I’m beginning to run out of bird species I haven’t published for this trip, so some of these are going to be repeats of the same species but featuring different photos.  However, this post contains one of my favorite Texas species that I hadn’t seen previously on this trip.

Starting off with a photo of a male Northern cardinal…

Another photo of a male Black-chinned hummingbird, with this photo showing a tiny bit of the blue on the bird’s gorget.  I had a very difficult time getting a photo of the bright gorget.

Another photo of an adult male Summer tanager, followed by a photo of a first-year male which has yet to achieve its full red color.

And finally, one of my favorite Texas birds… a White-eyed vireo.  I’m fascinated by the ‘expression’ on this species’ face!

A male Brown-headed cowbird…

Another Black and White warbler…

A Ladder-backed woodpecker, a staple of the Live oaks in the Hill Country…

A female Summer tanager…

And finally, a pair of wrens…

a Bewick’s wren, a species we have here in the Pacific Northwest,

and a Carolina wren, a species whose range extends northeast from Texas…

I’m nearing the end of my Texas visit so the photos I’m posting from here on out will mostly be of species I’ve previously posted, just taken on different days and in somewhat different settings.

Starting off we have another male Painted bunting…

And another pair of Northern cardinals…

And anther photo of what I believe is a Swainson’s thrush…

Two more photos of Nashville warblers…

And finally, a photo of a male Black-chinned hummingbird…

This was apparently a somewhat light day for birding photography.

Here’s yet another male Northern cardinal, a very common bird in central Texas.  I believe that I counted as many as five in the yard at one time, and you can pretty much assume that there was a female for every male.

There were one or two male Ruby-throated hummingbirds in and around the yard.  It’s usually rather difficult to get a good photo of the bird with its gorget bright enough to distinguish it from the more numerous Black-chinned hummingbirds.  I can’t distinguish the females between the two species.  This isn’t a great photo, but it’s a ‘record’ shot of a male in flight displaying his gorget.

Another male Painted bunting in a typical scene on a dead juniper branch.  You don’t waste branches… a dead branch is usually as good as a live one, and even better for photography.

A female Ladder-backed woodpecker on a Live oak tree…

And finally, a Western Scrub jay.  When I was growing up not that many miles away we only had Blue jays, but the balance seems to have shifted in the time since.

Another day in Texas with cooperative weather!

A pair of Brown-headed cowbirds, threats to central Texas’ endangered Golden-cheeked warblers, Black-capped vireos and other birds…

The ‘moving on north’ White-winged dove…

Another male Black and White warbler…

A Red Admiral butterfly.  These butterflies were plentiful when I was growing up in the Hill Country.  They congregated on the sap of the Spanish oaks and on wet, discarded watermelon rinds.

A Texas Six-Striped lizard getting a drink of water.  I have absolutely NO expertise in lizard identification and am only taking the word from my sister on this!

Back to the birds… a Lincoln’s sparrow.  We have these in the Pacific Northwest but I never have the opportunity for such a good photo here.  When I can find these birds I usually have to shoot from my vehicle in the winter.

The beautiful female and male Painted buntings.  Interestingly, this past winter a male showed up at a feeder only about ten miles from my house in Anacortes.  I was asked by many friends if I had seen it, but I never made the journey thanks to Texas hospitality!

Another male Northern cardinal, shown here in part for contrast with the last bird shown in this post.

And finally (… remember there’s always a finally’), a male Summer tanager and a little story to go along with the photos.

While my sister, her husband and I were sitting on the deck watching birds this male tanager flew and landed right next to us.  It landed on a staging stick associated with a garbage can lid bird bath, probably less than eight feet away from me, eschewing the more natural watercourse and bird bath about 20′ away.  On its first visit it perched on the stick, stared at us and vocalized for a minute or two before dropping to the bath and bathing!  Over the next few days it returned to the same bath several times, seemingly totally unafraid of us or my photographic activity.

Since we don’t have tanagers in Western Washington, I could have difficulty remembering how to keep the Summer and Scarlet tanagers’ names straight.  I realized that the Scarlet tanager “isn’t” (all) scarlet while the summer tanager is.  So my little mantra is that “the Scarlet tanager isn’t”!  It seems someone could have done a better job of naming these species!