Chitter Chatter...

Bird Sightings around town!

From Linda Lanoue on Hwy 188 west of bypass Hwy 35:

August 31, 2009

We went to the Corpus Christi Library today & when we were finished went for a walk in Blucher Park. It was teeming with hummingbirds; they were everywhere. Also warblers: Black-and-white, Yellow, Oven Birds, huge numbers of Mourning & quite a few Chats, along with Baltimore & Orchard Orioles, Great Crested Flycatchers & Empids. Hummers outnumbered everything else, though, by far.

At home we still have most of the birds from 2 days ago & they've been joined by Mourning & Black-and-white Warblers, an Eastern Wood Pewee & a Summer Tanager. As voracious as these birds are, I'm not sure there will be any berries left for the next group.

We have a mature male cardinal that is more orange than red. Not as bright as an Oriole, but orange enough that I do a double-take every time I get a glimpse of him.

From Lee Hutchins in Sinton:

This may be of some interest…Last Friday, August 28th, in San Diego, TX while watching the football game I looked up and saw this bird and thought it was a Nighthawk. On its second pass over the field I found that it was a Rock Dove. This Rock Dove was catching insects in the lights. This went on for half the game or longer. I've never seen anything like this before. That Rock Dove must have been mighty short on food.

Scott Holt in Port Aransas reports a 'yard full' of Orchard and Baltimore Orioles after he mowed and turned on the sprinklers. He also reports seeing three Chuck-Will's Widows, an Oven Bird, and a Bell's Vireo among others.

From Bron Rorex in Country Club:
September 1, 2009
Banding was insane Tuesday morning. I didn’t even get inside till almost 1:30pm. Think we banded about 60 ruby-throats, many great-crested Flycatchers & chats, a handful of empids, a Prothonatory warbler, a northern Waterthrush, & a hatch-year mocker. The first net run this morning had 39 ruby-throats plus assorted passerines; started the morning off with a bang. The self-capturing trap does grab some birds; I need to find time to make some more of them; mend my torn net & make more hummer bands

From Mary Mauel at the South Texas Botanical Gardens:

September 1, 2009

This is the beginning of the fall migration. It was overcast. It was thundering in the southwest away from the gardens. The temperature was probably 85 degrees Fahrenheit , and probably winds from the south. Butterfly species observed were 2 Cloudless Sulphur in the Butterfly House, 1 female Queen nectaring on Mistflower, 1 female Pipevine Swallowtail nectaring on Lantana, 2 male Fiery Skipper, 2 Little Yellow, and 1 Sachem. Good birding!

Great Egret:1—Fishing in Oso Creek.

Turkey Vulture:3—Flying over head.

Killdeer:1— Heard over head.

Laughing Gull:2

White-winged Dove:2

Mourning Dove:5

Inca Dove:3—Heard behind the Hummingbird Garden.

Chimney Swift:2

Ruby-throated Hummingbird:10—Observed at the hummingbird feeders.

Western Kingbird:1—Observed at the bird blind by the Tree…Demonstration Area in full breeding plumage.

White-eyed Vireo:1—Heard along the Bird and Butterfly Trail.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher:1—Observed in full breeding plumage.

Northern Mockingbird:2

Yellow-breasted Chat:1—Observed in the Sensory Garden on the Olive Tree.

Northern Cardinal:3—Observed the male juvenile feeding at the bird blind. The female adults were at the beginning of the Wetlands Trail.

Dickcissel:2—Observed 2 first winter females at the entrance to the Wetlands Trail. They were calling to one another.

Red-winged Blackbird:50—Observed and heard on the grounds of the gardens. Thirty three of them were flying over head.

Baltimore Oriole:2—Both were feeding on Root Beer Berries of the Root Beer Plant in the Sensory Garden. The female was a first year female and the male was in full adult breeding plumage.

House Sparrow:5—At the bird blind.