Spring Migration is well underway and there have been lots of neotropical songbirds passing through Matagorda. The cold front we had last weekend pushed a lot of the migrants down into the coastal forests due to the North wind and rain they encountered.
One of the fascinating parts of having the game cams is seeing what else shows up at the drips. The constant nightly parade of possums, raccoons, armadillo, skunks (and hogs, unfortunately) is broken from time to time by a more stealthy passerby such as this bobcat:
The buntings have been a frequent visitor including the Indigo bunting:
Many migrants will arrive in flocks of their own species and also in mixed flocks. When they are exhausted they all seem to play nice in the water rather than running each other off. Below is the Painted bunting along with the Orchard oriole and Baltimore oriole.
More warblers made it safely across the Gulf including these:
This is the Tennessee warbler, which can easily be confused with Orange crowned warblers and even Red eyed vireos given its rather drab coloring versus some of its cousins. The greenish back and grey eye line is key to the ID.
The Kentucky, Prothonotary, Chestnut Sided and Black throated green warblers are mainstays of mid April to mid May migration:
What is less typical is the Cerulean warbler. These birds have been in decline for many years but they sport remarkable and eye catching Spring colors.
Cerulean on the right:
Cerulean on the upper left:
In addition to the warblers, the tanagers have been flowing through consistently.
Summer tanager:
Summer's cousin the Scarlet tanager:
This is the male and female/immature Rose breasted grosbeak. The male gets all the color with this species (as is most in the bird kingdom).
One of the cool things about where this property is located is that it just skirts the far eastern portion of many birds territories or migration paths. Western species such as the Long billed thrasher, Vermillion flycatcher, Ash throated flycatcher and Western tanager have been seen here.
Over the last week there was a truly unexpected wanderer that normally is only seen in Mexico and the lower RGV. This is the Clay colored thrush. He has been a steady presence day after day at this drip.
