Dave Patton and I took advantage of the great weather today to make a trip to the coast. The north wind was a bit strong, and that cut down on viewing opportunities, but it also brought in a lot of our winter birds. The number of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Savannah Sparrows, geese, Pine Warblers, and White Pelicans on the coast was an impressive sign that last night was a big arrival night. A lot of individuals were found outside of their normal habitat, or coming back in off the gulf after overshooting the coast in the night.
There were a few Franklin's Gulls mixed in with the Laughing Gulls on Holly Beach, but not a lot of larger gulls to pick through. The tide was way out, and the north wind was pushing it even farther, but the number of birds on the beach was fairly low.
Near Constance Beach we saw a large black bird flying along the highway, and we stopped to get a better look. Any crow-like bird down there should be checked out to make sure it's not a raven, but this one turned out to be a crow, the first crow I've seen in that area since Hurricane Rita. Sometimes birds explore for new turf, sometimes they just end up in the wrong place. It's hard to say which is which sometimes. Examples are the Red-headed Woodpecker that turned up last month in Peveto Woods, and the Tufted Titmouse that turned up there last week. In past years odd birds like Carolina Chickadee and Pileated Woodpecker have popped up there, far from their nearest population. Squirrels have turned up there in the past as well, although they may have been released there by humans. You never know.
Weather like today's sometimes brings flights of Brown Creepers and Golden-crowned Kinglets, but the only hint of that today was a creeper in the oaks of Peveto. These camouflaged birds move around like woodpeckers, blending in well with the bark of trees.
A few late migrants were around, including 2 Eastern Wood Pewees and 2 Black-throated Green Warblers.
One of the pewees was wearing a partial tail; is it up to the rest of its migration?
At Lighthouse Road, across the channel from Texas, there wasn't much action. Part of the reason may have been the Peregrine Falcon that used the lighthouse as its perch and spent most of its time terrorizing the local birds. I watched it chase a dove that barely escaped by reaching one of the few patches of woods in the marsh there.
Dave has always been interested in butterflies, but lately he's been spending more time studying them. There were certainly plenty to see today, including the first good flight of Monarchs I've seen this fall. As with the birds, the wind made viewing tough, but there were a few cooperative ones in sheltered spots.
Stores on the Cameron coast have some strange flavors of chips. I like to try them all. One flavor that I bought today was so horrible that I couldn't eat them. I tried to feed them to this fellow on the ferry, a veteran beggar that will usually eat anything you offer. He ate one, but looked at the second one, looked at me, and walked off. If a Great-tailed Grackle won't eat it, it's bad.
In Cameron, we spotted a Bald Eagle overhead that looked like the same bird that James and Rrik Beck had shown us pictures of a few hours before in Peveto. If it is the same, it was moving west to east, the opposite of most of the migrating raptors.
Other birds of interest today several Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, 5 Vermilion Flycatchers, about 200 migrating White Pelicans, a Vesper Sparrow, and a continuing Say's Phoebe near Holmwood. My favorite bird of the day was a Rufous/Allen's Hummingbird at Peveto. We found it feeding in the oaks, picking bugs out of the air. Dave later noted it using lantana and vervain in the Sanctuary.
A beautiful day to be out, and always something interesting to see. November is off to a good start.
