Natural History Journal

During the first week of April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  Follow along with our journey here: Part I: Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub and Woodland Part II:  Coastal Prairie and Thornscrub Part III:  Gulf Coast Wading Birds Part IV:  South Padre Island Neotropical Migrants One of the most famed birding destinations in North America, the Lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas enjoys a warm subtropical climate where plant communities found nowhere else in the U.S. thrive.  Here, elements from the Chihuahuan Desert to the west and the coastal prairies to the east blend, meeting along the Rio Grande River where Tamaulipan thornscrub and subtropical woodlands once flourished.  Due to this unique climate and combination of habitat types, an impressive list of bird species native to Mexico and farther south extend their range north across the border into the southern...

Technically, according to the calendar, it's still spring.  Technically.  However, as temperatures push toward 100 degrees Fahrenheit here in California's Great Central Valley, it is rapidly beginning to feel much more like summer than spring! In the bird world, spring migration has pretty nearly wrapped up for the season, as birds settle down on their breeding territories.  Many of our local resident breeders have been hard at work raising their young for a couple of months now, many of whom have already fledged their first brood this season.   Across the wetlands, riparian woodlands and grasslands, even throughout urban and suburban neighborhoods, the air is full of singing males defending their territory and the sound of hatchlings and fledglings begging their parents for food.  Yes, the nesting season is well underway indeed! Singing Marsh Wren: because nobody defends their territory quite like these little mites of the marshes! We've been fortunate eno...

Meet the Grasshopper Sparrow.  Five inches long, half an ounce in weight, and washed in subtle yet striking shades of buff, fawn, chocolate and gold, the Grasshopper Sparrow is tailor-made to disappear into its grassy home.   A bird of dry grasslands, the Grasshopper Sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ) is an uncommon breeding bird across what is left of California's prairies.  Its song, for which it is named, is a high-pitched insect-like buzz that is easily overlooked in a land of swaying grasses and blowing winds.   But it was only due to this bird's humble song that I was able to find it at all! Driving slowly while birding across private rangeland, following a creek deep into the grasslands, birds sang and called all around: Western Meadowlarks in the tall grasses; Red-winged Blackbirds in the cattails along the creek; California Quail in a thicket of brambles; a Red-tailed Hawk soaring above; a Bullock's Oriole in a distant cottonwood.   As the...