A Few Waxwings

I spent about 3 hours birding the neighborhood this morning and enjoyed the cold, clear, still conditions. I left the house at about 7:40 and right across the street I found a Pine Warbler. This was only the second one I've seen in the neighborhood this winter, so it was a great way to start the morning. On Stillforest I got a quick look at a Red-shouldered Hawk as it flew by low in the tree canopy. These hawks live here year-round but I hadn't seen one in a few weeks. Things were relatively quiet until I crossed the Lake Creek Trail footbridge onto the floodplain property. There I heard a familiar high-pitched "see see see" and found these Cedar Waxwings perched near the top of a cedar tree on the edge of the creek. There were about 8 of them flying down to drink or bathe. Cedar Waxwings have been scarce this winter (I have not seen any in the neighborhood since mid-December), probably because of dry conditions. So it was nice finding this group by the creek.

Near the end of Holbrook Street I ran into a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. These grey and white sparrows are only here in the winter and make a high fast ticking call. I've been trying to get a decent picture of one and this was the result. It's the best I've gotten so far of this species, but still it's a bit out of focus.


On my way back, by the footbridge, I got this picture of a Bewick's Wren, 1 of our 2 common year-round resident wrens. It's very similar to the Carolina Wren, but its breast does not have the buffy wash that the Carolina Wren has, and overall the Bewick's Wren is grey-brown instead of reddish-brown. You can see its distinctive wren posture here, with the cocked up tail and horizontal body.


The T&C playing fields parking lot at the end of Meadowheath is one of the few places in the neighborhood with street lights. This morning I noticed a wireless device on top of one. Does anyone know what it is?

Trail Cleanup Quick Note

I wanted to post one more thing about the Lake Creek Trail cleanup last week. I found this expired Shell credit card in one of the piles of trash. That particular pile of trash had been an eyesore for years. It was there so long that the white plastic trash bags had started disintegrating, which made cleaning it up extra fun. Shame on you, Patrick H. Lesley, for illegally dumping your trash.

Osprey Close Encounter

I spent the morning birding Lake Creek Trail from the new Parmer Village development to the T&C playing fields. It was cold! The light wind and overcast sky really made me feel the temperature. The sun briefly came out and starting warming things up, but it disappeared too soon and by 11:30 it looked and felt like dawn outside. But the birding was great -- I found 57 species, got more decent photos than usual, and was closer to a diving Osprey than I've ever been before. Here are some highlights:

• I spent about an hour in the marshy area near the Parmer Lane bridge and found a Sedge Wren again. I got this picture:


• Also in the marshy area 9 Cave Swallows emerged from the bridge and flew off to the east. And this Orange-crowned Warbler got close enough for me to take this relatively high resolution picture:


• Just upstream is an area full of Vesper Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows. This morning there was also a Loggerhead Shrike that was hunting bugs. (And it could have taken one of the sparrows if it wanted.) I got this picture of it and you can see its thick, slightly hooked, predatory bill.
  


• At the last dam on the creek I photographed this Osprey which had just caught a bass, which you can see it its claws. I was thrilled to see it fly past me so close.
  
  


• But later I had a bigger surprise. I was by the creek a little further upstream looking at some small birds when there was a loud splash. I looked over and there, about 20 feet away, was an Osprey with its wings outstretched floating in the water! It dove at a fish without me even noticing, and it didn't seem to notice me. A couple seconds later it flapped, rose up out of the water, and flew off. It missed its fish, but kept circling over the creek with a second Osprey for the next 30 minutes or so. I saw one of them dive again later. Wow!
• Nearby, at the edge of the T&C playing fields there is a small patch of cattails where I found a male Common Yellowthroat. This very brightly colored warbler lives in wet habitats -- marshes, creeks, etc. I usually see several of these birds in the neighborhood during spring and fall migration. But this was the first time I've ever seen a winter resident Common Yellowthroat here.
  
  

Lake Creek Trail Cleanup

Yesterday (MLK Day) I helped out with a trail cleanup on our neighborhood Lake Creek Trail. Many thanks to Casey Kelly Barton and Chris Barton for organizing it. This is where I do most of my birding, so I really appreciate the effort and the results -- the trail looks better than it ever has before. We took care of a couple eyesores that have been on that floodplain property for years! Here's Casey's picture of the pile of trash we ended up with. (I think those first couple trash bags are in my garage waiting for pickup day.) I'll be out there Saturday morning finding more birds and less trash.

Brown Creeper

For a couple hours this morning I birded a few streets of the neighborhood. What a difference a day makes! Yesterday was overcast, humid, and cold. Today is clear and sunny and it felt much better being outside. I only found 22 species since I didn't cover all the different kinds of habitat along the creek. But it was still nice seeing a variety of year-round and winter-resident birds in our trees. I got this picture of a Blue-headed Vireo on Sherbourne. I've taken lots of photos of this species. Even though these birds are harder to find than, say, Ruby-crowned Kinglets or Carolina Chickadees, the Blue-headed Vireos seem to be a little tamer, slower, and easier to photograph when I do find one. And they're so pretty I can never resist taking more pictures of them.

Since I've lived here I've always seen a few Brown Creepers in the neighborhood in the winter. These inconspicuous birds shuffle up and down tree trunks like woodpeckers, but they have a delicate curved bill that they use to forage for bugs in cracks in the bark. They also look very much like tree bark, so they are easy to miss. But I had not seen one yet this winter, so this bird has been on my mind for the last month or so when I've been out. On my way back, about half a block from my house I heard a long high-pitched call and backtracked a bit to figure out where it came from. I spotted some movement on a tree trunk and sure enough, it was a Brown Creeper! I got this picture of it. You can see how good its camouflage is, and how it's long stiff tail acts as a brace against the tree.


Has anyone seen Cedar Waxwings around lately? They are usually common this time of year but after seeing a few back in November and early December, I've missed them in the neighborhood.

A New Duck and 2 Good Wrens

I spent the morning birding Lake Creek Trail, starting at the Parmer Village development. The weather was humid and cold, but the birding was pretty darn good and I found 51 species. At dawn the new drainage pond had dozens of wild ducks on it. I counted 33 Gadwall, 11 American Wigeon, and 36 Ring-necked Ducks. The Ring-necked Ducks were a first for my neighborhood bird list! (Species 188.) They're not rare, but they are diving ducks, and we just haven't had a body of water deep enough to attract them within the NASWC area until now. I got this picture of 2 males. They were far away and the light was bad, but you can still see the dramatic black and white colors.

I spent a lot of time in the marshy area near the Parmer Lane bridge hoping to see or hear a Marsh Wren or a Sora. No luck, but I did see or hear Lincoln's Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and a single Swamp Sparrow. And the real treat there was finding and photographing this Sedge Wren, a bird I've only seen once before in the neighborhood back in May 2006.


I worked my way upstream to the last dam, seeing many Vesper Sparrows and Savannah Sparrows on the way. In the woods around the area where the creek flows past the dam, there was lots of bird activity including Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Cardinals, House Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, and another wren. At first I thought it was a Carolina Wren, a very common bird in the neighborhood, but the eye stripe was not so distinct. As it moved into better view I saw it's extremely short tail and knew it was a Winter Wren, another bird I've only seen once before in the NASWC area. Unfortunately this little guy didn't hang around long enough for me to get a picture.

NASWC Bird Walk

This morning was the first NASWC bird walk of 2009! (I delayed it a week since the Granger CBC was last weekend. Some pictures from that are here.) 10 of us had a great time enjoying the cold clear morning and seeing a nice variety of local birds. We were out for over 3 hours and found 42 species. Here are some highlights:

• Along almost the entire Lake Creek Trail we saw many Eastern Phoebes, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Orange-crowned Warblers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. It was a great opportunity to learn these common winter resident birds -- especially distinguishing the Orange-crowned Warblers from the Kinglets.
• We saw these Greater Yellowlegs foraging in the creek. They let us get pretty close for some great looks.
  
• There were 11 Northern Shovelers on the creek, near the first dam downstream of the playing fields. I have only seen ducks here sporadically since the Parmer Village and Lake Creek Trail construction projects, so finding them here was very encouraging.
  
• While we watched the Shovelers an Osprey flew in and circled over the creek for awhile. A few of us got to see it dive into the water and come up with a fish, then fly off to eat it. We had good luck finding hawks this morning -- we also saw a Cooper's Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk near the same spot.
• In the woods near the last dam, we got pretty good looks at a single Blue-headed Vireo, another winter resident bird, but one that is not as easy to find as the phoebes, warblers, and kinglets.

Top 20 Bird List and Challenge

A few months ago I made a list of the top 20 most common year-round resident birds in my neighborhood. Since it's a new year, I thought I'd mention it again. The list came from my 3 years of observation data in the NASWC area, and (except for a few birds) I think it would fit most Austin neighborhoods, greenbelts, and local parks.

So if you're interested in learning our local birds, or getting into birding in general, try to find all the birds on the list. Take as long as you want -- make it a project for 2009!

Here's the NASWC Top 20 Bird List. And the above picture links to photos I've taken of most of the birds. (I took this picture of a Northern Mockingbird in a Possumhaw bush about 1 year ago on the Lake Creek Trail.)

A Great Start to 2009

I spent the entire first morning of 2009 birding the neighborhood. I left the house just after dawn and returned at noon having found 57 species, 2 of which I hadn't seen here since 2006! I spent about 45 minutes walking down Stillforest and Meadowheath to the Lake Creek Trail footbridge, and those streets were quieter than they have ever been. Just a few cars passed by and there was no one else on foot. As usual, the footbridge was alive with birds, including many Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few Song Sparrows, an Eastern Phoebe, a Lincoln's Sparrow, Northern Cardinals, and about 15 Dark-eyed Juncos. Just across the bridge I found 2 White-throated Sparrows and a Spotted Towhee. I got this picture of the Towhee, the best I've gotten so far of this species, although there's still room for improvement. (Spotted Towhees like to stay in the dense brush, so good photo opportunities of them are rare.)

Just downstream from the bridge there were 2 Killdeer, a few American Pipits, and 6 Greater Yellowlegs foraging on the creek. Ever since I've lived here there have been 10-15 Greater Yellowlegs that spend the winter on our creek and it was nice to see them again. I got this picture of one.


At the end of the trail near the new Parmer Village development, I was planning on checking the new drainage pond for ducks but some bicyclists beat me to it. Before I got there they rode past the pond and scared up a flock of about 35 ducks that I had to identify in the air. They were mostly Lesser Scaup, with a few Gadwall mixed in. This was exciting because I have not seen a Lesser Scaup in the NASWC area since February 2006! They flew downstream over Parmer Lane.

On my long walk back, I decided to take Sherbourne, a new favorite street of mine to find birds. (This was where I found the Red-naped Sapsucker a few weeks ago.) I wasn't disappointed. Near my house, in a small mixed species foraging flock I found a single very bright Pine Warbler. This is another bird I haven't seen in the neighborhood since February 2006. I got this poor picture, which does not do the bird justice.


What a great way to start the year!