Hi Texbirders,
Yesterday was an absolutely glorious day to be outside in central Texas and I
was able to finally accomplish a long-cherished private goal of seeing all 20
regularly-occurring winter sparrow species of central Texas in a single
calendar day.
I didn't start the day with that in mind, but was headed over to Alligator
Prairie, a private property in southwestern Milam County, to try to photograph
an American Woodcock which had been observed on the Granger CBC 3 weeks
previously. No luck photographing the woodcock, but we had such an abundance
and variety of sparrows, that I was up to 15 species before the morning was
over, including several of the harder ones (Eastern Towhee, Grasshopper,
LeConte's and Swamp Sparrow), and I couldn't help thinking, "this might be the
day for 20."
Fortunately I had no pressing work obligations, so after a brief stop at the
office and then home for lunch, I headed out to Pace Bend Park in western
Travis County to see if I could find Lark and Chipping Sparrow and the 3
"plateau specialties," Black-throated and Rufous-crowned Sparrows and Canyon
Towhee.
A pair of Canyon Towhees and a Black-throated Sparrow obliged at the first
stop, and then I started to sweat, wondering if I would be able to find the
others before darkness intervened. Finally, I found a cooperative pair of RC
Sparrows, so was up to 18 for the day, which I have done on several occasions.
I knew there were a couple of small flocks of Lark Sparrows out here this
winter, but they move around a bit, so I wasn't sure I could get them, and on
my last trip here in early December I had seen exactly 1 Chipping Sparrow in 4
hours, so I knew they weren't guaranteed.
Finally, I pushed and owl-whistled a small flock of birds and in came a small
band of Larkies for #19.
And then I spotted not one, but two first-winter Chipping Sparrows for my 20th
sparrow species of the day.
Mission accomplished!
I have had 19 sparrow species in a single day on at least 2 occasions over the
last decade, but never before have I had 20.
Following is the sparrow list for the day, and mention of whether I was able to
photograph it or not (I think I got 10 species photographed, but I wasn't
really trying early on).
Grasshopper Sparrow - 2 Milam
LeConte's Sparrow - 1 (ph) Milam
Chipping Sparrow - 2 (ph) Travis
Field Sparrow - 8 Milam
Black-throated Sparrow - 4 (ph) Travis
Lark Sparrow - 6 (ph) Travis
Fox Sparrow - 1 (ph) Milam
Dark-eyed Junco - 2 (ph) Milam
White-crowned Sparrow - 7 Milam
White-throated Sparrow - 25+ Milam
Harris's Sparrow - 3 Milam
Vesper Sparrow - 4 Milam
Savannah Sparrow - 75+, county roads in Milam and Williamson
Song Sparrow - 22 (ph) Milam
Lincoln's Sparrow - 10 (ph) both locations
Swamp Sparrow - 2 Milam
Canyon Towhee - 9 (ph) Travis
Rufous-crowned Sparrow - 3 (ph) Travis
Spotted Towhee - 3 both locations
Eastern Towhee - 2 (ph) Milam
Many thanks to Nancy Webber for allowing access to her property in Milam County.
It was a great day to be a Sparrowhawk!
Byron Stone, Austin
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