TEXAS APRIL 2012 Part 4

My visit to Hill Country was punctuated by two memorable experiences with owls. The first was with a BARRED OWL. This owl is at the western edge of its range here in Texas. It likes the mature deciduous groves along the river valleys in Hill Country. I have three or four sites that I check for this bird. During the day I stopped at one and hooted the who cooks for you call. Not long after the owl came flying right in!

Barred Owl in flight

Once the owl had found a perch I stopped hooting. After about twenty seconds it began to hoot loudly at close range. I didn't respond (the right thing to do!). The owl continued to call away in mid day. Surely this is one of the greatest vocalizations in the world of birds.

Barred Owl looking for me!

On an early morning visit to Lost Maples State Natural Area I was surprised to hear an EASTERN SCREECH-OWL. A little bit of walking back and forth and I was able to triangulate its location. After a bit of scanning there it was sitting right in the open!

Not surprisingly I wasn't the only one who heard the owl. Soon there was a flurry of activity as at least ten small passerines started scolding and mobbing the owl. One of the angry mobbers was a male GOLDEN-CHEEKED WARBLER. This allowed me to get some fantastic images of this beautiful songbird.

Golden-cheeked Warbler male

Golden-cheeked Warbler male

TEXAS APRIL 2012 Part 3

Neals Lodge near Concan makes a superb base for exploring the Hill Country of south Texas. Often birders do the 'valley' and skip this area. I cannot emphasize enough... DONT MISS THIS AREA! A visit to Hill Country will likely be the highlight of your trip!

This was a great year at Neals with several male TROPICAL PARULAS hanging around the large cypress trees that line the Rio Frio right by the lodge. The male below was particularly easy to see.

Tropical Parula male - Neals Lodge, Concan

Whenever I tell birders about the bat cave near Neals, the typical response is "what birds are there"? Well there are a few but the real highlight are the bats - and I have NEVER seen any birder who is disappointed with a visit. I have been there about ten times and always consider this a highlight of any trip. Simply put, it is one of the greatest spectacles you will ever witness! Below are a couple of images from this year's visit.

Brazilian Free-tailed bats at dusk - Concan

Brazilian Free-tailed bats in sunset - Concan

Hill country has a superb selection of BREEDING species which are not present in the lower valley of south Texas. And many of the species that are migrants or scarce breeders there, are much more easily seen and heard in Hill Country. A great example is the BELL'S VIREO. This bird is widespread and easy to find around Concan. The loud jumbly song of Bell's Vireo is a part of musical landscape of this region.

Bell's Vireo near Concan

Texas April 2012 Part 2

One of the fun things about south Texas in spring is that you never know what might be around the next corner. Thanks to the power of the net Kathi and I were able to find out about a SURFBIRD (normally a Pacific coast species!) that had been seen at the jetty on Mustang Island. We went out early the next morning and within thirty seconds of leaving the car, there was the SURFBIRD! It was remarkably tame and we had probably the best views I have ever had of this species. It was also great to see one in full alternate (breeding) plumage, as all my other previous encounters had been in the fall.

Surfbird - Mustang Island jetty

 The coast has some fantastic migrant traps but this spring was typified by southerly winds and good warm weather. As a result there were very few migrant songbirds grounded on the coast. Nonetheless there was lots of eye candy to keep us busy with an dizzying array of waterbirds. A common species, but one I always enjoy is the GREAT BLUE HERON. This adult was feeding close to shore in wonderful evening light.

Great Blue Heron

 When we got bored at the migrant traps, we would poke around for 'critters'. This BROWN ANOLE was displaying next to the boardwalk at Paradise Pond. Two features you can see well in this photo are his stubby tail (the rest lost in some sort of encounter) and the bright red/orange dewlap. The dewlap is expanded in males as part of a territorial display.

Brown Anole

There were few warblers or other songbirds about, but this YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER provided a nice dash of colour and excitement at Paradise Pond. We watched him at close range for over a minute as he bashed this moth to bits before consuming it.

TEXAS April 2012 Part 1

A few weeks in south Texas in April were just what Kathi and and I needed to knock off the winter doldrums. We spent our time roughly in thirds - in Hill country, in the lower valley, and near Corpus on the coast. I try to avoid High Island which to me is the most over-rated migrant trap in North America.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Mustang Island

To me, the SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER is the perfect icon for an April visit to south Texas. Its showy, spectacular and amazingly... they are EVERYWHERE you look. In a single day its not unusual to see hundreds of them strung out along the roadsides. This year was no different as we had superb close views of dozens of scissor-tails.

Whooping Crane adult and year old immature

One of the birds Kathi really wanted to see was Whooping Crane, so we took the morning boat trip out of Rockport with captain Tommy Moore. We were not disappointed. These trips are good value. He offers a first class trip and we had superb views of whoopers. This adult and year old were only a few hundred feet away. We had a great long study of these birds as they fed close by. During the three hour trip we tallied 19 whoopers. When I returned just a week later most of these birds had moved north but we still found about five remaining.

Black-capped Vireo - Hill country

One of my goals for this trip was to get decent photos of both Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler. The vireo is easy to hear but often tough to see well. It never seems to stop moving! This time we found a male that was singing steadily very close to the road about 60 miles north of Concan. I tried to predict where it might pop out of a small bush and focused on the branch. Within seconds the vireo appeared right on cue on the branch and I fired off three shots. One of them (above) turned out quite well. Sometimes its better to be lucky than to be good!

Aus hilites Part 10

Here are some hilites from the Cairns area.

Aus hilites Part 9

Here are a few more hilites from the Atherton tablelands.

Aus hilites Part 8

Here are some pics from the Mareeba area and the Cassowary House near Cairns.