[texbirds] June 29, 2013 Mitchell Lake Bird Census
- From: "Stevan Hawkins" <shawkins4@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 17:43:12 -0500
TexBirders:
I did the June, 2013, edition of the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center's
http://mitchelllake.audubon.org/ 4th Saturday Bird Census-Tour on June 30.
In the event this particular June 30's 108* was deemed to be the hottest
June 30 on record. I recorded 30 species, two of which should not have been
on the site in late June. The first was the male Redhead that I saw at Bird
Pond. The second was the Western Grebe that Mike Creese saw at about 10:40
at the southwest corner of the West Polder. By the time the census protocol
allowed me to get to that site, the grebe didn't seem to be in the area.
Given the 600 acres of water on the site, that Western Grebe may have been
in the main lake, in the East Polder, one of the decant basins, etc. The
Dickcissels singing downstream of Bird Pond suggested that they might be
nesting at MLAC in 2013. I only saw one flycatcher, a Scissor-tail all day
long versus at least two Myiarchus species that I should have encountered.
I saw no Black-crowned Nigh-Herons at the traditional rookery in the
broad-leafed trees at the base of the hill on the west side of the lake. I
do not know if this was due to there being more fish over there as compared
to the rest of the lake, or if this was due to the large amount of noise
from the gun range. I saw or heard no hawks on the site. The fact that I
did this survey on the hottest June 30 on record may have played some role
in my results. In the process of conducting this census I went through four
liters of water and a liter of warm tea. Until at least mid October people
coming to the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center and spending any amount of time
outdoors on the site should bring at least one, probably two, liters of
water.
Onward to the August census!
Steve
Stevan Hawkins
Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, docent
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