I took today off and birded part of Lake Creek Trail this morning. I spent over 2 hours covering about half a mile from the parking lot at Braes Valley to the footbridge. The weather was cold, clear, and still; and the birds were quite active. I was most excited to find a single Winter Wren in the woods near the footbridge. This is our smallest wren, and is the only species of wren that occurs outside of the Americas. It lives in temperate regions across the entire northern hemisphere. As its common name suggests, this species only occurs in the Austin area during the winter. And I have only seen it a handful of times in our neighborhood. This was the first time I got a photo of one, and I couldn't resist sharing it even though it's not very sharp.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Winter Wren
I took today off and birded part of Lake Creek Trail this morning. I spent over 2 hours covering about half a mile from the parking lot at Braes Valley to the footbridge. The weather was cold, clear, and still; and the birds were quite active. I was most excited to find a single Winter Wren in the woods near the footbridge. This is our smallest wren, and is the only species of wren that occurs outside of the Americas. It lives in temperate regions across the entire northern hemisphere. As its common name suggests, this species only occurs in the Austin area during the winter. And I have only seen it a handful of times in our neighborhood. This was the first time I got a photo of one, and I couldn't resist sharing it even though it's not very sharp.
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4 comments:
Nice photo and addition to the list. I have never seen a Winter Wren before so I plan to walk th trail soon in hopes of repeating.
Today I saw my first flock of Cedar Waxwings in the Chinese Tallow trees. Such a regal looking bird in early winter!
Happy Birding, Barry
Hi Barry,
Yes, Cedar Waxwings are very neat birds. And they have just recently started appearing again. I haven't even gotten a good look at one yet this fall -- I've just heard a few flying over.
Good luck on the trail and let me know what you find!
Mikael, I was on the Parmer end of the trial this morning and saw about 100 Cedar Waxwings in the Pecan trees accross the creek. All in all it was a good trek. I did see the pair of Black Crowned Night Herons. What a treat!
Thanks, B.
Thanks for the update Barry! I was out that morning too, on the other end of the trail. I was happy to see a large flock of Cedar Waxwings as well! Hopefully I'll make a blog post about it soon.
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