Tuesday, October 9, 2001

October brings bird variety

We have survived the summer at last, and October is here. Blue skies stretch above golden days of mostly cool air. Heaven could not be better than South Texas in October.
   Northern mockingbirds sit in low bushes singing whisper songs, recovered from the strident calls of summer. Cardinals are back at the feeder, cheerfully complaining when sunflower seed has not yet been put out. Young house sparrows search around window screens for bugs. Shadows of trees stretch out on green lawns. It's almost time to put up the goldfinch feeders. A walk outside is now a pleasure, not a torture. The bay is green or blue, not brown. Many hummingbirds are still in my neighborhood. Most of those at my feeder are female ruby-throateds.
   Sharp-eyed spotters
   Out on the hill at Hazel Bazemore Park, where the Hawk Watch is winding down, it is quieter now. The last I heard, counters had recorded 854,404 broadwinged hawks flying over this year. Not only that, but a surprising 37 swallow-tailed kites were seen and one zone-tailed hawk.
   More birders are in the field and they are better trained. That is at least one reason more unusual birds are being reported. Last week, Tom Schall called to tell of a bird he had seen at Packery Channel, a very unusual bird he thought I would like to see, a painted redstart. I went as soon as I could, but not soon enough.
   Painted redstarts are not on our list of expected birds. They are black on head and back, with bright red lower breast and belly, and strong white wing bars. They are western and Mexican birds.
   I could not go until late evening and, though I missed the bird, I had an October experience of red, broad sunset with marsh birds at the edge of the Channel. On the way out, we saw a line of 14 spectacularly pink roseate spoonbills in the flats at Hans Suter Wildlife Area off of Ennis Joslin Road. Some of our earliest arriving sandhill cranes, a family of four, flew over us, silhouetted against the sinking sun.
   Meeting note
   Tonight, at 7 p.m. at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History, The Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi will meet. Tom Langershield, King Ranch Ornithologist, will speak on "The Birds and Habitats of the King Ranch."
  
  

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

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