Bird tales from the oldest town in Texas

By Thelma Dalmas
Published: July 8, 2008

Since the first of the month, I’ve been visiting my daughter and her husband, who live in Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas.

Located at the far eastern edge of the state, the area actually is very much like Virginia, especially in terms of the birdlife. Every morning, I take my coffee out on the patio and watch the titmice, chickadees, and cardinals at the feeder.

Yesterday, the three of us went for a walk at the nearby Stephen F. Austin Forest, a 2,500-acre tract of national forest. Since its establishment in 1945, the primary purpose of this experimental forest has been wildlife and timber management research. A system of loop trails provides easy access and great opportunities for wildlife viewing.

Although this is the time of year when bird song usually begins to decrease, everyone seemed to be in fine voice as we pulled into the parking lot. I could hear an indigo bunting from a nearby clearing and the guttural croaking of a yellow-billed cuckoo hidden among the branches of a tall pine. Summer tanagers, not often seen near Lynchburg, were common all along the trail.

We also found three species of vireos, birds that are fairly common, even though most people are unfamiliar with this group. Since vireos are strictly insect eaters, spending most of their time foraging among the leaves, they are not often observed. The white-eyed vireo is usually found in scrubby vegetation and prefers to lurk out of view. Both the yellow-throated and red-eyed vireo are canopy dwellers, and tracking either down as they flit among the upper branches is not an easy task.

We got a great view of one animal that we would have been perfectly happy to have missed altogether. As we came out of the woodlands near an old forest service road, Jennifer spotted a young copperhead basking in the sun at the edge of the grass. I wanted to get a photo without antagonizing my subject, so I approached very cautiously. By the time I got myself all positioned and snapped the shutter, it had begun to slither toward safety. I got a fine picture of its tail.

On the drive back to their house, I received a sharp reminder of the fact that I was no longer in Central Virginia when a flock of about 50 large, white birds flew up from a field.

They were cattle egrets, most still showing the rusty orange breeding patch of feathers across the back. The bright color reminded me of the lilies in my garden, and I realized that I was missing home. Good thing that I’m heading back to Lynchburg in a couple of days.