The roost in the city park in Taylor is still quite active. The plant life there suffers from the concentration of birds. The big 4 are still Cattle Egrets with lesser numbers of Snowys, Little Blue and Great Egrets. The influx of Ibis seen last year has not returned. The water level is up and the spit of land they seemed to prefer is gone. Tom Fleming Grand Prairie, TX ________________________________ From: Chuck Sexton <gcwarbler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: TexBirds TexBirds Posting <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 2:04 PM Subject: [texbirds] Granger Lake (Williamson Co.) - 7/2 (local interest) TexBirders, I had a few uncommon July birds on a visit to Granger Lake this morning. At Friendship Park I watched a "mixed flock" of one Least Tern and one non-breeding Black Tern circle around a few times. An Osprey was perched in a tree on the Sore Finger peninsula. At the Sore Finger arm of the lake, I heard my FOS Upland Sandpiper (one or two birds), quite early for their arrival. At the CR 358 access point to Sore Finger, there were 3 Tree Swallows flitting around some drowned timber at the lake's edge. At a pond on CR 346 east of Thrall I had two Lesser Yellowlegs, also a bit early. A very large heron/egret roost has built up in the willow woods on the SE side of the Sore Finger peninsula at Granger Lake. It's hard to get anywhere close to view the roost. It can be scanned with a scope from Friendship Park about a mile away. This morning there were several hundred (1000+?) of the common stuff but it seems a likely spot for something more interesting to show up, perhaps coming in to roost in the evening. Unfortunately, the lighting would be terrible if viewed from Friendship Park in the evening. A boat would be the best bet. I haven't visited Taylor, TX, this summer so I don't know if the Granger roost is in addition to the one there or a relocation by those birds. The park in Taylor is about 9.5 miles SSW of the present roost. Chuck Sexton Austin, TX Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner