The bird pictured above is a White-eyed vireo, and one of my favorite birds that I see when I visit Texas in the spring.  Its range is generally further east and the Texas Hill Country just barely falls within the bird’s general range.

These birds frequent one of my sister’s bird baths and are somewhat secretive and and mysterious looking.  They bathe “on the fly”, perching on a branch close to the water and then quickly launching themselves towards the water.  They don’t land… just hit the water on the fly and perform the feat over and over again.  I have tried many times to get photos of the bird as it hits the water but thus far have been unsuccessful due to the shadows and the bird’s speed.

This past year there didn’t seem to be as many White-eyed vireos as I saw on my trip in 2013, but since my observations occurred on the extreme western edge of the birds’ range, and since the variety of species in the migration we observed seemed to be fewer, I shouldn’t complain!