Seasonal comings & goings

I saw a male northern harrier on power lines just south of Lubbock yesterday. He'll be leaving for cooler climes soon. Although I've seen these and other harriers often enough, 99% of the time they're airborne, quartering over some swamp or savannah or field. It was almost a shock to see this one perched!

Our scissortails are back in numbers, in Abilene and across west Texas. Purple martins, barn swallows and cliff swallows are much in evidence again, as are the chimney swifts.

We had clay-colored and Lincoln's sparrows in our front yard among a mixed group of birds foraging under the bird feeder -- both of these were new to me, so a real pleasure to have a prolonged look at them. These fellows are also probably on their way northward.

There was a Bewick's wren inside our garage a few days back -- I've often been impressed with how bold and even intrusive these diminutive birds are when pursuing their insect and arachnid prey.