I first saw this Hawk early in the morning.  It was perched high in a Pine Tree behind a large branch.  Initially it scared the White Winged Doves away.  As it just sat there a new White Winged Dove flew below the Hawk and the Hawk immediately dove after it.  It apparently missed because a few minutes later it was perched in another tree.  The local birds didn’t like that at all and these large Crows were squawking at it, then the Blue Jays arrived to provide more vocal reinforcement.  After about 10 minutes of being harassed it flew off once again.  It was probably an hour later when I saw this same Hawk come flying out of the woods and veer towards another large Pine tree.  Whatever it was crawling on that Pine tree fell towards the ground (I’m assuming a Squirrel). It was probably two hours later when I went back out into the backyard and there was this same Hawk (I’m assuming) sitting in a branch right behind my fence stalking my bird feeders.  I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it but the Carolina Chickadees were in such a vocal frenzy that I was drawn to that location.

Cooper's Hawk Scanning For Prey

Cooper's Hawk Looking Up In The Trees

I took these pictures on Sunday.  We probably have close to 20 or so that are hanging around the feeders.  One even ventured to this older bird bath I have to get a drink of water.

American Goldfinches Enjoying New Feeder Location

American Goldfinch Getting A Drink Of Water

Fortunately the Hummingbird did appear and Greg and I captured several pictures.  Greg felt 95% sure this was a female Rufous Hummingbird.  The even better news is that I now see the Hummingbird every day.  If she hangs around long enough for the Ruby Throatted Hummingbirds to appear, that could become very interesting.  She is very possessive of the Coral Honeysuckle and will not go to any of the Hummingbird Feeders.

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding

Rufous Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

While I was digging holes to plant the trees, I saw these little Geckos.  Since Leecy loves Geckos she had to catch one and let it crawl on her (there were 2 of them).  This is a Mediterranean Gecko.

Mediterranean Gecko On Leecy's Buffalo Shirt

Mediterranean Gecko On Leecy's Back

My first thought was it’s too early for the Ruby Throated Hummers to arrive so she’s seeing things, then I saw it as well.  It’s not a Ruby Throated Hummingbird.  In fact, I don’t know what kind of Hummingbird it is.  I sent a picture to one of my colleagues and he suggested it was an immature Buff Bellied Hummingbird.  I’m looking through all of my bird books, and I don’t see it, at least not yet.

The pictures are not that great, but I wanted to at least get some documentation of this visitor in case I never see it again.

It’s the tail throwing me off.  White tip, black, then brown.  It’s got a black bill, not red like a mature Buff Bellied.

Can anyone help my conclusively identify this Hummingbird?  Is it common for the Houston area?

Hopefully I can get some better pictures of it tomorrow if it hangs around.  I’ll update this post once this bird is conclusively identified.

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle Showing Tail Feathers

Mystery Hummingbird Feeding On Coral Honeysuckle

In the first picture, that is supposed to be an “official” Bluebird house, but the male only seems to focus on the regular bird house in picture number 3.

Male And Female Eastern Bluebird Visiting Birdhouses

Male Eastern Bluebird Looking At Ground For Mealworms

Male Eastern Bluebird Checking Out Potential Nesting Site

I only have Thistle seed in this feeder, not the other feeders so these guys had to wait around for an opening.

American Goldfinches Flocking Around Feeder

American Goldfinches Waiting For Turn At Feeder

I had forgotten how our Maple Tree is a source of nectar for Butterflies and Honeybees until I saw this Monarch feeding from one of the new blooms.  I say new blooms, but at the same time the Maple Tree is still shedding leaves for the Winter.  Only in Texas….:-).

Monarch Butterfly Getting Nectar From Maple Tree 2012

Here’s what’s kind of interesting about this.  In 2011, we didn’t see Bluebirds until late February (February 27 I believe).  I don’t know if it’s the mild Winter we’ve had so far or if perhaps I just didn’t notice them earlier last year, but I am glad they are here.

Of course after I took a couple of pictures I went inside to get some meal worms to feed them.  The male was also checking out one of the bird houses we have set up.  He did the same last year, but never nested in any of them.  Hopefully this year will be different.

Male Eastern Bluebird First Visit 2012

Back in December we took Maggie to the vet because it appeared to me she was losing just a little bit of fur and was looking a little thin.  Since she is considered an elderly dog in dog years, I wanted to just be safe and have her checked out.  Maggie hates the vet (unlike Sascha the German Shepherd who loves the vet) and turns into a nervous wreck during each visit.  Whereas Maggie was completely healthy in terms of blood work and body, she did have a small bump on her lower jaw that I never noticed.  The vet was concerned enough that he wanted to remove it immediately.

Two days later Maggie is off to the vet to have this bump removed (no wonder she hates the vet).  When I heard from the vet later in the afternoon, he didn’t “think” the whatever it was he removed was cancerous, but wanted to send it off to pathology just to be sure.

In the meantime, Maggie didn’t seem to care that she had stitches in her jaw and wanted to continue to chew on her toys and bones even if they rubbed against her jaw and stitches.  Sure enough, I wake up early Saturday morning and noticed all this blood and fluid in her bedding and saw this hold in her jaw.  Either the stitches got stuck in her bedding and she yanked them out, or she just scratched them out.  Off to the vet we go again.

Fast forward a week and Maggie is fine.  The stitches didn’t need to be replaced.  Her wound has completely healed.  Now she’s back to being the same silly Golden Retriever whose favorite activity besides chewing marrow bones is rolling in the grass (or dirt) first thing in the morning:-).

Maggie The Golden Retriever Rolling In The Grass

Maggie The Golden Retriever Striking A Pose

About Monarch Butterflies.  We’ve released over 20 Butterflies in the last two days.  We brought many of the Chrysalises indoors during the last cold spell (cold for Houston, not cold for anywhere else in the U.S.) and they have really flourished.  I’ve also been helping out someone I recently met by doing some testing for the OE (ophryocystis elektroscirrha) parasite.

Without further adieu, here’s a few pictures using the new lens and of the first Monarchs of 2012.

Monarch Caterpillar Eating Milkweed In Early Morning Dew

Recently Tested Monarch On Tree

Multiple Monarchs Drying Their Wings After Hatching

First Monarch Of 2012 Drying Wings In The Sun

First is a Field Sparrow sitting in a tree.  Their were others on its species just outside the frame of this picture.

Field Sparrow In Tree

Another small bird I saw who appeared pretty tired was a White Throated Sparrow hiding in a bunch of twigs (at least I hope that’s what it is)

White Throated Sparrow Hiding In Twigs

Yet another Sparrow, this one I believe is a Savannah Sparrow.  Nope, it’s a Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow In Tree

One more that took me a while to figure out, was a Rose Breasted Grosbeak

Rose Breasted Grosbeak In Mix Of Trees

If we head over towards the beach and jetty, there are lots of birds over there as well.  The Ruddy Turnstone was a common bird that I saw.

Three Ruddy Turnstones On A Log

After standing on the log for a while, one decides to walk around.

Ruddy Turnstone Walking Down Log

It then stops and appears to stare at it’s reflection.

Ruddy Turnstone Staring At Reflection

I’ll warn any potential visitors now.  There’s not much to do there other than go birding and relax (and fish which I did not do).  For me, it was perfect!  I was also fortunate enough to hook back up with Greg Lavaty who is one of the premier birders and bird photographers in Texas.  Greg came out to visit on my first day in town and we immediately went out birding. Birding with Greg is always a great experience for me for a couple of reasons.  One, that guy can spot a bird before I’ve even looked in the general direction of a bird.  Second, he’s a great bird photographer and I always learn about bird photography when he and I have a chance to visit.  I must confess, I also always have a negative experience in birding with Greg as well.  Every time I see him with the Canon EF 500mm lens I get jealous:-).

Now on to the birds, at least some of them that I saw and photographed (I’m breaking this post into 2 different sections so the page doesn’t take forever to load).  One of my favorite shots that I took on my next to last day was of a Brown Pelican.  The reason that this is one of my favorite shots is because I’m used to taking pictures of things that aren’t in motion, or standing still, not birds in flight.  What I was excited about is that I captured this Brown Pelican floating along in the sky, then suddenly it did a nose dive into the water.

Brown Pelican Hovering Before Diving

Brown Pelican Turning To Dive

Brown Pelican Diving Straight To The Water

Brown Pelican Lifting From Water After Empty Dive

Some of the other shots I like were of a Crested Caracara and a Harlan’s Hawk.  The Harlan’s Hawk (which I would have never identified without Greg telling me) used to be considered a separate species from a Red Tailed Hawk, but now is considered a “morph.”  It’s not that my pictures are that great, rather it’s that this bird is somewhat rare. As to how this Hawk is of the same species as a Red Tailed Hawk I have no idea as they certainly don’t look similar to me.

Harlan's Hawk On Telephone Pole

Harlan's Hawk In Flight

Harlan's Hawk With Wings Fully Spread

The Crested Caracara is an interesting looking bird to me.  This bird almost looks like it would be from Africa or something, not a bird that you would expect to find in Texas (or Florida).

Crested Caracara Resting On Fence Pole

Quintana also has a jetty where some folks decide to fish.  Interestingly enough, I didn’t see one person in 3 days who ever had a single fish, but I did see a giant rat which would have walked right over me if I hadn’t moved out of the way.  I’m not joking, this rat started from much further down the jetty, then would dart in and out of the rocks, and was going to walk right into me.

Big Brown Rat Staring At Me On The Jetty

Another favorite that I photographed was a Le Conte’s Sparrow.  Confession:  I wouldn’t have been as excited if I hadn’t seen Greg get so excited since I had no clue what type of bird this was initially.  This poor bird was exhausted, and since it was on the Jetty, it likely had spent the night flying over water and this was the first bit of land it had found.  These are pretty secretive birds who tend to hide in grassy fields and marsh edges, not walking on concrete around a bunch of fisherman.

Le Conte's Sparrow Walking On Quintana Jetty

Le Conte's Sparrow On Quintana Jetty Resting

Le Conte's Sparrow Resting On Rock At Quintana Jetty

I’ll do my best to post some additional pictures and commentary this weekend for Part Two of my vacation in Quintana, Texas.

When I first got to Skillern the first creatures to greet me were the mosquitoes, big ones and lots of them.  Fortunately I brought the mosquito repellant so they didn’t overwhelm me.  As I walked along one of the trails there was this pretty little bird darting up and down from a tall tree.  It was a female Vermillion Flycatcher.  I love these little birds!

Female Vermillion Flycatcher Side View

Female Vermillion Flycatcher Front View

There were also lots of Northern Harriers and these birds are fun for me to photograph.  Since they float above their potential prey, it gave me a good opportunity to get some decent photographs.

Northern Harrier About To Land In Field

Northern Harrier Hovering Over A Possible Meal

At Skillern there were lots of open fields, and I’m sure I missed a tons of birds.  One bird that I’ve never photographed before was an Eastern Meadowlark hiding in the field.

Eastern Meadowlark In Field

In addition I saw lots of Savannah Sparrows.

Savannah Sparrow In Field Of Brown

Savannah Sparrow Resting On Branch In Field

A particular noisy little bird that I saw hiding in the woods was a Winter Wren.

Winter Wren Hiding In The Woods

These are just a few of the many, many birds I saw at Skillern.  I took alot of bad photographs, and missed many opportunities.

Birds weren’t the only creatures I saw.  There were lots of Gulf Fritillary Butterflies (that surprised me) and a few Monarch Butterflies.  I was really surprised by how bright the color was on the Gulf Fritillaries.

Very Bright Orange Gulf Fritillary At Skillern Tract

I called Leecy a few hours into my trip and she said she wanted to see a picture of an Alligator.  I was lucky enough to find one sunning on the shore.

Alligator At Skillern Tract In Anahuac

I really, really enjoyed Skillern Tract of the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge and plan on returning once they weather cools down a bit.  You absolutely have to bring mosquito repellant otherwise you will be eaten alive.  Even though I was well coated at the beginning, apparently the stuff wears off because I was attacked later on.  I re-coated myself and all was well.

I’m assuming this one is a male since it made no attempt to visit the Passion Vine and instead spent its time eating nectar from Lantana and Zinnia.

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Purple Flower

Gulf Fritillary Feeding On Orange Zinnia