This year only one Swainson’s Hawk chick sits in the nest at Mesquite Grove Golf Course. The nest started out with two chicks but either fratricide, rain storms (I think I remember we had some rain), or an accidental slip reduced the nest to one. The hawks are being good parents and every mockingbird, scissor-tail, […]

Last week John English photographed the birds at Cedar Gap Farm and produced some amazing pictures: Who says birds don’t engage in sports? This looks like a hand-off (er..beak-off) from bill to bill! Wish I could see it again in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n! John got more great photos of some of the birds at Cedar Gap […]

For those of you picking up today’s Abilene Reporter-News and seeing an article about Cedar Gap Farm and wanting more information, you came to the right place. Just click on Cedar Gap Farm in Birding Locations to read more about the birds and wildlife at the Hutto’s Cedar Gap Farm. As for the Black-capped Vireo, […]

What a fantastic field trip we had to Walnut Creek Ranch! I don’t know where to begin the accolades so here goes: The view was breathtaking: …the accommodations wonderful: …the bird banding brilliantly fascinating: …the birding exciting: …the colorful caterpillars captivating: …and the company, a riot! The pictures are now up at the Walnut Creek […]

Memorial Weekend found me quail counting at Dyess AFB. How does one count quail? Easy. Stand in one place, listen to calling quail, and count how many you hear. Move to the second place and count again and so on. Some wise guy (above) had to walk out of cover and wave at me. The […]

While out at Dyess birding in a Mesquite scrub area at the end of March, a Chihuahuan Raven shot out of a tree and soared above me cawing loudly. I watched it circle around me (of course I was capturing this behavior digitally, see above) and wondered why it was so agitated. When I heard […]

This past Sunday, May 13, was Mother’s Day. Since this site is all about birds and nature, I thought you might like to see what the mother birds were doing last week. I accidentally stumbled upon several species of birds tending to nests at Dyess AFB. I spotted this mother cardinal bringing food to her […]

This evening a friend called and invited me to bird. Said she’d heard of a hawk’s nest out on utility poles south of Lake Fort Phantom and wanted to go take a look. Yawn, every year some Red-taileds nest there. I was tired; really didn’t want to go see another Red-tailed; but made the effort […]

One faithful reader commented the other day, “I check your website everyday, but I’m not finding anything recent.” Ouch; I’m guilty as charged. But those close to me know I haven’t been slouching off. Quite the contrary. I’ve been birding almost non-stop since mid-April. Birding in and around Abilene, birding on the upper Texas coast, […]

Prairie Chickens and Wild Turkeys began their displays the middle of April; and several Audubon members were privileged to see the Attwater’s Prairie Chickens at the Abilene Zoo (above). Attwater’s are endangered because they are loosing their habitat. Read more about the Abilene Attwater’s Prairie Chicken Reintroduction Program at the Zoo’s website and for a […]