Rufous Hummingbird & Summer Tanager

Overcast skies and the threat of rain did not keep the birds away on this beautiful Spring day in Texas Hill Country. I biked to Tobacco Creek for the first nest box survey of the day. Just up hill from nest box #5 I identified the first Summer Tanager of the year. Moving over to East Park Boundary site, I was surprised by a Rufous Hummingbird protecting his patch of blooming Buckeyes. Click on the photo above to obtain a larger view of this bird. I am sure every Buckeye patch found along the Pedernales River are now being vigorously protected by male Hummingbirds, most of which are Black-chinned Hummingbirds.
This week I saw a different variety of Buckeye blooming, the Texas Buckeye, with pale yellow flowers, in addition to the Red Buckeye. Butterflies continued to frequent these flowers as well as other flowering shrubs throughout the park.
I even saw White-lined Sphinx Moths, also known as hummingbird moths, flying around the Buckeye at Twin Falls. The Sphinx photo was taken in my back yard.
This is the second week in a row I saw and heard sing a Yellow-throated Vireo high up in a Bald Cypress tree along the river.
To finish out the day I drove slow along the road into the Picnic Area where I saw my first Ash-throated Flycatcher of the year. This is the same area I saw one last year. Finally, I ended up at the bird blind to report three White-crowned Sparrows and one White-throated Sparrow still lingering before their migration north to Canada.

Northern Parula & Spring Migration

Today's nest box surveys turned up no activity in the boxes, however, spring bird migration has definitely begun in the Hill Country. I began my survey at Hackenburg Creek where a Northern Parula warbler sang for fifteen minutes. White-eyed Vireos have shown up in numbers at all sites, as well as, two Yellow-throated Vireos. Last week's Louisiana Waterthrush was still present at Twin Falls plus another individual has setup territory on Tobacco Creek. For those seeking out Golden-cheeked Warblers I have heard them singing throughout the park.
In all, I saw six species of warblers including the Nashville Warbler and Black & White Warbler. Black-chinned Hummingbirds were sited at the flowers of Red Buckeye shrubs as were a multitude of butterflies.
On my return bike ride back along Wolf Mountain Trail I captured a picture of these two industrious Dung Beetles moving a brood ball made of dung. This ball will eventually be buried where the female will lay a single egg inside of it. Both adults and larvae eat dung.
A final note about spring - the leaves are fast emerging on deciduous trees. In a week it will be much more difficult viewing and identifying migrating birds.

Green Kingfisher & Winter Wren

Today all nest boxes were surveyed with no activity observed at any of the boxes. It is still the early part of spring bird migration. Today the highlights were a Winter Wren at Hackenburg Creek along the Pedernales River and farther downstream at East Park Boundary a Green Kingfisher. The Winter Wren was discovered by Tom Seabolt. It is a northern breeding species of old growth coniferous forests. I found a handful of winter wrens on territory in Michigan's U.P. back in the 1990's where I conducted breeding bird surveys. They are also found across most of Canada. This species likes to frequent exposed roots of large trees like the cypress trees along the Pedernales River where we observed this bird today.
The Green Kingfisher flew low over the water on the Pedernales River. It is the size of a robin but very robust with a white neck and a dark green head and back. This bird is found throughout Mexico and is expanding its range into south central Texas and southern Arizona. Park officials have reported the Green Kingfisher over the past few years.
At Twin Falls I heard and saw a Waterthrush. This bird remained in the drainage singing for over an hour. Though the song sounded more sing songy like a Northern Waterthrush the habitat spoke more toward a Louisiana Waterthrush. This bird chose to sing high up in the trees which provided a nice clear resonance against the ravine walls.
White-eyed Vireos were back in numbers today plus the first sitings of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were made. On the drive home I saw my first of the year Scissor-tailed Flycatcher along county road 3232.
On the amphibian level, frogs were heard all along the Pedernales River today probably do to the overcast skies. This photo, by Tom Seabolt, is probably what we heard. It is a Rio Grande Leopard Frog.

Trespassers at Twin Falls

I started off the morning mountain biking to Tobacco Creek then to East Park Boundary nest box sites. The morning was cold, 38 degrees, but warmed up to 64 degrees by afternoon. At the main trail intersection to Tobacco Creek I heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler singing. The highlight at Tobacco Creek was a Sharp-shinned Hawk scaring up a flock of 35 Cedar Waxwings along the river. The waxwings then proceeded to chase the hawk out of sight. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was sited after I followed its tapping's to a large deciduous tree up the hill from nest box 5. This species is the only eastern woodpecker to be completely migratory. It has the habit of making horizontal holes, all in a row, in young bark of a tree. This causes the tree to weep sap which the sapsucker eats.
At East Park Boundary, a Red-shouldered Hawk took flight from a perch on the opposite side of the river. At both Tobacco Creek and East Park Boundary a total of eight Feral Pigs were observed on the opposite side of the river. These pigs have a habit of digging up the soil. This is evident in many places along the river. Next I visited Hackenburg Creek where a White-eyed Vireo was first to greet me. This bird has been back now for a week.
I ended my survey by visiting nest boxes 4 & 3, then 1 & 2 at Twin Falls. While at nest box 3 I heard quite a bit of human commotion at Twin Falls. I had hoped these college boys were just goofing around from the platform off the Nature Trail. But looking upstream from nest box 3 I saw several guys crawling up the east hillside adjacent to the Falls.
I was immediately saddened by the prospect these young individuals chose to disobey posted signs saying Twin Falls is off limits to foot traffic. This area is a unique ecosystem and is home to some rare flora and fauna. Please help by teaching young children to respect our natural environment and our State and National Parks.

Golden-cheeked Warblers Back

This morning I met up with Bill McDaniel, park manager, and Intern, Josh Helcel. Bill drove us to the mouth of Tobacco Creek where nest boxes 5 & 6 were attached. Box five was placed on a pecan and box six on a cedar elm in a nice grove of trees located on a terrace along the Pedernales River.
We drove on to the East Park Boundary and hiked down to the Pedernales River. Bill had the suggestion of placing this pair of boxes on cypress trees along the edge or in the river. Box 10 went on a tree out on a narrow island and box 9 on the south shore of the river. This site will be a good experiment because Prothonotary's prefer to nest over water, and it is the most isolated location of all five sites.
With all ten nest boxes placed I then proceeded to check on the other six boxes. Though it is early for Prothonotary Warblers to return I did hear and see male Golden-cheeked Warblers at Twin Falls and the Hackenburg sites. No bird species were seen frequenting any of the existing nest boxes.
At 1 PM I sat myself down at Hackenburg Creek and began writing up my notes. Within 10 minutes I heard and saw two Ringed Kingfishers fly over the river. It was a beautiful, but windy overcast day at the park. A perfect day to hang out and enjoy nature.