High Island week 3

The day started off way too early (getting into something that requires waking up so early to get the best product was not considered when I started birding).  I was up till after midnight, as usual (just call me night owl) made the alarm at 5 am seem even earlier.  Surprisingly, it was not too hard to get out of bed, knowing what I had in store for me (kind of like Christmas as a kid).  So I made the 2 hour drive and arrive at a busier Boyscout Woods than I had seen previously (maybe my blog is having that kind of following...just kidding).  When signing in the volunteer from Houston Audubon Society asked me if I wanted to see a Red-eyed Vireo.  Silly question.  She showed me this bird that had flown into an RV and was knocked silly.  Somebody had brought it there because they did not know what to do with it and the ladies just put it in a dark corner to recuperate.  It looked pretty good to me, but still allowed me to get close enough to photograph it (without a flash) in the dark.  Thus the 1/2 second shutter time handheld, and the lack of sharpness.

I went to the drip and there wasn't much action there, so I walked the trails.  The first bird that I got a decent view of was a female Indigo Bunting.  It's great to see all of those colorful males come in, but let the females appear and things get more difficult, even in the bird world:

The lighting was terrible all day!  The forecast was for rain throughout the day.  Well, we had clouds all day, but not a drop until after we finished birding!  It rained for 4 hours in Houston, with tornados and flooding, but not a drop until around 7 pm.  Then the skies opened and it was hazardous to be on the road.  As a matter of fact staying on the road was really difficult.  And of course the drivers of the big trucks with Off road tires thought that it meant that you were supposed to drive faster when you couldn't see past your hood of your vehicle.  But I digress...  Oh, yeah, the lighing was bad.  Anyways, I was struggling with my camera all day long.  It seems that I had no idea how to get the lighing under control.  I increased the sensitivity by increasing my speed to 800 and 1600.  I added and subtracted my light meter setting and it had no effect. Eventually, I jus tused my binoculars and pulled out my camera if I thought that I had a chance.  The following pictures are the best of what I did get, and alot of them were out in the open, to allow the lighting to be better.

There were a lot of Red -eyed Vireos, Grey Catbirds, Rosebreated Grosbeaks, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, and Tennessee Warblers.  The Scarlet Tanagers were lifers for me and I got a number of pictures of them:

 There was a Veery in the path that morning .

A Blackpoll warbler was a lifer just down the path: 

 As we walked around an Osprey flew over.  There are almost no birds of prey around which seems unusual comsidering  that there are so many weak birds around to eat.

 There were a large number of Tennessee Warblers.  Basically a moving warbler was to be considered a Tennessee until proven otherwise.

 Rosebreasted Grosbeaks were in the Mulberry trees getting fat for their flight north.

 Eastern Kingbirds were everywhere too.

 There were fewer Orioles than last week but a higher percentage of Baltimores.

 I saw a lifer American Redstart

Red-eyed Vireos were very common

 I had a Wormeating Warbler that was in a very dark area but was not shy and I took a number of long exposure shots

This nice male Black and White Warbler was out in the open

 This orangish colored Scarlet Tanager was pigging out the same location as the Grosbeak

 I got a decent shot of this Yellowthroat Warbler.

 Less so of this Black throated Green Warbler

 and this Chestnut Sided Warbler

I got a really poor shot of this Canada Warbler

I couldn't even get a number of the warblers that I saw.  A lot of them were at the end of the day on the tour of Smith Oaks and the light was so bad that I didn't even try to take pictures. I had 19 Warblers with 8 lifers (Kentucky, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Yellow, American Redstart, Canada, and Chestnut-sided).  The non lifers included Blue-winged, Tennessee, Yellow Rumped, Yellowthroat, Black and White, Prothonotary, Worm eating, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded, and Yellowbreasted Chat.

11:44 PM - April 22, 2009 - post comment

mulberries

I see that the grosbeak and oriole were eating mulberries I guess? Did you see other birds eating mulberries? (Were the warblers were all eating insects?)

Enjoying your pictures and tales.

Gretchen

Anonymous - 4:27 AM - April 25, 2009

Mulberries

The mulberries are a big hit with the Tanagers too! I plan on planting one in my back yard.

DDolan1075 - 9:53 PM - April 25, 2009

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Great photos again from what was clearly another great day at High Island.

jeffmoh - 10:29 AM - April 26, 2009

Pics appreciated....

Dave,
Thanks for the great pics, along with the ID'ing the birds for us. We went the next day (Saturday), and had lot's of sunlight; the Scarlet Tanagers were awesome! Much of our sightings were at the Smith Oak's area. Your pic's were much more than we saw, with us hearing the Chestnut Sided warbler, but not seeing it, until your pic! Thanks again, and yes, we're going to be planting a fruiting mulberry tree here soon too!

Doug in Clear Lake City - 6:55 PM - April 26, 2009

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Really interesting treats, here!
priyabrata nanda
http://ekite.blogspot.com

Anonymous - 5:54 AM - April 27, 2009