East Texas Birder on The Move

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Soon to be Exciting!

The thought occurred to me recently that we will soon be delighted with cute entertaining new birds in our yard. Great News! I am imagining colorful warblers bathing in our water. Winter is over and the beauty of spring is showing. The Redbud , Pear, Plum and soon the Dogwood Trees will color the landscape. The Pine and Oak pollen are overwhelming at the moment. The butterflies are flitting around the flowers in the yard. Mosquitoes are buzzing our ears as we sit on the porch. Oh Yea! The fun has begun!... I am in Austin this week. I look forward to doing some birding in central Texas. A Vermilion Flycatcher resides on my daughter and son-in-laws property. I plan to capture his beauty this week. I always look forward to photographing the animals on their property as this changes on a fairly regular basis. This week there is a Rambouillet Sheep visiting. These are also called French Merino Sheep. He is a big ram and looks very mature. I will share photos of him. The three Zebra are still residents. Zoe, Zip, and Zeb are there names. I have seen the Ladder-backed Woodpecker and the Golden-fronted Woodpecker. These guys are not woodpeckers we see at home. I am blessed to have family living in this part of Texas and love birding here when I visit. Blessings!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Sparrows I Have Photographed

White-throated Sparrow

Chipping Sparrows

Chipping Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrows

Song Sparrow

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Sparrows have remained a work in progress for me. I have begun to enjoy the species more as I have added new ones to memory. These birds seem so very similar to me in the past. It has taken a few years to train my eye to notice their differences more easily. I am thankful today that I am improved in identifying them. Here, in Southeast Texas, we see many Chipping Sparrows in the winter. We see White-throated, Lincoln, White-crowned, Fox, Field and Song also. When I visit the Austin area and Pedernales State Park, Lark, Rufous-crowned, Vesper, Clay-colored, and Savannah Sparrows have been seen. The Swamp Sparrow was seen at Brazos Bend State Park. There are always Sparrows as well as other birds seen during migration which are not residents of the area. I hope you enjoy my photos. Blessings!

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Observing the Beauty!

Today, as I enjoyed a lovely Texas afternoon, a beautiful sound was heard in the woods. I kept wondering which bird I was hearing call to another. Finally my eyes spotted the yellow beauty sitting in the Yaupon

Holly with his beak open and the beautiful sound coming forth from its body. I later heard it again back farther in the trees. The great thing for me was that now I recognized the Pine Warbler's voice and could identify it without seeing the bird. I am sure I have heard the Pine Warbler before although this was the first time to see it with my eyes and camera while it was calling. You may have heard and identified this sound in your yard. I love when I can identify a bird's call or song. The male and female Pine Warbler love the homemade suet we serve in the winter. They watch for us to fill the holes each day with the peanut butter suet. This Warbler feeds primarily on seeds. It is found almost exclusively in Pine Trees. We see them a lot here in East Texas. They like all of the birds also enjoy our water feature. Blessings!