Frontera Audubon Thicket, 4/9/07

I arrived at Frontera Audubon Thicket this morning only to have Patty tell me of eight dead Chimney Swifts in the street in front of the park. I went out and picked up a couple to put in the freezer. They looked like OK specimens. Chimney Swifts roost in the old hacienda and my guess is they were flying low over the steet looking for something to eat in the record cold weather and got nailed by traffic. We later rescued two that were trapped inside the old hacienda and found another dead one.



Look at the "needles" on the rectrices of this dead Chimney Swift.



There was a nice warbler flock with ten species actively feeding in the cool damp weather. Too dark for pics.

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 10
Plain Chachalaca 10
Snowy Egret 1
Green Heron 2
Broad-winged Hawk 5
White-winged Dove 1
Inca Dove 6
White-tipped Dove 10
Chimney Swift 20
Buff-bellied Hummingbird 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 3
Ringed Kingfisher 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker 8
Brown-crested Flycatcher 2
Great Kiskadee 2
Couch's Kingbird 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Black-crested Titmouse 2
Carolina Wren 2
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
Long-billed Thrasher 2
European Starling 1
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 3
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Ovenbird 3
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Hooded Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 1
Olive Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 3
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Great-tailed Grackle 5
Altamira Oriole 1
Lesser Goldfinch 1
House Sparrow 1

Later in the afternoon I found these FOS Scarlet Tanager and Eastern Wood Pewee in the backyard. The Scarlet Tanager was about 40-50 yards away when I phtographed it.