[texbirds] Re: Migrating Couch's Kingbirds
- From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Martin Reid <upupa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 16:52:59 -0500
The first few times I went to south Texas in the mid 1960's, Couch's
kingbirds were scarce or non-existent during the winter or even at
Thanksgiving. They were generally considered migrants and most trips did
not have any or just one or two birds. Of course bronze cowbirds were also
very hard to find at that time in winter.
Later, I think it was at the time of the first crimson-collared grosbeak I
spent a lot of time sitting around in the neighborhood a little to the
northwest of the Williams house waiting for the no-show and I found a roost
of Couch's after having none for several days. They came in close to dusk
and sat on wires for a bit before going to roost.
Much more recently, I had a large group fly onto the wires just outside
Aransas which acted like either migrants or un-roosters. I learned that
they were birds leaving the roost and had wintered at the site for several
years.
I think that the status has changed considerable and now they can be found
in winter on the UTC on a regular basis. They do not always stay at a spot
all winter but birds like the one at Paul Rushing Park on the Katy Prairie
and the two at Smith Point were site faithful all winter. Birds also winter
at the LCRA property and the cemetery at Eagle Lake and others were around
more as one day wonders.
I have found many of the recent wintering couch's eating tallow berries
starting in late October and have a number of pictures of them downing the
berries which they pick from the air even when they are sitting next to
berries. I have not seen any extensive write-ups of this habit but eastern
kingbirds become berry eaters on migration and the wintering grounds and
still do mulberries when they get back in the spring.
I wonder if it is possible that the change to a winter diet of tallow
berries if it is a change has allowed more couch's to winter now as
compared to say 40 years ago.
On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 7:46 PM, Martin Reid <upupa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Dear All,
> While showing a couple of visiting birding friends from England around
> Mitchell Lake Audubon Center on the south side of San Antonio this
> afternoon, we saw a few groups of up to a dozen Scissor-tailed Flycatchers
> on the wires at various points. Nice enough, but the last group we saw -
> six or seven birds along the road next to the Police Academy - were
> accompanied by fifteen Couch's Kingbirds. This is the first time I've seen
> more than 3 birds in a group (other than feeding youngsters), and the first
> time I have witnessed migration for this species. Does anyone else have
> experience of this? FYI The TOS Handbook talks about them withdrawing from
> the northern parts of their range in the winter; I saw two at their
> traditional breeding site by the Botanical Gardens on Monday.
> Also, the Black-throated Gray Warbler was still at Denman Park in NW San
> Antonio yesterday morning, along with a Pine Warbler, a few Orange-crowned
> Warblers, and 10+ Nashvilles. We were on limited time, and did not cover
> the entire park.
>
> Finally from yesterday afternoon I caught the tail end of some raptor
> migration from our apartment complex at Fredericksburg Road and Wurzbach in
> San Antonio:
> TUVU - 222; excluding obvious non-moving birds
> BLVU - 13; ditto
> SWHA - 43 (minimum)
> BWHA - 6
> COHA - 4
>
> Martin
>
> ---
> Martin Reid
> San Antonio
> www.martinreid.com
>
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--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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