Birding enthusiasm revived:
Following a simple question raised about a bird I took a photo of (thank you Jeremy), I realised how lazy I have become in relation to a hobby I used to follow relentlessly where ever I went.
In the UK ,I used to be able to recognise a bird from the call or song sung, and certainly once I spotted it I'd recognise it instantaneously.
Yes I was a 'birdwatcher', 'birder' , 'twitcher', 'ornithological enthusiast', an 'anorak', or whatever you want to term it.
Since being in the US, I have not really pursued the interest as I used to, but the camera has drawn me back to taking an interest in Nature, photographing Wildlife, Flowers, Insects and Birds, as well as anything in my line of sight as the blog is testimony to it seems.
Houston is a very different place than where I used to live in Epsom, small town in the leafy lanes of Surrey where a 5 minute walk up the hill took me to Epsom Downs and a 10 minute cycle ride down the hill took me to Epsom Common. Now I'm relegated to a 1 minute walk round the creek behind the houses or a long car journey somewhere more interesting.
Now in relation to the bird I took a photo of when in Bryan College station , here are a couple of other photos of the same bird from the blog entry from last weekend. I thought it would be easy to identify this bird I realised that I'm not so familiar nor so confident with the Native US Species I'm still not 100% sure I got this one right either.
Initially the pose in the other photo made it look like a Mocking Bird with yellow on it, so looking through the books only to soon realise that there was not a close relative of the Mocking Bird with yellow on it. So was it a Fly Catcher? or some kind , or a Warbler? a American version of a Yellow Breasted Chat ?or a Vireo? (yup never heard of them before either). In each case something was wrong the body shape the bill the eye markings. Unfortunataly I did not take note or can not recall the song.
However, I believe this bird to be a Couch's Kingbird. I could still be wrong but its close, if not correct. . They are part of the Flycatcher family. Key reasons for me thinking it is that is the beak the yellow and the white under the chin and throat and the head and eye markings. So until proven wrong it is a Couchs Kingbird, who are known to exist around the area I live but more predimanantly the Rio Grand and down into Mexico.
The only other alternative could be that it is either an Ash Throated or even Great Crested but tail and head shape to me make this option look less likely

As for the other birds in the previous blog entry, sitting on the White round nest boxes, these appear to be Purple Martins, nesting in Communial Martin houses put up by one of he house owners.

Birding used to be a hobby of mine when in the UK and I gained immense pleasure out of. It was a hobby that got me up on a spring morning before 4.00am and off to Epsom Downs or Epsom Common or sometimes further away to a wood or field somewhere, or often when vacationing in Devon, or Dorset, or Cambridgeshire or Norfolk, I'd get up early just to experience the sounds of a Spring Dawn Chorus.

Now if you have not ever experienced a Dawn Chorus in the Spring you really have missed out on one of the many marvels of the natural world. For the lazy just wake up and open the window. It will not be the same as standing outside on a chrisp cool Spring morning, but its a start. Basically you get back the amount of effort yo put in I think.

I recall the starting of a short little twitter of a bird, almost something you could miss, maybe the flutter of a wing in the trees somewhere, as a bird awakens.
Just one small sound, and then another and another. The deep bellowing of the Wood pigeons woudl start, I recall them being one of the first birds to start up with their repetative whoohooing. Then a Robin, or a Blackbird starting to sing short bursts of song. A crow calls out, slowly the Warblers, Sparrows, a Wren, and in some parts of the country lucky enough to have them, I'd hear the cockoos start their distinctive calling 'cuckoo' 'cuckoo'. A pheasant calls, loudly, yet from afar, each new sound added to the already building sounds of the forest and field birds. When by the water ,ducks added their unique comical sounds and when by the estauries the wading birds adding to the sounds echoing around the openness of the water, high pitched almost eeery whstles and calls. All the birds waking up and singing. Song larks, Warblers from afar, joining in with the native species, all together by now in full song.

There would be what must have been 15 to 20 minutes of song, as the sun came up, of what would end up as a full 'Birds Orchestral Crescendo' of sound almost ear piercing at times, where there was lots of birdlife. With all the birds now fully awake and singing their unique songs , the tempo would begin to slow down and the day was officially started.

Activity now was gathering food, mating or feeding young, and that was just the birds, by way of clarification. I'd usually head back home to sleep for an hour or so.

It is an incredible thing, each and every Spring Morning. They sing, very likely to protect their territory and attract, mate, and is certainly worth the effort to get up and hear.

Now I took a number of other photos this weekend of wildlife and birds especialy as Timothy's Tennis was cancelled on Saturday, due to thunderstorms and rain settling in on Saturday.

However, we all stayed away at the Woodlands Country Club and when the sun did come out late Satturday and all Sunday morining and early afternoon we swam in the pools and other activities included eating and watching the World Cup Football.

I will add this weekend activities to another blog entry later this week.