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Common Warblers
Norther Parula (Parula americana).Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla). Note that black-bordered orange racing strip on the head.Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis).Black-throated Blue (Dendroica caerulescens). This is a female, neither black-throated nor blue. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas); a male, with his distinctive black mask. These were all seen in Prospect yesterday, along with numerous others, including a Kentucky, rare…
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TX Insects
Walking Stick on Peter’s bins. Texas has at least 16 species. Leaf-cutter ant (Atta texana) highway. The ants are returning to their sprawling underground colonies with leaf fragments, which, farmer-like, they feed to the fungus they actually eat.Thornbush Dasher (Micrathyria hagenii).Band-winged Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax umbrata).Antlion. This is the adult stage.We saw many antlion traps, where buried…
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Altamira Oriole
Big bright male Altamira (Icterus gularis).A nest in progress: a woven sack hanging from the branches. This species, which just barely makes it into South Texas, makes the largest nest in North America: they can be up to two feet long.The female is carrying something stringy here for this nest.This was another nest elsewhere. The…
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Rallidae
The Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata), formerly known as the Common Moorhen, now “split” or separated from that Eurasian species (C. chloropus). Unlike the somewhat similar American Coot (Fulica americana), this bird doesn’t have lobbed toes. Look at the long toes on this Sora Rail (Porzana carolina). All the better for walking through oozy marshes.We saw…
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National Butterfly Center
Southern Texas is home to the greatest diversity of butterflies in the U.S., and the National Butterfly Center, in Mission, is in the thick of the action down there. November is the time to visit, but we didn’t do too badly. As a bonus, we flushed a pair of Bobwhite. It was evidently emperor butterfly…
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Texas Birds II
Yellow-crowned Night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea).Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus).A single Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) amid a herd of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis).Brown-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus).Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum).Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris).Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaja ajaja).Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula).Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus). White-collared Seedeater (Sporophila torqueola).Varied Bunting (Passerina versicolor).
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Butterbutts
One of our most common warblers is the Yellow-rumped (Dendroica coronata), whose sheer omnipresence this time of year almost makes them wallpaper. But it’s a stunning bird that always bears a longer look. The butter-yellow rump, sides, and just a touch on the poll, or head, contrast well with the gray, blue-gray, white, and black…
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Texas Birds I
Black-bellied Whistling Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis).Olive Sparrow (Arremonops rufivirgatus)Least Grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus).Chihuahua Raven (Corvus cryptoleucus).White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) and Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina).Red-crowned Parrot (Amazona virdigenalis).Bronzed Cowbird (Molothrus aeneus).Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata).Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway).
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For Roger Tory Peterson
“A golden bird of wooded swamps.” — RTP on the Prothonatary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea), photographed in the Ravine yesterday in Prospect Park.Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of the first publication of Roger Tory Peterson’s A Field Guide to the Birds. Now, I don’t doubt that humans have been watching birds since we’ve been humans, and…
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Basking Turtles
A pile-up of turtles. But not all of these are Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans), which dominate the waters in Prospect Park. If you look closely, you’ll notice one of the shells is rather smoother than the others, and, although out of focus, its red highlights on the underside sing out “Painted Turtle” (Chrysemys picta).Here’s…
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Backyard and Beyond 