Birds and Nature

In addition to the rare warblers below, there were a lot of other neat migrants at the South Padre Island Convention Center Gardens this past week including 2 male Painted Buntings. Interesting how the light changes the shade of the colors on this/these bird(s) (not sure if these were of the same or different birds) There was only one Rose-breasted Grosbeak. But a group of 5 male Dickcissels that fed together and also perched near each other. SeEtta

I found a few singing male Dickcissels in the Ft Lyon, CO area on a quick trip to the are on July 3 in an field of unknown plants that they had begun to harvest so I expected that the Dickcissels would be displaced and leave. On my way down to Lamar this past week I drove down the road where I had seen these and was surprised to hear Dickcissels singing in the field, this one with the more expected alfalfa, next to the one that they had been in previously which was now completely mowed to the ground. It was close to dark so I didn't stay long but with plans to return while down in the lower Arkansas Valley. I returned with local birder Jill from Lamar and we enjoyed not just hearing them but watching them as they perched on top of the utility wires as well as tall vegetation to sing. The photo below is a female Dickcissel, which I only infrequently see and rarely get to photograph. The sun was so bright that it really washed out the photos of her. The female looks li...