Tuesday, April 10, 2001

Birds aflutter

Migrating birds put on a show for birdwatchers

Jimmy Jackson/Special to the Caller-Times

This wood thrush was spotted at a Packery Channel area pond. Because this bird can destroy so many snails, he is a welcome addition to most backyard gardens.

Location is everything. Spring migration is phenomenal in South Texas because we are located in the central flyway, next to the Gulf of Mexico. Many birds that have wintered in South and Central America or in Mexico pass through on their way north to nest.
   Blucher Park is a natural migrant trap, a pit stop for the little travelers. They know that in this little park, no bigger than a city block, they will find rest and refreshment. Local birders and birders from far places bring binoculars and expect to see "good birds" here among the foliage and along the banks of the little creek.
  
   Irresistible birds
   What comes? Warblers, usually in orderly waves. Wood warblers are a New World group of birds found only in the Americas. Their tiny size, combined with their dazzling colors, make them irresistible. They are eye beguilers, darting quickly from one branch to another. For many birders they are the heart of spring migration. Others find them the bane of their existence as they try to keep binoculars on them.

Jimmy Jackson/Special to the Caller-Times

Male Baltimore orioles, like this one spotted in the Packery Channel area, precede the arrival of females by two or three days. The male Baltimore is the only oriole with an all-black hood and back and orange in the tail.

   During a good season, about 26 species of wood warblers can be seen here. By the time they arrive in this area, most are in breeding plumage but have not yet begun to sing.
   Early arrivals, easily identified, are black and white warblers. Their name describes them. They have a habit of working deliberately around trunks and branches of trees. Another warbler to look for early in April is the northern parula. Blue gray birds with yellow throats and breasts, they are tree top birds, and are especially fond of our live oak trees when they are blooming. Unlike many passers through, they sing a persistent series of same-pitched notes with a rising buzz toward the end.
   Black-throated green warblers work in foliage a little above head high. Bright yellow faces framed by black throats and olive green crowns characterize males. Females are similar but not as bright.

Jimmy Jackson/Special to the Caller-Times

The chuck-will’s-widow is a southern species with nocturnal habits. This one was spotted at Blucher Park during migration.

   I recently read an article that said one of my favorites, cerulean warblers, were declining seriously because of habitat destruction. These darling blue mites of birds are striped with black lines, have a narrow black throat line and a white breast.
  
   Warbler wonders
   Already this season many of an especially beautiful warbler, a hooded, seem to be here. The males wear a velvet black monk’s hood from which their golden yellow faces peer. Backs are greenish and under-parts yellow. This bird is a ground and lower story feeder and frequently announces himself with a loud tick. Ovenbirds are under-story feeders also.
   They have distinctive black bordered, orange crown stripes, and bold white eye-rings, and a mincing way of walking.

Kimiko Fieg/Caller-Times

Click image for larger version

   The largest warbler is a yellow-breasted chat, gray green above a bright yellow breast and wearing white spectacles. This bird is quite vocal, fusses and scolds from thickets. Yellow warblers are all over bright yellow, with reddish stripes on breasts. Butterfly-like orange and black male redstarts, and yellow and black females, come late in the spring season. These are just a few of the wood warbler possibilities here.
  
   Many species
   Besides warblers, there are many other species. Summer and scarlet tanagers occur. Males of both species have red bodies with black wings. Summer tanagers are more abundant than the scarlet ones and are a more subtle shade. Females of both are yellow green.
   Three kinds of orioles may be present. Baltimore oriole males are bright gold and black, while Bullock’s oriole, which once was lumped with Baltimore, is still black and yellow, but tends to look less black. Smaller orchard orioles are rusty brown and black. Females of all species are greenish. Orioles love loquat trees.
   Buntings are always a treat. Two kinds come here, indigo, the male of which is turquoise blue, and the splendid painted bunting, called "siete colores" in Mexico for the seven colors worn by the male. Female indigos are bright brown and the painteds are a deep green. Painted buntings sometimes stay to nest.
  
   Migrating through
   Robins are thrushes but come here in winter. Several other thrushes pass through in migration. Some of them are Swainson’s, veery, wood, and gray-cheeked, all of which have gray brown backs and spotted breasts, and forage mostly on the ground.
   Many flycatchers pass through. The largest are brown-crested, and great-crested, both bright brownish with yellow breasts and fly-catching habits. Most difficult to identify are the small empidonax. They all have white eye rings and only very knowledgeable birders try to say to which species they belong. Scissor-tailed flycatchers are lovely. So are eastern kingbirds. All are flycatchers.
   Don’t neglect migrating shore and prairie birds. Watch overhead for hawks, pelicans, and Franklin’s gulls. Look in plowed fields for lesser golden plover, pectoral sandpipers. Don’t forget to look along the causeways and beaches.
  

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Phyllis Yochem, a Corpus Christi resident, has studied birds in Texas since 1960.

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