Category: Big Country Blog

  • Congratulations, You Have Babies!

    Ever seen just hatched baby birds? When I was out at Dyess monitoring on Thursday, I photographed these baby birds in one of the nestboxes. I find it easier to check on the contents of the nests by using a small digital camera, switching to “macro,” positioning it above the nest, and then taking the […]

  • Juvenile Bluebirds at Dyess

    Today when checking on nestboxes at Dyess I spotted this juvenile Eastern Bluebird hanging around the nestbox where it had hatched about four weeks ago. Because this birder was out enjoying migration the bluebird photos hadn’t been updated. So here’s the update:  Five eggs were laid; four chicks hatched.  Three chicks either fledged early or […]

  • Swainson’s Hawks at Dyess, Continued

    As promised, here’s the latest update on the Swainson’s Hawks at Dyess AFB. After watching the hawks build onto the previous year’s nest site in March, they apparently abandoned that site and chose another in April. The new site is far from remote; it’s right on the golf course where all golfers walk right underneath […]

  • Mason County Field Trip

    Six of us went to Mason County and birded private property April 29. We were thoroughly impressed and all had a good time. The weather was nice and mild after a rainy stormy Friday, and birds were everywhere. We saw colorful birds: the Summer Tanagers, Vermilion Flycatchers, and Painted Buntings. We saw both males and […]

  • Three Buntings at Cedar Gap Farm

    Big Country Audubon met Thursday night for our May social meeting. If you were not there, you missed a great meal, good company, and excellent birds! The Painted Buntings were at every feeder (and that’s a lot of Painted Buntings). But what was extremely exciting were the two Indigo Buntings that showed up AND a […]

  • Birds Like Weeds

    The past several days (OK, past several weeks) I’ve been noticing my garden is full of weeds, you know the kind of weeds that grow really tall and have these little yellow flowers on top. When they go to seed they produce these white feathery tuffs that blow in the wind. I really should get […]

  • Incas About to Fledge

    The Inca Doves are growing in their nest and will soon fledge. Pictured above are the babies on 4-21-06; their penfeathers had emerged but the barbs of the feathers hadn’t fluffed out yet. They were still covered with lots of baby down. While photographing the mother on the nest I waited for her to leave […]

  • John English Photos

    John English’s photos are now ready to view. Click here to see his birds. If you like what you see, just keep in mind the real photos are so much more detailed than what a computer screen depicts. One of the photos is enlarged to give you an idea of how stunning his artwork is. […]

  • The Problem With Saturdays

    If you’re an avid birder and have the weekends to bird, Saturdays are problematic. So many places to bird; so many possiblities await. How do you choose which place to bird? What if you choose to look for shorebirds and then discover a few days later that passerines were popping up in the woodlots and […]

  • What’s This Bird?

    A few weeks ago a friend sent me this picture of an odd-looking bird seen on the ground below the office window. Try to match this bird’s plumage to one in a field guide and you find it’s an impossible task; there is no such bird unless you know about albinism and leucisim. (It’s a […]