parakeet has it's own special camo, doesn't it? It's the same color of the palm tree! Love those stilts and usually I love Praying mantis...but a girl has to eat! hahaha! Enjoy your weekend! Happy birding, Diane
ReplyDeleteHello Anni, I love the Painted Buntings they are beautiful birds. The Stilt is another favorite. I am glad that the Parakeets nest was not disturbed. Great photos and birds. Thank you for hosting. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend! Happy 4th of July!
ReplyDeleteHow nice to see all these beautiful birds !!
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend, dear friend !!
Hello Anni!:) Great info about the swallows, I'll keep that in mind from now on. Lovely small birds today, ...so glad the caretakers did not disturb the Parakeets nesting area, and that you saw the B N Stilt was still there albeit in another nest. Always a pleasure to see the Painted Buntings too! Thank you for hosting Anni!:)
ReplyDeleteI agree. That is really good information about your swallows Anni. Fortunately or unfortunately we have only the one swallow here, Barn Swallow, the same as your own. Unless you count the Red-rumped Swallow, a rare visitor.
ReplyDeleteOf course your Painted Bunting is one species I'd really love to see. Shame about the stilts but at least they started a second nest not too far away. Who knows what goes on at these nests when there's no one about?
Thanks for the chance to join in again today. Have a great birding week.
Poor bird having to move the nest. Love the barn swallows! And of course he Painted Buntings!
ReplyDeleteI was just reading about Painted Buntings in our Missouri Conservation magazine (not local to my area of the state). Lucky you to see and capture such beautiful birds! All the other photos are wonderful as well.
ReplyDelete