Birds and Nature

  Does it look like there is a face in the hole above?  Look below to see better the face in the hole. That is a little Eastern Screech-Owl Nestling inside the nest hole looking out. That was fun. SeEtta

  These Baltimore Orioles were enjoying refreshing baths in the extensive water feature at the South Padre Island Convention Center.  The color of their feathers were nicely enhanced by the light. These birds like most of the others here had recently migrated hundreds of miles across the Gulf of Mexico and have stopped over at these gardens for food, rest and a good bath. South Padre Island is a barrier island and the first land migrating birds come to when they fly across the Gulf in this southern area. Unfortunately there has been horrendous habitat destruction with many hotels and other buildings. Fortunately the Convention Center allows local birders to add trees for these birds. These local volunteers also maintain the large water feature and provide food like oranges for the birds. SeEtta

I spotted this MacGillivray's Warbler this afternoon at Frontera Audubon Nature Preserve. While it looks essentially like a female MacGillivray's, on close inspection it shows an almost complete eye on the right of it's eye. In researching this I found that the Stokes Birding blog notes, "Young MacGillivray's Warblers would have thick, white eye crescents which may, in rare instances, form a nearly complete eye-ring." So I suspect this is a subadult MacGillivray's unless I feedback to the contrary. Do click on this pic to enlarge it to see how almost complete the eye ring is. Unfortunately this is the only other pic that of this bird. SeEtta

Over the week-end I enjoyed watching a number of migrating birds including this stunning male Bay-breasted Warbler that stopped over on South Padre Island to refuel and rest for the remainder of their trip. I caught the bird in great light to get the pic just above so click on it to see the beautiful plumage up close. There is a wonderful water feature in the gardens adjacent to the Convention Center and I photographed this warbler and others when it came in to drink and bath. These Bay-breasted Warblers have a long way to go as they breed mostly in Canada and even further north. SeEtta

I spotted this Painting Bunting at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park this afternoon but was only able to get these pics that were from 70 or so feet away (used 300 mm lens which has equivalent to 450 mm as my camera is not full frame, then cropped the pics severely). These green buntings are either females or subadult males. As I see some blue on its wing and maybe on it's back I expect this is a subadult male but am hoping that I may get some feedback from those who have more experience with this species who can clarify this (and that is why I am putting the bottom pic here as it is not very good. Also saw a Black-throated Green and 1-2 Chestnut-sided Warblers and a couple of empidonax flycatchers. SeEtta