Big Skipper

June is a slow month for central Texas birding. There are a lot of summer and year-round resident species out there, but the rising temperature makes the period of high activity in the morning shorter. Plus it's hot and humid out there! I got out for about an hour this morning in the flood plain property. I found 33 bird species, including a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, White-eyed Vireo, and 3 species of flycatcher (Great Crested, Eastern Phoebe, and Scissor-tailed). But I was most interested in this butterfly. I can tell it's some kind of "skipper" from the way its wings don't meet each other when they're folded up. But it's at least twice as big as any skipper I've ever seen before. And notice the big white patches on its wings. I like the subtle browns and tans also on its wings.

Common Nighthawks

I got out for about an hour this evening and birded the flood plain property. At the north end there were 3 or 4 Common Nighthawks flying low and catching bugs. I took these mediocre pictures of 2 of them. These common summer residents are not really hawks -- they are actually in the nightjar family (like the Whip-poor-will). They have a distinctive buzzy call and you can often see them flying around parking lots at dusk. Their long narrow wings have white patches near the ends, and they have a white throat. Their erratic flight is fun to watch as they rapidly change directions while chasing insects through the air. In this second picture I think the bird's mouth is open and you can just see the bug it's about to swallow. Neat!

Juvenile Screech-Owls

On Friday Garrett Cox who lives on Villa Park Drive sent me these neat pictures. They are juvenile Eastern Screech-Owls he found in his backyard. Garrett wrote, "Last night while enjoying the post-rain weather I noticed two small birds on my back fence. It wasn't until I paid closer attention that I noticed that it was two small Owls and they were doing a very active dance, bobbing and moving their heads in a very neat manner." My guess is that these guys recently fledged and are just getting the hang of being owls! See my recent NASWC article about our neighborhood owls here. Thanks for the great pictures!

Vulture and Heron

After the rain this morning I got out for a couple hours of birding. It was a pleasant morning -- overcast and cool. It was also very wet. I took this picture of the dead tree at the end of Meadowheath. On the right side you can see a Turkey Vulture drying its wings.



The second picture is of a Green Heron on the small creek by Meadowheath. These are common summer residents here and many are nesting in our trees. Usually you don't see them with their necks stretched out like this. Their more common posture makes it look like their head comes directly out of their body, and their folded neck is hidden by feathers.

Box Turtle Update

Back in April I found this Ornate Box Turtle crossing Broadmeade one morning. I was thrilled to find it since land turtles like this one are very rare nowadays. A couple weeks ago I stumbled on this page on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's web site. TPWD wants to know when box turtles are seen in Texas. I printed the reporting form, filled it out, and mailed it in. The only information I didn't have was a measurement of the turtle. We got over half an inch of rain the night before which may have been significant. It was nice to be able to contribute to this monitoring project, even if it was just one data point. TPWD has several other monitoring projects for different animals too. They all look like great excuses to get out and find more cool animals in the neighborhood!

Thunderstorm

I've been watching the thunderstorm from my patio. There hasn't been much wind so I could stand right at the corner of my patio roof and watch the rain and lightning and listen to the thunder. Sometimes the trees in my backyard were perfect black silhouettes and sometimes they were lit up green like on a clear sunny day. At one point I saw a flock of about 15 birds heading down fast, probably between Woodmere and Sherbourne. What were they? If I had to guess I'd say it was a group of migrating Common Nighthawks but I really don't know. What a storm!

June NASWC Bird Walk

Three of us met this morning for the June NASWC bird walk. Spring migration is definitely tapering off and it's starting to feel like summer. We birded the flood plain property for about 2 hours and managed to see 27 species. The birding was slow and we did not see any migrants. But we did find some birds that have recently returned for the summer:

• A White-eyed Vireo was heard in some thick brush near the creek.
• Green Herons and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were seen on the creek. Both of these herons are actually nesting in the neighborhood. (The picture is of a Yellow-crowned I took at the same spot in late April.)
  
• Many Chimney Swifts, Barn Swallows, and a few Purple Martins were in the air above us.
• A Black-chinned Hummingbird was briefly seen on a wire overlooking a backyard with a feeder. We also briefly saw a female hummingbird feeding on the flowers of a Mimosa Tree.
• The high point for me was getting a great look at a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that popped into view while we watched some chickadees. These elegant birds are often heard in the summer, but they can be very hard to see.