[texbirds] Anahuac today, juncos, yellow rail, 10+ bald eagles, geese hordes and both whistling ducks

From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 17:44:06 -0600

My plans for the day were to start at Anahuac and end at the Texas City
Dike like many of my trips but I never made it east of Skillern with too
many birds around.
Started off with bald eagles with 3 birds heading from the roost/nest? area
northeast of double bayou to Anahuac. Lots more there kept the geese moving
all morning and a couple of scares in the afternoon. I think I counted 10
bald eagles and perhaps a few more but they moved around a lot and I lost
count.

The osprey was on its roost along 521 away from the water for the 3rd
winter. The short-lived reign of a horned owl in the tree top ended several
weeks ago.

This is the best season for geese in the area that I remember for many
years. Most are snows with only a few white-fronted geese in their own
flocks. Ross' geese are scattered around in the flock and were easiest to
see in flight. The largest afternoon roost is on the west side of the
shoveler pond loop in the new burn area. They are joined by very large
flocks of dark ibis, spoonbills, most herons, ducks, brown pelicans etc.
Great todo when an eagle shows nearby. They see the eagle before I do.
Another very large flock down at Pear Orchard Road.

Best ducks in years at Shoveler pond. A couple hundred of ruddy ducks. 60
plus fulvous whistling ducks lingering like last year and plenty of
black-bellied too. The mix changed during the day with lots of mallard in
the morning and many diving ducks at mid-day. Bufflehead and common
goldeneye were good for the area and lots of ring-necked ducks too. Really
big flocks of dark ibis all around with only a few white ibis.

The vermilion flycatchers near the buildings continue. Down in the salt
cedars where the road to frozen point hits the bay there was a flock of
chipping and clay-colored sparrows, dark-eyed juncos and pine warblers in
addition to butterbuts and swamp sparrows.

The rice harvest was on. An area south of 1985 just got started when I
stopped. Several bitterns, 1 yellow rail and lots of sparrows flushed.
Later birds on the north side of 1985 were mainly sparrows. The geese,
ibis, grackles, blackbirds etc move in right after the combines.

Hawks were in lower numbers than past years in line with the hawk watch
results. Maybe harriers down most but also fewer red-tailed hawks. 3 widely
separated krider's red-tails, a white-tail, merlin and peregrine were the
best for the day. Good proportion of gray ghosts among the harriers.

Just lots and lots of birds and many very tame birds. But very few
meadowlarks, savannah sparrows etc unless they were out in the uncut rice.
Lots of phoebes everywhere. The mix of birds was not what I usually get in
the area so a great day.

-- 
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx


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[texbirds] Anahuac today, juncos, yellow rail, 10+ bald eagles, geese hordes and both whistling ducks

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