Houston Audublog

Sharp-shinned Hawk ( Accipiter striatus ) Family: Accipitridae The Sharp-shinned Hawk gets its name from the thin ridge on its lower legs. They are the smallest hawk in North America. At maturity, these hawks have small dark grey head, nape, wing, and backside, light rufous barring on the cheeks, throat, and underside, and fine horizontal black and white barring on the lower two-thirds of the wings. Juvenile birds will have more brown than gray on the top half of their body and will have thicker brown and white vertical barring on their undersides. They possess long square tails with six thicker black and grey horizontal bars, which can differentiate them from Cooper’s Hawks and can help Sharp-shinned Hawks navigate around trees while flying through dense woodland, giving them an added advantage for capturing their prey. Sharp-shinned Hawks often pounce on their prey from concealed locations on perches, catching prey both on the ground and midair. Their diet mainly consists of...

Buff-bellied Hummingbird ( Amazilia yucatanensis ) Family: Trochilidae Like most hummingbirds, the Buff-bellied Hummingbird is primarily green, especially around the head and back. It has a rufous-colored tail and a buffy wash to its light underside, and its bill is distinctively reddish or orangey-red with a black tip. Weighing just under 5 grams (about as much as two sugar cubes), the Buff-bellied Hummingbird is actually one of the largest hummingbirds to v isit the Houston area. It can be found and identified by its high-pitched twittering call, which it is known to give year-round, both while perched and in flight. The Buff-bellied Hummingbird is commonly found in oak woodlands and brushy areas, but it also is a regular visitor to urban parks and gardens. While it has been known to breed in southern Texas, the Buff-bellied Hummingbird is unique among North American hummingbirds in that it disperses northward along the gulf coast during the winter – during the non-breed...

Every serious birder knows that if you’re looking for something special, it’s a good idea to find a mixed flock. Even on days when it seems like nothing is moving, a single mixed flock can be a game changer. I experienced this firsthand a few days ago when I made my way to Bear Creek Pioneers Park to do some casual weekend birding. For much of the morning I was in the doldrums – not a chickadee in sight! Then, as if out of nowhere, I heard a cacophony in the trees to my left. Sure enough, a large mixed flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, Black-capped Chickadees, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets was moving through. All of a sudden, the place was hopping! I knew there was bound to be something special mixed in. Sure enough, as I scanned the foliage in typical twitcher fashion something unusual caught my eye – yellow undertail coverts, pale supercilium, faint streaking on the breast, dull brown crown, and a wagging tail… A Palm Warbler, and a lifer at that! It was a s...

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