Back to TX: Cattle Egret flocks

These are a few of my pics of birds in the Rio Grande Valley I took a few weeks ago. Though we see Cattle Egrets in Colorado, I don't usually get the opportunity to get within 75 feet of a feeding flock like this one. They would forage then something would disturb them and they would fly a little further to feed again. As can be seen in these pics, I wasn't seen as a big threat as this flock was flying generally towards me.
It's really awesome to see large numbers of many species that are only seen singly or in small numbers in Colorado. SeEtta

Red foxes engaged in mating behavior

I haven't posted for just over a week as I was driving home from Texas then, because I stayed right up to the last day I could, had lots of meetings and other tasks facing me. I still have a number of Texas photos I want to post but I had to post about a very neat opportunity I was afforded today. I was doing a little birding on the grounds of the Holy Cross Abbey in my hometown, Canon City, CO. These grounds have always been open to the public and since there are hundreds of diverse species of trees, plus open space, it is a good birding location.

I was walking with my dogs in an area with buildings when I spotted a Red fox several hundred yards away, then a second fox following the first fox. They both spotted my dog and stopped, so I called my smaller dog, Chase, to me and had him stay still (my old dog was out of their view and he moves slow due to his age so I didn't think he would disturb them). As I watched the first fox continue walking across the field, it appeared that this might be a female in heat as she would sit or lay down when the other fox approached (this is a behavior I have observed in dogs before) so I returned to my nearby car (put the dogs in so they wouldn't disturb the foxes) so I could watch them in my spotting scope--and what a wonderful experience that was. I have had hundreds of sightings of foxes but never during their mating behavior, a sight I believe rarely seen.

Please be aware I am going to describe mating behavior.

A third fox came into the scene, then the fox following the first fox began chasing the third fox off. There was a lot of fox vocalizations that sounded like yipping. Several minutes after the third fox left, I observed the apparent male fox mount the other fox and engage in thrusting behavior which lasted about 5 seconds. He stopped and they both lay in the grass for a few minutes. Then she got up, he followed and re-engaged in mounting her, thrusting for about 5 seconds, for 4 more times. This may have occurred another time that I didn't observe as at one point they both were disturbed by a lady and her off-leash dog that was running a hundred yards or so near them. I stopped watching the foxes to watch the lady and her dog until they fortunately left the area.

I wondered if these short periods of thrusting were sufficient for this species as mating in dogs, another canid species, includes a "copulatory tie". During the mating the sex organs of the male and female are linked together and I now read that this could be for up to an hour. Indeed, the male subsequently mounted the female fox and clearly became linked to her. The male turns to leave, which he cannot, and then they are facing away from each other though connected.

As occurs with dogs, these foxes appeared to become bored and/or uncomfortable and one or the other would try to walk away, pulling the other with it. I manually counted the time and they were tied together for about 11.5 minutes (give or take a minute for counting errors). This is a long time for them to stand there. Towards the latter part of their time connected, they snapped at each other.

When they were finally able to separate, each lay in the grass. After resting a few minutes, the female got up and walked off with the male following her. It was about 45 minutes from the time I first spotted them until they trotted out of view. The photo shows the foxes in the copulatory tie. They were about 500 feet away so I had to enlarge the pic a lot. SeEtta

Pine Flycatcher misidentification

Now is the time I am happy that I drove less than 20 miles out of my way to see the bird that turned out to be a different flycatcher from the Pine Flycatcher. I would hate to have been one of the many other birders who drove up to hundreds of miles and either don't know if they really saw the Pine Flycatcher or now know they did not.
SeEtta

NOT likely a Pine Flycatcher

1-10-09--the experts who identified the flycatcher in Choke Canyon as a first US record Pine Flycatcher posted yesterday that there was likely more than 1 species of flycatcher there and that some may have identified another species as the Pine. Having read their updated information on field marks and photos of confirmed Pine Flycatchers, I don't believe that these photos are of a Pine Flycatcher after all. That will teach me--when I watched this bird I told the other birders that it sure looked like a Least Flycatcher and it was amazing that anyone could tell it from one. Lesson learned--even when everyone thinks a bird is a hot rarity, check the field marks yourself and rule out other species.Today I couldn't pass up chasing the Pine Flycatcher, an uber rarity, as it was located in Choke Canyon State Park less than 20 miles off my drive to San Antonio. This is the first time it has been documented in the United States. It was a rewarding detour as I saw the tropical flycatcher more than a dozen times, albeit mostly brief views, in the hour or so I looked for it.
I did get opportunity several times to watch the bird for as long as a minute or two, including one time when it perched quietly in the shade of a tree. It emitted a "whit"-like call many times. The top pic enlarges clearly when double-clicked. SeEtta

Purple Sandpiper on So Padre Island

Today enjoyed a boat trip from So Padre Island to do a little birding with Fins To Feathers boat ecotours run by Scarlet and George Colley. The Colleys are birders and conservationists who also run the Sea Life Nature Center in nearby Port Isabel.
Sandpipers are rare birds in Texas. They winter on the Atlantic coast no further south than North Carolina and breed in far north locations. They forage on rocky coasts like the jetty on the far south end of So Padre Island where this bird has been since it was first seen at the end of November, 2008.
As shown in the bottom pic, the Purple Sandpiper lets the surf wash over it while the nearby Ruddy Turnstone moves away from the wave. Purple Sandpipers are on the National Audubon Society Watch List.

Cool spiders

This morning I birded Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. I have birded it a little this time but today I targetted the Groove-billed Ani, a unique species that I have found every time I have birded the Rio Grande Valley but had missed so far this trip. I had to walk over a mile and a half to get to the area where these birds had recently been seen but it was worth it as I did find one. And it vocalized for several minutes, something I have never heard before. Unfortunatel it did not provide any opportunity for a photo.

As I walked the dirt and grass covered paths, I saw a number of spiders spinning their webs or working their prey at face height or higher. Though Santa Ana is best known for it's birding, it provides a unique habitat including tropical deciduous forest as well as spiny shrub habitats, that are home for a variety of wild and interesting critters. This is one of those interesting spiders. It is a Spiny Orb Weaver spider, a beneficial insect. SeEtta

The BAD--the border wall

This is it--the abomination that is fragmenting critical habitat in this rich biological region. All species will be harmed by this fragmentation as well as the destruction of habitat which is becoming in short supply as human development devours more and more natural lands in the area every day. Though most birds can fly over, species like turtles cannot. It is also believed that the wall will be a barrier for essential connectivity of habitat for endangered ocelot and jaguarundi. Though the fence was alleged to only destroy a 60 foot path, as can be seen in the top two pics a much wider swath is damaged by the heavy equipment. Though parts of the border fence are adjacent to agricultural areas, even farm areas are often bordered by natural areas. The bottom pic shows some of the forested natural area that now lies on the south side of the border wall being built next to farm lands here. The fragmenting and destroying of this vital habitat is shameful. SeEtta

More good: Green-legged heron

Though clearly not blue, this is a Little Blue Heron. Immature Little Blue Heron's have white feathers with bluish gray ends on their primaries. And they have the distinctive greenish legs amd feet (evident in these pics) to grayish legs and feet. SeEtta

So Padre Island-the good, the bad & the ugly

Today I visited So Padre Island, a wonderful barrier island just off the south Texas coast. The "good" is the birds that are still found there including this Caspian Tern. Though the temps today were in the lower 80's, the strong breezes on the island made it feel cooler. SeEtta

Another Llano Grande delight-American Bittern

Embedded in the reeds in this pic is the neck and head of an American Bittern. Actually the brown and white stripes formed by her feathers make it stand out. The bittern's head is best seen by double-clicking on the pic to enlarge it. Their very effective camouflage makes it a real challenge to spot them even when they are known to be in an area like this bird at Estero Llano Grande State Park. SeEtta