Seasonal Changes

I was out birding for about 3 hours this morning and it was warmer that it has been in quite awhile. Besides the warmer temperature, there was some evidence of changing seasons in our local bird life too. Yellow-rumped Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet numbers were way down, and I did not see any Golden-crowned Kinglets. This tells me that these winter resident birds are probably starting to head north. I saw a flock of about 60 American Pipits by the playing fields, more than I've ever seen here before. I'm guessing that this group of birds is already heading north or preparing to head north. Some birds prepare for migration by "staging", gathering into large flocks to travel together.

I also saw several Common Grackles in the neighborhood this morning. I know these birds live here year-round and roost in the county flood plain property at night, but this is the first time I've seen them here in the daytime since November. I suspect they make seasonal changes in their daily travel habits which I'd be curious to learn more about.


The highlight of the morning was getting a great look at a Cooper's Hawk in one of the heavily wooded yards on Meadowheath. I usually only get fleeting glimpses of this woodland predator, but this bird stopped and let me look at it a bit. It looked like a young bird just starting to get its adult plumage. The eyes were orange (not red yet) and its cap and back were not as dark as a full adult's.

I ended up on Lake Creek a little further downstream than I usually walk. I took the pictures above in an area that I believe will be part of our future hike and bike trail. It was a beautiful breezy morning!

Girl Scout Bird Walk

This morning I had the privilege of leading Janet Harris and 4 of her intrepid Girl Scouts on a bird walk in our neighborhood. These girls were bright, sharp-eyed, and enthusiasitc so it was lots of fun showing them birds. Starting where Lake Creek meets the Town and Country playing fields, we then explored the county flood plain property (future hike and bike trail) and crossed the creek to see the Amber Oaks Corporate Center drainage pond. We totaled up 20 species! Some favorites were a beautiful male American Kestrel hunting over the creek, 6 Greater Yellowlegs, several Killdeer, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Fun was had by all -- I hope we can do it again soon!

The picture is of a Greater Yellowlegs I took in the same area last weekend. It's probably one of the same birds we saw today since I've been seeing a small flock in that area for most of the winter.

Skulkers

I snapped this picture of a House Wren this morning while I was out birding the neighborhood. I was out for almost 4 hours and had a record morning -- 55 species! I had especially good luck seeing some birds that we birders call "skulkers". These are small cryptically colored birds that love woodpiles or dense ground-level underbrush. It offers them great protection and good foraging for bugs and such. (Many of these birds scratch the ground like a chicken to find food.)

Skulkers can be very frustrating to identify because often they just pop up out of the brush for a few seconds, see you, then dive back down never to return. Many of them can be identified just by sound, but it's always satisfying to get a good look at one. Besides the House Wren, some other skulkers I saw this morning were Brown Thrasher (related to the Northern Mockingbird), Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, and White-throated Sparrow. I also found a couple birds that prefer skulking around the creek: Green Heron and Wilson's Snipe.

Two common skulkers found in the neighborhood year-round are Carolina Wren and Bewick's Wren. They both have distinctive songs which you can hear at the linked pages. Give them a listen on the web pages, and then listen for these wrens in your yard or on your next walk!

NASWC Bird Walk Report

Sunday (February 4) was the first NASWC bird walk of 2007. It was bright and cool -- a beautiful morning to be outside. Things seemed slow, but the three of us racked up 31 species seen or heard -- not bad! After exploring the flood plain property and drainage pond across the creek, we walked downstream just past the playing fields. There we found Green-winged Teal, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, American Pipit, and a Solitary Sandpiper which is rare winter resident in the Austin area. Yellow-rumped Warblers were present in large numbers and we got some great looks at them in the morning light. The picture is one I took of a Solitary Sandpiper the week before. I imagine it's the same bird we saw on the bird walk.

A Few Pictures

I was out birding with my camera this morning and had some pretty good luck! One of the shots was this Red-tailed Hawk. It was perched in the big dead tree near the playing fields where the two creeks meet. I've also seen Red-shouldered Hawk, American Kestrel, and Osprey in this old tree. Click on the picture to see a bigger version of the hawk and a few more shots from this morning.

Welcome!

About this Blog

This blog is a place where I can post quick reports and pictures about finding birds in my neighborhood. It was originally meant to supplement my neighborhood association birding column and to show my community the amazing variety of birds and other wildlife we have here. Hopefully it will even spark a few neighbors' interest. The blog audience has grown a bit beyond just the neighborhood, which is great! I hope it can promote local birding in general. You don't always have to drive 10 miles to find neat birds.

About Me

I've lived in Austin since 1983 and became an avid birder in about 1994. In early 2004 I bought a house on Broadmeade Avenue in northwest Austin and I have been surprised and delighted by the variety of birds here. In 2006 I started keeping records of my neighborhood bird sightings in eBird. In late 2006 I started writing about our neighborhood birds and leading a monthly bird walk for NASWC, our neighborhood association. I started this blog in early 2007.

About the Pictures and the Birds

All the pictures on this blog are taken in the NASWC area (see this map) by me or a neighbor. (Most are hosted in Flickr and geo-tagged, so just click on them to see exactly where they were taken.)  All the birds reported were observed in this same area. All pictures are copyright protected © 2010 by Mikael Behrens, all rights reserved.

Contact Me

If you're interested in my monthly neighborhood bird walk, or if you'd like to contact me for another reason, you can find my email address here.

This post was updated on 5/26/2008.
This post was updated on 11/11/2010.