Daily bird piccies vol 391

Some White Ibis.

Grackle in the morning sun.

That would be interesting to see, if the YB sapsucker would drink from the sugar water, Mrs-Ed.
Duc those Quails must be fun to watch them digging in the ground like that. Love the second pic where you only see its head. Nice pair of House finch.

A Downy woodpecker, having it's chance at the suet.

During a snow storm last Friday, the Grackle found the way to the seeds.

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Redpolls on the same feeder, as the storm was starting.

Nice pic of the Pileated, I am still trying to get him, have not given up yet.

Nice shots guys!

I'm a sucker for quail, duc. We are still at High Island, running down the Bolivar Peninsula and taking the ferry to Galveston today.
Sitting on 118 species for the trip. Still no mass warbler migration and our time is running out. We did see a few yesterday--Yellow-throated, B&W,parula,White-eyed Vireo, Painted Bunting.

Here is a pic of a Black-necked Stilt and a Common Moorehen sparring over a little patch of sand. This went on for several minutes. The larger moorehen eventually prevailed.

A pair of Neo-tropical Cormorants nesting at the Smith Oaks rookery, High Island TX.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2011 5:22 AM

This message was edited Apr 6, 2011 6:19 AM

These guys are everywhere. If I get down near the water, I make sure I have a clear view. This big guy was sunning at Anahuac NWR off Hiway 124 north of High Island. At least they are easy to approach, you can get as close as you want.

I can't imagine wanting to get TOO close to that, red. Awesome shot. You know, Gators can actually run pretty fast...AND climb fences!

Well, my idea of putting up a upside down feeder to deter sparrows worked for a while now they have figured out to get on there and eat. This morning I went out and it was on the ground, either something very heavy got on it, or the squirrels got on it, at least when it fell, it fell straight down, so the squirrels couldn't get it anyway.

Ooooh those 'Gator' is hugmongous!!! Love all the birds pix guys.

Great birds you're all seeing. I've got just a few to share from today. First, a Black Swan down the river this morning.

Back home. A Brown Honeyeater flitting about in the gum blossoms.

..

A baby Little Corella in the big gum tree in our yard late this afternoon. It's begging for food from one of its parents.

Same bird, different lighting

From yesterday, a Little Corella in flight.

Such exotic birds to us, Margaret......awesome shots.

Beautiful Black Swan, Margaret. How nice to see gum blossoms. Never have I seen them before. The Honeyeater is cute!

In the stillness of the morning beauty;

Mrs Ed, that sapsucker sure is beautiful. Looks like the robin was happy with the pond too.

Teddy, your pair of wps look happy with the food.

GP, glad you're enjoying the pileated-they sure are beautiful birds. Love the Ibis and grackle shtos too.

Burn, great photo of the downy. I wonder if yours would like the peanut butter log like mine do? So happy to see you're still enjoying the Redpolls. That grackle looks happy it found the food-cute with the snow in the picture.

Red, with a count of 118, I'd sure be proud-good for you. Cute photo of the stilt and moorhen. Too bad you can't stay around the cormorants a little longer to see the little ones. You're braver than I would be getting near that monster gater.

Margaret, love that black swan and the corellas are gorgeous. That honeyeater sure is a beauty too. Love all your birds.

Lily, your goose is so pretty.

I was looking out the window when I noticed this Scrub Jay pulling the matting from a hanging basket I was about to hang up.

The wind was blowing the feathers on this female Bullock's Oriole.

A Tree Swallow

This male Nuttall's Woodpecker was busy looking for bugs.

Great shots Margaret and Duc! LOL on the Scrub Jay Duc! Marg, That baby Little Corella is real cute but I'll bet they make a lot of noise.

Teddy, I had 2 of my 4 suet feeders taken down and almost out of the yard. I thought it was squirrels at first but then realized it was raccoons. :-(

This is a picture of a sparrow going up to the feeder, I tried to get it actually going up and I thought I did pretty good. They go up and most of them go right back down, but some of them actually get some of the suet. They don't hang on for very long.

Boys I wished my camera can zoom in a tad further. The Herons nests are filled with activity. The live pine tree was filled with approx. a dozen nests. Here are two young ones practicing 'fighting' at each other.

wow. a dozen nests. that's a lot 'o' babies.


So I was taking a picture of the one male purple finch that showed up this morning. Suddenly in the viewfinder there were two, then three males. Then in dropped the girls! I couldn't believe I had this many at one time! This isn't even all of them. There were a few more over at another feeder.

This was the first handsome boy.

And here are some of the girls.

Always enjoy the Oz birds, Margaret. I met some Australians here who work for Tropical Birding Tours. They are conducting free walks on High Island this week for Houston Audubon and will attend Galveston Feather Fest this w/e. They were very knowledgeable and their people skills were tremendous. Great guys! They do tours all over the world and have a website if anyone is interested.

Picked up 3 lifers yesterday- White-tailed Kite, Worm-eating Warbler and Kentucky Warbler.

Heading back to my dau's at McKinney, TX this a.m., but taking the scenic route through Big Thicket National Preserve. Might get lucky and pick up a Red-cockaded WP.

An Eastern Kingbird at Anahuac NWR. Lots of them there.

A Laughing Gull on a post in Galveston.

Have had the girls the last few days but they have gone home now so I finally am getting a chance to pop in. Lots of wonderful pics! I can't believe all the Purple Finch Mrs. Ed had and I haven't seen even one yet!

So back to pics taken last weekend!

White-breasted Nuthatch getting some safflower seed.

Took a walk on Sunday morning and got this male cardinal...

Spotted a pair of Carolina Wrens being very busy in the brush...was able to catch one.

Also saw a White-throated Sparrow still hanging around!

Duc, I'm happy for you that you get to enjoy the variety of Orioles. Nan pretty Cardinal and Nuthatch. Red, looks like you're having a wonderful time in Tx. How does Galveston look like nowaday? Mrs. Ed. Those sure are handsome birds, the Purple finch.

I've a lifer! Thanks to Resin for helping with the I.D. Northern Rough-winged Swallows;

Another new one. First female Eastern Towhee;

Lily, Most of the hurricane damage is no longer visible, but population dropped 30%. But there is still a lot of damage along the Bolivar Peninsula and also to the envirionment. Trees are at a premium along the marshes and coastal plain and the surge from Ike inundated a lot of them in salt water, killing them.

Pie-billed Grebe.