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| White-eyed Vireo nest, a sign of spring |
As the fickle winds of spring come in from the south, they usher in several species of birds that spend the warmer months in Central Texas. Most of these species overwinter in Mexico, Central America, or South America, and their arrival in our area signals the start of the breeding season. Most notable are the Summer Tanager, White-eyed Vireo, Western Kingbird, and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.
Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) are medium-sized, chunky songbirds with big bodies, large heads, and thick, pale, blunt-tipped bills. Mature males are the only birds in North America that are completely red. The female and immature males are bright yellow-green, which makes them harder to spot in the forest canopy. These birds prefer to stay fairly high in the trees, often in willows, cottonwoods, and mesquite along creeks and streams. They prefer to sit still then fly out to catch insects in midair. They are especially fond of bees and wasps, beating them against a branch once they are caught, but they may also forage on berries and fruits near their forest habitat. Males have a sweet, whistling song, much like an American Robin.
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| Summer Tanager, male |
Like most vireos, White-eyed Vireos (Vireo griseus) are small songbirds with compact bodies and thick, slightly hooked bills. They have yellow spectacles around their white eyes, yellow-washed sides, gray head, white throat, and two white wingbars. They prefer areas that are scrubby and thick with vines and other vegetation, staying hidden in the understory where they glean caterpillars and other insects. Their song is distinctive, rapid and harsh, sounding like ‘Spit. And see if I care. Spit.’ While only the males sing on their breeding grounds, both males and females have been found to sing on their wintering grounds. They bathe by rubbing their bodies against dewy foliage in the early morning, or by quickly dipping their backsides in a pool of water.
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| White-eyed Vireo |
Oddly often found in parking lots with Live Oak trees, Western Kingbirds (Tyrannus verticalis) are fairly large flycatchers with gray heads, broad shoulders, whitish chest, lemon yellow bellies, heavy straight black bills, and medium-length black tails with white outer tail feathers. They prefer open habitats, often perching on power lines, fences, and in trees, waiting to hawk insects from the air. In fact, their breeding range has been expanding as an unplanned result of humans planting trees and installing utility poles in open areas. Their territory defenses include lots of wing-fluttering and a long series of squeaky, bubbling calls. Paired males and females work together to defend their territory, which shrinks as the breeding season progresses.
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| Western Kingbird |
Few birds are as graceful to watch as Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus fortificatus). These elegant, slender birds are gray overall with salmon-pink flanks and underbellies, stout black bills, blackish wings, and long, forked tails they use to sharply twist and turn midair to catch insects. Interestingly, Scissor-tails are known to use many human-made products in their nests, including pieces of cloth, paper, string, and even carpet fuzz and cigarette filters. These items can account for up to 30% of the weight of the nests. In late summer and early fall, these flycatchers gather to form large, bickering flocks and migrate together back to their wintering grounds.
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| Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
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| Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, showing its' namesake tail |
