No Trespassing

I spent last weekend down in Port Aransas to visit family and enjoy the Whooping Crane Festival down there. So I was happy to get out this morning before work for about an hour, and bird the flood plain property. It was cold and clear and still -- a beautiful morning. I estimated over 160 Cedar Waxwings in a single flock perched high in the trees. A few are pictured here in the clear morning light. I also saw 2 swallows -- the first I've seen in the neighborhood this morning. Unfortunately they were too far away for me to identify by the time I got them in my binoculars. On the creek I saw the Green Heron that has been wintering here, as well as 7 Greater Yellowlegs and a Wilson's Snipe.

I was disappointed to see 2 new No Trespassing signs on the other side of the creek on the Amber Oaks corporate center property. I've birded over there a lot and found some good birds. That was where I've seen Great Horned Owls most often. I'll miss being able to cross the creek to find birds by their drainage pond and undeveloped woods.

A Meager GBBC

This weekend the Great Backyard Bird Count is going on. Last year I had a lot of fun birding the neighborhood and submitting my counts. I was looking forward to it this year as well. But due to schedule conflicts and being too busy at work, I was only able to get out for about an hour this evening to participate. I looked out the window and saw that the sun was out for the first time today, so I dashed out to the T&C playing fields and birded the flood plain property. It was really neat being outside -- there was rain to the east and the west with some lightening and thunder, but blue sky was overhead. Here's a picture of the footbridge I took when the sun was out. You can see the dark storm clouds behind it.

I found 20 species of birds. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Grey Catbird and Green Heron that have been around here this winter. But I did find a few interesting birds. An Inca Dove was in the dense brush near the end of Braeburn Glen. I found a single Field Sparrow near the new parking lot. And by the footbridge this Sharp-shinned Hawk flew overhead. I got this picture of it which shows the classic silhouette of a member of the Accipiter family, with relatively short rounded wings and a long tail. It's tough to tell this species from Cooper's Hawk when they're flying overhead but this photo shows 2 key differences. First, the tail is squared off at the end where the Cooper's tail is often rounded. And second, the wings are slightly forward set, so that the head barely protrudes in front of them (if at all). A Cooper's Hawk's head sticks out in front of its wings.

Hawks and Grackles

I spent 4 and a half hours birding the neighborhood this morning. It was very pleasantly overcast and cool. And there are already some clues of the changing seasons. Many birds are singing now that weren't singing 2 weeks ago. White-winged Doves and American Robins were obvious examples this morning. And I'm starting to see Red-shouldered Hawks again. I know they live in the neighborhood year-round, but I just haven't seen any for weeks. This morning I saw 4. One pair was on the east side of Stillforest being mobbed by about a dozen Blue Jays. The other pair was overlooking the new hike-and-bike trail footbridge. I got this picture of them.

On my way back I found a few Common Grackles on Meadowheath which was very interesting to me. Since I've started keeping neighborhood bird records in eBird in 2006, I've noticed that Common Grackles seem to disappear for awhile in the winter. Specifically, I don't have any records of seeing them from mid-December until early February. These birds are not migrating, so there must be some other kind of seasonal movement or seasonal change in daily movements for these birds. I'm curious to learn more about that. Keep in mind that Common Grackles are different from the Great-tailed Grackles that are so abundant in town. See my NASWC article here.

Good Finds on the Creek

I spent all morning birding the neighborhood, concentrating on the areas around the creek from the T&C parking lot at the end of Meadowheath all the way downstream to the Parmer Lane bridge. I found a Green Heron by the new hike-and-bike trail footbridge, a very rare bird here in the winter. I got this picture last weekend from very nearby. It's probably the same bird. Just past the playing fields I saw several birds for the first time this year. In a strip of woods by the creek I found a Red-shouldered Hawk. These live in our neighborhood year-round but for some reason I had not seen one in weeks. A few minutes later a Crested Caracara flew by overhead. These strange raptors have a striking appearance. I'd love to get a picture of one in the NASWC area.

I was most excited today to find a single Grasshopper Sparrow on the west side of Lake Creek between the last dam and the Parmer Lane bridge. I've only seen this bird twice before in the NASWC area, both times during migration. So it was neat to find one wintering here. There were many Savannah Sparrows and Vesper Sparrows in this area too. I ended up in a patch of marsh near the Parmer Lane bridge where I found a Marsh Wren, Swamp Sparrow, and several Song Sparrows. All-in-all I found 48 species this morning, including 9 species of native sparrows.

NASWC Bird Walk

There were 6 of us for the February NASWC bird walk this morning. The weather was beautiful and we found 29 species. The most interesting was a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos near the new hike-and-bike trail footbridge. Here are the other highlights of the walk.

• I got this picture of a Bewick's Wren singing. It came right out in the open for great looks.
• We found 50-60 Least Sandpiper and 5 Greater Yellowlegs on the creek.
• We got several good looks at Carolina Chickadees, a common neighborhood species but always fun to see.
• At one spot by the creek we watched a pair of Downy Woodpeckers foraging, an Eastern Phoebe catching insects behind them, and an American Pipit by the water.
  
• At the end of the walk we spotted 2 Wilson's Snipe from the footbridge, and then we kept finding more and more hidden in the reeds on the way back to the parking lot.

Here's the Eastern Phoebe we watched.