Saturday, April 24, 2010

Lifer No. of Vireos in one square mile

   Migration was good in Port O'Connor today but not great and ended on a sad note.  The 12-14"of rain down in S. Texas have sure put a nix on any near term work which I was really counting on as some ranches are just to wet to do.  And this is my biggest business time of year income wise except for fall.
   On the upside I birded Port O'Connor for several hours and lacking anything better to do and ended up having a wonderful day and when it comes to Vireos a day like none I have had in my life.  Within a square mile I found 9 species of vireos.  Actually a friend Tria Overstreet was the first to spot one of those , a very rare one for Port O'Connor and one which I think I have only seen here before 2 times in 17 years.  Tira is a birder I met thru Petra a few years back and from a near total novice then, has garnered the skills.  Very observant, great eye for detail and eyes better than mine for actually spotting birds to begin with. A dangerous competitor in town :-)  I also birded some with the  Eberhards who spotted numerous good birds for me.  Here is the lowdown on the Vireos seen today in POC....A total lifer number for a day/location as far as I can remember in terms of nubmers of species, for sure in the US, though I have had 8 species before in one day but over a much larger area..

Red-eyed Vireo
Yepllow-green Vireo (rare)
Warbling Vireo 1 (they were junk birds 3 days ago)
Philadelphia Vireo 3
Bell's Vireo (rare in POC)
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo (rare in POC)   Thanks Tira!
Blue-headed Vireo

  Ended the day with 21 Warbler species as well...Best being I guess Golden-winged, though I may be biased as it is such a favorite of mine and they are becoming so hard to get in recent years.

   Tragically as I was looking for birds a few blocks away, dear sweet old Eva Meitzler's house was burning to the ground.  I heard the sirens and saw the smoke but did not realize it was her place.  She has a lot of friends with the church and folks in town so she will be well taken care of but she dearly loved her old house and yard which she always allow us to bird freely. She did not even own a car.  It was a bummer to an otherwise very good day.  She did not have much to begin with and her place was in bad shape.

  I can hear the Skimmers out on the bay as I wrap this up.

B