Our Texas Bird Banding Team bands thousands of hummingbirds each year in the Texas Hill Country and along the Texas central Gulf Coast.  There are generally 3 major factors which affect the presence of hummingbirds at people homes.

1. LOCATION.  You have to be where the hummingbirds are.

Migration.  Ruby-throats tend to follow rivers, creeks, and edges of lakes, bays and the Gulf.  Largest migration concentrations usually are along the Coast.  Black-chins migrate more inland and north-south oriented rivers and creeks are very good migration corridors.

Homes in isolated woodlots particularly along creeks in ranch country will typically get more visits than homes in a large forest.  The birds can locate the isolate woodlots and hone in on them from a long distance.  The large forest areas tend to dilute concentrations even though they may have more birds in them.

Position of homes in respect to migration influences use by migrants.  Homes located on the north side of a city/town during fall migration tend to get higher use than those further in the community because they are the first sites found and used by the birds when they arrive.  Hummer concentrations get diluted at you move into a community because of all of the competition from the neighbors.  The reverse orientation is true in the spring.

Breeding.  Large breeding concentration of hummingbirds are associated with large areas of habitat which typically do not include the interior of towns.  This means large forested areas with a diverse plant community near homes.  Black-chins tend to prefer open, park-like oak forests or oak forested savannahs with highest concentrations of birds near rivers and creeks.  This means most ranching country in the eastern part of the Texas Hill Country is well suited for the Black-chin.  The Ruby-throat is more of an edge species in the eastern forest and occurs where there is a good mosaic of forest structure with an abundance of wildflowers and insects.

1. QUANTITY.  Hummingbird density frequently is directly proportional to the amount of food available.  There seldom seems to be an upper limit of amount of food provided where more hummers are not attracted.

Quantity of flowers do make a difference as an attractant and its ability to hold large numbers of birds.  I don’t personally believe there is one best hummingbird flower that you must have in your yard.  I believe that the flowers you use must be suitable for hummers, but at the same time attractive to you so that you will be willing to maintain them.  Key strategies are too make sure flowers are available in large numbers during all seasons when hummers are present.  At my Victoria County banding station, I focus on the availability of shrimp plant from fall thru spring, various sages and Turk’s-cap from spring through fall for my annual/shrub mix, and honey suckle, trumpet creeper and morning-glory vines for summer/fall.  I do like coral bean because of its attractiveness but it only last a few weeks in the spring so it is only a minor part of the mixture.

There is considerable debate about using exotic plants versus natives.  The advantage of the natives is that if you have to leave for long trips your natives will likely be alive when you return because they are adapted to the site and environment.  Exotics hummer plants tend to require more care, especially inland away from the warmer and moister Gulf Coast.  Also, natives tend to reproduce and naturally spread more readily across your landscape.

Feeders.  Manage as many as you can safely maintain.  I run up to 75 at my banding station on a six acre site.  I have seen some homes with 50 feeders on ¼ acre.  They had lots of hummers.  From the perspective of the hummers, it is the number of feeder ports available to the birds with food, and not the size of the feeder which attracts them.  Size of the feeders are for the convenience of the manager.  Numbers of feeders is for the convenience of the hummingbirds.

1. COMPETITION.  Hummingbird numbers are typically diluted by the availability of wildflowers and other sites with hummingbird feeders.  Isolated homes in suitable habitat at long distances from neighbors typically will have more birds than individual homes in towns.

During good rainfall years, there is a greater abundance of wildflowers and a lower tendency for hummingbirds to be dependent on feeders.  The reverse is true for dry years with few flowers.

 Guadalupe River Delta – McFaddin Family Ranches CBC

18 December 2008

We developed strategies all year on how to take this CBC one step higher to potentially Number One in the Nation.  We recruited people from across the state and got commitments from more birders than in the past.  We made arrangements with landowners and scouted heavily in the days prior to the count.  We get up to start the count and then what do we find:  High tides and heavy FOG!

We can’t control the weather.  So, we go to Plan B with heavy fog lasting until 10 a.m. and strong warm winds developing afterwards.

The Guadalupe River Delta area like much of Texas has experienced extreme drought.  This allowed the bird count the opportunity to survey the response of birds to the drought across the state and limited amount of freshwater along the lower reaches of the Guadalupe River drainage.  This situation was in great contrast to the flooded conditions during our first CBC for the area 4 years earlier.

HOW DID WE DO?

The 5th running of this CBC produced reports of 217 species from 66 birders.  This places us 2^nd in the Nation again for total species, and we are in the running for the highest counts for Merlin, King Rail, Sora, Bell’s Vireo, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Com. Yellowthroat, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Swamp Sparrow.  As we increase participation for this fun CBC and access new lands we should be able to consistently post 230 species results each year and occasionally be the Top CBC in the Country.  We have reported 271 species in 5 years.

            The woodlands along the lower Guadalupe River on Kenyon and Kamey Islands and on the Wildlife Management Area continue to show their high quality for lingering neotrops, and birdlife.  Many of the unusual birds for the count are found in this area.

Best  Birds reported this year were  Red-headed Woodpecker and Harris’s Sparrow as voted upon by Section Leaders.  A general summary of the Better Birds follows:

 LONG-TAILED DUCK is a northern diving duck which seldom winters in the area.  Cecilia Riley’s team found one for the 2^nd year in a row, and again Mike Gray was able to photograph it.

SWAINSON’S HAWK is a raptor which very rarely lingers in the Coastal Bend.  Brent located one on the Hyne’s Bay Unit of the WMA for the first record of the CBC.

The WHOOPING CRANE’s primary wintering grounds are only a few air miles away and it is a puzzle why they do not regularly uses the marshes of San Antonio Bay.  This year one was spotted when landing in area marshes by Brush/Petra.

SNOWY PLOVERs typically occupy large expanses of sand flats which do not occur in this count circle.  This year Dan Kaspar had lowered his lake to attract waterbirds and it dried more than planned.  This resulted in large expanses of exposed lake beds which were used heavily by plovers.  They were observed by both the Kaspar and Brush/Petra teams.

Caprimulgids are extremely rare during winter along the Central Coast.  The 2 WHIP-POOR-WILLS were found by Robert Edwards on Hog Bayou Road before daybreak. 

NIGHTHAWK sp. linger within urban areas on a regular basis, but they are seldom found in rural settings.  Chris Bludau flushed one from the road before daybreak on the J. Womack Ranch.

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER is a species that rarely occurs in area counties.  One adult was found by Connie Moberley while kayaking the San Antonio River. 

E. KINGBIRD is a common migrant through the area and very few linger into December.  Scott Mitchell’s team located one for our 2^nd CBC record.

BELL’S VIREO was another great bird found by the Rockport group while they were in the Headquarter pasture. Bell’s breed locally in upland brush habitats, and very rarely winter.

The GREEN JAY each winter makes a northward push following food sources which are mostly corn at deer feeders.  This year a major movement of Green Jays occurred outside of the Brush Country.  Three of our teams located 18 on the McFaddin Ranches this CBC.  A few hung around the Weed Prairie hunter camp all winter.

The YELLOW WARBLER is an abundant fall migrant and a few are expected to linger into December.  This year this species has regularly been found on area CBCs.  Brush/Petra were able to photograph one and two other groups located one during the count.

 This was a great year for HARRIS’S SPARROW. This species normally winters inland from the Coast.  Five birds were found by 3 teams; two in sections bordering Hwy. 35 and 1 on the McFaddin Ranches.

TRENDS

Our birding teams worked through dense fog for hours, and then had to deal with strong warm winds the rest of the day.  We set a record for number of birders for this CBC with 66 and increased our effort (party-hours) by 25%.  This should have resulted in increased bird numbers due to effort, but numbers of some species may have been suppressed due to very dry conditions.

The increased effort won out and 72 of the 217 species were reported in above average numbers.  31 species were reported in lower numbers than normal.  See below.

HIGHS (72 sp.):  N. Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Long-tailed Duck, Wild Turkey, N. Bobwhite, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail, Whooping Crane, Snowy Plover, Am. Avocet, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Snipe, Royal Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Eur. Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, E. Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Parauque, Whip-poor-will, nighthawk sp., Green Kingfisher, Red-headed Woodpecker, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woopecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Bell’s Vireo, Tufted Titmouse hybrids, Winter Wren, Gray Catbird, N. Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Am. Pipit, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Palm Warbler, N. Waterthrush, E. Towhee, Clay-colored Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Harris’s Sparrow, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Brewer’s Blackbird, Com. Grackle, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, Am. Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

LOWS (31 sp.):  Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose, Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Mottled Duck, Ruddy Duck, Eared Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, White Ibis, White-faced Ibis, White-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied Plover, Laughing Gull, Gull-billed Tern, E. Phoebe, Blue Jay, Am. Crow, Cave Swallow, Barn Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Wilson’s Warbler, and Savannah Sparrow.

WATERFOWL:  Eight of 27 species occurred in lower numbers than expected and 5 in higher. This group of species and the Waterbirds were likely the most impacted by the drought. Many “wetlands” were dry and others much reduced in size.  In addition, the bay had higher salinities than normal.

WATERBIRDS:  Only 3 of 22 species occurred in above average numbers and 7 were much lower. 

RAPTORS:  Eight of 18 species were reported in above average numbers and 2 were low.  The lower reports were likely due to the fog and windy conditions, and the higher numbers likely due to greater effort.

SHOREBIRDS THRU GULLS:  30 species with 7 highs & 3 lows.  Snowy Plover was new for the CBC.  Tides were high and it made it difficult to locate many birds.  Dan Kaspar’s drying lake was a great assest this year and it was The site for the Snowy’s.  The Solitary Sandpiper pictured above was photographed my Michael Gray and is a rare wintering shorebird for the area.

DOVES THRU WOODPECKERS:  This group of 25 species had 16 high counts which included Whip-poor-will and Red-headed Woodpecker.  Both were new species for the CBC.  Doves and woodpeckers were in exceptionally high numbers.

FLYCATCHERS:  8 species reported was good but lower than expected.  The Team did locate an E. Kingbird and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher which were nice finds, but only had one Myiarchus and no Empids.  Phoebes were considerably lower than previous years.

VIREOS THRU PIPITS:  6 high and 6 low counts.  This group of species which occupy mostly woodlands appeared to be impacted by the drought with much lower numbers of wrens and kinglets than previous years.

WARBLERS:  Warblers is the Signature Group of Species for which this CBC is known.  We have reported as many as 17 species during one count and this year’s 12 species are much below expectations. 5 species were above average in number and 1 was low.  There was good diversity of warblers near water like on Kenyon and Kamey Islands, but not in the drier uplands.  There was an amazing high density of N. Waterthrushes this year.  This was especially surprising considering that the Mad Island CBC just up the Coast did not get one.  We did not locate any unusual lingering warblers as in the past, and we found N. Parula shortly after the count.

SPARROWS:  This was a good year for sparrows.  We reported 21 species with 10 being high in numbers and 1 low.  Harris’s Sparrow was new for the CBC.  Brush and Petra had a grosbeak during the week that we were not able to relocate during the CBC.

THANKS

This very successful count is a major team effort.  We would first want to thank Dale Friedrichs with Lyondell-Basel Corporation for paying for the meal at the Count Down and the activity fees of the birders.  The CBC would not be possible without the great assistance from the McFaddin Family Ranches.  All 3 ranches gave us complete access to their property.  Lou Womack also provided boat and staff to run a team of birders on the river.  Jan Wheelis gave us use of their wonderful lodge.  Walter Womack used his “expert” nature skills to assist us with the bird counting.

            We would also like to thank the Dow and Ineos chemical plants for providing staff and access to their productive wildlife lands.  We are grateful for Mrs. Pat Welder, Larry Seydler, Frank Pagel, Gene Colville, Don Walden, Dan Kaspar, Beverly Fletcher, and the Negley Ranch for providing us access to their lands.  Lastly, we thank the 66 birders who spent their day and huge amount of energy in searching the landscape for every species which we could locate.

At the end of the day, our tired and excited birders gathered under the oaks in the river bottom at the Weed Prairie Hunting Camp on the Jess Womack Ranch.  We were treated to an excellent meal cooked by A. D. Blackman, Buck Packabush and David Drehr.

THANKS TO ALL FOR A GREAT JOB!

Hope to see you at our Christmas Bird Count next year on Thursday, 17 December 2009.

Brent Ortego

202 Camino Drive

Victoria, TX 77905

MATAGORDA COUNTY – MAD ISLAND MARSH

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

15 December 2008

The 16^th running of the Matagorda County – Mad Island Marsh Christmas Bird Count felt more like a survival adventure than a bird survey.  Most of our Team had no idea of the timing and strength of the “Blue Norther” that was going to hit us during the morning of the CBC.  Weather forecast the night before indicated heavy fog in the morning and a cold front arriving in the afternoon, but the front that arrived was much stronger and faster than predicted.

Our team of 97 dedicated birders reported 233 species of birds which will make us Number One in the Nation again for species.  Guadalupe River Delta – McFaddin Family Ranches placed 2^nd with 217 species.

The scene above greeted many of our teams at first light.  A heavy fog had settled along the Coast and some birders had a hard time seeing the roads on which they were driving.  Gradually the fog lifted and birds became active.  It was actually pretty nice for about an hour with relatively light winds and low clouds.  Then about 9 a.m. we observed a very dark frontal line to the north and we knew we were going to experience some pretty serious weather.  Birders scurried for their vehicles, birds headed for cover, and the two boats with birders in the bay had to deal with it.  Our East Bay boat (James Arnold’s) decided to head for the harbor.  We drove about 7 miles through 30 mph north winds, light rain and a drop of 30 degrees in temperature as we got out of the bay.  The airboat in West Bay just decided to work through it.

This was one of the few CBCs I have attended that I felt the need to call birders to see if anybody was still out there.  After taking a break at the harbor, finding some warmer gear and determining that the Count was still active, we continued our journey.  It actually was not uncomfortable on the water once the rain stopped and we wore better gear.  The wind made all birding challenging and the 97 birders did what we could on land and water.

BEST BIRD

Our section leaders voted the E. Wood-Pewee as the Best Bird which barely beat out the Black-headed Grosbeak.

We had a nice collection of rare bird sightings and they will be discussed below:

The FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK has been reported 5 times during the CBC and is expected, but can be very difficult to find as they tend to hide in densely vegetated freshwater marshes.  The Serrill family managed to locate one at Mad Island as it was flying with Black-bellieds.

WOOD STORKS are common during sumer/fall in the area and occasionally one will linger.  Jan Huebner found one on the Baer Ranch.  This marked the 3^rd time we have had one on the CBC.

The APLOMADO FALCON is probably this CBC’s Best Bird year-in and year-out.  Two were reported by Jared Laing and Heather Serrill.  Heather is always looking for a photo opportunity and managed to get this nice shot of one on TNC.

PURPLE GALLINULE is another resident of the deep marsh that typically migrates south for the winter.  Our team can occasionally find one lurking if they work the tall marsh vegetation.  This year Jared Laing managed to sling a rock near one making it flush in the Mad Island area, and it became our 4^th CBC record.

We posted our highest tally of FRANKLIN’S GULLS with 8 this year.  They seemed to be everywhere with 5 of the 15 sections reporting them.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was the only new species for the count this year.  A number of this species were reported along the Coast this season and it’s presence was expected, but it required a very knowledgeable birder to identify it.  Thus, I was excited when Petra Hockey said she was going to do a “Sea Watch” during the count and she came through with this species and a couple more exclusives.

Mad Island is known for its high diversity of flycatchers.  The E. WOOD-PEWEE reported this year is the CBCs 4^th record.  All EAWP have been identified by vocalization.  This individual discovered by “Mr. Radar” Mark Scheuerman was also seen and described well, and eventually photographed.  That is not its photo above, but one I caught during an earlier trip.

Martine Got well described an E. KINGBIRD on TNC for our 4^th record, and Jean Martin’s River Section reported 2 GREAT KISKADEES which was also our 4^th record. 

The WOOD THRUSH used to be a species I doubted occurred with any regularity.  Our Team has been successful at locating and occasionally photographing Wood Thrushes 9 times.  This year one was well described by Michael Kennedy at the Lyondell-Basell property.

The TENNESSEE WARBLER is still one of those lingering warblers that I am yet to identify in winter.  This year makes the 7^th time our Team has adequately described one.  Sandy Dillard and 4 other observers reported one in the Peninsula Section.

YELLOW WARBLER is an expected lingering neotrop that can be difficult to find.  Two were located prior to the CBC and it took Brad Lirette lots of work to photograph the one below during the heavy winds of the day in the W. Roads Section.

This seems to be the year for BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS.  I have had one at my Victoria County home this fall and I have heard of several reports on the Coast.  Dale Friedrichs described one well during this CBC on the Lyondell-Basell property for our 3^rd record.

RESULTS

Excel spreadsheet with data by section available upon request.

233 species is an amazing total for the Weather in which we had to conduct the bird count.  We missed a number of regular species like Ferruginous Hawk, Solitary Sandpiper, E. Screech-Owl, Rufous Hummingbird, Say’s Phoebe, Black-and-White Warbler, Ovenbird, N. Waterthrush, Clay-colored Sparrow, Painted Bunting and House Finch.  We also missed Groove-billed Anis which were spotted the day before and observed still there in mid January. 

The Wildlife Management Area section had the most species with 157.  Matagorda-East, Lyondell, W. Roads, TNC and the Rovers had 4 or more exclusives.

We have led the Nation for 10 years with the most highest counts of individual species.  We normally get at least 20 high tallies.  We might not be able to do it this year.  Candidates for highest counts are the 3002 Am. White Pelican, 1201 Great Egret, 984 Roseate Spoonbill, 41 White-tailed Hawk, 216 Crested Caracara, 20 Yellow Rail, 112 Piping Plover, 289 Greater Yellowlegs, 116 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 E. Wood-Pewee, 477 Sedge Wren, 1 Wood Thrush, 44 Sprague’s Pipit, 1 Black-headed Grosbeak, 23,459 Boat-tailed Grackle, 1226 E. Meadowlark.

TRENDS

Weather is the Great Equalizer in CBC competition and it almost got us on our species tally.  It did greatly reduce tallies of birds and it will be difficult to determine if changes in numbers were more “weather of the day” affected or impacted by the extreme drought which is occurring in many parts of Texas.  Aside from the 12 species missed, 55 species had low counts and 45 had high counts.  Last year we had 65 species with high counts and 25 species with lows:  A Big Difference.

HIGH COUNTS:  Am. Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, N. Pintail, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Green Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Crested Caracara, Aplomado Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Yellow Rail, Purple Gallinule, Sandhill Crane, Snowy Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Snipe, Franklin’s Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Royal Tern, Eur. Collared-Dove, Burrowing Owl, Great Kiskadee, E. Kingbird, N. Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Winter Wren, Sedge Wren, Am. Pipit, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Lark Sparrow, Am. Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

LOW COUNTS:  Ross’s Goose, Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Mottled Duck, Canvasback, Surf Scoter, N. Bobwhite, Horned Grebe, Eared Grebe, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Am. Kestrel, Merlin, Clapper Rail, Am. Oystercatcher, Long-billed Curlew, Red Knot, Bonaparte’s Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Forster’s Tern, Inca Dove, Short-eared Owl, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, E. Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Couch’s Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue Jay, Horned Lark, Tufted Titmouse, Brown Creeper, E. Bluebird, N. Mockingbird, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Le Conte’s Sparrow, Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, N. Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird.

Waterfowl = 7 species high and 8 low out of 28 species.  The Mad Island Area was fortunate to receive an 8 inch rain in November which filled most impoundments and natural wetlands.  Otherwise it would have been very dry and with much fewer water birds.

Divers = 2 low out of 5 species.  Wave action made it difficult to get good counts.

Pelicans through Ibises = 2 high, and 3 low out of 23 species.  We were able to make decent counts on most large waterbirds despite the weather because birds were concentrated in areas accessible to our Team.

Raptors = 7 high and 3 low out of 18 species.  Very good numbers.  Increasing catfish ponds in the W. Roads Section are attracting large numbers of vultures and Caracaras.  Major emphasis of ag landholders to manage for waterfowl also build up a major food source for large raptors and the numerous blackbirds continue to feed many hawks and owls.

Shorebirds = 8 highs and 3 low out of 26 species.  One of the most exciting parts of the CBC for me is to visit the Colorado River Delta during a falling tide.  Extreme low tides exposes hundreds of acres of mudflats and shorebirds from throughout the County flock to the Delta during these situations.  This year the timing of the front was a little late to have maximum exposure, but we were able to observe some very good numbers of birds on the mudflats.

Gull & Terns = 4 highs and 5 lows.  Strong winds definitely made Gulf observations challenging and tended to force most birds to roosts.

Doves thru Woodpeckers = 2 high and 12 low.  Canopy birds were difficult to locate in the wind and many low numbers reflected this.  Despite the weather this was our best year for locating Burrowing Owls with 5 being reported.

Flycatchers thru Pipits = 7 highs and 10 lows.  The few highs reported were associated with wetlands and lingering neotrops.

Warblers.  We only had 11 species of warblers.  This was the lowest tally of warbler species for the CBC during the decade.

Sparrows thru Blackbirds = 3 highs and 10 lows.  Too much wind to determine what we had.

TEAM WORK

Special thanks to: Marc Ealy, David Sarkozi, James Arnold, Melissa Gaskill for working the bays in boats all day in the weather;  Jim Hargrove, Charlie Brower, Sumita Prasad, Karen McBride, Ural and Terry Donohoe, Jerry McIntyre, Michael Kennedy, Bill Baker, Cathy Porter, Brad Lirette, Jean Martin, Bron Rorex, Jim Renfro and Marc Ealy for being Section Leaders; Peregrine Fund for providing us the falcon photo for the T-shirt; Shawn Ashbaugh for developing the design of the T-shirt.

This Christmas Bird Count is The Number One in the Nation from our Team’s perspective.  It has shown national leadership in cooperative efforts between the birders, the landowners, the boat operators and the people of Matagorda County.  It takes every bodies efforts focused on the end result to achieve our goals.  Yes, we have a very diverse avifauna that is the product of a narrow forested corridor extending all of the way down the Colorado River to the Gulf that is bordered by an abundance of native prairies, brushlands and wetlands. An added factor is geography creates diverse ecosystems being in close proximity.  This diversity would not be possible unless the landowners managed their land to maintain the productivity of the habitats, and it would not be possible to survey them unless they liked our project and permitted us access.  All the birds in the world would not mean anything unless the interest, skills and cooperation of the Texas birders would not show up to conduct the count.  We would count very few water birds unless our boat operators would not donate a day from their busy schedule as well as the use of their boats.  We get great support from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, The The Nature Conservancy, the South Texas Nuclear Project and Lyondell-Basel for use of equipment, land and staff.  Lastly, we could not afford to pay for the Great Supper at the Wadsworth Community Center, provide counters with t-shirts and pay their CBC activity fees without the generosity of the sponsors.

LEADERS:  David and Marilyn Sitz.  David has developed a great relationship with the landowners of Matagorda County and he is the person who obtains permission for the birders to access the private property.  Marilyn does the fund raising, arranges for the production of T-shirts and the catering at the banquet.  She recruits volunteers to work at the banquet.  This count would not be near as special without the leadership of Marilyn and her volunteers. 

SPONSORS: Bay City Convention Bureau, Matagorda County Birding & Nature Center, Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept., Lower Colorado River Authority, The Nature Conservancy, South Texas Nuclear Project Operating Co., Lyondell-Basel, Celanese, Wells Fargo Bank, All Star Real Estate, City of Bay City.

LANDOWNERS:  Lower Colorado River Authority, George Harrison, PCS Phosphate, Inc., Jack Miller, Carl Anderson family, Charlie Brower’s family, Roy Poinsett, Eugene Welfel, Baer Ranch, Lyondell-Basel, South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company, Julius Ledwig, Linda Joy Stovall, Bill Von Gonten, Smith Marsh, The Nature Conservancy of Texas, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Grover Ryman, Bill Doss, Ray Culver, Becca Sitz and John Jureczki.

BOAT OPERATORS:  We appreciate the services and the boats provided by James Arnold, and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

NEXT YEAR

This was another amazing CBC at Mad Island.  We thank all of you who helped.  Next year will be better.  We promise it!  Come join us to check it out and bring a friend on Monday, 14 December 2009.

Claudia Dorn, Jerry Gips, Jimmy Jackson, Brent Ortego and Bron Rorex mist-netted birds at the Dobie Ranch in Live Oak County from 24-26 October 2008. This is the 4^th year in a row mist-netting has been used to survey the avifauna of this ranch in late October. Weather was very nice with nights dropping into the low 50′s and highs in the 80′s with relatively light winds. 28 species and 246 birds were captured and are both records for the ranch.

2007 was a fairly wet year leading into a very dry 2008 making for a fairly dense, but dry herbaceous community. 5 water features provided by the landowner has made a major positive difference in the abundance of select species (GKIS, GREJ & NOCA) on the ranch to thrive in drought conditions.

Red-shouldered Hawk, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-and-White Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow were new species banded on the ranch. Neither of these are surprising captures, but are just hard to catch at this site.

Com. Ground-Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, N. Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia and Audubon’s Oriole were call caught at well above average rates.

A list of species captured are provided below:

In addition to individuals captured, a number of additional species were observed on the ranch that were potentially available for capture:

Brent Ortego

The Texas Bird Banding Team

2008 FALL BANDING

At Ortego – Zalk

We had a busy fall at the banding station in Victoria County.  Weather was generally dry and warmer than normal.  Hurricanes threatened the area twice to the north and once from the south.  We were fortunate those major storms missed us, but weather patterns were extremely dry.

Feeder birds occurred in numbers above average because of dry conditions, but my hernia surgery at the peak of Ruby-throat migration in mid September caused capture of much lower numbers of this species than expected.

We caught much higher numbers of Red-eyed Vireos and Empids than previous years.  Many of these individuals were concentrating on fruits of swamp dogwood at the station.

Western hummingbirds only showed up in light numbers.  We had two Rufous and 1 Allen’s from past years show up in August.  We were also delighted with the capture of a Calliope.  The Calliope migration to the area varies from year to year.  Most years they seem to not stray south of I-10 and we miss out seeing these tiny birds.  In other years we will get several to over-winter.  This Calliope arrived at an early August date and did not stay.  This was not surprising since most western hummers arriving early are still searching for their perceived winter ground.

We had a nice surprise when a young Allen’s I banded on 9/30/8 was captured by banding team member Charlie Brower at his home on 10/6/8.  The rest of the Team had a variety of foreign recaptures of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds this fall.  Jim Renfro banding in Houston County caught birds originally banded in Illinoies and Missouri.  Bron Rorex banding in Rockport caught a bird originally banded in North Carolina 10 days earlier, and we received a report of a banded bird found by a home owner near Sugarland that was originally banded at LeCompte, LA.

I would like to thank Sue Ortego, Bron Rorex and Susan Beree for assistance with the banding this Fall.

TOTAL BANDED = 1928 with 919 RECAPTURE EVENTS

INDO              3

YBCU             1

BUFH              95

RTHU              1370

BCHU             15

RUHU             4

ALHU              2

CAHU             1

YBFL              6

ACFL              1

WIFL               4

ALFL               35

TRFL               81

LEFL               7

EAPH              2

GCFL              2

WEVI              24

REVI               13

WAVI              1

BHVI               1

CARW            6

HOWR            12

ETTI                0

CACH             8

RCKI               1

BGGN             4

HETH              1

GRCA             3

NOMO            3

LBTH              3

NAWA            23

OCWA            2

YWAR            4

BAWW           1

MOWA           10

HOWA            1

WIWA             31

CAWA            1

COYE             7

YBCH             28

SUTA              3

CHSP              1

LISP                8

NOCA             70

BLGR              1

INBU               16

PABU              7

OROR             3

BAOR             2

2008 Hummer House Trip

19-23 June

Sue and I left Victoria at 3:30 a.m to meet Ann Lemon at her ranch near Segovia to sample her hummers. We enjoyed visiting with Ann and catching Black-chins with a hill top view. Many Painted Buntings and other seed eaters visited her grain feeders while we worked the hummers. Our sample goal was 100 which we achieved by 10 a.m. Her population appeared to have slowed down in breeding for the season because only 26 of 57 adults were male. The normal sex ratio is 1:1 and males tend to leave when they do not get enough attention. 67% of adult females showed tail wear indicating they probably fed young and 17% of our sample was comprised of young birds. 13 of the adults captured had been banded during previous trips. We ate a nice breakfast at one of the best Junction restaurants and watched a waitress balance raw eggs on their ends which is reported as to be only possible during the summer solstice.

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We caught 636 Black-chinned Hummingbirds on 20 June 2008 at the Brown Ranch. This was the 2^nd highest hummingbird catch for the Ranch. Songbirds were much lower than normal (<400) and their scarcity allowed banders to focus more intensively on catching hummers. We recaptured about 88 hummers from previous years. This was the 3rd year in a row of lower than expected production of young. There was a severe hail storm during spring 2006 that probably killed birds, there was a major freeze in early April 2007 that probably destroyed all nesting attempts at the time. 2008 had much lower rainfall than normal which should lead to lower production and higher dependency of birds on feeders. Adult male to female sex ratios was about 45% male which is about normal for this site and date. It contrasts greatly with ratios from neighboring ranches and shows the significance of this property by being able to support reproduction of high densities of birds late into the season. Win and Beck ranches nearby feeders had a much higher percent of adult females and indicates that breeding is finishing up for the season earlier at these sites than at the Hummer House.

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INDEPENDENCE CREEK

Chandler Ranch

21 – 23 JUNE 2008

After banding at Dan & Cathy Brown’s Hummer House on 20 June, Ross Dawkins and I continued our expedition by traveling to the Chandler Ranch in Terrell County. We netted on the south side of Independence Creek near its confluence with the Pecos River. Conditions were hot and very dry. There was still a good clear flow in the creek. We focused netting near the “slab” on the first day having to keep most nets in total shade because of 100+ degree temperatures. The 2^nd day, we shifted unproductive nets and all nets near the river westward towards the “shady grove” area. We caught about 300 individuals of 30 species. Yellow-breasted Chat, Painted Bunting, Blue Grosbeak and Bell’s Vireo were the dominant species in the baccharis dominated riparian zone. Black-capped Vireo and Green Kingfisher occurred in relatively high numbers. We caught a Black-capped Vireo that was banded during an earlier study that was at least 8 years old.

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We finished our last banding run of the season during late June in the eastern Hill Country with the Burditt Ranch feeding 3.7 gallons of sugar water per day, Matter Ranch 1 gallon per day and Wiedenfeld Ranch 2 gallons per day. The breeding season is starting to show signs of winding down with adult males starting to leave the mega feeding stations. Reproduction looked good for the season with all ranches showing about 50% young during the last check and ¾’s of the adult females showing some tail wear which is normally indicative of having fed young. Total capture of birds this season was below those of the record year of 2007 and collectively at least as high as the other previous years. We had one day of strong winds which lowered catch and tallies for the year.

The last round of the season netted two very interesting birds. The first was a male that was banded as a hatch year at Dan Brown’s Hummer House Ranch near Christoval in 2004. It was caught again at that ranch in 2006 and 2007. However, this year they did not catch it at Dan’s, and we caught it at the Burditt Ranch in late June. Our data has shown over the years that males are more prone to switch breeding areas and we suspect this bird did this. The 2^nd bird was banded as an adult female at my Victoria County banding station in October of 2006 and was caught at the Matter Ranch in late June. She was apparently en route to her winter ground when she was caught near the Coast.

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Banders: Brent & Sue Ortego, and Bron Rorex

This is our 3^rd trip of our 5^th season banding hummingbirds in the Texas Hill Country. We make 4 monthly trips during each breeding season. We caught hummingbirds and songbirds for 4 hours at each of 3 ranches during the weekend 7-8 June 2008

Winds ranging from 15-25 mph all weekend made capturing hummingbirds and songbirds very difficult. Capture rates of hummingbirds were very low this trip as compared to past years, and likely much of this was due to the weather. However, not all differences to past years can be explained by the weather.

We did not recapture enough birds from previous trips to be able to make reasonable estimates of the population this month.

Burditt Ranch, Leakey

Caught 239 in June 2006, 200 in June 2007, and 354 in May 2008. We caught 162 Black-chinned Hummingbirds on this trip: 32 adult and 45 immature males, and 59 adult and 26 immature females. We had 44% of the birds as young with only 28% in 2007 and 22% in 2006. Only 35% of the adults were male this month as compared to 54% in 2007 and 42% in 2006.

46% of adult females showed evidence of having nested while 75% did in 2007 and 85% in 2006.

Ranch fed 3.86 gallons per day the week prior to banding in June.

Matter Ranch, Comfort

Caught 65 in June 2006, 104 in June 2007, and 136 in May 2008. We caught 52 Black-chins on this trip: 21 adult and 8 immature males and 22 adult and 1 immature female. We had 17% of the hummingbirds as young with only 4% in 2006 and 2007. 49% of the adults were male this month as compared to 50% in 2006 and 2007.

55% of the adult females showed evidence of having nested while 90% did in 2007 and 74% in 2006.

Ranch fed 1.75 gallons per day the week before banding in June.

Wiedenfeld Ranch, Comfort

Caught 102 in June 2006, 310 in June 2007, and 332 in May 2008. We caught 44 Black-chins on this trip: 5 adult and 10 immature males, and 25 adult and 4 immature females. We had 32% of the hummingbirds as young with only 3% young in 2007. Males represented only 17% of the adults as compared to 44% in 2007 and 35% in 2006.

64% of the adult females showed evidence of having nested while 64% did in 2007 and 92% did in 2006.

Ranch fed 1.88 gallons per day the week before June banding.

Summary:

With low catches caused by the weather, we can only guess as to what is happening and likely will have to wait until our last banding session at the end of June to make any conclusions on production in 2008.

Evidence of nesting females were considerably lower than past years, but percent young higher than normal. Adult males appeared to already be leaving for the year. We did notice a few adult males and one adult females already going through body molt indicating the breeding season for these birds was done and they were getting ready for migration. Some individual hummingbirds molt before migrating south while others will wait until they get to the winter grounds.

While there might have been other factors affecting catch rate, our story will be that the weather caused the low catch.

SONGBIRDS

We spent more time catching songbirds this trip because of low numbers of hummers being brought to the banding tables.

We banded 23 songbirds at the Wiedenfeld Ranch and 121 at the Matter Ranch. Young birds made up a high percentage of the catch indicating nesting was going well for them.

Of particular interest were the 23 Purple Martins we banded at the Matter Ranch. These birds were individually banded with color bands that are readable with spotting scopes. This allows us to identify the birds without having to capture them again and should make it easier for us to learn more about the martins. This martin banding is part of a larger study sponsored by the Purple Martin Conservation Association where attempts are made to band 2,000 Purple Martins per year in Texas with the same protocol.

We spent a good part of Sunday morning watching the young martins in the picture above that left the nest early being fed by the parents.

There is obviously much more to these trips than just the banding. We are participating with some very wildlife conscious landowners that treat their guests very well with their time, food and facilities.