2019 An Image A Day: Travels, Landscapes, Night Skies, Birds, Wildlife, Macro & People

Seaside Sparrow

Photographed in Anahuac NWR Although territorial, the Seaside Sparrow often feeds long distances from the space it defends around its nest. In the tidal zone where it lives, nesting and feeding areas often are widely separated. The Seaside Sparrow is divided into several different subspecies that look subtly different. The two most distinct forms, the endangered "Cape Sable" Seaside Sparrow and the extinct "Dusky" Seaside Sparrow were once considered separate species. The "Cape Sable" Seaside Sparrow has dark streaks on a white chest and is the palest form. The "Dusky" Seaside Sparrow was the darkest form, with a blackish back and heavy dark chest streaks.

Rusty Blackbird

Photographed in Brazos Bend State Park Rusty Blackbird is a medium-sized blackbird with a slender bill and medium-length tail. The bill is slightly decurved. They are a bit larger and longer-tailed than Red-winged Blackbird with a more slender bill. Rusty Blackbird is thinner-billed and shorter-tailed than Common Grackle. Birders might say that this blackbird is rusty because it spends so much time in the water. In migration and winter it is usually in swampy places, wading in very shallow water at the edges of wooded streams. In summer it retires to northern spruce bogs; no other blackbird has such a northerly breeding distribution. The name "Rusty" applies to the colors of fall birds, but it could also describe the rusty-hinge sound of the creaking song. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/rusty-blackbird#

Red-winged Blackbird (female)

One of the most incorrectly identified birds of all time, the female Red-winged Blackbird looks like a sparrow, a large sparrow. This one was photographed in Anahuac NWR where this species is probably the most prolific in the Refuge. Red-winged Blackbirds are sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females have very different appearances. They also play very different roles during the breeding season. Breeding males stand sentry, ceaselessly singing and chasing intruders. Meanwhile, the streaky brown females — easy to mistake for large, pointy-billed sparrows — skulk in nearby vegetation, stealthily building nests, laying eggs and incubating, then doing much of the feeding of their young. But it's usually not just one pair that occupies a territory. This species is polygynous, meaning that one male will mate with and share territory with more than one female. Red-winged Blackbirds usually nest in loose colonies, with a male attracting up to 15 females to nest within a territory. And there's another wrinkle: Females frequently mate with males other than the territory holder, and so they often lay clutches of unknown paternity. Males chase and mob intruders of all sizes — not only competing males, but also Great Blue Herons, crows, and raptors, and even people wandering too close to their nests. Each breeding female may raise two or three clutches per season, building a new nest for each clutch. These reconstructions likely occur because new nests are sure to be free from parasites that could weaken or kill baby birds. Nesting is a dicey game of hide-and-seek in the wetlands and fields where Red-winged Blackbirds breed. They tend to nest close to the ground, within predators' reach. The females' brown and streaky coloration helps to camouflage them at and near their nests, which are usually concealed in thick reedy vegetation, often over water. Group nesting and individual birds' diligence and aggression toward intruders provide some added security. https://abcbirds.org/bird/red-winged-blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird

Photographed in Anahuac NWR where there are thousands and thousands of RW Blackbirds. BASIC DESCRIPTION One of the most abundant birds across North America, and one of the most boldly colored, the Red-winged Blackbird is a familiar sight atop cattails, along soggy roadsides, and on telephone wires. Glossy-black males have scarlet-and-yellow shoulder patches they can puff up or hide depending on how confident they feel. Females are a subdued, streaky brown, almost like a large, dark sparrow. Their early and tumbling song are happy indications of the return of spring. Cool Facts Different populations and subspecies of Red-winged Blackbirds vary markedly in size and proportions. An experiment was conducted that moved nestlings between populations and found that the chicks grew up to resemble their foster parents. This study indicated that much of the difference seen between populations is the result of different environments rather than different genetic makeups. The Red-winged Blackbird is a highly polygynous species, meaning males have many female mates – up to 15 in some cases. In some populations 90 percent of territorial males have more than one female nesting on their territories. But all is not as it seems: one-quarter to one-half of nestlings turn out to have been sired by someone other than the territorial male. Male Red-winged Blackbirds fiercely defend their territories during the breeding season, spending more than a quarter of daylight hours in territory defense. He chases other males out of the territory and attacks nest predators, sometimes going after much larger animals, including horses and people. Red-winged Blackbirds roost in flocks in all months of the year. In summer small numbers roost in the wetlands where the birds breed. Winter flocks can be congregations of several million birds, including other blackbird species and starlings. Each morning the roosts spread out, traveling as far as 50 miles to feed, then re-forming at night. One California subspecies of the Red-winged Blackbird lacks the yellow borders to the red shoulders (epaulets) and has been dubbed the “bicolored blackbird.” Some scientists think this plumage difference may help Red-winged Blackbirds recognize each other where their range overlaps with the similar Tricolored Blackbird.

Brown-headed Cowbird (female)

Photographed in Brazoria NWR Centuries ago this bird probably followed bison herds on the Great Plains, feeding on insects flushed from the grass by the grazers. Today it follows cattle, and occurs abundantly from coast to coast. Its spread has represented bad news for other songbirds: Cowbirds lay their eggs in nests of other birds. Heavy parasitism by cowbirds has pushed some species to the status of "endangered" and has probably hurt populations of some others.

Brown-headed Cowbird

Photographed in the bird rich Katy Prairie from my truck BASIC DESCRIPTION The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks. Once confined to the open grasslands of middle North America, cowbirds have surged in numbers and range as humans built towns and cleared woods. Cool Facts The Brown-headed Cowbird is North America’s most common “brood parasite.” A female cowbird makes no nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the young cowbirds. Social relationships are difficult to figure out in birds that do not build nests, but male and female Brown-headed Cowbirds are not monogamous. Genetic analyses show that males and females have several different mates within a single season. Brown-headed Cowbird lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Recent genetic analyses have shown that most individual females specialize on one particular host species. Some birds, such as the Yellow Warbler, can recognize cowbird eggs but are too small to get the eggs out of their nests. Instead, they build a new nest over the top of the old one and hope cowbirds don’t come back. Some larger species puncture or grab cowbird eggs and throw them out of the nest. But the majority of hosts don’t recognize cowbird eggs at all. Cowbird eggs hatch faster than other species eggs, giving cowbird nestlings a head start in getting food from the parents. Young cowbirds also develop at a faster pace than their nest mates, and they sometimes toss out eggs and young nestlings or smother them in the bottom of the nest. In winter, Brown-headed Cowbirds may join huge roosts with several blackbird species. One such mixed roost in Kentucky contained more than five million birds.

Eastern Meadowlark

Photographed in Anahuac NWR, These birds we used to call "Fieldlarks". I find that they are somewhat difficult to photograph, even from a vehicle. This one is heavily cropped. Basic Description The sweet, lazy whistles of Eastern Meadowlarks waft over summer grasslands and farms in eastern North America. The birds themselves sing from fenceposts and telephone lines or stalk through the grasses, probing the ground for insects with their long, sharp bills. On the ground, their brown-and-black dappled upperparts camouflage the birds among dirt clods and dry grasses. But up on perches, they reveal bright-yellow underparts and a striking black chevron across the chest. Cool Facts The Eastern Meadowlark is not in the lark family (Alaudidae)—it’s a member of the blackbird family (Icteridae), which also includes cowbirds and orioles. A male Eastern Meadowlark typically has two mates at a time, rarely three. Taxonomists recognize up to 17 subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark, including one isolated population in the Southwest known as the Lillian’s Meadowlark, which lives well within the range of the Western Meadowlark. Although Eastern and Western Meadowlarks are nearly identical, the two species hybridize only very rarely. Mixed pairs usually occur only at the edge of the range where few mates are available. Where Eastern and Western meadowlark ranges overlap in the central U.S., the two species refuse to share territories. Their songs sound totally different to each other, like a foreign language, so singing doesn’t always do the job of communicating territorial boundaries. Instead, the two species are likely to fight for territorial supremacy. An Eastern Meadowlark male can sing several different variations of its song. In New York, the songs from one male were analyzed using spectrograms; the bird sang more than 100 different patterns of song. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Meadowlark/overview

Northern Mockingbird

Photographed in the park across the street from my house in Cypress The Northern Mockingbird is the most abundant bird species in my neighborhood. They love human activity and being around humans, except when humans get too close to their nest, then it's war. The No. Mockingbird is the State Bird of Texas. I have witnessed and photographed Mockingbirds attacking large hawks who invade their territory. BASIC DESCRIPTION If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard. These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities. They sing almost endlessly, even sometimes at night, and they flagrantly harass birds that intrude on their territories, flying slowly around them or prancing toward them, legs extended, flaunting their bright white wing patches. Northern Mockingbirds are common in backyards, but they don’t often visit feeders. You can encourage mockingbirds to visit your yard by keeping an open lawn but providing fruiting trees or bushes, including mulberries, hawthorns, and blackberry brambles. In the early summer the Mockers and I fight over my two fig trees. They will eat a freshly ripened fig, at least put a few holes in it. I have learned to just let them have the figs that they claim and try and beat them to the new ones. Cool Facts It’s not just other mockingbirds that appreciate a good song. In the nineteenth century, people kept so many mockingbirds as cage birds that the birds nearly vanished from parts of the East Coast. People took nestlings out of nests or trapped adults and sold them in cities such as Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New York, where, in 1828, extraordinary singers could fetch as much as $50. Northern Mockingbirds continue to add new sounds to their repertoires throughout their lives. A male may learn around 200 songs throughout its life. The Northern Mockingbird frequently gives a "wing flash" display, where it half or fully opens its wings in jerky intermediate steps, showing off the big white patches. No one knows why it does this, but it may startle insects, making them easier to catch. On the other hand, it doesn’t often seem to be successful, and different mockingbird species do this same display even though they don’t have white wing patches. Northern Mockingbirds sing all through the day, and often into the night. Most nocturnal singers are unmated males, which sing more than mated males during the day, too. Nighttime singing is more common during the full moon. Northern Mockingbirds typically sing from February through August, and again from September to early November. A male may have two distinct repertoires of songs: one for spring and another for fall. The female Northern Mockingbird sings too, although usually more quietly than the male does. She rarely sings in the summer, and usually only when the male is away from the territory. She sings more in the fall, perhaps to establish a winter territory.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Photographed during the spring migration in 2006 in High Island, Texas at Houston Audubon's Boy Scout Woods. I did not know that there really was a cukoo cukoo bird until I stared birding and someone pointed out the Yellow-billed species. BASIC DESCRIPTION Yellow-billed Cuckoos are slender, long-tailed birds that manage to stay well hidden in deciduous woodlands. They usually sit stock still, even hunching their shoulders to conceal their crisp white underparts, as they hunt for large caterpillars. Bold white spots on the tail’s underside are often the most visible feature on a shaded perch. Fortunately, their drawn-out, knocking call is very distinctive. Yellow-billed Cuckoos are fairly common in the East but have become rare in the West in the last half-century. Cool Facts Yellow-billed Cuckoos are among the few bird species able to eat hairy caterpillars. In the East they eat large numbers of tent caterpillars—as many as 100 in one sitting. Yellow-Billed Cuckoos don’t lay their eggs all at once: the period between one egg to the next can stretch to as long as five days. This “asynchronous” egg laying means the oldest chick can be close to leaving the nest when the youngest is just hatching. When food is in short supply the male may remove the youngest bird from the nest, though unlike their relative the Greater Roadrunner, they don’t feed them to the older siblings. If threatened, nesting pairs of Yellow-billed Cuckoos will react with a “distraction display” designed to lure potential predators away from the nest site. While one bird remains on the nest, the other hops to a visible perch, opening its wings and pumping its tail up and down. In open nesting areas, a bird flushed from the nest flutters away in a slow, wavering flight, flashing its rufous wing patches and white tail spots. Yellow-Billed Cuckoos have a primal-sounding, croaking call that they often give in response to loud noises. Their tendency to call at the sound of thunder has led to their colloquial name, the “rain crow.” Yellow-billed Cuckoos sometimes lay their eggs in other birds’ nests—although they don’t do this nearly as often as the Common Cuckoo of Eurasia, which made the behavior famous. When outbreaks of cicadas, tent caterpillars, gypsy moths, and other prey create an abundant food supply, Yellow-billed Cuckoos sometimes lay eggs in nests of other cuckoos as well as in those of American Robins, Gray Catbirds, and Wood Thrushes. Both parents build the nest, incubate the eggs, and brood the nestlings. They incubate and brood equally during the day, but the male takes the night shift. The male brings nest material every time he comes to the nest to take his turn. The female usually takes the offering and works it into the nest. Yellow-billed Cuckoos have one of the shortest nesting cycles of any bird species. From the start of incubation to fledging can take as little as 17 days. Although born naked, the young birds develop quickly; within a week of hatching the chicks are fully feathered and ready to leave the nest. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-billed_Cuckoo/overview

Belted Kingfisher

Photographed from my truck along Sharp Rd in the Katy Prairie BASIC DESCRIPTION With its top-heavy physique, energetic flight, and piercing rattle, the Belted Kingfisher seems to have an air of self-importance as it patrols up and down rivers and shorelines. It nests in burrows along earthen banks and feeds almost entirely on aquatic prey, diving to catch fish and crayfish with its heavy, straight bill. These ragged-crested birds are a powdery blue-gray; males have one blue band across the white breast, while females have a blue and a chestnut band. This one is a female. Cool Facts The breeding distribution of the Belted Kingfisher is limited in some areas by the availability of suitable nesting sites. Human activity, such as road building and digging gravel pits, has created banks where kingfishers can nest and allowed the expansion of the breeding range. The Belted Kingfisher is one of the few bird species in which the female is more brightly colored than the male. Among the nearly 100 species of kingfishers, the sexes often look alike. In some species the male is more colorful, and in others the female is. During breeding season the Belted Kingfisher pair defends a territory against other kingfishers. A territory along a stream includes just the streambed and the vegetation along it, and averages 0.6 mile long. The nest burrow is usually in a dirt bank near water. The tunnel slopes upward from the entrance, perhaps to keep water from entering the nest. Tunnel length ranges from 1 to 8 feet. As nestlings, Belted Kingfishers have acidic stomachs that help them digest bones, fish scales, and arthropod shells. But by the time they leave the nest, their stomach chemistry apparently changes, and they begin regurgitating pellets which accumulate on the ground around fishing and roosting perches. Scientists can dissect these pellets to learn about the kingfisher’s diet without harming or even observing any wild birds. Belted Kingfishers wander widely, sometimes showing up in the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the British Isles, the Azores, Iceland, Greenland, and the Netherlands. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Belted_Kingfisher/overview

Green Kingfisher

Photographed in the beautiful Rio Bentsen State Park in McAllen, Texas This little kingfisher seems oddly proportioned, rather like a sparrow with the bill of a heron. Living along streams and rivers near the Mexican border, it is often overlooked, because it tends to perch low among vegetation near the water; its sharp ticking call notes may give it away. When moving up or downstream, the Green Kingfisher flies fast, with quick wing beats, very low over the water. Feeding Behavior Forages mostly by perching low, typically on an overhanging branch or root 3-6' above the water, sometimes on a rock in mid-stream, watching for small fish swimming close to the surface. When prey is spotted, bird flies down and plunges into water headfirst to take fish in its bill. Seldom hovers before diving.

Long-billed Thrasher

Photographed in the most birdy park in Texas, Rio Bentsen State Park in McAllen, Texas. Cool Facts Although the Long-billed Thrasher has a longer bill than the similar-looking Brown Thrasher, it does not have a particularly long bill for a thrasher. Le Conte's and California thrashers, and even fellow Texan Crissal Thrasher have much longer and more strongly curved bills. The Long-billed Thrasher has a long and complicated song like other thrashers and mockingbirds, but it is not known to include mimicry in its repertoire.

Curve-billed Thrasher

Photographed at Panther Junction in beautiful Big Bend National Park. Strong legs and a long, decurved bill give Curve-billed Thrashers the perfect tools for hunting insects in the punishing deserts, canyons, and brushlands that are its home. That long bill also keeps long-legged insect prey at a safe distance and comes in handy for foraging and nesting among spiny plants, especially cacti. This species is so typical of the deserts of the American Southwest and northern Mexico that its whistled whit-wheet call is often the first vocalization that visiting bird watchers learn The Curve-billed Thrasher that lives in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico looks different than the form that lives in the Chihuahuan Desert of Texas and central Mexico, and they may be separate species. The Texas and eastern bird has a lighter breast, more contrasting spots, pale wingbars, and white tail corners. The more western form has a grayer breast with less obvious spots, inconspicuous wingbars, and smaller, more grayish tail corners. Thrashers have impressive bills, but the Curve-billed’s is actually straighter and shorter than relatives such as LeConte’s, Crissal, and California Thrashers. That’s because when famed English naturalist William John Swainson first described Curve-billed Thrasher, from a Mexican specimen in 1827, he had not yet seen these other three species. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Curve-billed_Thrasher/overview

American Robin

Photographed at the Bay City Birding Center in 2004. BASIC DESCRIPTION The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Robins are popular birds for their warm orange breast, cheery song, and early appearance at the end of winter. Though they’re familiar town and city birds, American Robins are at home in wilder areas, too, including mountain forests and Alaskan wilderness. Cool Facts An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years. Although robins are considered harbingers of spring, many American Robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range. But because they spend more time roosting in trees and less time in your yard, you're much less likely to see them. The number of robins present in the northern parts of the range varies each year with the local conditions. Robins eat a lot of fruit in fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated. Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter. In summer, females sleep at their nests and males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting. Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview

Veery

Photographed at Boy Scout Woods at High Island, Texas, a Houston Audubon sanctuary. The Veery is a regular spring migrant to southeast Texas. Veeries are medium-sized thrushes—smaller than an American Robin but similar in shape. They have a plump body, round head, a straight, narrow bill, and fairly long wings and legs. This small forest thrush gets its name from the cascade of “veer” notes that make up its ethereal, reedy song—a common sound at dusk and dawn in summer in the damp northern woods. Most Veeries are a warm cinnamon brown above, with delicate spots on the throat; though far northwestern and northeastern populations are darker brown. These birds hop through the forest understory as they forage for insects and fruit. They spend winters in South America. Cool Facts Long thought to winter across the northern third of South America, but a recent study indicated that, in fact, the wintering grounds of the Veery are restricted to central and southern Brazil. A study of migration using radio telemetry showed that the Veery can fly up to 285 km (160 mi) in one night, and that it can fly at altitudes above 2,000 m (1.2 mi). The Veery’s scientific name reflects its vocal prowess as well as its plumage coloring. Catharus comes from the Greek katharos, for “pure”—probably a reference to the quality of its song. Fuscescens, from the Latin fuscus, means “dusky.” Veeries and many other songbirds migrate long distances at night. Many of these migrants alternate flapping with coasting, but Veeries may flap continuously throughout an entire night’s flight. Their efficient wings carry them over longer transoceanic routes than other thrushes can manage, on relatively small stores of fat. One place Veeries breed is in damp areas near beaver wetlands. As beavers make a comeback from extensive hunting, these wetlands are on the increase—possibly good news for Veery populations. Brown-headed Cowbirds often lay their eggs in Veery nests. Veery parents tolerate (or don’t recognize) the interlopers’ eggs and young. In one encounter, adults even fought off a snake that had attacked a cowbird fledgling. Nesting in thorny shrubs may help protect against cowbirds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Veery/overview

Wood Thrush

Photographed from the photo blind at Houston Audubon's Boy Scout Woods at High Island, Texas. The thrushes migrate across the Gulf of Mexico in the spring much like the warblers, tanagers and other passerines. BASIC DESCRIPTION The Wood Thrush's loud, flute-clear ee-oh-lay song rings through the deciduous forests of the eastern U.S. in summer. This reclusive bird's cinnamon brown upperparts are good camouflage as it scrabbles for leaf-litter invertebrates deep in the forest, though it pops upright frequently to peer about, revealing a boldly spotted white breast. Though still numerous, its rapidly declining numbers may be due in part to cowbird nest parasitism at the edges of fragmenting habitat and to acid rain's depletion of its invertebrate prey. A songbird like the Wood Thrush requires 10 to 15 times as much calcium to lay a clutch of eggs as a similar size mammal needs to nurture its young. That makes calcium-rich food supplements like snail shells crucial to successful breeding. These are rare in soils subject to acid rain, which may help explain patterns of population decline in the Wood Thrush. Wood Thrushes are vulnerable to nest parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds, which lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. Some species refuse to raise these eggs, but Wood Thrushes accept them as their own. In some Midwest forest edge habitats, virtually every Wood Thrush nest contains at least one cowbird egg. The Wood Thrush is a consummate songster and it can sing “internal duets” with itself. In the final trilling phrase of its three-part song, it sings pairs of notes simultaneously, one in each branch of its y-shaped syrinx, or voicebox. The two parts harmonize with each other to produce a haunting, ventriloquial sound. In many songbird species, males square off by "song matching": they answer a neighbor's song with the same song, perhaps seeing which male can perform it best. Wood Thrush males are different. They almost always answer a rival's song with a different one. The male Wood Thrush does more feeding of the chicks than the female, freeing her up to start a second brood. After that next brood fledges, the pair divides them up and feeds them at separate sites in the territory. Though pairs raise broods together, fooling around (or “extra-pair copulation”) is common. At some sites, as many as 40 percent of a female’s young are not fathered by its mate. The Wood Thrush's scientific name Hylocichla mustelina translates roughly as "weasel-colored woodland thrush."

Hermit Thrush

Photographed at Brazos Bend State Park Identifucation: Medium brown above with contrasting reddish tail. Dark spots on breast do not continue all the way down belly like Wood Thrush. Found in wooded areas; often hops on the ground or skulks in dense patches of shrubbery. Winters further north than other thrushes; many stay in the U.S. Listen for its beautiful song that is higher pitched than other thrushes with a steady introductory note; also gives low "chup" call note. https://ebird.org/species/herthr

Swainson's Thrush

Photographed at Boy Scout Woods, Houston Audubon Society in High Island, Texas in 2010 More likely to be heard than seen, Swainson’s Thrushes enliven summer mornings and evenings with their upward-spiraling, flutelike songs. During fall and spring migration, their soft, bell-like overhead “peeps” may be mistaken for the calls of frogs. These largely arboreal foragers pluck berries, glean bugs from leaves, or perch on branches and stumps. They also bound across the forest floor to catch insect prey. They breed in the north and the mountainous West, but they become very widespread during migration. Cool Facts The "russet-backed" Pacific population has more reddish plumage and a slightly different song than the "olive-backed" birds in the rest of the range. The russet-backed birds winter in Central America while the olive-backed ones winter in South America. The Swainson’s Thrush’s whirling song has a ventriloqual quality that can make it difficult to track. This may happen as the singer moves quickly from one perch to another between songs. It may also have to do with the sounds’ reverberation in dense foliage. Swainson’s Thrushes also sometimes sing quiet songs that create the illusion that its song emanates from a more distant location. Territorial disputes between males often take the form of singing duels, with song volume and frequency escalating until the combatants’ physical exertions are clearly evident. During these contests, rivals very occasionally invert their customary melody so that it spirals downward in pitch. A sing-off can lead to a chase and even occasionally to physical attack. Swainson’s Thrushes have been called “mosquito thrushes” for their flycatching habit of going after flying insects while feeding on their breeding grounds. In New England spruce-fir forests, the nests of Swainson’s Thrushes are often lined with root-like cords of horsehair fungus. The fungal filaments can have antibiotic effects and may help deter nest pathogens. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/overview

Grey-cheeked Thrush

Photographed at Anahuac NWR in 2019 BASIC DESCRIPTION Of all the American spotted thrushes, the Gray-cheeked has the most northern breeding range. Consequently this shy skulker of the underbrush is not well known and is rather infrequently seen. Gray-cheeked and Bicknell's thrushes were only recently recognized as separate species. Most of the information published in the last century on "Gray-cheeked Thrush" concerned the Bicknell's Thrush instead of the Gray-cheeked. Although Gray-cheeked Thrush has a much larger range across North America, the Bicknell's Thrush's small range is closer to centers of human population, and therefore is the more accessible species. We will examine the "Thrushes" in the next two weeks.

Cedar Waxwing

Photographed in the Katy Prairie, not far from the house. When you see one Cedar Waxwing, you'll see a flock. They are all dressed up looking like a dapper bird. BASIC DESCRIPTION A treat to find in your binocular viewfield, the Cedar Waxwing is a silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask, and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers. In fall these birds gather by the hundreds to eat berries, filling the air with their high, thin, whistles. In summer you’re as likely to find them flitting about over rivers in pursuit of flying insects, where they show off dazzling aeronautics for a forest bird. Cool Facts The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates. Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange. The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet. Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits. Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol. Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/overview

Loggerhead Shrike, the Butcher Bird

Photographed in the Bridgeland Community while walking my dog on a cold day. I've included a photo of a Shrike's favorite prey, a grasshopper, impaled on a barbed wire fence. My first encounter with a Loggerhead Shrike was in Quintana Neotropic Bird Sanctuary 15 yrs ago. I witnessed one attacking, killing and then flying off with a smaller bird, a Northern Parula. On another occasion, I watched one attack and kill a House Sparrow at one of my bird feeders and fly with it up to the top of a wooden fence. They are pretty vicious little birds and earned the name "Butcher Bird." It’s no secret that the shrikes are formidable predators. The grayscale songbirds of the open country might look as harmless as mockingbirds, but these black-masked “butcherbirds,” as they’re known, pack more fierceness ounce for ounce than any other bird in the country. The nine-inch carnivores catch and kill a wide variety of prey—grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, lizards, mice, frogs, and small birds—that can often be as big as they are; one was once observed carrying off a Northern Cardinal after "a noisy struggle lasting less than a minute, by which time the cardinal was dead." On top of that, their lifeless quarry can be seen gruesomely impaled on sharp objects like twigs and barbed wire throughout the southern United States and northern Canada, where Loggerhead Shrikes and Northern Shrikes range, respectively. (The Loggerhead population has declined by more than 80 percent since the 1960s, possibly due to pesticides killing their insect prey.) This macabre behavior, which is not a Game of Thrones-esque warning to other birds but a form of food storage, led Wired to declare the Loggerhead Shrike “by far the most metal of birds.” The editorial staff of Audubon are inclined to agree. But while ornithologists have long known that shrikes impale their prey, no one knew for certain how these songbirds managed to catch and kill relatively large vertebrates. A new analysis of high-speed video footage finally reveals the answer: They grasp mice by the neck with their pointed beak, pinch the spinal cord to induce paralysis, and then vigorously shake their prey with enough force to break its neck. Okay, then. The shrike's hunting strategy is often compared to that of raptors like eagles, hawks, and falcons: They’ll sit on an elevated perch, scan the ground below, and pounce on any spotted prey. But this new research, which focused specifically on Loggerhead Shrikes, shows that the two have vastly different kill methods. Raptors have powerful wings to carry heavy loads and sharp, strong talons to catch prey, as well as to manipulate and tear flesh apart. Shrikes, though, are stuck with dinky passerine feet—good for little except delicately perching on branches. This lack of leg musculature and weaponry needed to withstand a struggle means the songbirds have to kill quickly. As the new study reveals, once shrikes induce paralysis with a precise bite to the neck, they roll their heads rapidly to vigorously shake their immobilized food. According to the researchers, this back-and-forth whipping motion generates accelerations of up to six g-forces—roughly the same amount of force felt by passengers on high-g rollercoasters, or the whiplash experienced by victims of low-speed, rear-end car crashes. This is more than enough force to snap the vertebrae of a large rat or break a mouse’s neck, and it’s all generated by the roll of a Loggerhead Shrike’s head. A headbanging, prey-impaling death-bird? You can't get much more metal than that. https://www.audubon.org/news/shrikes-have-absolutely-brutal-way-killing-large-prey Note: I'll try and comment on photos late today. It's 4:25am and I'm headed to Anahuac NWR for the day. See ya.

Dickcissel

Photographed in Anahuac NWR along the road to Frozen Point BASIC DESCRIPTION The curt song of the Dickcissel sounds like the bird’s name, and it’s part of the soundtrack of the North American prairies. This chunky grassland bunting is colored like a miniature meadowlark, with a black V on a yellow chest. These birds are erratic wanderers—common across the middle of the continent, and a pleasant surprise whenever they turn up in pastures and fields elsewhere in the central and eastern United States. Dickcissels can form enormous flocks on migration and in winter. Cool Facts In preparation for fall migration, Dickcissels assemble into larger and larger flocks that can reach into the thousands. On their wintering grounds, these flocks can number in the millions of birds. Dickcissels frequently make irregular movements into grassy habitats outside their core breeding range, making for sometimes dramatic changes in abundance from year to year. While the Dickcissel is currently classified as part of the cardinal family (Cardinalidae), it has vexed taxonomists trying to determine its closest relatives. In the past, it has been placed in the New World sparrow family and also in the oriole and blackbird family. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dickcissel/overview

Northern Cardinal (male)

Photographed along Sharp Rd in the Katy Prairie. Generally, when you see one No. Cardinal, it's mate is not far away unless she's on the nest. This bird is the most recognized of all North American birds. It's a favorite of mine. One it's songs is a repetitious,"Birdee, birdee, birdee, birdee." BASIC DESCRIPTION The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning. Cool Facts Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male. Many people are perplexed each spring by the sight of a cardinal attacking its reflection in a window, car mirror, or shiny bumper. Both males and females do this, and most often in spring and early summer when they are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping). The male cardinal fiercely defends its breeding territory from other males. When a male sees its reflection in glass surfaces, it frequently will spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder. A perennial favorite among people, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states. It is also the mascot of several professional and college teams. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Cardinal/overview

Northern Cardinal (female)

Photographed along Sharp Rd in the wonderful Katy Prairie. You can click the right arrow and see the Pyrrhuloxia and the differences in the two species. BASIC DESCRIPTION The male Northern Cardinal is perhaps responsible for getting more people to open up a field guide than any other bird. They’re a perfect combination of familiarity, conspicuousness, and style: a shade of red you can’t take your eyes off. Even the brown females sport a sharp crest and warm red accents. Cardinals don’t migrate and they don’t molt into a dull plumage, so they’re still breathtaking in winter’s snowy backyards. In summer, their sweet whistles are one of the first sounds of the morning. Backyard Tips Nearly any bird feeder you put out ought to attract Northern Cardinals (as long as you live within their range), but they particularly seem to use sunflower seeds. Leave undergrowth in your backyard or around the edges, and you may have cardinals nesting on your property. Find out more about what this bird likes to eat and what feeder is best by using the Project FeederWatch Common Feeder Birds bird list. Cool Facts Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. A mated pair shares song phrases, but the female may sing a longer and slightly more complex song than the male. Many people are perplexed each spring by the sight of a cardinal attacking its reflection in a window, car mirror, or shiny bumper. Both males and females do this, and most often in spring and early summer when they are obsessed with defending their territory against any intruders. Birds may spend hours fighting these intruders without giving up. A few weeks later, as levels of aggressive hormones subside, these attacks should end (though one female kept up this behavior every day or so for six months without stopping). The male cardinal fiercely defends its breeding territory from other males. When a male sees its reflection in glass surfaces, it frequently will spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder. A perennial favorite among people, the Northern Cardinal is the state bird of seven states.

Pyrrhuloxia

About 3 miles from my house lies the Katy Prairie, a vast expanse of rice fields, farms, wood lots. I go birding-photographing there often. One year I found this Pyrrhuloxia, a somewhat rare spices for this area. They are often confused with a female Northern Cardinal, which I will post tomorrow. Thanks for looking and all your comments. BASIC DESCRIPTION Dapper in looks and cheerful in song, the Pyrrhuloxia is a tough-as-nails songbird of baking hot deserts in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. They’re closely related to Northern Cardinals, but they are a crisp gray and red, with a longer, elegant crest and a stubby, parrotlike yellow bill. During breeding season Pyrrhuloxias are fiercely and vocally territorial, but in the winter they forget their disputes and join together in large foraging flocks. Cool Facts Foraging winter flocks of Pyrrhuloxias may number as many as 1,000 birds. The name "Pyrrhuloxia" is a combination of the genus names Pyrrhula (bullfinches) and Loxia (crossbills). The roots mean "flame-colored" and "crooked," and aptly describe the reddish bird with the crooked bill. The Pyrrhuloxia has very similar vocalizations and behaviors to the closely related Northern Cardinal, which is found in the same range but tends to live in wetter habitats. When a male Pyrrhuloxia’s and a male cardinal’s territories overlap, each defends its territory vigorously from members of its own species, but they don’t seem to fight with each other. On a day when outdoor temperatures reached 118°F, a Pyrrhuloxia was seen sitting on a terrace in the air-conditioned breeze coming out of a house. This canny behavior has also been observed in Cactus Wrens and Loggerhead Shrikes. Though they will drink at pools of water when possible, Pyrrhuloxias seem to get most of their water from their insect food in spring and summer. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pyrrhuloxia/overview

California Towhee

Photographed in Bolsa Chica Wetlands, California California Towhees are at heart birds of the tangled chaparral and other hot scrublands of California and Oregon. You’re as likely to hear their bright chip notes along a secluded trail as on your way out your front door. If you live in the Southwest, look for this bird’s twin, the Canyon Towhee. You can encourage California Towhees to come out in the open in your backyard by offering seed (including millet, which is unpopular with many other backyard birds). Towhees are ground foragers, so spreading seed on the ground or in trays Is more likely to attract them than hanging feeders. Find out more about what this bird likes to eat and what feeder is best by using the Project FeederWatch Common Feeder Birds bird list. Cool Facts Taxonomists used to consider the California Towhee and the almost identical Canyon Towhee the same species, the Brown Towhee. The Abert’s Towhee looks quite different from these two species, but evidence suggests it may actually be the California Towhee’s closest relative, rather than the Canyon Towhee. Poison oak is one of the hazards of outdoor recreation in California. It lines trails and covers hillsides, seemingly lying in wait to inflict its itchy, weeping rash on the unwary. But it’s also an integral part of the landscape and part of the daily life of California Towhees. Many towhees build their nests in poison oak and feast on the plant’s copious crops of pale white berries. The Inyo California Towhee is restricted to riparian habitat in the Argus Mountains of central California. It is threatened by the destruction of the habitat, largely the result of foraging by feral burros. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Towhee/overview

Purple Finch (female)

Photographed in Bear Creek Park, Harris County, Texas BASIC DESCRIPTION The Purple Finch is the bird that Roger Tory Peterson famously described as a “sparrow dipped in raspberry juice.” For many of us, they’re irregular winter visitors to our feeders, although these chunky, big-beaked finches do breed in northern North America and the West Coast. Separating them from House Finches requires a careful look, but the reward is a delicately colored, cleaner version of that red finch. Look for them in forests, too, where you’re likely to hear their warbling song from the highest parts of the trees. Cool Facts The Purple Finch uses its big beak and tongue to crush seeds and extract the nut. They do a similar trick to get at nectar without eating an entire flower, and also to get to a seed buried inside a fleshy fruit. Purple Finches seem to be losing numbers in eastern North America as House Finches have moved in after being brought to New York City in the 1950s. One study of finch behavior found that Purple Finches lost out to House Finches more than 95% of the times the two birds encountered each other. Into their rich warbling songs, Purple Finches sometimes add in the sounds of other species, including Barn Swallows, American Goldfinches, Eastern Towhees, and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Birds that eat fruits are doing plants a favor by distributing their seeds later on. But finches eat the seeds themselves. Though they may not look the part, finches are predators. From a seed's point of view, these birds' hefty beaks mark the end of the line.

Lesser Goldfinch

Photographed in Davis Mountains State Park, Texas Jabbering clouds of yellow, green, and black Lesser Goldfinches gather in scrubby oak, cottonwood, and willow habitats of the western U.S., or visit suburban yards for seeds and water. These finches primarily eat seeds of plants in the sunflower family, and they occur all the way south to the Peruvian Andes. Listen closely to their wheezy songs, which often include snippets from the songs of other birds. Male Lesser Goldfinches in the eastern part of their range in the U.S. tend to have black backs. Along the West Coast, their backs are green, with only a black cap. Elsewhere, the amount of black varies, with many birds having partly green backs. South of central Mexico, all of the males are black-backed. Lesser Goldfinches are most common in California and Texas, with pockets of local populations throughout the rest of its U.S. range. At feeding sites, Lesser Goldfinches typically mix in with other birds, such as Lawrence’s and American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, House Finches, Lark Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, and Western Bluebirds. Where their ranges overlap in California, the Lesser Goldfinch—though smaller—dominates the Lawrence’s Goldfinch. The Lesser Goldfinch eats first at feeding stations and chases Lawrence’s Goldfinches away from nesting sites. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Goldfinch/overview