High Island, Texas: 10 April 2010

My day began scouring the edges of Purkey's Pond, and checking the drip by the "Grandstand" in Boy Scout Woods, where a Louisiana Waterthrush worked the muddy edge on-and-off through the morning, a female Blue Grosbeak popped in to the cypress, and several Indigo Buntings lit up the drip. Overhead the newly arrived Chimney Swifts made their presence known by calling regularly.

An afternoon stroll in mid-afternoon after a heavy downpour had me dreaming of what might be lurking in Boy Scout. Sheltering in the Tropical Birding Information Center just across from the sanctuary I watched as a Red-eyed Vireo dropped into the magnolia in the front garden, and Indigo Buntings fed on the rank grass in the back yard. In the woods I did manage to nail this Yellow-throated Vireo, (photo) and an Ovenbird crept nervously through the leaf litter. A small mob of young White-throated Sparrows also flushed up in front of me as I made my way through an area of dense brush.

A late afternoon walk in HAS Smith Oaks beckons, and with Swainson's Warbler reported there a few hours back I hope this might lead to something...