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| Larva |
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| Chrysalis |
Butterfly coming soon?
Friday, September 1, 2017
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
The Heart of Texas
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| Mississippi Kite |
We were recently in Abilene, Texas for a family wedding so of course we decided to squeeze in some birdwatching during our visit. We flew into San Antonio and spent a few days in the "Hill Country" before heading deep into the heart of Texas for the remainder of the trip.
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| Curve-billed Thrasher |
Texas is fantastic for birds, but trying to locate them in the heat of July when breeding activity is largely finished is not particularly easy. Spring would have been a more advantageous season, but unfortunately the engaged couple did not consider our birdwatching preferences when they selected their wedding date. The nerve!
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| Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
The two most sought-after species in the Hill Country region are Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo. We were successful in finding the vireo, but could not locate the warbler despite a fairly intensive effort.
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| Golden-fronted Woodpecker |
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| Ladder-backed Woodpecker |
Texas has a great variety of birds, but we would have had to visit the Rio Grande Valley, coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico, the Piney Woods region and several key locations in West Texas in addition to the Hill Country to fully appreciate the richness of bird species represented within the state. The large geographical area of Texas makes a visit to all of these areas impractical in a single short visit.
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| Mexican Ground Squirrel |
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| Black-tailed Jackrabbit |
In addition to birds, Texas is an interesting destination for viewing reptiles and mammals. One highlight of the trip was the opportunity to witness approximately 10 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats as they emerged from their maternity colony at dusk.
Texas is also well-known for its impressive variety of flying insects, particularly butterflies and dragonflies.
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| Halloween Pennant |
Below is a complete list of birds recorded during our trip:
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
- Northern Bobwhite
- Least Grebe
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Neotropic Cormorant
- Anhinga
- American White Pelican
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Little Blue Heron
- Tricolored Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Green Heron
- Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
- White-faced Ibis
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Mississippi Kite
- Harris's Hawk
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Swainson's Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Black-necked Stilt
- Killdeer
- Least Sandpiper
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Rock Pigeon
- Eurasian Collared-Dove
- Inca Dove
- Common Ground-Dove
- White-winged Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Groove-billed Ani
- Yellow-billed Cuckoo
- Common Nighthawk
- Chimney Swift
- Black-chinned Hummingbird
- Belted Kingfisher
- Golden-fronted Woodpecker
- Ladder-backed Woodpecker
- Crested Caracara
- Peregrine Falcon
- Acadian Flycatcher
- Eastern Phoebe
- Ash-throated Flycatcher
- Couch's Kingbird
- Western Kingbird
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
- Loggerhead Shrike
- Black-capped Vireo
- White-eyed Vireo
- Hutton's Vireo
- Red-eyed Vireo
- Blue Jay
- Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
- Common Raven
- Purple Martin
- Barn Swallow
- Cliff Swallow
- Cave Swallow
- Carolina Chickadee
- Black-crested Titmouse
- Verdin
- Canyon Wren
- Carolina Wren
- Bewick's Wren
- Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Robin
- Curve-billed Thrasher
- Long-billed Thrasher
- Northern Mockingbird
- European Starling
- Louisiana Waterthrush
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Yellow-throated Warbler
- Olive Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow
- Lark Sparrow
- Canyon Towhee
- Rufous-crowned Sparrow
- Summer Tanager
- Northern Cardinal
- Pyrrhuloxia
- Blue Grosbeak
- Indigo Bunting
- Painted Bunting
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Yellow-headed Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Scott's Oriole
- House Finch
- Lesser Goldfinch
- House Sparrow
Friday, May 12, 2017
Greater White-fronted Goose
Greater White-fronted Goose spotted by Hannah today in Cambridge Riverside Park.
The exact location is shown as the blue dot on the map below.
Addendum: From looking at eBird I see that this is old news and there are dozens of sightings from April.
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| Greater White-fronted Goose |
The exact location is shown as the blue dot on the map below.
Addendum: From looking at eBird I see that this is old news and there are dozens of sightings from April.
Saturday, February 25, 2017
The Glades
On our annual visits to Florida we spend much of the time in the vicinity of Tampa Bay where my parents stay for the winter. Occasionally we travel further afield. This year we explored the Everglades of southern Florida.
The term "Everglades" is somewhat confusing, because it is used differently by different sources. For example, the Everglades is sometimes used as an abbreviation for Everglades National Park. The park, however, only comprises the extreme southern portion of the much larger Everglades drainage basin. Another source of confusion may arise because the boundaries of the Everglades as a natural feature are imprecise. Unlike, say, the Grand Canyon that has an easily recognizable rim to mark its boundary, the Everglades is demarcated by hydrological conditions that are not as simple to observe and that are constantly changing. Further confusion may arise from the fact that significant portions of southeastern Florida that were once a part of the Everglades are now either heavily urbanized (in particular the area of the Atlantic coast from West Palm Beach south to Miami) or have been intensely modified for agricultural production.
One final source of confusion is that the Everglades is often associated exclusively with one particular plant community: sawgrass marsh. Although sawgrass marsh is the habitat most characteristic of the region, and there are indeed vast areas of this particular community, Everglades is actually a complex and interdependent system that includes cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, pine rockland, estuarine mangrove forests, and the marine environment of Florida Bay.
Approximately speaking, the Everglades is the area of southern Florida that includes the Kissimmee River watershed south to Lake Okeechobee, and the area south of the Caloosahatchee River and the St. Lucie Canal.
Birdlife in the Everglades is weighted towards species with a lifestyle that is in some way aquatic (e.g. ducks, rails, herons, ibises), but there is a considerable abundance of passerine birds as well (e.g. tyrant flycatchers, swallows). Also well represented are birds of prey (e.g. vultures, osprey, hawks, kites and falcons) and pigeons & doves.
Also present in the Everglades is a growing list of introduced exotic reptiles, the most destructive of which are probably the Burmese Python and the Argentine Black-and-white Tegu.
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| My arrival to Everglades National Park was highly anticipated |
The term "Everglades" is somewhat confusing, because it is used differently by different sources. For example, the Everglades is sometimes used as an abbreviation for Everglades National Park. The park, however, only comprises the extreme southern portion of the much larger Everglades drainage basin. Another source of confusion may arise because the boundaries of the Everglades as a natural feature are imprecise. Unlike, say, the Grand Canyon that has an easily recognizable rim to mark its boundary, the Everglades is demarcated by hydrological conditions that are not as simple to observe and that are constantly changing. Further confusion may arise from the fact that significant portions of southeastern Florida that were once a part of the Everglades are now either heavily urbanized (in particular the area of the Atlantic coast from West Palm Beach south to Miami) or have been intensely modified for agricultural production.
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| Purple Gallinule |
One final source of confusion is that the Everglades is often associated exclusively with one particular plant community: sawgrass marsh. Although sawgrass marsh is the habitat most characteristic of the region, and there are indeed vast areas of this particular community, Everglades is actually a complex and interdependent system that includes cypress swamps, hardwood hammocks, pine rockland, estuarine mangrove forests, and the marine environment of Florida Bay.
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| Crested Caracara |
Approximately speaking, the Everglades is the area of southern Florida that includes the Kissimmee River watershed south to Lake Okeechobee, and the area south of the Caloosahatchee River and the St. Lucie Canal.
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| Snail Kite |
Birdlife in the Everglades is weighted towards species with a lifestyle that is in some way aquatic (e.g. ducks, rails, herons, ibises), but there is a considerable abundance of passerine birds as well (e.g. tyrant flycatchers, swallows). Also well represented are birds of prey (e.g. vultures, osprey, hawks, kites and falcons) and pigeons & doves.
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| White-winged Dove |
Also present in the Everglades is a growing list of introduced exotic reptiles, the most destructive of which are probably the Burmese Python and the Argentine Black-and-white Tegu.
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| What, Me Worry? |
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Short-tailed Hawk
Every time I visit Florida I make an effort to see at least one new bird species. Lately this is becoming more difficult as the possibilities are diminishing. I was able to pull it off again this year, and although I saw only one new bird, it was a good one.
Short-tailed Hawk is a small Buteo known mainly from the neotropics (i.e. Central and South America). However, there is a small breeding population in south Florida. It comes in two colour "morphs": dark and light. The bird we saw was obviously a dark morph bird. The dark brown body feathers contrast nicely with the bright yellow legs and cere. In Florida, it has been reported that dark morph birds outnumber the light morphs by a ratio of 3:1.
While we were in Florida a Zenaida Dove was found at Long Key State Park; a rarity for North America. This location, being at the approximate mid-point of the Florida Keys, was too remote for us to drive to, so we didn't see it but this dove species holds special significance for me. On my first day of teaching in Jamaica, one of my second form (grade 7) students gave me a pair of live Zenaida Doves as a gift. In Jamaica they are locally known as "Barble Doves". Not knowing what else to do, I released them.
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| Short-tailed Hawk |
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| Short-tailed Hawk |
Short-tailed Hawk is a small Buteo known mainly from the neotropics (i.e. Central and South America). However, there is a small breeding population in south Florida. It comes in two colour "morphs": dark and light. The bird we saw was obviously a dark morph bird. The dark brown body feathers contrast nicely with the bright yellow legs and cere. In Florida, it has been reported that dark morph birds outnumber the light morphs by a ratio of 3:1.
While we were in Florida a Zenaida Dove was found at Long Key State Park; a rarity for North America. This location, being at the approximate mid-point of the Florida Keys, was too remote for us to drive to, so we didn't see it but this dove species holds special significance for me. On my first day of teaching in Jamaica, one of my second form (grade 7) students gave me a pair of live Zenaida Doves as a gift. In Jamaica they are locally known as "Barble Doves". Not knowing what else to do, I released them.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Colorado Canyonlands
I spent some time at the western edge of Colorado where the landscape is very dry and the canyons are very deep.
In addition to the scenery, there was an opportunity to search out some birds that are representative of the region, a few of which I hadn't seen before.
In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park my target bird was Green-tailed Towhee. After hiking the southern rim of the canyon for about an hour I was successful, but in the heat of the day the bird remained mostly concealed in the shade of the junipers so I was unable to get a photograph.
In Colorado National Monument my target birds were Gray Vireo and Virginia's Warbler; two range-restricted songbirds that are more-or-less confined to the "four corners" region of the southwestern United States.
Rim Rock Drive, the main road that traverses Colorado National Monument, is an excellent vantage point from which to view Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures as they soar along the canyon rim.
On my return to Denver, I stopped at Vega State Park mid-way up the western slope of the Rockies where I was fortunate to observe a very obliging Dusky Flycatcher; a bird that I had somehow missed on previous trips out west.
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| MacGillivray's Warbler |
In addition to the scenery, there was an opportunity to search out some birds that are representative of the region, a few of which I hadn't seen before.
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| Painted Wall, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park |
In Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park my target bird was Green-tailed Towhee. After hiking the southern rim of the canyon for about an hour I was successful, but in the heat of the day the bird remained mostly concealed in the shade of the junipers so I was unable to get a photograph.
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| Gray Vireo |
In Colorado National Monument my target birds were Gray Vireo and Virginia's Warbler; two range-restricted songbirds that are more-or-less confined to the "four corners" region of the southwestern United States.
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| Virginia's Warbler |
Rim Rock Drive, the main road that traverses Colorado National Monument, is an excellent vantage point from which to view Golden Eagles and Turkey Vultures as they soar along the canyon rim.
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Independence Rock, Colorado National Monument |
On my return to Denver, I stopped at Vega State Park mid-way up the western slope of the Rockies where I was fortunate to observe a very obliging Dusky Flycatcher; a bird that I had somehow missed on previous trips out west.
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| Dusky Flycatcher |
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