Breakfast guest, sorta

This morning, we'd just sat down for breakfast when I happened to glance up in the live oak. "Look, James!" I said, "there's a hawk!" I jumped up straight away and ran down the hall for my camera. Through the window, I managed to snap a few images (these are cropped heavily). 

Not for very long, he/she stared at me warily, then took his/her meal and winged away to some oaks behind our yard. I'm pretty sure our guest was a red-tailed hawk, probably immature. If you disagree, let me know! Wrong, Sheryl! Thanks to Anonymous, we know now it's an adult Cooper's hawk. Wow! A new one for us!

UPDATE FEBRUARY 26, 2014--Wrong again! We have RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS! I just searched for their scream (listen to "typical territorial call") and it matches what we've been hearing. We've seen (and heard) three just today in our oaks and flying overhead. 

UPDATE NOVEMBER 19, 2016--STILL WRONG! This is a Cooper's hawk. Thanks to fellow iNaturalists and experts at The Hawk ID Group (Facebook).

First a turkey...

Now a turkey vulture! This morning, James hollered, "Oh, sweetheart! Look out the window!" I laughed. Two summers ago, we had a resident turkey hen that hung out in our back yard. This time, a turkey vulture dropped in. Literally. Later, James found what was left of an opossum carcass. Somebody must have dropped it from a tree, and it landed in our yard. Vultures have EXCELLENT smell and couldn't miss a look-see at the tempting morsel. Another vulture was in a nearby oak. Both flew away when James pulled up a window blind to get a better look. Alas, neither bird came back for the carcass so James took care of it.

The mob mentality

Just yesterday, I shoved away from my desk and marched outside to fuss at a LOUD-MOUTHED juvenile mockingbird. I was trying to work, but I kept hearing it SCREECH SCREECH SCREECH. When I stepped outside the garage, I spotted it on the front porch walk, hopping beneath the Texas lantana. Mom or Dad was nearby, trying to scare up an insect for lunch. When everyone saw me, they flew off.

Peace. Finally.

James was surprised that I heard the ruckus from in my office. He didn't hear a thing at the dining room table. 

Today, however, HE heard a ruckus, and I didn't.

"C'mere!" he told me from the hallway. "There's a snake up in the trees!"

We walked outside to the front yard, and James pointed at the rat snake, high in the live oak branches. All around, an army of birds shrieked and yelled...titmice, mockingbirds, cardinals, wrens, blue jays, woodpeckers. It's a bird behavior called "mobbing." Look in the bottom left hand corner of the photo above, and you can just make out a bird and its tail, perched on a branch. The snake's barely visible in the middle of the photo.

Even the white-winged doves were upset. They gathered in some dead pecan branches in the back yard.

This female northern cardinal was ready to put up her dukes.

See the rat snake's head? You have to look hard in the middle of the photo.

Here's the same photo, cropped in closer so you can see the snake.

After a short while, the ruckus died down. But this female house finch still didn't want to give up!

Robins

One of many American robins in our Wildscape

We've got a LOT of robins this spring! For the longest time, I kept trying to figure out a pretty trilling song up in the live oaks. I'd look and look, thinking, "OK, where's that wren?" This morning, I finally spotted my loud-mouth crooner...a ROBIN! So now I've got to plug that call into my memory bank. It might stick for the rest of this season. We'll see how I do next spring!

After the rains, the birds SING

Thunder woke me up yesterday morning. I happened to open the front door, and OH MY the birds were singing singing singing! So I got James' Kodak and recorded the symphony. I believe it was shortly around 6:30 or so. You can even hear some thunder.

Then I recorded the singing from our back door...

 Half an hour or so later, I recorded from the back door again. This time, the phoebe has joined the chirping.

One more recording later in the morning. I was also trying to video our robins... I believe that's one singing the loudest.

Robins everywhere!

Okay, just so we're clear–I do NOT claim to be a videographer of any kind! 

That said, above is a brief clip I recorded...or tried to record (using a small Kodak camera)...of a rather large contingency of robins that stopped by our Wildscape this morning. James and I estimated somewhere between 40 and 50, which is huge for us. We may have six tops but usually just two or three at a time. But these guys were everywhere–in the Meadow, the back yard and some in the front. In the recording, you can also hear the wonderful, blessed rain falling and other birds calling, like a white-winged dove.

Bird gone bad

Photo by Terry Brussel

Last Friday, Terry Brussel of Johnson City e-mailed me this lovely photo of a northern cardinal. "I found him lying on his back in the yard near my compost pile," Terry wrote me. "I sobered him up, then released him."

Please share more details, I wrote back.

"I'm not sure what he ate, but you an tell by the stain on his beak that he ate something. I picked him up, and he was somewhat lethargic," Terry recalled in a follow-up e-mail. "I took him in the house and set him on my external hard drive for about one hour. Then I took him back outside, took some photos, and he flew off."

About three years ago, we had pine siskins at our feeders that seemed a bit tipsy. We do have (nonnative, invasive) pyracantha bushes with red berries in our neighborhood. I suspect that Terry's cardinal and our siskins must have imbibed on a few. THIS cardinal's very fortunate that Terry came along when he did!  

Note: Terry later e-mailed and reported that there's no pyracantha around his house. Hmmm....

Counting those birds!

Lesser goldfinches at our thistle feeder

Day two of the Great Backyard Bird Count...I'm getting addicted!

Record ID: S9876760
Email: Blanco County, TX
Observation Date : FEB 18, 2012
Start Time: 1:00 PM

Number of Species: 10
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
    White-winged Dove - 2
    Carolina Chickadee - 2
    Black-crested Titmouse - 1
    American Robin - 3
    Northern Mockingbird - 1
    Chipping Sparrow - 21
    Northern Cardinal - 2
    House Finch - 2
    Lesser Goldfinch - 8
    American Goldfinch - 11

Hummers still around, and a surprise as well

I tried to snag some shots awhile ago, but then everyone disappeared! This morning, I counted five females and three males. We were down to three feeders, but then I rehung one by my office window.

Plus, yesterday evening, we spotted a roadrunner in the lot behind us. "It's going to jump the fence and a drink of water," I predicted. Well, I was halfway right. The roadrunner jumped into our back yard, but it only surveyed the bird baths in passing. Then it made the coolest call....if you listen to the call here, the middle, almost metallic-like "clatter" is what we heard. I didn't run for my camera because I didn't want to startle it. First roadrunner in our Wildscape EVER!

James saw this little gal open her wings, lean her head over and open her mouth wide. I got one photo through the screen (and glass window) before she took off.

Baby rescue!

This morning, we were out watering...we're just trying to keep alive what we've got, nothing more. No grass, no exotic natives. Anway, a mockingbird kept fussing at me. I just laughed and fussed right back. I did notice that it was carrying a worm or some insect in its beak. But–DUH–I didn't think any further than that.

Along comes James later. I was busy still laughing at the mockingbird when James pointed to our flame acanthus. A BABY perched within the branches! That's why the adult had been yelling at me! DUH! James got a ladder, and I scooped up the little bird child in my hands. I tried to set it high on an oak branch, full of ball moss. But it tumbled off. So this time, I set it in a leafy elbow bush. Success! Several times today, I've checked on the baby, and it's doing fine. Both parents are busy feeding it. Naturally, when I showed up with my camera, one got VERY perturbed with me. Again.

Turkey Lurkey and someone new

Our neighbhood wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) has become a regular in our Wildscape. We're not sure yet if it's a male or female. I'm guessing an immature male. Amid the brown grass and burnt vegetation, the goofy bird is a welcome addition to our wild kingdom. The other evening, I was sitting on our rock patio, and here came Turkey Lurkey. It strolled down our garden paths, visited a bird bath or two, and scratched in the flower beds. Then along came a territorial mockingbird. That tough guy dove and chased the turkey until it gave up and jumped the fence into the front yard. Later, I saw the turkey way high in an oak, getting ready to roost for the night.

 

Earlier this week, we also had a juvenile green heron (Butorides virescens) visit our Wildscape. From my office window, I watched it practice its fishing skills...in our very shallow bird bath! That was a hoot. We didn't realize our pretty those little herons are, especially their sage green legs and feet.

Since I had my long lens out, I shot a few images (not great) of other visitors at the bird bath outside my office window...

Northern cardinal (female)

Inca dove

House finch (male)

Titmouse

Turkey time!

This pretty gal started appearing in our neighborhood several weeks ago. She hung out mostly across the street in our neighbors' yard. Then she mosied across the street and visited our Wildscape. Yesterday, we spotted her in the back yard. This morning, she showed up again. And there she was at dinner time, too! We figure this awful drought has forced her to move "inland" to find food and water. I just hope the local dogs don't find her! (Or kids with pellet guns)