[texbirds] Another Mount Vernon Birding Festival Report - Dickcissel Dreams from Franklin County
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "drbirdie@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 23:57:28 -0400 (EDT)
Hi Texbirders,
I had the privilege last weekend (May 2 - 4) of participating as a tour leader
in the first ever Prairies and Pineywoods Birdfest, aka Mount Vernon Birding
Festival, sponsored by the Franklin County Historical Society. What a great
weekend we had up in Franklin County!
The weather Friday evening and Saturday was about as perfect as it can get -
cool but not cold, with cloudless skies and almost no wind. And the birds
cooperated, especially the Dickcissels. Every pasture, fence line, telephone
wire and hedgerow had singing Dickcissels. The wind kicked up Sunday but we
still had good birds. I was on the Daphne Prairie trip that morning and we had
singing Grasshopper Sparrows everywhere, the obligatory Dickcissels and a few
surprises like a brief stopover Merlin, a couple of Soras at the edge of one of
the ponds, a couple of late Sprague's Pipits, and relocating the American
Bittern found first by the Saturday afternoon trip. Other locations featured
good birds, too, including a red-morph Eastern Screech Owl at a nest box on
private property, Brown-headed Nutatches on one of the Lake Bob Sandlin trips,
White-breasted Nuthatches in several wooded locations around Mount Vernon, and
a couple of lingering Harris's Sparrows at the McFarland's feeders.
After lunch on Saturday, we stopped in at the Fire Station Museum in Mount
Vernon to view the extensive (pre-1900) bird egg collection there. This
collection is meticulously displayed and organized, and is said to be the only
museum in the world that has eggs of Heath Hen, Carolina Parakeet and Passenger
Pigeon.
On Friday night, entomologist Will Godwin hung a sheet and a bright light to
entice various moths and beetles to appear and local naturalist John Tutor
showed off his Barred Owl chops to please the birding crowd. Those who stayed
up late enough were treated to Luna Moths landing on fingertips.
Wildlife photographer Noppadol Paothong ("Nop" for short) gave an inspirational
keynote presentation Saturday night. In addition to his regular job as staff
photographer with the Missouri Department of Conservation, he spent the last 11
years photographing North America's grassland grouse species, published a book
of his photos, and is on a mission to try to save these rapidly-disappearing
national treasures. View his work at
<http://www.savethelastdancebook.com/author/nopandmoni/>
Kudos to Donna McFarland and the other folks up in Franklin County who put this
event together.
Thanks to co-leaders Cliff Shackleford and Boyd Sanders for leading great trips
to multiple locations.
TOS members should watch for future events in Franklin County, perhaps even a
winter "weekender" trip for sparrows, raptors and longspurs.
And, given the success of this event, I suspect the first Prairies and
Pineywoods Birdfest won't be the last.
Appended below is an annotated bird list for the weekend. I saw or heard most
of the birds on the list, but tried to include species that were reported by
trips that I did not attend. My apologies for any omissions.
Cumulative Birdlist for 2014 Prairies and Pineywoods Birdfest:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - courthouse and
Canada Goose - a few in nearby pastures
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Double-crested Cormorant
American Bittern - 1 - one found at Daphne Prairie Saturday afternoon, and
relocated on Sunday morning's trip
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret - just a few
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Mississippi Kite - 1 - seen by one group
Bald Eagle - seen by two participants Friday afternoon
Accipiter sp.
Red-tailed Hawk
Merlin - 1 - Sunday morning Daphne
Sora - 2 - two on the Sunday morning Daphne Prairie trip
American Coot
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs - 2
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1 - Seen with one GRYE Saturday afternoon at Daphne Prairie
Upland Sandpiper - 1 - Flyover heard Saturday morning at Selah
Wilson's Snipe - 2 - 2 or 3 birds lingering lakeside at Selah
Franklin's Gull - 50 - 1 migrating flock Sunday morning at Daphne Prairie
Forster's Tern - a few at Lake Bob Sandln
Rock Pigeon - in town
Eurasian Collared-Dove - a few
Mourning Dove - many
Inca Dove - 2 - seen by tour leader Sunday morning along road near Daphne
Prairie
Eastern Screech-Owl - 1 - Red morph in nest box in Mount Vernon
Barred Owl - each night and sometimes during the day
Chuck-will's-widow - 1 - Friday night at Selah
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-headed Woodpecker - 2 - 1 excavating nest hole at Lake Bob Sandlin, and 1
Saturday afternoon in southern Franklin Co.
Red-bellied Woodpecker - many
Downy Woodpecker - a few
Pileated Woodpecker - 1 - at least one heard at Selah
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Selah
Eastern Phoebe - a few
Great Crested Flycatcher - a few
Eastern Kingbird - fairly common
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - blessedly plentiful
Loggerhead Shrike - 1 - Sunday morning Daphne
White-eyed Vireo - surprisingly not very many
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1 - Sunday morning at Selah
Blue-headed Vireo - 4 - several singing Saturday at Selah
Red-eyed Vireo - 3 - surprisingly uncommon
Blue Jay
American Crow
Purple Martin - a few
Tree Swallow - a few at Lake Bob Sandlin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2 - Friday evening at Selah
Cliff Swallow - fairly common
Cave Swallow - 1 - Saturday morning Selah
Barn Swallow - common to abundant
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse - common
White-breasted Nuthatch - fairly common in town and other wooded locations
Brown-headed Nuthatch - only the Saturday morning trip to Lake Bob Sandlin
Carolina Wren - common
Marsh Wren - 1 - Sunday morning Daphne Prairie
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - a few
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - a few
Eastern Bluebird
Swainson's Thrush - quite a few in wooded areas, many of them singing
American Robin - a few in town
Gray Catbird - 1 - singing at Selah
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Sprague's Pipit - 2 - a pleasant surprise at Daphne Prairie Sunday morning
Cedar Waxwing - a few
Tennessee Warbler - good numbers in woods Saturday morning
Nashville Warbler - Saturday morning Selah
Yellow Warbler - a few Saturday morning at Selah
Yellow-rumped Warbler - a few lingering
Pine Warbler - Lake Bob Sandlin
Black-and-white Warbler - several pairs
Kentucky Warbler - 1 - male on territory, Selah Ranch on Sunday morning
Common Yellowthroat - a few
Hooded Warbler - 1 - male on territory, Selah Ranch on Sunday morning
Summer Tanager - Selah
Clay-colored Sparrow - Saturday morning, Daphne Prairie and Little Duck Lake
Lark Sparrow - fairly common along roadsides
Savannah Sparrow - common
Grasshopper Sparrow - 40 - abundant at Daphne Prairie both mornings
Lincoln's Sparrow - a few
White-throated Sparrow - 1 - Saturday morning at Selah
Harris's Sparrow - 2 - feeders at Little Duck Lake
White-crowned Sparrow - scattered locations
Northern Cardinal
Blue Bunting - 2 - Daphne Sunday morning
Indigo Bunting - a few
Painted Bunting - 2 - Daphne both days
Dickcissel - unbelievably abundant
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark - fairly common at Daphne Prairie
Common Grackle - a few in town
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole - 1 - Selah
House Finch
Pine Siskin - 1 - 1 heard Saturday at Selah
American Goldfinch - 1 - At least one singing at Selah
House Sparrow
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
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