A week ago the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were swarming around my feeders. A few days later there were only a few that showed up. Today I haven’t seen any. I’m assuming the southward migration is pretty much done in our area. The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will return here in mid March.

Red Bellied Woodpecker eating a pecan it wedged into the crook of a young pecan tree.

The Barn Swallow is an insect eating bird. It catches insects in flight. They build cupped nests from mud and animal hair.They tend to build their nests attached to man made structures.

A Male Painted Bunting feeding on Texas Dandelion seeds. This picture was taken behind my garage. They seem to be a very shy and solitary bird but they occasionally visit our feeders and get close to the house. My best chance for seeing them has been early in the morning. The dimension of the fence wire square is 6 inches so you can get an idea of the size of this bird.

There are a lot of migratory birds either passing through on their way north or coming back to north Texas for the summer. One of my favorites is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology it is eastern North America’s only breeding hummingbird and has the largest breeding range of any North American Hummingbird. We have a lot of coral trumpet honeysuckle and trumpet vines in our area. Since the Ruby Throat likes red or orange tubular flowers we have a lot of these birds around our place. They also like to eat small insects such as gnats, fruit flies and mosquitoes.

I saw the first Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher of the year this morning. These birds are usually only seen in several states in the south central US. It is the state bird of Oklahoma. You can’t mistake these birds with their long forked tail and salmon colored flanks. You usually see them perched on fences or power lines. They catch most of their insect diet on the fly.

Bluebirds have started building their nests in preparation for a new breeding season. They are facing fierce competition from house sparrows for their nest boxes. We  had to remove one nest box within 3 days of putting it up after house sparrows took it over.

The White crowned sparrow is plentiful in this part of Texas. They seem to adapt well to pastures, woods, gardens and shrubbery.  They feed on the ground looking for seeds and the occasional insect that ventures out during the winter months.

The Black Bellied Whistling Duck is native to far south Texas, Mexico and Central America. More frequently it is being seen along the United States Gulf Coast.  It is hard to mistake them because of their unusual appearance. They have a distinctive red bill, grey face and pinkish legs. They have a black belly and tail with dark brown cap and neck. In flight their head and feet are carried lower than their body.

This flock showed up near our place in Northeast Texas after a strong storm that came up from the south. They spent a day on a neighbors pond before returning south.

The Painted Bunting is the most colorful of North American birds. They are a migratory bird that winters in Mexico. They nest in the thickets on our place and feed primarily on seeds on the ground. The Painted Buntings are  fond of the seeds of the Texas dandelion that cover our pastures.

Canadian Geese on their southward migration. Every year approximately 100 Canadian Geese spend the winter on a neighbors pond. They spend their days in pastures eating tender newly sprouted winter wheat. A few of the geese stay on the pond year round.