[texbirds] 14 sparrow species Saturday 12-06-14 at Tejas Camp north of Austin
- From: "" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "drbirdie@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2014 14:42:46 -0500
Hi Texbirders & Sparrowhawks,
I led the third of four planned field trips yesterday morning for the Travis
Audubon Society Sparrow Identification Class.
Ten enthusiastic class participants and I birded Tejas Camp in Williamson
County northeast of Liberty Hill, Tx from about 7:30 to 11 a.m. yesterday.
Conditions were nearly ideal, with temps in the low to mid-60's, overcast skies
and intermittent breezes from the northwest. Highlights included 13 native
sparrow species seen well by almost all class participants. The "bird of the
day" was a "cooperative" LeConte's Sparrow that most of the group were able to
view at close range as it sat initially in the grass, and then hopped up into a
small mesquite tree for a minute or two before flying back down into dense
grass. I say "cooperative" in quotes because the bird didn't "cooperate" until
we had chased and reflushed it a couple of times before Deborah alertly spotted
it in short grass near the small tree. Two or three mobility-impaired
participants, unfortunately, were a long distance from the place where we
finally got the bird to "cooperate," and it flew away before I could run back
to the others and bring them over to the bird. It's nice when we can "herd"
birds like that toward a fence line or tree where those less mobile can wait
for the birds to come closer to their position, but that wasn't possible
yesterday.
Other highlights included lots of good looks at multiple Fox Sparrows, and more
Harris's Sparrows than are typical for this location.
Tejas almost always has good numbers of of Fox Sparrows in the winter, but they
often stay hidden in dense foliage and refuse to give good looks.
Sparrowman also heard a Grasshopper Sparrow calling repeatedly at one of our
first stops, but couldn't get it to pop into view.
There was also a glimpsed-only towhee that looked like a female hybrid Spotted
X Eastern Towhee. The upper parts were warm brown, and the bird had a few spots
on the scapulars but only a few. Sparrowman was disappointed not to get a
better view of this bird.
Our group ran into Jim Hailey, Barry Noret and Dan Hodges, who were looking for
the Purple Finches that Dan had found here a couple of days previously.
Although we all encountered House Finches and American Goldfinches, none of us
relocated the Purple Finches.
So far, the sparrow class has encountered 17 of the 20 regularly-occurring
winter sparrow species of central Texas, missing only Eastern Towhee,
Grasshopper Sparrow and Black-throated Sparrow. Sparrowman has heard
Grasshopper Sparrow on two trips, but despite his remarkable sparrow-summoning
powers, has not been able to entice the birds to show themselves to this eager
group of Sparrowhawk apprentices. One more field trip will hopefully yield at
least one of the remaining three species, and maybe get two of them or a "bonus
bird," like Lark Bunting or Green-tailed Towhee.
The only way to reliably see more sparrows in a short period of time than doing
the sparrow class is to sign up for SparrowFest, which will take place Feb 6 -
8, 2015. Details at <http://friendsofbalcones.org/sf>
Range conditions are really good in central Texas this winter, and it looks
like it will be a banner year for sparrow abundance and diversity.
I've posted several photos of yesterday's "cooperative" LeConte's Sparrow on my
Flickr page at
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/thedrbirdie/15963273892/>
An annotated bird list of the 47 or so species seen or heard yesterday follows:
Black Vulture - 2
Turkey Vulture - 4
Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Rock Pigeon - 30 - flock in flight
White-winged Dove - 40
Mourning Dove - 25
Eastern Screech-Owl - 1 - Heard near campground early in morning.
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - 1 - female
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue Jay - 2
American Crow - 2 - Heard at least two.
Common Raven - 2 - Two seen and heard flying over river near bridge.
Carolina Chickadee - 7
Black-crested Titmouse - 10
Carolina Wren - 3
Bewick's Wren - 2
House Wren - 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Hermit Thrush - 1
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 7
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2
Spotted Towhee - 8
Eastern Towhee - 1 - possible hybrid
Field Sparrow - 18
Vesper Sparrow - 35
Lark Sparrow - 5 - Seen by participants in my vehicle on CR 268 after leaving
the park.
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Grasshopper Sparrow - 1 - Heard-only.
Le Conte's Sparrow - 5 - 1 seen well by group, first in grass, then perched in
tree.
Fox Sparrow - 12
Song Sparrow - 30
Lincoln's Sparrow - 5
White-throated Sparrow - 6
Harris's Sparrow - 30
White-crowned Sparrow - 6
Dark-eyed Junco - 2
Northern Cardinal - 18
Eastern Meadowlark - 1
House Finch - 7 - Searched for PUFI.
American Goldfinch - 12
It was a good day to be a Sparrowhawk!
Byron Stone, Austin
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