I'd Rather B Birdin': White Eyed Vireo

Showing posts with label White Eyed Vireo. Show all posts

§ From my book...

I hope now that we're back in the 'business' of sharing, that your New Year started with happiness and health. With the lack of getting out because of all the renovations being done around Anni's; finishing three rooms so far and beginning the huge livingroom this weekend, I am resorting to sharing some photos taken thru the cellphone from the bird photo portfolio that I had published several years ago for my own Texas Reference Book. In the last pages of the book, I have recorded where each bird was seen [location] and month/year. All the photos shared are from my camera over the decade plus of birding in my own vicinity. {number of photos are over 200, but I share just a few for now}....

From top to bottom:

Bobolink [rare]

Bobwhite Quail

Groove-billed Ani

Lazuli Bunting [rare]

Whooping Crane

White-eyed Vireo

For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

or use text linking only copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

Linking tool now closed.

§ April Sightings Posted in May...

It's been a busy week for Bud and me...very little time to go birding with more yard work and clean-up and readying the house for a weekend guest next week. At our age, we take a lot of time working in the yard, but, only one day a week weather permitting and rest for 6 [lol]. Actually, we're in no hurry, we aren't going anywhere. I don't think I see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but things are looking more like someone lives here. We still have 7 more bushes and trees to cut and dig out to replace them all from the freeze in February. Most of these images were seen in the latter parts of April of this year. I've been walking very early in the morning, but going to areas with little bird sightings. So, without further ado, I share these migratory birds and one yearly resident:

INDIGO BUNTING
Habitat map: Bunting

WHITE EYED VIREO
Habitat map: Vireo

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER
Habitat map: Warbler

YELLOW THROATED WARBLER
Habitat map: Warbler

AMERICAN AVOCET
Habitat map: Avocet

ROYAL TERN
Habitat map: Tern

PYRRHULOXIA
Habitat map: Pyrrhuloxia

REDDISH EGRET [breeding plumage -white morph]
Habitat map: Egret

For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

or use text linking only copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

The linking tool has closed. Return Saturday for new tool.

§ Birds With The Cold Front Moving In...

With three cold fronts moving into our area, it's been very chilly [downright cold for us Texans], windy, and not too pleasant to be outdoors doing much of anything. In fact a couple of days we woke up to frost on the ground!! I've been staying indoors mostly, wishing for no wind and the sun warming up the countryside. But, not to be had. While shopping, tho, I took back roads home, stopped here and there to step out in the cold and walk through some naked trees and at other stops, trees that are evergreen. Some areas protected with the warmth of the tree canopy, the grass remained green, while in open areas, the golden blades were dry and crunched under my steps. I walked a piece to find some birds and I got lucky. I did see some activity...near the car, and the car's heater within close proximity:

RED TAILED HAWK

Habitat map: Hawk

WHITE EYED VIREO

Habitat map: Vireo

CHIPPING SPARROW

Habitat map: Sparrow

AMERICAN KESTREL

Habitat map: Kestrel

COUCH'S KINGBIRD

Habitat map: Kingbird

BLACK CRESTED TITMOUSE

Habitat map: Titmouse

All too soon I will be complaining of the extreme heat. I know I should be enjoying this break of what lies ahead in just a few months, but I can't get myself motivated to be in the cold. Maybe by January 2021 it'll be better.

Always use HYPERLINK For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

or use text linking only copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

§ This Month in South Texas...

It's been a wet week. But, we didn't get the full strength of Tropical Storm Beta afterall. We did get angry seas [I went out Sunday early to check the surf...see some of my photos taken. here if you'd like]. By Monday morning, the winds picked up and rain fell. Only a couple days of coastal flooding. We here in Corpus Christi, let out a deep sigh of relief!! Even, tho, we all who live along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts know the season isn't over yet. Here are some more September birds seen in my neck of the woods...

WHITE EYED VIREO
photo taken: Blucher Park
habitat map: Vireo

SCISSOR TAILED FLYCATCHER
photo taken: Chapman's Ranch
habitat map: Flycatcher

YELLOW WARBLER
Port Aransas Texas
habitat map: Warbler

COOPER'S HAWK
photo taken: County Road, Corpus Christi
habitat map: Hawk

SPOTTED SANDPIPER
photo taken: South Bay Park
habitat map: Sandpiper

GREAT KISKADEE
photo taken: Bazemore Park
habitat map: Kiskadee
NOTE: I subscribe to the magazine Birds and Blooms, and the latest issue [October/November issue] delivered to my mailbox, I learned something about the Kiskadee I thought may be of interest to others. And that is that the Kiskadee used to have a different name: Derby Flycatcher

MYRTLE WARBLER*
photo taken: Packery Channel
habitat map: Warbler

TRI-COLORED HERON
photo taken: Oso Bay Wetlands
habitat map: Heron

Always use HYPERLINK when linking up

For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

or use text linking only copy text in gray text area below and paste into your blog post:

* Also known as Yellow Rumped Warbler & Butter Butt Warbler

§ A Wren by Any Other Name...

This is a new one for me. A sedge wren I believe....small, dark, indistinct eyebrow, and short beak...all descriptive points of the sedge wren; unlike other wrens found in our area. It flew and perched for a very short time, then left almost as quickly. This bird brings my total for 2016 to 150 species and counting!! I've been using this chart from American Birding Association to keep record of what I've spotted since January 1st of this year. It's a self induced challenge to see what I can accumulate for one year. You can download it in PDF if you'd like. HERE

SEDGE WREN
photos taken: Han Suter Park - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Wren

For most of my birding, I travel around town and over to the gulf and the barrier islands. Recently, our pecan tree has been a stop over attraction. The other evening, tho I didn't have any cellphone or camera nearby, we had TWO black crested titmice. With the sun setting, their bodies were nearly pink. Kinda pretty. They flew off to our windows and I believe perhaps this is where they roosted for the night' not 100% positive on that thought 'cause the garage door was closed and I wasn't about to open it to check.. I didn't disturb them. Then, we've had doves, shrikes, mockingbirds, starlings, redwinged blackbirds, and grackles galore in the very same tree. One morning, early, we even had a flycatcher....busy with its feeding habits. I've recently spotted the FEMALE, but I haven't seen the male of the species since we lived in Arizona!!

VERMILLION FLYCATCHER
photos taken: Our Front Yard - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Flycatcher

One more bird for the week....
A nearby park is becoming a lodge of sorts for migrants once again! I've been here three times in the last couple of weeks, and each time I arrive, the vireo graces the tree tops, well hidden of course, with song.

WHITE-EYED VIREO
photos taken: Blucher Park - downtown Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map: Vireo

Now share your birding experiences:

For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in lavender text area below and paste into your blog post:

or use text linking only copy text in lavender text area below and paste into your blog post:

§ Warbler, Vireo, and MORE

With this posting I'm sharing a NEW bird spotted!! But first, these, of a Myrtle Warbler. Now, most call this bird a "Yellow Rumped" or I've read before they're also known as "Butter Butts". I'd prefer Myrtle Warbler myself. And I usually see them during Spring Migration...the winter plumage was a surprise. Usually gray, yellow, black and white...but this month, when I spotted them...much more brown. I like it!!!

MYRTLE WARBLER [aka Yellow Rumped Warbler]
photos taken: Packery Channel Motte - NORTH Padre Island
habitat map: Myrtle Warbler

This next bird is the NEW one!! Tho, sadly, it was sighted in a dark area with the lack of sunlight, I got this photo that still shows its ID markings/colors ---

BLUE HEADED VIREO
New one for me!!!
photo taken: Packery Channel Motte - NORTH Padre Island
habitat map: Blue Headed Vireo

...and this one that follows is one I've seen a few times before, but rarely get any decent photos. [there is a 'ruby' crown' but guide books tell me that is rarely seen, but once the ruby crown was exposed for me...photo shared on this post]---

RUBY CROWNED KINGLET

photo taken: Packery Channel Audubon Sanctuary - NORTH Padre Island
habitat map: Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Bud and I don't leave Port Aransas without checking out Paradise Pond, even tho there is so much construction going on surrounding the 'paradise'. The bird population has sadly dwindled to just a few. If lucky, and at the right time, some activity can be spotted.

SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER
photo taken: Paradise Pond - Port Aransas, Texas
habitat map: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

On a very chilly windy day after we went to lunch for some of the delicious fresh Gulf Shrimp, we drove over the harbor and I perused some of the pathway. Hardly any birds at all on the many lakes. But, on the Leeward side of one of the first lake shores, hundreds of sea gulls and terns and skimmers were huddled, protected by the strong wind. I set the camera lens on panoramic, but trust me this is just a 'sampling' of the numbers seen...the numbers were probably in the thousands, going on further to the northeast by several hundred yards...

SEA GULLS, TERNS & BLACK SKIMMERS
photos taken: Sunset Lakes - Portland, Texas
habitat map: Black Skimmer

At Leonabelle's Refuge, I spotted in the thick, dense tree-lined walkway, a White Eyed Vireo ---

WHITE EYED VIREO
photo taken: Leonabelle Turnbull Wildlife Refuge - Port Aransas, Texas
habitat map: White Eyed Vireo

...and lastly, trying to tally up my 10,000 steps for the outing, I walked the boardwalk to find one of my favorite species...once again, the horned lark!

HORNED LARK
photo taken: Charlie's Pasture North - Port Aransas, Texas
habitat map: Horned Lark

I took the Cornell Ornithology Quiz to find out what kind a of birder I am. The result:

I'm an INDEPENDENT BIRDER!! What are you? The quiz only takes less than a couple of minutes.

Now, share your birding experiences:

For use of graphic link in your post, copy text in lavender text area below and paste into your blog post: