Cormorant

I spent the entire morning birding the neighborhood and it was a great morning to be outside. The temperature started in the low 50s and rose to about 70 while I was out, and conditions were clear and mostly still. I got this picture of a Magnolia Tree bloom in the bright early morning light on Tottenham Court.

The birding was a bit slower than last weekend, but winter-resident birds are still arriving. This morning I saw these 3 species for the first time since last winter:

• I found a single Wilson's Snipe on the creek near the end of Meadowheath. These odd-looking and odd-sounding birds can commonly be found on our creek during the winter, hiding in the vegetation near the water.
• I saw and heard a White-throated Sparrow in the woods near the last dam on the creek. These native sparrows winter in our neighborhood in patches of dense woods in the low undergrowth.
• Late in the morning on Woodmere I ran into a small mixed-species foraging flock in the trees that included a Blue-headed Vireo.

Near the last dam on the creek I got these 2 pictures of a Double-crested Cormorant perched on a dead tree. It saw me and flew off, and you can see it crouching to jump into the air in the second picture. These are common water birds in Texas in the winter, especially on the coast where many people call them "Water turkeys". Cormorants are similar to diving ducks and swim underwater to catch fish. But they do not have the wax gland that ducks have to keep their feathers dry, so they periodically have to perch and let their feathers dry out.

Influx of Winter Birds

I spent over 4 hours birding the neighborhood this morning and it was wonderful. For the past few weeks I've either been out of town or I've been involved in group birding activities. So I've been aching to just get out by myself and bird my own familiar turf. I didn't have to worry about maintaining schedules or giving driving directions or showing other people the birds that I spotted. This morning I treated myself to the basics. I just looked and listened for birds and forgot about the clock.

I was pleased to find 50 species of birds this morning, including a few south-bound migrants. And was was most exciting was finding the first substantial numbers of winter-resident species. Right on Broadmeade I found 2 large mixed-species foraging flocks of songbirds in the trees that included many of our winter resident Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Orange-crowned Warblers, and a few of the south-bound Nashville Warblers and a single Black-throated Green Warbler. The Ruby-crowned Kinglets were all over the place, and here's one I found by the footbridge on Lake Creek Trail.

In our neighborhood, most native sparrows are only here in the winter. (Our year-round resident House Sparrows were introduced here from the old world many years ago.) I was pleased to find a few Lincoln's Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, and one Savannah Sparrow along the creek. I also saw a few meadowlarks long our hike and bike trail. One of them flushed and flew up onto a Rattlebush plant and allowed me to get this photo. (I cannot tell if this bird is an Eastern or Western Meadowlark. The easiest way is by their song, and all the meadowlarks I saw this morning were quiet.)

I found 5 species of woodpeckers this morning, which is the most I've ever seen in one outing in our neighborhood. 3 of these were year-round residents -- Downy, Red-bellied, and Ladder-backed. But the other 2 were newly arrived winter residents. I counted 6 Northern Flickers and got this picture of one along the creek.

And I was excited to find just 1 first-year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the woods by the last dam on the creek. Here's a picture I got of it.

I had pretty good luck seeing hawks too. I found 2 American Kestrels (a winter resident species), 2 Swainson's Hawks (on their way south), and heard 1 Broad-winged Hawk (probably on its way south too). What a morning!

Big Sit Results

Despite the cold, wet weather, 12 of us participated in the Birding on Broadmeade Big Sit yesterday. I was surprised and happy that so many folks showed up throughout the day. We had at least 1 person recording birds in our 17 foot diameter circle most of the time from 6:10 AM until 5:20 PM. The birds were less active in the intermittent rain, heavy mist, and light north wind than they would have been in good weather, so they were harder to see and hear. It was also hard to keep the lenses of our binoculars and spotting scopes clear of the rain. But despite these difficult and uncomfortable conditions we recorded 45 species of birds from our circle! I was originally hoping we would get at least 50 species, but in yesterday's weather 45 was a great total. Here are some highlights. (Thanks Gracen Duffield, for taking the above picture and posting it so quickly!)

• When Moria Darnell and I arrived at the end of Saddlebrook Trail at about 6:30 AM, we heard a Great Horned Owl hoot once as soon as we got out of our cars. I ran out to the circle because you have to hear or see a bird from inside the circle to be able to count it. I was pleasantly surprised to find Henry Kight already there, sitting in the dark! He heard the owl too, and we never heard it again. Thanks to Henry we could count the owl!
• Shortly after dawn we heard some distant sounds that soon became the honking of geese. We were thrilled to watch about 50 Greater White-fronted Geese fly right over our heads in V formation. This was a new bird for my neighborhood list, now at 196 species!
• We had 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks fly over us during the day, and we watched one dive at something behind the trees.
• It has been too long since I've watched a day start from 1 hour before dawn until mid-morning in one spot. Watching the sky gradually brighten and hearing and seeing the birds become active was quite a treat.
• The One that Got Away: While leaving the circle to verify that I was hearing a Black-crested Titmouse, I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler. Unfortunately, I was never able to see that warbler from back inside the circle, so it was not included in the count!

Thanks so much to all who came out on this wet and miserable day: Moria Darnell, Henry Kight, Sukumar Veena, Steven McDonald, Roy Reinarz, Barry Noret, Susan Andres, Ken Williams, Gracen Duffield, Julia Heskett, Laura Lefler.

Here are some great photos taken by Henry Kight:

And here is our species list!

1. Greater White-fronted Goose
2. Double-crested Cormorant
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Great Egret
5. Snowy Egret
6. Cattle Egret
7. Black Vulture
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Sharp-shinned Hawk
10. Cooper's Hawk
11. Red-tailed Hawk
12. Killdeer
13. Spotted Sandpiper
14. White-winged Dove
15. Mourning Dove
16. Great Horned Owl
17. Chimney Swift
18. Belted Kingfisher
19. Red-bellied Woodpecker
20. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
21. Downy Woodpecker
22. Eastern Phoebe
23. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
24. White-eyed Vireo
25. Blue Jay
26. American Crow
27. Cave Swallow
28. Barn Swallow
29. Carolina Chickadee
30. Black-crested Titmouse
31. Carolina Wren
32. House Wren
33. American Robin
34. Northern Mockingbird
35. European Starling
36. Orange-crowned Warbler
37. Nashville Warbler
38. Lark Sparrow
39. Northern Cardinal
40. Indigo Bunting
41. Red-winged Blackbird
42. Common Grackle
43. Great-tailed Grackle
44. House Finch
45. Lesser Goldfinch

Check out how we compared against the other Big Sit circles around the world!

The Big Sit on October 11

The Big Sit is coming up on Sunday, October 11 and this year I'll be participating and representing our neighborhood. What is it? The Big Sit is an annual birding event to see how many species of birds you can see or hear from one spot in one day. The spot is a stationary circle 17 feet across, and you have to see or hear all the birds from inside that circle. My circle is going to be on Lake Creek Trail at a bend in the creek by the last dam downstream of the T&C playing fields. The picture above shows the exact spot I picked and clicking on it will take you to a Google map.

Picking your circle is very important. The more kinds of good bird habitat you can see from your circle, the more species of birds are possible. My spot has good views of shallow water and deep water, woods, grassland, and open sky. Since I've been birding here I've recorded 86 species of birds just in October, so I'm hoping to see 60 species for the Big Sit, and maybe even 70!

People all over the country are registering their circles on the Bird Watcher's Digest web site, and so far Texas has the most, including my circle (named "Birding on Broadmeade" of course). You can see them all here. If you'd like to join me, come on out. I'll be there all day! (I suggest parking by the Parmer Village model homes, and walking about a quarter mile down the trail to my spot.)