Tag: Birding

Embracing Spring

Last month I was expecting Spring and actively looking for signs of the early anemones. I looked for them everyday in my front yard. On February 18th I saw the first ones!

Anemones

A Host of Anemones At The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)

Purple Anemone At The Wildflower Center

The first day of Spring is celebrated in North America on the Spring Equinox, I am celebrating Spring now because so much fresh life is emerging all around. Green shoots are coming up from the ground and sprouting from tree branches. And there is the blooming of flowers…from the pinky purple buds on my redbud tree to the purple spiderwort blossoms popping out every day. The days are getting longer and warmer. Birds are becoming more vocal and active. Some will soon leave to breed farther North (white throated sparrow seen below), while we welcome other species home from their wintering grounds in the South. I am guessing some of you have already seen some purple martins (early Spring arrivals). Other critters are emerging on sunny days (lizards, snakes, insects)

White Throated Sparrow At Wildflower Center (ready to fly North to spend the warmer months)
Carolina Wren Wondering What Their Significant Other Is Up To
Significant Other Taking A Dust Bath In Potting Soil In Our Raised Garden Bed
Anole Sunning On My Porch Glider

I am embracing them all in my heart and soul, these little joys of Spring.

And, No, I didn’t forget! The Blue bonnets are starting to bloom!

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)

(all photos taken by B. McCreary)

Spring Feathers

Last month I shared my trip to the Texas coast. It was a much longed for getaway scheduled after the crowds of spring break and before the crowds of summer. It was just coincidental that this visit was during the peak of the spring bird migration. Ordinarily the Texas coast is a wonderful place to look for birds, but the numbers of different birds during migration make this a special time. And we happened to visit during a fallout…this is when bad weather conditions temporarily prevent the migrating birds from traveling on to their breeding grounds. I got a good look at many wonderful birds from rose breasted grosbeaks to indigo buntings to orange colored orioles. However, most of the photos I actually got were of birds that can be seen year around.

There were large birds…

Brown Pelican

Birds flying…

Brown Pelicans

Birds flying in large groups…

Brown Pelicans

Birds with long beaks…

Tri Colored Heron

Colorful birds with short beaks…

Indigo Bunting

Delicate shore birds…

Stilt

And other types of flocks…

Birders at Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center

Port Aransas has so many places to see birds from the beach to the ship channel to designated nature preserves. Birders can walk for a mile or so on some sturdy boardwalks at The Nature Preserve at Charlie’s Pasture and Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. A fun and short walk is at Paradise Pond, a small wetland tucked behind the Restaurant San Juan.

Lots of beautiful birds seen and perhaps a trip during Fall migration is in my future.

*Bonus bird seen on the way home- Wild turkey flew across the highway just north of Kenedy, Texas

*Bird photos taken by B. McCreary

*Photo of birders taken by D. McCreary

A Closer Look

I am a birder. There is almost nothing I enjoy more than heading to a local park (or my backyard) to see what might be flitting about.
But, I didn’t come by this love of birds naturally. Oh, I enjoyed helping my grandmother fill her bird feeders with cracked corn and she taught me what a cardinal was. But, I really just wanted to watch the squirrels. I was a mammal person. I loved spotting deer in fields during drives in the Texas hill country. I was thrilled when I first saw a fox cross the road. It wasn’t until I was a volunteer with a local wildlife rescue group that I began to appreciate birds. More baby birds and injured birds came into our care than mammals. I started to learn to identify birds and learned about their needs and behavior. It was seeing them close up that made all the difference.

This time of year one of my favorite birds to look for is the Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). I will hear their sweet high pitched notes above and look up and see a flock of up to several dozen birds land in a tree. At a distance they may just be dark silhouettes with a crest on their heads and they don’t look particularly interesting. If the light is good and the binoculars handy, their beauty is revealed. Against a blue sky they are magnificent looking with a black face mask, red wing tips, and a bright yellow tail tip.

Cedar Waxwing in Burr Oak (photo by Betty McCreary)

I wonder what or who else in the world I might learn to appreciate by looking a little closer?