Birds and Nature

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

Frontera Audubon was hot yesterday with a number of new species having apparently been brought in by the rain the night before. One of the new birds was this pretty Philadelphia Vireo. I did not do any editing other than cropping, the color and brightness were as photographed. SeEtta

This was a real treat yesterday at Frontera Audubon as I have never seen a Black-billed Cuckoo before. It certainly behaved like the Yellow-billed Cuckoos I have seen, secretively staying at least partially obscured in the tree. It's red eye ring is barely visible but the black bill is best seen in the middle pic. I added the crummy pic below only because it does show the white spots on this species graduated tail. SeEtta

I got to see the rare male Blue Bunting at Frontera Audubon today for my 5th and 6th times. The first time I refound it this morning it was calling, giving a very strong 'chip' call (which did not sound to be like a Blue Grosbeak chip as I have been told). I spotted it foraging about 30 feet into the native vegetation where it was foraging. Then it sang briefly, a nice warbled song. No photos then. But I found it again about 20 minutes later and 100 or so feet further away where I got this series of pics of it foraging on the ground in the leaf litter. I was less than 20 feet away as it foraged. I carefully moved away to go get a couple from Manitoba who had been looking for it and it was still foraging when we returned. The pic above shows it with what looks like a piece of leaf in it's bill. The pic above here shows it with a seed in it's bill. This indepth observation is the type of birding I enjoy the most. I got to watch this tropical bird f...

I photographed this very bright Nashville Warbler at Frontera Audubon this week. It must have recently acquired this very bright plumage. There has been up to 2 Nashville Warblers reported all winter at this location so this is presumably an overwintering bird not an early migrant. SeEtta

This is a female Painted Bunting, a very different plumaged bird than the male that is multicolored. It is kind of lime green on much of it's body but a muted coloration. SeEtta

I found this rare Blue Bunting again today at Frontera Audubon. I spotted it foraging just 6 feet in front of me but hard to see as it was in the middle of the vegetation(see bottom pic for pic before I cropped the photo to enlarge it more than the 8X of my lens). Fortunately though not sunny, it was bright out so the color came out better than my other pics of the bird in deep shade. Again I did nothing to enhance the color--this is the brilliant, shocking blue that this bird is! Not far from this rarity was the female Painted Bunting. SeEtta

It took a week here in the Rio Grande Valley but I was able to spot a Zone-tailed Hawk as it flew near Frontera Audubon. Unfortunately it was horribly overcast and bright so the pics were badly back-lit and also distant. But the wider outer tail band shows up and the a little of the patterned flight feathers. So these are the worst pics I have taken of these hawks. SeEtta

I spotted this Chachalaca sitting on the nest at Frontera Audubon yesterday. While big and loud, they aren't really unattractive. SeEtta

I was able to get several good pics of an Overbird at Frontera Audubon. While we are used to warblers flitting from branch to branch in trees, this member of the warbler species is a ground forager. SeEtta

Spotted this Northern Parula this afternoon at Frontera Audubon. SeEtta

He flew in and spent about 15 seconds getting several drinks of water. I did nothing to enhance the color of this bird-it is just very deep blue. SeEtta

I birded Frontera Audubon in Weslaco, TX today and got these photos of a Green Kingfisher. Though this species is found in parts of the Hill Country it is most often seen here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

I hadn't been back to Frontera Audubon Center since it looked like the Zone-tailed Hawks would not be perching or roosting in same locations that could be shared with the many other birders who were interested in seeing them. I returned yesterday afternoon and was told that both the juvenile and adult Zone-tailed Hawks had been seen in the past week or so near the pond viewed from Audubon Frontera where I had photographed them previously. I found this juvenile Zone-tail perched in a tree on the other side of the pond from Frontera at 3:40 pm. Thanks to staff member on duty Chris Warren who was willing to stay past the 4 pm closing to accommodate viewing of the hawk by others who were there to look for it, a group of 9-10 birders (including several from England) were able to view, photograph and videotape this bird also. Note: I believe there are likely two juvenile Zone-tailed Hawks frequenting Frontera Audubon as the photos I have taken do seem to show juveniles with s...

After days of cloudy and frequently mist-rainy skies, the sun was out when I got to Frontera Audubon this morning so all the vultures and (presumably, as I saw no raptors perched in the trees) the Zone-tailed Hawk were up flying and searching for food. So I decided to return around 6 pm to see if I could find either the adult or juvenile on their evening roost. When I returned I first spotted a Gray Hawk perched in a tree near Frontera Audubon Center, the first I have seen around there in the past 2 weeks. Then, just before 6:15 p.m. I spotted this adult Zone-tailed Hawk perched. I took photos and just watched the hawk for about 15 minutes until it was too dark to see it. It was very attentive as some vultures flew in nearby and turned it's head to watch them. I could still make out is silhouette when I left in full darkness. SeEtta

One of the Rio Grande Valley's specialty birds (resident of So Texas & Eastern Mexico)is shown engaging in their distinctive feeding behavior--poking and sweeping it's bill from side to side in the leaf litter, eating several morsels it finds. It gives great views at the beginning of the clip when it stops to look to see if I was a threat (no one else was nearby and though I was being very quiet, the camcorder makes a little beep sound when it starts). I videotaped this bird at the Frontera Audubon thicket in Weslaco, TX, a great place to bird (even when they don't have rarities, I find I can get great views of Valley specialities at pretty close range here). SeEtta