I had been longing to see and to photograph a Northern Cardinal while we were in Texas, and through luck and a bit of persistence I finally succeeded! After spotting one or two of these bright red birds while I was out without my camera, I made sure to get up early one morning and take a stroll around the neighborhood. I could hear them calling in the trees above my head, so I just followed the sound and kept my eyes turned upward.
Another bird that I never see in California is the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata); I’ve seen many, many California Scrub-jays and a few Stellar’s Jays in my home state, but the Jays in Texas are another sort altogether. Happily, I only had to look into the back yard of our rented house to find them.
One Blue Jay in particular gave me a bit of a scare. I happened to see a bird atop the back fence with wings spread wide and head thrown back in a very strange (to me) attitude. Since it didn’t move at all for several minutes, I was convinced a cat had got hold of it and then left it as some sort of gruesome trophy. It wasn’t until I got a little closer that this poor “slaughtered” bird suddenly stirred to life and flew away!
Although I spotted quite a lot of familiar House Sparrows, Northern Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves, and what may have been a Cooper’s Hawk, some birds’ identities remained a mystery to me, thanks to their tendency to lurk in the trees and bushes. They showed just enough of themselves to catch my interest, but not enough for me to identify them reliably.
I think I did pretty well on this trip when it came to finding birds — especially since these species were all shot within a few streets of our house!
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
