[texbirds] Belated report - Fort Stockton Red-breasted Nuthatches - Tuesday 1-8-13

From: drbirdie@xxxxxxx
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:57:11 -0500 (EST)
Hi Texbirders,
I made a quick trip out to west Texas last weekend just after the big snow.
The Christmas Mountains Varied Thrush put on a great show, and Carolyn and I 
both got some great photos of the thrush in the snow, possibly a Texas first?

I thought that some other traveling birders might be interested to know that on 
my return trip on Tuesday January 8 I stopped in briefly at Rooney Park in Fort 
Stockton (Pecos County), where I stumbled across 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches and 
2 or possibly 3 Brown Creepers. Much of the park was birdless, but in the 
southwest corner I initially heard a nuthatch calling as I approached some 
evergreen trees. I then found and photographed the bird, which seemed to be 
loosely affiliated with a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and an Audubon's Warbler. As I 
watched and attempted to get photos, I heard a second bird, which then flew in 
to join the first, and as I was walking away, I heard and then spied a third 
bird flying in to join the first two. A few minutes later and 80 - 100 yards 
away, while watching at least 2 Brown Creepers working trunks of small 
cottonwoods near the channel on the north side of the park, I heard another 
RBNU, far enough away to make me think that it was a different bird. 
Weather was cold and overcast (temp in low 40's at mid-day), and wind was 
blowing hard from the west, making me wonder if these birds had just blown in 
with the front that was coming up out of Mexico and the Pacific.


Two days previous, I was fortunate enough to find a flock of 17 Red Crossbills 
working the tiny cones of arborvitae in the cemetery on the southeast side of 
Alpine. These trees are at the east end of the cemetery, northeast corner near 
the east-most entry road. There was also a Red-breasted Nuthatch in this 
cemetery.


The cashier at Lake Balmorrhea late Monday afternoon said that an adult Bald 
Eagle had been "hanging around since the weekend." She said it had a white head 
and she seemed quite enthusiastic about it. I didn't see a Bald Eagle, but I 
did find a single Snow Goose grazing at the edge of the lake in the northeast 
corner, and 2 Common Mergansers on the west side of the lake, among many other 
ducks of multiple species. Lots of Ring-billed Gulls, a few Bonaparte's Gulls 
and a single juvenile Herring-type Gull roosting in the center of the lake late 
in the day Monday. A quick stop at Balmorrhea State Park before dark yielded a 
single Golden-crowned Kinglet and a Rock Wren bouncing about one of the canal 
bridges.


Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin

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[texbirds] Belated report - Fort Stockton Red-breasted Nuthatches - Tuesday 1-8-13

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