§ Choke Canyon

NOTE, on Mother's Day, I drove over to Mustang Island to check on the rare Falcon. On that day, she was still there, and there was a lot of movement in the nesting platform!!

This week, Bud and I took a leisurely drive up north of Corpus about 70 miles from home. About halfway between here and San Antonio Texas. We ended up passing the Federal Prison located in Three Rivers, Texas and stopping to do a little birding at Choke Canyon Reservoir. This reservoir is where our city gets its tap water...the lake has a capacity of more than 695,000 acre feet (857,000,000 m3). And it's now at the point of 100% full. In fact, they've been opening the dam now and then to drain and keep it from breaking and flooding disasters. Anyway, Choke Canyon is a HUGE state park and known nation wide as a birding hotspot. Of course, the big attraction is the water, boating, and fishing. Also, camping and picnicking. There is a hunting lottery to the drawn winners to keep wildlife from over-populating. I, of course, go for the birds.  We stayed but a few hours, the drizzling rain kept us from really enjoying our outing, and being that the water was bank-full, the birds were scarce, except for in the campgrounds.  Last time we were there, we could walk along the reservoir shores and had bird caches in the reeds because of the drought at THAT time.  But, a few birds we saw.  Here are the photos:

COMMON GROUND DOVE
habitat map:  Dove


KILLDEER

Killdeer get their name from the shrill, wailing kill-deer call they give so often. Eighteenth-century naturalists also noticed how noisy Killdeer are, giving them names such as the Chattering Plover and the Noisy Plover.

habitat map:  Killdeer


LONG BILLED THRASHER
habitat map:  Thrasher


TURKEY VULTURE
habitat map:  Vulture


RED WINGED BLACKBIRD
habitat map:  Blackbird


SNOWY EGRET
habitat map:  Egret



HARRIS's HAWK [two]
habitat map:  Hawk


CRESTED CARACARA [THE MALE IS GROOMING HIS MATE]
habitat map:  Caracara

On the nature trail, I saw but was unable to photograph:

Green Jay - 1
White Winged Dove - 5
Mockingbird - 5
Carolina Wren - 2
Turkey Vulture - 1
Tufted Titmouse - 2
and at the water's edge at the end of the trail:
Crested Cormorants - 4
Snowy Egret - 2
Great Egret - 6
Barn Swallow - x
Golden Fronted Woodpecker [heard only]

As we were leaving the park, we saw one female bobwihte quail on the roadside.


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§ How Do You Go from Starlings to Mozart?

While walking along the Park Road between the river and the Hawkwatch Platform and field, I spotted dozens of Barn Swallows perched on the power lines....this is only between two poles...each section of power line poles had as many...hundreds if not a thousand!!!

BARN SWALLOWS
photo taken:  Bazemore Park
habitat map:  Swallow

Sadly, so many think that Starlings are a nuisance, I don't! They have gorgeous plumage, they have a beautiful song, and they ARE part of our environment, so I enjoy them as much as any other bird!!!

EUROPEAN STARLING * * [see note below]
photo taken:  Bazemore Park
habitat map:  Starling

These Doves are quite scarce in my neck of the woods, so when I see one, I'm thrilled.

WHITE TIPPED DOVE
photo taken:  Bazemore Park
habitat map:  Dove

One of the first Autumn warbler migrants to stop over in the South Texas Coastal Bend. There were a couple of them taking advantage of the drip system just below the hawkwatch platform, in the shade of the mesquite trees. While one was on the edge of the dripping water, the other was in the tree.

BLACK and WHITE WARBLER
photo taken:  Bazemore Park
habitat map:  Warbler

When I saw this heron along the boat jetty at Packery Channel, I immediately thought of Charlie Chaplin's stance while dressed in his striped pants and black jacket doing his hobo comedy routine. If you are too young to know who Charlie Chaplin is...click here Even thinking of Mr. Chaplin and being brave enough to actually admit of remembering him in my youth, it DOES age me!!   Think Silent Movies!!! Don't ask me why, 'cause I don't know why....then, when I was uploading it to this post, I had second thoughts...perhaps General MacArthur or Patton readying to make a speech before their battalion?

GREAT BLUE HERON
photo taken:  Packery Channel
habitat map:  Heron

Tho this cattle egret is in breeding plumage...and late September, I'm guessing the species may have two breeding seasons in a year's time? Do they?


CATTLE EGRET
photo taken:  Caribbean Drive Ponds
habitat map:  Egret

This too...there were two Spoonbills...and in a way, the activity [in September] resembled a courtship ritual?

ROSEATE SPOONBILL
photo taken:  Caribbean Drive Ponds
habitat map:  Spoonbill


As I pulled off the road, onto the shoulder to get a photo of the hawk, it stopped searching the ground cover and watched ME watching it!!

WHITE TAILED HAWK
photo taken:  Mustang Island Highway
habitat map:  Hawk

* * Note: I recently read a non-fiction book entitled Mozart's Starling! It was excellent. For any bird lover, or one interested just a tad bit of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart [his trained starling, Star, and how the bird became a pet of Wolfgang's by mimicking one of his 'secret', yet unpublished, works at the pet store!! To the author training a starling,and studying her bird from taking it from a nest before it fledged --named Carmen]...also, her obsession to learn more about Star and Mozart's connection, she travels to his country and follows through with an incredible adventure of learning, education, and understanding not only his gift of music, but starlings and surmising that perhaps some of his music composition could be a result of the starling's song repertoire!!  I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in the subjects of talking birds [starlings are highly adept in human speech or their habits], Mozart, and birds in general....think:  Mozart's Piano Concerto Number 17 in G

...another review




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§ Caribbean Birds...

On our cruise, I wasn't really in search of any birds, but along the way, and going on excursions, when I'd spot a bird, like the Doctor Bird I shared last week if you missed its beauty, I'd record it for reference, Most seen were and are common along the Texas Coast...others are not.

For instance, these are seen in Texas and across America also...


SNOWY EGRET and CATTLE EGRET
photo taken:  Great Hope Plantation...Jamaica
habitat map:  Snowy Egret - Cattle Egret


RUDDY TURNSTONE
photo taken:  Near ship dock - Cozumel, Mexico
habitat map:  Turnstone


ROYAL TERN
photo taken:  The town of HELL - Grand Cayman Island
habitat map:  Tern


GROUND DOVE
photo taken:  Cayman Island [7 mile beach]
habitat map:  Dove





The following birds are more tropical and indigenous to the areas we visited:


TROPICAL MOCKINGBIRD
photo taken:  Mayan Ruins - Cozumel, Mexico
habitat map:  T. Mockingbird


BLACK CATBIRD {?}
mostly all black, small, thin beak, with a dusting of gray on underpart and along the wing feathers -

Black Catbird

Melanoptila glabrirostris

Near-threatened

photo taken:  Mayan Ruins - Cozumel, Mexico
habitat map:  Catbird



ANTILLEAN GRACKLE
photo taken:  Great Hope Plantation - Jamaica
habitat map:  Grackle



A very special visitor along the way as we sailed the sea.  From our balcony, a Brown Booby.  It flew for several minutes, diving for fish and circling the ship...


BROWN BOOBY
photos taken:  Cruise Ship Stateroom Balcony
habitat map:  Booby


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§ Oso Bay Wetlands

Sunrise over Oso Bay - Looking toward Flour Bluff, Texas

Oso Bay

Last week I took my morning stroll through Oso Bay Wetlands to see what birds I could see in the early morning hours just as the sun was rising. I was hoping to spot an owl or two, but I didn't. A few weeks ago, a bobcat and her young one was seen in the vicinity. I didn't see that either. Sadly, just outside the boundaries of the reserve there are new homes being built in what was once an open field where Sandhill Cranes would feast on the winter food. This particular morning, I could hear the cranes [and if you've heard them and their chortling calls you understand that the sound carries from a far distance!] which seemed to be coming from the southerly direction, clear across the bay waters. I kept my eye on the sky! I did see some flyovers, and once I got to the top of the large covered observation platform, I scouted the horizon across the water, but I couldn't find where they were landed.

Here are some that flew over as I traversed the many trails...



SANDHILL CRANES
photos taken:  Oso Bay Wetlands - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map:  Crane


Once on the platform, I focused on these:


In order from Top to Bottom:
TRI COLORED HERON - WHITE IBIS [juvenile & adult] - OSPREY - ROSEATE SPOONBILL - JUVENILE IBIS - OSPREY
photos taken:  Oso Bay Wetlands - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map:  Heron, Ibis, Osprey, Spoonbill

...along the many trails I heard more birds than I actually photographed. And several unknown sparrows flew in front of me in the tall grasses to only quickly disappear before getting any ID. I did get a few more photos that morning before heading back home...

From Top to Bottom:
NORTHERN CARDINAL - EASTERN PHOEBE - GOLDEN FRONTED WOODPECKER - GREAT EGRET - COMMON GROUND DOVE
photos taken:  Oso Bay Wetlands - Corpus Christi, Texas
habitat map:  Cardinal, Phoebe, Woodpecker, Egret, Dove

A few days later, I decided on doing some drive by shooting from the car only, and with any luck, the area that I spotted dozens of Sandhill Cranes, in 2015, near Flour Bluff, I may find 'em again this year. I HIT PAY DIRT!!! [for another post]...




Now share your birding experiences:








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