Spring Migratory Birds

Posted on June 19, 2026 by Tina

Spring migration is over, most of the neo-tropical birds now settled in their breeding areas for summer’s chick raising. I didn’t have quite the numbers of migrants through my gardens this year. I don’t know if it’s that I simply didn’t see as many or if there weren’t as many; I hope it’s the first and not the second. That being said, it’s a challenge to watch the many flitty birds that visit my front garden, as I don’t have a unobtrusive spot in which to hide and observe. Lincoln and Chipping Sparrows showed up, as they scattered when I came into the garden. I saw busy, chatty Eastern Phoebes, and Great Crested and Crested Flycatchers; I usually heard them before seeing them and identified those (and others) using my Merlin app to identify calls and songs.

My back garden is still the best place to bird watch and it didn’t appoint. In an earlier post, I profiled a male Summer Tanager, Piranga rubra,

…and an Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, who visited on the same day. I wonder if they coordinated, as red and blue go nicely together?

The tanagers usually show up in May and hang out near my beehive as they’re bee and wasp hunters. I’ve only seen an Indigo a couple of other times, so I was pleased with this pretty fella; he was obliging for the photo shoot. Both of these birds breed in the southern half of the US, the bunting with a wider range than the tanager. As a general rule, I only see these birds during spring or fall migration, though female Summer Tanagers have visited my gardens in summer months.

Painted Buntings also make an appearance in early May, usually for a couple of days. The only male Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris, that I saw this year was perched in my SIL’s Retama Tree, which sits outside one of our bedroom windows, offering close-ups of its lovely flowers and foliage at the window. I saw movement out the window, observed the handsome guy, ran for the camera, realized the battery was dead, said some bad words, replaced the battery, and by the time I returned for the shot, Mr. Gorgeous was semi-hiding in the pretty foliage and flowers of the Retama.

Harrumph!

On the brighter feathered side, two female Painted Buntings spent an afternoon noshing on seed fallen from the the safflower and sunflower feeders. They never were close enough to one another to acheive both in a photo, but this pretty one was still long enough for me to capture her nibbling on a seed. Her sister bird is just as attractive.

Two pairs of Common Yellowthroats, Geothlypis trichas, spent some time in my gardens over several weeks. This male, with his lemon yellow chest and jaunty black mask was all about bathing in the pond and fluttering dry in nearby shrubs. I never think these cuties the least bit common, despite their names.

The females Common Yellowthroats were hard to see, only allowing the briefest of glimpses as they bopped for seeds and insects in, out, and through undergrowth. One of the females finally emerged from the greens of the garden long enough for me to capture her in a few photos. She’s less colorful than her mate, but darling nonetheless and her yellow is just as lemony as her male partner. These tiny birds fly far for their breeding, as they are mostly out of Texas to raise their families.

I like this bird-on-bird photo!

We were gone for the first week of May and that’s a prime time for migrants through my gardens, including Baltimore, Bullock’s, and Orchard Orioles. This female Bullock’s Oriole, Icterus bullockii, was a late arrival and perched amiably on a metal bird just so I could catch a shot of her. She was only around one evening and I saw no other orioles this spring unless they all came through when I was traveling. I’m a bit sad about that, either the lack or orioles or my having missed them. Orioles are easy to spot in a garden owing to their bright colors! I hope this one is north of Texas now, somewhere in the central or western part of the country, preparing for or tending to some healthy chicks.

Hummingbirds are here, too, though no photos yet. They’ll hang out through summer nectaring on a variety of my plants, most of the tiny terrors leaving by late October. Resident birds are tending to growing chicks, or have already competed the intense part of parenting, and breeding season will wrap up soon for most species around here. It’ll be mostly the usual suspects until sometime in August, when new calls are heard, and young birds hatched far north of here, together with their parents, make their way southward again for winter, continuing the timeless migratory patterns their genetics demand.

Still

Posted on May 27, 2026 by Tina

On a still morning recently, I observed this female Neon Skimmer, Libellula croceipennis, as she rested on the tip of a newly risen bloom spike of my Manfreda undulata, ‘Chocolate Chip’. The skimmer looks content, if not downright happy.

On the flip side, gossamer wings bisect distant garden greenery.

I puttered in the garden for a bit, attempting to catch pollinators at work. This pretty predator sat still, until at some point, it left. I hope it hunted mosquitos with success.

May Garden

Posted on May 22, 2026 by Tina

I was in New Mexico for the first week of May, a state that truly lives up to it’s motto: Land of Enchantment. As much as I love the high desert plants and beautiful hiking trails, this was not the first time home from a trip that I was surprised and pleasantly reminded about the lush garden that I’ve created on my own slice of the Earth.

The front garden faces west and receives full sun.

I don’t consider myself any sort of plant or design expert, but I’ve learned plants that work well in the Central Texas climate and the soil that my garden grows in. Along the way, mistakes were, and are, part of the process. I adore the plants in my garden, there are so many favorites, but also appreciate the wildlife that are integral to the health and beauty of my garden. There are periods of “mess” that I’ve come to understand are vital to a balanced ecosystem: allowing plants to seed out where they become unruly or tattered in the process. Those seeds provide for the native and migrating birds and all manner of mammals who pass through, insuring the future generations of those plants. The tattered leaves and stems become part of the mulch, eventually enriching the soil. The cycle continues.

I don’t typically photograph the wide swaths of my front garden, as I don’t want to get cars, trucks, street signs, or the neighbors’ AC unit in the shots. Alas, there’s no way for me to get a long shot of the narrow area between my driveway and the north-most neighbors’ property line without their AC unit or the slab of cement that is my driveway playing roles in the garden.

However, I can stroll along the driveway garden, capturing a couple of sets of shrubs, perennials and annuals.

Bloomers in this shot include the large shrub, Barbados Cherry, Malpighia glabra. Left to right grow Globe Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, Blue Curls, Phacelia congesta, Blue Sage, Salvia farinacea, more Blue Curls, and not-quite-in-bloom Turk’s Cap, Malvaviscus arboreus.

Further along that same path and directly across from the front of the garage grows pink blooming Rock Rose, Pavonia lasiopetala, White Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea, and yellow Zexmenia, Wedelia acapulcensis. Some taller shrubs, a floral vine and an old Desert Willow, Chilopsis linearis complete the rest of this small section.

Turning to my right, I face the front of my house. In this raised bed are a large Cenizo, Leucophyllum frutescens, a Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, and more Rock Rose, Blue Sage, and Zexmenia. Another smaller raised bed to the right of the photo echos some of the same plants.

As I stroll away from the front of the house, down the driveway and to my left is what was once the front ‘yard’ and is now an enclosed mulched sitting area, surrounded by a garden chock-full of native and well-adapted plants.

The pathway continues parallel along the front of the house, towards my SIL’s garden. A few feet in and with a right turn, the mulch sitting area welcomes a visitor to sit, or in my case, to stand and mull garden changes. The narrow span of garden between the mulched pathway and the mulched sitting area is full of spring flowers now, but summer’s plants are becoming impatient, already nosing to take over the blooming and seed production. I use many plants repeatedly, in similar or different combinations, throughout my garden. I hope there’s just enough variety of plant matter that the space isn’t boring or redundant.

In this shot, two Engelmann Daisies, Engelmannia peristenia bookend the photo in sunshiny yellow. The back of this section is bolstered by three heirloom roses: a Martha Gonzalez, an Old Gay Hill, and a Caldwell Pink. In front of the roses are two American Basket Flowers, Plectocephalus americanus; one columnar, its neighbor to the right, pruned for branching. These two (and others of their kind) will bloom most of summer. Two silvery-green Mexican Feathergrass, Nassella tenuissima, wave gently in the breeze.

Across the mulched path, along the front of the house (side of the garage) grow Feathergrass and American Agave in pots nestled in a bed of ground-cover Purple Heart, Tradescantia pallida, backed-up by evergreen Burford Holly, Ilex cornuta. An Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis, adds structure and light shade. A variety of small shrubs, ground-covers, and perennials also grow in this section.

Off to the side, a trio of salvia: Blue Anise Sage, Salvia guaranitica, and both White and Red Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea keep the potted Mexican Feathergrass company.

Turning back to the main garden area, more Rock Rose, Mexican Feathergrass, and Engelmann Daisy are joined by a sprinkling of white Small Coastal Germander, Teucrium cubense, and the tail-end of my Whooping Crane garden attendant.

Pivoting to view the rest of the garden which is bordered by my SIL’s garden, the street, and the driveway, you’ll see small trees and dense, summer blooming shrubs. Flameleaf Sumac, Rhus lanceolata, Evergreen Sumac, Rhus virens, Mexican Honeysuckle, Justicia spicigera, Frostweed, Verbesina virginica, and Turk’s Cap, along with other shrubs, perennials, and annuals, act together as a natural privacy screen from the street.

I really like white in my gardens! These common White Tropical Sage are prolific bloomers and most visited pollinator plants in my gardens. As they’re not big plants, I transplant the many seedlings in groups of three or more. I also let them bloom where they grow, so pops of white sparkle throughout my garden.

For structural focus, native yuccas, Soft Leaf and Pale-leaf, plus another container of American Agave attempt to balance indulgent spring blooms. I find spiky plants interesting–in others’ gardens. I’m not a member of the Spiky Plant Fan Club; I don’t like plants that hurt me. My focus is the tumble of floral and foliage color, as well as seasonal change. That being said, yuccas and the like add beautiful and varied color and structure and gardens benefit from that added beauty.

There are many plants I didn’t show or discuss that fill this very full garden: smaller perennials hug the ground and others fill space and add color and foliage interest. In the 5 years since this garden became a full-sun situation, it’s evolved and changed more than I anticipated, though I have welcomed the challenges presented. Some plants were the perfect choice, other plants were…not so much. As the one Red Oak that a squirrel planted grows toward its eventual mature height, along with the understory trees that I’ve added, the garden will continue to change with each passing year. I look forward to watching my garden grow, to observing who lives here or visits, and to being nature’s humble assistant in this quest for a garden alive.