Friday, February 24, 2017

Texas: the Central Coast

The first few days of our trip were spent on the coast from Houston south. A large variety of wading birds, shorebirds and other waterbirds can be found here. Most of the landbirds in this stretch are species common to states further east, and in most cases even in Ontario. It wouldn't be until we reached the extreme southern part of Texas that we'd see a large variety of unfamiliar landbirds.

Laughing Gulls are very abundant along the coast, but I don't think we saw a single one more than a couple of kilometres inland. Despite the large numbers of adults, we saw very few of the browner first-winter birds. Presumably these winter elsewhere. This is similar to some Ontario gulls - it is difficult to find a single immature Bonaparte's Gull on the Niagara River even when thousands of adults are present. I've also noticed that immatures comprise perhaps 1-2% of my local wintering Ring-billed Gulls, compared to 10-20% for Herring Gulls. There doesn't seem to be much research about this disparity, but likely its a combination of adults wintering as close to the breeding grounds as possible (in order to stake out territories in the spring), while inexperienced immature birds seek easy sources of food (e.g. garbage instead of fish).

Adult Laughing Gull

First-winter Laughing Gull

Wintering shorebirds are common along this coast, and we saw 22 species in these few days. The bulk are species that nest on the tundra and migrate through Ontario, but there are also a variety of prairie and coastal nesters that are seen rarely or not at all in Ontario. The highlight was at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, where large flocks of small plovers at close range included about 60 Piping, 40 Snowy, 30 Semipalmated and at least 3 Wilson's.

 These Ruddy Turnstones are picking food off what I believe is an oil pipeline.

Wilson's Plover is easily recognised by its long thick bill. Also visible here are Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Sanderling, and the top of what is probably a Western Sandpiper's head.

How many plovers can you see? These are mostly Piping with a few Snowy.

The plovers allowed extended close views

Not the greatest photo of an American Oystercatcher, but its hard to mistake that bill!

In deeper water, the shorebirds are replaced by the larger wading birds: herons, egrets, ibis and spoonbills. The least common species was Reddish Egret. Most are dark like this one:

But we also saw the white morph below. Reddish Egrets have a ridiculous, acrobatic foraging method of chasing fish through shallow water. A super fun bird to watch!

Shocking pink Roseate Spoonbills are great to see, even if their bare heads are rather ugly close up.

Despite the difference in bill shape, ibis and spoonbill are closely related, and there are several recorded ibis x spoonbill hybrids! This is a White Ibis.

Although fairly similar in appearance to the wading birds, cranes are more closely related to rails and coots, and in ecology and behaviour are probably most similar to geese and swans. North America has two breeding cranes: the abundant and widespread Sandhill Crane and the endangered Whooping Crane. Much of the population of Whooping Crane winters around Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas, and we were able to get reasonably good views of this pair and their chick (brownish head)

Pretty little Neotropic Cormorants were quite common, although Double-crested Cormorant was still the more abundant species.

Both North American Pelicans were quite common: the enormous American White Pelican and the merely large Brown Pelican. You shouldn't have any trouble figuring out which is which.

We saw a number of larger American Alligator at various points, but these babies were the only ones we noticed.

Of four snakes seen on the entire trip, only two stuck around to be identified, and this is the only one I managed to photograph. This is a young Eastern Hognose Snake - an endangered species in Ontario.

Lizards were much more cooperative. One of the common species was the introduced Brown Anole. Anoles are generally pretty dull coloured, but have large brightly-coloured expandable dewlaps on the throat. Several of the anoles we saw had their dewlaps expanded but I was never able to get a photo. We also saw the native Green Anole, including one inside a suburban house!

I was expecting to see many Nine-banded Armadillos, but we only saw a single animal. Luckily, it was incredibly cooperative!

The armadillo is under the brighter green bush in the centre right of this photo. At one point it was foraging in the car shadow!

Nine-banded Armadillos were absent (or at least very rare) in the United States prior to about 1850. For reasons that aren't totally clear (likely some combination of human introduction, a reduction in hunting pressure and a reduction in fires creating shrubbier habitats), they have expanded their range very rapidly, and are now found north to central Illinois! It seems very plausible that, with climate change, armadillos will colonise Southern Ontario eventually.

The armadillo spent it's time snuffling around in the leaf litter, and at one point dug a sizable hole. It was difficult to get photos with the face visible!

In Southern Texas the only tree squirrel is Eastern Fox Squirrel (present in Ontario only on Pelee Island where it is introduced). There are also Mexican Ground Squirrels, but I was only able to get brief views of single individual. Feeders made fox squirrels much more cooperative.

Large numbers of waterfowl can be found in many areas. In particular, 80% of the world Redhead population winters in Laguna Madre along the Texas Coast. Female Redhead seem very prone to abnormal white feathers, like the central bird in this photo.

Seeing Loggerhead Shrikes everywhere is a very nice change from Ontario!

The most common woodpecker in many areas was Ladder-backed. This species replaces Downy Woodpecker as you move south in Texas. Similarly, Golden-fronted replaces Red-bellied Woodpecker.

We found three species of owl on the trip: numerous Great Horned and Eastern Screech as well as this roosting Barred Owl.

Next up we headed south to a land where seemingly every bird is a new and unfamiliar species.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

First Day in Texas

After a marathon drive, one flat tire and hundreds of roadside Red-tailed Hawks, I've made it down to Houston. Mark Dorriesfield, Todd Hagedorn and I are touring the southern part of the state for the next little while, and today was our first birding day. Temperatures are unseasonably (and uncomfortably) warm, but we've still been seeing lots of birds and other wildlife.

A variety of raptors reach the northern extent of their range in southern Texas, including White-tailed Hawk. These raptors share the habitat with familiar northern species like Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks.

Loggerhead Shrikes are endangered in Ontario but common down here.

I am very excited to be seeing American Alligators. Although once nearing extinction this species is now widespread and common.

We came across this "Wild Boar" skull. These animals are the descendants of escaped domestic pigs that have in many ways reverted to the ancestral wild form.

Scavengers are abundant here. Black and Turkey Vultures are everywhere, as well as good numbers of the smaller Crested Caracara. Despite their appearance, caracaras are related to the agile and aerial falcons and not to other raptors.

More to come!