Texas: The Final Day

Wednesday April 30th was my last day for birding in Texas and I still had a couple of target birds I wanted to find, I did a little extra driving and headed east from Winnie to the small town of Anahuac.  Someone had suggested that Swallow-tailed Kites had frequented the area from time to time.  Well not this time, so I once again struck out on this bird and came home without this bird added to my list.  But while I was there and driving the streets, I did happen to find a pair of Purple Martins on a nest box built for them.  Not a bird that I see that often and although I prefer photos without man-made objects in them, I was happy to find them and add them to my Texas list.

Pair of Purple Martins with a neighboring House Sparrow

The rest of the day was spent by revisiting some of the places I had already been and first on the list was Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge.  It is one of those places that deserve a second visit and I have no regrets on the return visit as this time other birds showed themselves well and another critter was seen multiple times as well.  Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Mottled Ducks are common in this location and I was able to find all 3 species with the Fulvous Whistling Duck and the Mottled Duck being a couple of life birds for me.  

 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

 Fulvous Whistling Duck

Fulvous Whistling Duck

To many the Mottled Duck probably looks a lot like a female Mallard.  However, 2 key identification marks are the black spot at the gape of the bill and the absence of white feathers in the tail.

Mottled Duck

This day just happened to be the day of the Least Bittern.  I visually saw 4 of these elusive and secretive birds on this day and captured photos of 3 of them.

 Least Bittern - female

 Least Bittern - male

Least Bittern - female

An American Bittern was seen in the grass which is a bit uncharacteristic of this elusive bird.  Not sure if it thought it was invisible or not, but then once I got out of the car to snap photos it did not stick around very long and took flight in the opposite direction.

American Bittern

One of the biggest reasons to return to this place was because a rare bird had been reported here.  The Ruff is a Eurasian species that has a habit of showing up in the United States from time to time and this time one of them chose Texas and since I was in the neighborhood, I kind of thought it might be best to try and add it to my life bird list.  Surprisingly, when I arrived at the location that others had seen it, no one else was there and I was wondering if I would be able to pick it out.  Definitely was not a problem as it stood out from the rest of the 'peeps' in the shallow water.  Also had a couple of Stilt Sandpipers and a gorgeous female Wilson's Phalarope in the same pond.

 Ruff

 Ruff

 Stilt Sandpiper

Wilson's Phalarope - female

So many birds were present, some of them even common to Arizona.  Here are a few more photos of wading/water birds.

Green Heron

 Great Egret - note the bright green facial pattern, breeding plumage

Purple Galinule

On the way out, the Dickcissels were singing on both sides of the road and one male was quite content to let me capture a couple of photos even while a couple of Northern Bobwhite were calling nearby.

Dickcissel

And of course another photo of my non-nemesis bird, the Common Nighthawk.  Just had to have my daily dose of this bird, but I am definitely not complaining!

Common Nighthawk

And just to prove that birds were not my only interest, I happened upon one of the area's most notable reptiles, the Alligator.  I actually found 3 of them on this day in this location and 3 more in another location later that afternoon.  I liked this pose the best.  

Alligator

Once again I will have to complete one more blog post after this one to finish out my trip.  I ventured back to High Island to finish my final day and got some photos of one of my key target birds.

    

Texas: 2nd Day, Part 2

Too many birds in one day to include all in one post, so this second part is going to focus more on waterbirds and another previously mentioned bird.  At noon, the Houston Audubon Society had another field trip and this one took us to the actual Gulf Coast and some great water birds.  First stop was Rollover Pass and the first birds we found up close and personal, were some Ruddy Turnstones.  This is one gorgeous shorebird and can really stand out in a crowd of other shorebirds.  We were so close we could see the awesome coloration of the legs and feet.  Love the black lines on the feet and the black 'knees'.

Ruddy Turnstone

Additional shorebirds included Black-bellied Plover and Wilson's Plover.    

Black-bellied Plover

Wilson's Plover

We had a total of 7 species of terns at this location, plus a Black Skimmer and of course some gulls and a few other shorebirds.  All of them were resting quite comfortably on the sand bar until an unexpected Broad-winged Hawk decided to make a brief appearance in the sky and that created pandemonium with all the birds taking flight but to return very shortly after the hawk disappeared.  

 Various terns

 Royal Tern

Broad-winged Hawk

At one brief stop near the shore, we had another 'Common' Nighthawk sitting on the ground.  Having never seen this species before this trip, now I had seen one the day before in flight, one in the morning at High Island on a wire, and now a third one resting on the ground in broad daylight.  (Be prepared to see more on a couple future posts as this was not the end of seeing this very unique bird.)

Common Nighthawk

So now back to High Island and this time my focus was to check out the rookery in Smith Oaks Woods in the afternoon.  This spot is a photographer's dream in late afternoon in spring with all the nesting and breeding birds.  They have built some great platforms that gives photographers great viewing with an abundance of subjects for your photography skills.  Here is a sampling of what I was able to capture.

 Cattle Egret

 Great Egret with chicks

Neotropic Cormorant with chicks

 Purple Gallinule

 Tricolored Heron

Tricolored Heron

 Roseate Spoonbill

 Roseate Spoonbill on nest with egg

Roseate Spoonbill

By the time this day had come to a close for me and my birding I had added a total of 15 new life birds.  Some were not photograph-able, but I did get some good looks at some.  When birding with a group, photos are always not going to happen as it is quite enjoyable to let others see these birds as well.  List for the day includes; Dickcissel, Tri-colored heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Broad-winged Hawk, Tennessee Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Golden-winged Warbler, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Hooded Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.  Not a bad day at all.  

Glendale Recharge Ponds & Gilbert Water Ranch

After spending a week in the White Mountains and also in the Madera Canyon areas of Arizona a week ago, I figured it was time to stay home on Saturday and Sunday to recuperate.  During my time away from home, there were a few intriguing bird sightings of interest in and around Phoenix.  Guess I just could not resist checking out a couple of these just to see if the birds were still around or not.  On Sunday morning, decided to check out the Glendale Recharge Ponds in the west valley to see if the Roseate Spoonbill might still be hanging out.  It was not meant to be as I could not locate it in the couple of basins that actually still held water.  But I still found some interesting birds and was able to capture a couple of interesting photos in the process.  It is almost never a waste of time to go birding when the birds can be so darn entertaining and interesting. 

 

The most numerous birds on the pond that early morning were Wilson's Phalaropes.  These birds are usually only seen in Arizona in the spring and fall as migrants though the state.  Very rarely do we get to see them in their bright colorful breeding plumage, but they are always a joy to see and watch.

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope



Also present were 3 American Avocets that also were not in their bright breeding plumage but no matter, they are always an elegant and graceful bird to observe.  This one appears to be a female as the females have a stronger upturned bill than the males do.

American Avocet-Female



Another bird that is quite common around water in the winter time in Arizona is the Least Sandpiper as many of them will spend their winters here. Note the yellowish legs of this bird which helps to define the difference from the Western Sandpiper. 

Least Sandpiper

 

And finally as I was walking down low in one of the dry ponds, a Killdeer landed on the path near me.  I use this vantage point when birding at these ponds as the birds in the ponds with water do not see you and when you step up to peek over the pathway you normally get better views before they all spook and fly away.  Glendale Recharge Ponds are devoid of trees, so hiding from the birds can be quite a challenge.  It was interesting to see and photograph a Killdeer at eye level. 

 

Killdeer

 

Since the spoonbill did not make an appearance, I decided to head across the valley to the Gilbert Water Ranch to see if I could locate another rarity that had just appeared a couple of days before.  When I arrived at pond 2 where this target bird had been sighted I also found 6 other birders there watching for it (Scott, Fonda, and Lindsey and her father, plus 2 others).  So while we were waiting to see if this bird would come out of hiding I captured and couple of other photos that I liked.  One was an American Wigeon and one was a female Mallard.  The wigeon is not a rare bird by any means but they usually do not arrive for the winter this early in the fall.  The female Mallard was showing off it characteristic bright blue speculum and the sunlight was hitting it just right for a photo.

 

 American Wigeon

 

Mallard-Female



And finally after an hour wait, the mystery bird did make an appearance on the far side of the pond and thanks to Lindsey and her scope and her running me down to find me, I got some good looks at my first Purple Gallinule.  This one is a juvenile and they are not seen in Arizona very often.  A few of them stray north out of Mexico from time to time, so it was nice to add another new life bird to my list.  Now my goal is to see one in adult plumage and to capture a much better photo than what I could manage this time.  This photo was taken from quite a distance, but once again a bad photo is better than no photo when it comes to a new life bird.

Purple Gallinule-Juvenile