Accidentally Amagical: What are you seeing out there?

We are once again on a rain delay. This one is going to be longer than the last since the rain came in sooner than expected, there is a ton more of it, and our area is in a flash flood watch. Lovely.

So, we are back in Nacogdoches for at least a few days. Luckily we are ahead of schedule. All of our pitfalls and foggings are finished and we only have 24 surveys left. If we can't get out till Monday and still do two surveys a day, then we will still be finished by the 12th which is 2 days earlier than projected. I'm going to think positive thoughts. It's almost over, so I want it to finish out well and not in a scramble.

Another positive note is we don't have zeros on the eucalyptus stands data sheets as I was warned might have been the case. Brittany was even able to get a few good pictures of some of the birds we have seen.

Immature painted bunting

Another shot of the immature painted bunting. Females look similar to this fella. The main difference is males sing while females will chirp or call. When this little guy matures he will look like this:

Image courtesy of allaboutbirds.org

I've only been lucky enough to see one mature male this season. Trying to get eyes on birds while in a stand full of 8-10 feet tall eucalyptus trees is easier said than done.

In an earlier post I mentioned we went driving around trying to find roadrunners. We were finally able to get close enough to take a photo. Again, this is Brittany's capture (gotta give cred where it's due!)

In true cartoon fashion, the roadrunner most folks are familiar with looks nothing like the real thing.

Photo cred: boomeranghq.net (google search)

And they don't make the meep-meep sound. Here is a better photo I found:

Check out that crest on its head! These are awesome birds! They not only eat bugs and insects but snakes! They are also super lightening fast runners. At least the cartoon version was correct in one aspect.

Another really nifty bird I have previously mentioned that we have heard and seen is the orchard oriole. When we first heard an immature call we were both stumped. For those who are familiar with bird songs, it kinda sounded like a blue grosbeak and an indigo bunting had a love child. Luckily Brittany was able to get eyes on it when it started moving around. I lost a part of my bino straps while transferring them from one set to another thus I have barely used my binos at all. Ugh, I digress. Not only do the immatures sound nothing like the adults, but they look nothing like them either.

Photos from Merlin bird ID app.

Crazy, right?? Trying to identify birds like the orchard oriole make birding both fun and frustrating. Age groups and sexes of the same species can be so different that you can get frustrated trying to figure out just what they are. But I assure you, once you figure it out you will never forget. I hadn't heard an immature orhard oriole in over a week and as soon as it started singing I knew what it was.

Now that I've bored you all to death with bird knowledge, I'll leave you with some recent pictures from the season. Blessed be.