Migration in Review

With Warbler Migration season wearing down, I think back to my early days of birding.  One of the things my birding mentor said to me was that there was no such thing as a migration season.  Sadly, work has such thing as busy seasons and I am wrapping up the school year. I've been stuck in the classroom and after school meetings which has affected my ability to go out and catch migration.  Dipping is definitely frustrating but not even getting the chance to dip is equally, if not more, frustrating.

As Migration winds down, its time to look for shorebirds and nesting birds.  I am looking forward to looking for nesting birds and exploring the environment.  In the meantime, its time to hunt out shorebirds, late migrants, and scope out spots with nests.  Birds are certain;y active. I've run into territorial Carolina Wrens, Killdeer dragging their wings, and bespectacled American Robins!  I'll also be going on a couple of Pelagics and doing some book reviews.  What are people reading out there?  I am trying to build a summer birding reading list.

While I go out and hunt down some photos, enjoy some bird photos!

 Terns and Turnstones

A Collection of Gulls in New Hampshire

 Olive-Sided Flycatcher

A Skulking Yellow-Headed Blackbird

Nests, Eggs, and Hatch-lings!

While I write up my report on my recent visit to San Antonio and sites there, I'd like to dedicate a special page to the work going on at the San Antonio Botanical Garden (http://www.sabot.org/).  While visit the San Antonio region, I paid a visit to the gardens to learn more about local flora but also about the local environment and birds.  To start, it was a fantastic place to visit.  Good Signage (not always the case at botanical gardens) and the exhibits were clearly designed with care and thought.  I was a big fan of the section dedicated to conversing water.  Being in a most arid environment, water conservation is key and the botanical gardens illustrated with great information, creativity, and ecological value, how the use of native plants doesn't mean your landscape will be an ugly mess of oddly shape cacti and succulents, but how the diversity of native plants can help you create a comfortable environment and help the local ecology, wildlife, and lower your water usage.

One of the highlights of the visit though was running into a volunteer who worked the purple martin nests.  I didn't know much about Purple Martins to be sure, other than they were North America's largest swallow.  I learned that almost all of Purple Martin Nests, east of the Mississippi River, are man-made and that Martins began to live near people for protection.  Interestingly enough, People wanted martins close for protection as well.  Martins would eat dangerous bugs, chase away crows and ravens, and their "chatter" was believed to be a sacred part of nature by Native Americans.  The leader of the program showed how the nests were made and Martins tolerate human behavior.  He showed us some nests and we got some great views of the birds.  It was a marvelous program and the San Antonio Botanical Garden are being great stewards of their environment and local ecology and history!

The Purple Martin Houses

The nest!

Young Hatch-lings!

Martin-lets with pin Feathers

An Adult happy the nests were returned and cleaned out