Feed the birds

Birding Page

of Janice and Rick McClintock

Rio Medina, NE Medina County, Texas (see a map)

Members of the San Antonio Audubon Society
and Texas Ornithological Society

address

bird nest

PHOTOS:
Birds
Critters
Reptiles & Amphibians
Butterflies & Odonata
LINKS

YARD LIST (since September 1995)

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret

Black Vulture

Turkey Vulture

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck*

Canada Goose

Snow Goose

American Wigeon
Hooded Merganser
Osprey
Mississippi Kite
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Crested Caracara

American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Wild Turkey
Northern Bobwhite*
Sandhill Crane
Whooping Crane
Killdeer
American Woodcock
Franklin's Gull

Rock Pigeon

White-winged Dove*

Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo*
Greater Roadrunner*
Eastern Screech-Owl*
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Common Nighthawk

Chuck-will's-widow

Whip-poor-will

Chimney Swift*

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird*
Anna's Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Golden-fronted Woodpecker*
Northern Flicker
 

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher*

Western Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

White-eyed Vireo*
Bell's Vireo
Black-capped Vireo*
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

Western Scrub-Jay*

Common Raven
American Crow
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow

Cave Swallow

Barn Swallow*
Carolina Chickadee*
Black-crested Titmouse*
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren*
Carolina Wren*
Bewick's Wren*
House Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Eastern Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird*
Sage Thrasher

Brown Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher

Cedar Waxwing

Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler*
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler

Rufous-capped Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat
Summer Tanager
Olive Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Canyon Towhee

Rufous-crowned Sparrow*

American Tree Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal*

Pyrrhuloxia

Black-headed Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Lazuli Bunting
Indigo Bunting

Painting Bunting*

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Common Grackle

Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird*
Bronzed Cowbird

Orchard Oriole

Bullock's Oriole

Scott's Oriole*

Audubon's Oriole
House Finch*

Pine Siskin

Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

*indicates species that we know have bred here

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BIRD PHOTOS

Painted Bunting (left)
Passerina ciris

and Lazuli Bunting (right)
Passerina amoena

Three Buntings: Indigo, Painted (2) and Lazuli

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 177K)

Three bunting species

Northern Bobwhite
Colinus virginianus
quail covey, January 2006

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 136K)

bobwhites

Common Ground-Doves
Columbina passerina

Ground-doves
Spotted Towhee
Pipilo maculatus

Spotted Towhee

Long-billed Thrasher
Toxostoma longirostre

Thanks to MMS for the correction!

Brown Thrasher

Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
Juvenile bird haunting the feeder area (with its right leg drawn up)

Sharpy

 

Nyger seed feeder sock with American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, and Lesser Goldfinch, January 4, 2006.

Another photo (January 14)

feeder sock

Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
and
Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica)

Our resident Scrub-Jays keep a close eye on their 'cousin' during its visits.

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 148K)

jays

Sage Thrasher
Oreoscoptes montanus

This is the very eastern edge of their range. This one over-wintered here, 2006.

Sage Thrasher
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Archilochus colubris
Taken through a dirty window...
hummingbird

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) above, and
Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus)
visit the bird pond during a dry spell.

kinglet and thrush
Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
male and female
cardinals

Orange-crowned Warbler
Vermivora celata

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 168K)

warbler
Our "Yard Turkey"
turkey
Bewick's Wrens
Thryomanes bewickii
feeding their brood on our front porch
wren1wren2

Audubon's Oriole
Icterus graduacauda

(Click on the picture to watch a QuickTime movie; 2.2MB)

Audubon's Oriole

Golden-cheeked Warbler
Dendroica chrysoparia

(Click on the picture to watch a QuickTime movie; 548KB)

Golden-cheeked Warbler
Northern Mockingbird
Mimus polyglottos
State bird of Texas (and others) making a typical grand entrance
Mockingbird
 
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CRITTERS

White-tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus
One of the does that visits us for a drink
deer
White-tailed Deer
One of the twin fawns from 2004
fawn

Doe and fawn

(Click the picture to see a larger version; 252 K)

With mama

Fawn of 2006

(Click the picture to see a larger version; 276 K)

fawn
Texas (or Desert) Tortoise
Gopherus berlandieri
tortoise

Common Gray Fox
Urocyon cinereoargenteus
stops by to eat bird seed.

(Click the picture to see a QuickTime movie, 1.2 MB)

fox

Mantid
feasts on a bug in my cactus garden; this is probably a
Carolina Mantid (Stagmomantis carolina)

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 105K)

Carolina Mantid

Yes, it's finally come to this. Even we must now suffer the bane of bird feeders everywhere. Oh, woe is us... Bring back the years gone by when the bitter tide of squirreldom was not cast upon us... <sniff, sniff>

(Just kidding. They're only occasional visitors.)

Eastern Fox Squirrel
Sciurus niger

squirrel

Did you know there are at least 32 species of bats in Texas?

This is probably an Evening Bat (Nycticeius humeralis Rafinesqu)

bat

Black-and-yellow Argiope
Argiope aurantia

Also known as a yellow garden spider or orb weaver

More about them

(Click on the picture for a larger version; 120KB)

Argiope
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REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS

Fence Lizard

(Click the picture for a larger photo; 112K)

 

lizard

 

"Ahh, nothin' like a nice snooze, stretched out on a warm stone!"

(Click the picture for a larger photo; 128K)

lizard

Great Plains Rat Snake
Elaphe guttata emoryi
Rick is safely moving this one from the bird pond to another location.

(Click the picture for a close-up; 155K)

Rat Snake

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus atrox
Notice that Rick isn't holding this one in his hands...

(Click the picture for a larger photo; 103K)

Rattlesnake

Young Rattlesnake
Very young Western Diamondback with a single button. These babies are quite venomous and difficult to see, and unable to make noise yet to warn you of their presence.

(Click the picture for a larger photo; 86K)

Rattlesnake

Eastern Blackneck Garter Snake Thamnophis cyrtopsis ocellatus
A handsome Hill Country variety

(Click on the picture to see the entire photo, 60K)

garter snake

Texas Alligator Lizard
Gambelia liocephalus infermalis
We were (gently) measuring it at about 12.5 inches.

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 72K)

lizard

Plains Leopard Frog
Rana blairi
This one lives in our front garden and soaks in the small, concrete bird bath. You can see it in its 'native' habitat here.

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 84K)

Caption: "How humiliating!"

leopard frog

"Gator"
The man-eating spiny lizard somewhere in the genus Sceloporus; it was enormous.

(Click the picture for a larger view; 59K Another ominous pose, 52K, cue the shark music from Jaws)

Gator

Still working on this ID, but possibly a
Cliff Chirping Frog

(Click on the picture for a larger photo; 36K)

frog photo
Green Anole
Anolis carolinensis

Green Anole    

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BUTTERFLIES & ODONATA

Queen
Danaus gilippus
Southwestern female on (what else!) a milkweed, Asclepias -- commonly called "butterfly weed"

Queen

White-striped Longtail
Chioides catillus
A skipper that is pretty common to South-central Texas. We're on the northern edge of their range.

(Click on the picture for a larger version; 160K)

longtail

Gulf Fritillary
Agraulis vanillae
One of the many beautiful butterflies and moths that pass through our yard

fritillaries

Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtail
Papilio multicaudata
A huge, beautiful butterfly with one short and one long tail on each side.

(Click the picture for a close-up, 90K)

swallowtail

Julia Heliconian
Dryas julia
A tropical longwing, this is a female sipping on confetti lantana

julia

Julia Heliconian
Dryas julia
Fall female, quite worn

julia

American Lady
Vanessa virginiensis
Very worn fall individual.

am. lady

Eastern Tailed-blue (I think)
Everes comyntas
I didn't know enough at the time to get a photo of the underside to help ID it! There was no tail, but it could be missing in a worn individual. Otherwise, might be a Reakirt's Blue?

blue
Common Sootywing?
Pholisora catullus
sootywing

Skipper
A Western Hesperia, probably either a Green or Pahaska Skipper

[Thanks, D Harper, for the help!]

skipper

Damselfly

(I don't know odonata...yet)

dragonfly

Damselfly

(Click on the picture for a larger version; 85K)

dragonfly

 

Black Witch Moth
Ascalapha odorata
The largest moth north of Mexico. This one is a male with a wingspan of about 6.25 inches. It was photographed against our light gray porch wall.

(Click on the picture for a larger version; 60K)

Black Witch Moth
Pipevine Swallowtail
Battus philenor
Pipevine Swallowtail
California Sister
Adelpha bredowii
A gorgeous western Admiral that loves oak trees.
California Sister    

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