10 April 2010

Summer "Cardinals"...(Rollover Pass, near High Island, Texas): 9 April 2010



My morning amble around Boy Scout Woods was lively with 4 species of vireo (White-eyed, Blue-headed, Red-eyed, and Yellow-throated), and a gorgeous
Yellow-throated Warbler flitting around a Live Oak. A few Vermilion male Summer Tanagers glowed from the treetops in the morning sun (the video above shows a male Summer Tanager fresh in off the Gulf of Mexico from the day before, checking out the Boy Scout Woods drip). Incidentally they have now been moved into the cardinal family: Summer "Cardinal" anyone? By the end of the morning the warbler count from the wood was up to a healthy twelve species.

I took out a bunch of people down to the coast where we checked out a number of coastal hotspots: Bolivar Flats produced packs of Least Terns, a Wilson's Plover showing distinctive signs of nesting on the beach, and a "triage" of Long-billed Curlews that settled in the "dunes" behind the beach. The 17th Street jetty was awesome with huge numbers of birds, especially American Avocets, some 2000 of which were "formation feeding" in a swirling mass. Rollover Pass was once again too a hive of activity with Wilson's, Piping, and Snowy Plovers all right there and easy to compare.

The hot news though is right now it is raining in High Island and may lead to some interesting afternoon drops ins...

No comments: