Wilson's Warbler & Least Flycatcher (signs of fall north TX)

I saw this Wilson's last year in September.. We've made so many changes to suit their habitat this year. Last winter I had Orange Crowned Warbler, Kinglet and a few other small birds. This year I am hoping for some expansion of winter residents. Last years shots of Wilson's were few and blurry. This year I was a bit more prepared for what to look for and accomodate.

One of the hummers gave her a good chasing around too, but that just made her more curious as to whats so good about this garden, lol. She was so occupied she didn't mind me taking a lot of pictures either. She just kept coming closer to me trying to snatch damselflies from the air. Managed to capture 9 pretty good pics of her.

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Here is a new one to my back yard:
Least Flycatcher.. What a quick little bird! At first my oldest son saw it and said he saw a Kinglet, :-) in the Vitex in the middle of the back. I got up to see this lil darling of a bird taking the nickel tour.

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#2 Here you can see it on the fence with 6" slats.

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One more sign of fall here, though a bit obscure you can tell who it is> It tried to land on the flat hanging feeder and forgot that wouldn't work.

Outstanding pics Deb!!! Thanks so much for posting these great catches!!

Guess you are getting as excited as I am....looking forward to all our winter birds arriving.

Something in Buteo - I'd guess from the migration connection, Broad-winged Hawk.

Resin

Thx Pelle, and GP!
This time of year gets me psyched just like spring does.

Hi Resin! Thx! I have to qualify that the hawks like this one are here year round. They just stay out in the nearby fields until fall because all their other food sources are beginning to hibernate. It would be awesome to get a better shot of this one and see I have a Broad-winged, (something new).
I usually get these 3 hawks: Sharp-shinned, Coopers, and occasionally a Red Tail flying way overhead. The first two are truly the only ones I've seen brave enough to come into the bird feeding station in my back yard.
D

You mentioned that you had made changes in the habitat. Can you tell us about what you have done?

This message was edited Sep 4, 2007 4:20 PM

Sorry, thought you knew what it was, and were posting it as a quiz . . . I'm not certain it can be identified with certainty on this pic, it could possibly be any of Broad-winged, Red-tailed or Red-shouldered if it is around all year. The pale eye looks distinctive and indicates a this year's youngster (adults dark in all three), but I'm not too certain how variable this is in juveniles between the three species.

Resin

Yes your probably right resin, a youngster, my guess would be Sharp-shinned.

Hi Frank!
You asked about the changes.. here goes> the short version, lol.
For quite some time I have been hosting butterflies here, providing certain larval plants. This year I added some 30 new caterpillar host plants, mostly native when possible. Also planted at least 50 different tried and true nectar plants as well. (We removed a big tree from the back yard to make the expansion.)

The bird station was moved back there last fall too, right under my window where I can look out when it gets icy cold. We kept the bird seed, nut and fruit stations there and my regular birds have been loving it. All the plants brought in so many insects, which also invited some really nice birds. They love the challenge of finding the live bugs and different caterpillars I miss. (Can't possiblly cage 100% of.) DH put in a 16x14 deck with a gazebo for me to work the caterpillar cages and observe the garden.

It will take some time to get all the weeds under control (by pulling up and digging), and everything like I want it, but it is shaping up very well as a small wildlife sanctuary. I kept the gnarley rosebushes for the birds to dash into when the hawks come by, along with the 15 year old Chinese Privit (evergreen), in the corner that gives a nice sap for many of the small winter birds. In spring it is white with blooms.

It has been a super little classroom for DH, the kids and me. I have been anticipating the fall/winter crowd, and their reaction to everything we've done. Seeing Wilson's, and the lil flycatcher come through and stop a while was a good sign for what to hope for. :-)

D
Will post a few pics..
Here is one of the sections with herbs in front, (parsley, dill, fennel, & rue), milkweed, huisache daisies, hollyhock, passionvines, frostweed, texas mistflower, and other varius wildflowers.
It's not for show, it is for wildlife.. and they like it rugged and natural.

Looking back up the other direction through a Vitex tree.

Hummer sitting up in the privet scoping out her territory, lol.

Looking across> east to west

From my window> A couple mockingbirds hissing over some cherries...

Moments later........ now it is a Robin contender.

Very nice deb! What plants do your hummingbirds like the best ?( yes I'm keeping in mind your from the south so some might not be able to be grown in the North) :-)

The cassia finally got a chance with lots of rain and the right place in the sun. Lots of caterpillars and sulphur butterflies too. This annual tree is very attractive to birds. particularly yellow birds. :-)

Thx Pelle.. I will show in the next post. There is so much it;s hard to decide what to post, and the few pics can easily turn into a dozen, lol.

The hummers like a lot of the butterfly plants, or vise-versa..
They have been nectaring from cardinal flower (lobelia), salvia (all kinds), cuphea (all kinds), passionflower, vitex, zinnia, hibiscus, cosmos, crocosmia, cypress vine, nicotiana, mexican flame, flame acanthus. and morning glory..they drink from all of these.

Most favs are the black & blue salvias, salvia greggiis, (several colors), and all 3 kinds of cuphea, (bat faced, tiny mice, and cigar) and crocosmia.

Sorry about such a long answer, but I can't stress enough how important these plants are to the hummingbird diet. So many folks think all they need to do is put up sugar water. That being good, sure.. however, having a lot of other floral fare for them is excellent. I found myself asking people buying hummingbird feeders what plants they are offering them, and way too often they take too long to answer, lol.
It's the difference between koolaid, and a nice full course meal. Which would you like to sustain you? No guilt trips, just the facts.
:-D

oh yeah Deb. Great pics. I have seen one only once but got video pics. I was so thrilled

Now that is the kind of hummer pic I like.

Great points you made Deb! Theres even more plants that they like such as native Honeysuckle, Monarda (Beebalm), Agastaches. The list goes on and on.

Really nice pics Deb! Love the platform feeder w/ the birds right outside your window.

Do you grow alot of things from seed?

Thanks for asking Frank!
Pelle, About half and half from seed. I am learning which ones are best from seed every year too. Forgot to add that I did plant Agastache rugosa (from seed), this year too. It came up great, bloomed and set lot of seeds. I have some white Agastache that came up with the wildflowers too. Would like to try some more varieties next year. The Bee Balm didn't make it, but I will try again. As for honeysuckle, I would love to plant some. There are lots of other larval host plants that are vines, so that might take some planning.

Hi Donna :-), Doesn't something use honeysuckle as a host? I can't imagine using pesticides.. The food chain is perfect when we just set things out.

Hummer drinks from crocosmia here.. they ignored the feeders for the longest time. Drinking only from the flowers.>

Hi Deb, This year I bought a very small plant of Agastache "Tutti Frutti" it became tall very fast, boy did they love that! I know as it ages it will take up a lot of room so that has to be taken into consideration. Besides the vines I would say they like the B&B Salvia the best at my place.

Glad you have the B&B and can grow it there. If you have any extra seeds from tutti fruiti, I would like to try that.

Donna~ So cool you got a video! Sounds like me last year.. A couple-few came for a few weeks at the end of summer. I got a few pics and a movie.

(I sure need to find a way to post some videos I've taken of monarch and brazilian skipper eclosing.) Those are only about 1 min long.

Now that they've found you at the new place they will likely come back earlier next year, and you can enjoy them longer.