EAST TEXAS — After another too-short night, I met Spence and Courtney in the Thomas lobby at 7. On our way out of campus, we stopped by Shroud and Bev’s apartment to check on the House Finch nestlings.

The three surviving nestlings continue growing quickly.

As we began our walk down the iron bridge road, the scent of honeysuckle was heavy and sweet in the cool morning air. Spence and Courtney had both worn long sleeves, but all I had on was a T-shirt. That cool morning air was stirred by frequent breezes, and I soon began to think I was going to freeze.

We heard a few birds singing, but most of them were not interested in being seen. And I was freezing.

By the time we had crossed the bridge and walked up onto the railroad tracks, the sun was beginning to warm things up. We noticed an open gate across the tracks. A square sign on the bars said simply “29.” I thought it sounded ominous (like a some secret testing facility), but Spence and Courtney were ready to investigate. “We have to see what’s around that bend,” Spence said.

The gate was open — Gate 29.

So we took the road. It wound through open, upland habitat. Dozens of swifts and swallows swarmed over a small creek. Indigo Buntings were plentiful, and we heard several Yellow-breasted Chats but never got good looks at any of them. Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons flew overhead. I heard two Prairie Warblers, but we didn’t get to see much of them.

By late morning, the sky was rich blue, the air was balmy, and it was a perfect day to be outside in the sun. On the way back to the car, we had a wonderful look at a Prothonotary Warbler who sat out near the end of a branch, singing his chorus with gusto.

ydhttmwfi: The iron bridge road

LONGVIEW, TEXAS — Last night, Shroud told me that Molly’s eggs had hatched. He was very excited: “We’re grandparents!”

So this morning, I went off to photograph the young House Finches, but I stopped by the dining hall first for breakfast. I ended up eating with the director of campus security, who cuts quite a figure with his cowboy boots and thin but remarkably vertical hair. He asked me what I was going to photograph, and I told him (with a tinge of embarrassment) about the birds nesting in front of my friends’ apartment.

“What kind of birds?”

“House Finches,” I said. “They’re, uh, small…” I gestured with a thumb and forefinger.

“I’m a bird watcher.”

Thankfully, I didn’t drop my spoon. YOU are?

He went on, in his East Texas drawl, to tell me about his four feeders and eight male cardinals and the other visitors, including one he was especially proud of. “A deal called a Blue Grosbeak,” he said. He described the bird with what I guess I’d have to call enthusiasm, and it did indeed sound like a Blue Grosbeak.

Will wonders never cease?

The nestlings seem very young — two or three days at most, I’d guess.

LONGVIEW, TEXAS — Chimney Swifts and Purple Martins circled the pond and fields in good numbers today. I usually head down there after class, and today I took my camera.

Ladybugs on Coreopsis lanceolata.

A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

LONGVIEW, TEXAS — A shrike lives down by the pond and the athletic fields. We saw him on a power line, calling. A shrike is not a bad way to start the day, especially if it’s on campus.

It’s also not a bad way to start a birding career. Today was Courtney’s first day birding. We went this morning before class. Spence wanted to come, but he decided to study for history and statistics tests instead. Good for him. Anyway, Courtney is a mutual friend of ours who seemed interested in birds and responded enthusiastically to my invitation. It appears that LOL is continuing to grow.

We birded the south end of campus. The fulgent morning air heightened colors and sounds. Jays cried loudly; Mourning Doves fluttered and glided from tree to tree. Mockingbirds, cardinals, robins, Carolina Wrens, and an exuberant House Finch poured forth song. “It’s like a symphony,” Courtney said, as if she were hearing it — really hearing it — for the first time.

Chimney Swifts twittered through the skies, and goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows ornamented the very tops of the trees (which of course meant that virtually no field marks were visible on the sparrows). I heard a couple of yellow-rumps, but there were no neotropical migrants today.

We heard and then saw a Brown Thrasher. To my astonishment, it moved quickly from low brush up to the top of a stand of tall pines, singing all the while. We listened carefully to its song, which had shorter and heavier, darker phrases than mockingbirds’ songs do. I had never seen a thrasher go as high up in trees that one did, but apparently his song buoyed him up, up, and up.

Returning to the pond, we watched a kingbird and a singing Red-winged Blackbird, both sharp and classy characters. As we neared the end of the walk, I heard a Brown-headed Nuthatch. I finally saw it sitting almost directly above us on a little dead oak twig. After sitting still and calling for a while, it took off. And we went off to class.

ydhttmwfi: Hooked

LONGVIEW, TEXAS –

Shroud and Bev named the House Finch Molly. Her clutch consists of four eggs.