Hi, all!
Found the exit for the north end of the experimental okay (something like
Bernardo Road), and Joe Kennedy had written me the night before to advise me
to start at the dead end of PC Road. I hadn't scouted that part of the road
the day before, and when it started growing stuff in the middle I got a
little apprehensive and turned the car around at that point, but that's
where I decided to start the survey, and I was amazed at the traffic noise;
had I started where I had planned to start it woulda been really bad! It
was fun hearing the Sedge Wrens singing away, but there must have been at
least one Mockingbird at every stop (and the whole route was just over 22
miles); I thought for sure EBird would flag that one! There were plenty of
Bobwhites awakening the dawn, but didn't hear any Prairie Chickens at that
end. So once dawn hit (and it was a lovely sunrise; you could see a
thunderstorm going on to the east) I started the BBS Protocol and had a
blast! Before I even finished PC Road a flock of Cattle Egrets flew by
(with a token Snowy)!
From PC Road I followed Cat Spring Road (heading north to Huntsville later I
saw that there really was a little town called Cat Spring), and a good
portion of that road is paved. Lots of Common Grackles flew over hear the
homesteads, and several different flocks of Upland Sandpipers wheeled into
the various fields! Lots of Caracaras were about, and a young White-tailed
Hawk finally showed up! The Krider's hawk was still around (along with a
normal-looking adult), and several stops yielded several sparrows:
Whitecrowns would pop up quickly to pishing, as would Lincoln's and a single
Savannah. There are a couple of wooded creek crossings that only yielded a
Yellowthroat and Carolina Wren, but picked up a new trip bird at a couple of
spots with trees: Red-bellied Woodpecker!
But the jackpot was along a stretch of Cat Spring where there's this
space-station-looking structure out in the field (it looks like a big,
round, white platform with a cone-shaped thing sticking up out of the middle
of it; you can't miss it). I was doing a "scheduled stop" and enjoying a
Bobwhite that had jumped up from this mess of sticks along with a bunch of
Whiteyes, but then I heard some caterwauling in the distance that sounded
vaguely familiar but couldn't place. Then it dawned on me - that was the
Prairie Chicken! So I started scanning, found a big brown body, and got the
scope out, and thanked Pat Heirs several times over for giving me her old
scope with the zoom on it: there he was, flipping his little tail to show
off the white butt, and puffing out those orange balloons! Couldn't hear
him actually booming from where I was, but you could really hear the
cackling once he got going! I only saw the one bird, and it was easy for
him to hide in the grass, so there could have been others. A Harrier sent
everyone into hiding (except for the Uppy Sands that made a break for it).
And as icing on the cake, one last pish brought up a Swamp Sparrow!
Everything was gravy after that, but other interesting birds along that part
of the route included a small flock of Shovelers flying overhead, several
Swainson's Hawks joining the TVs in their kettle, and some kind of towhee -
apparently both can show up even this far east, so who knows which it was.
Once on FM 3013 I was really wondering if doing the prescribed stops along
there would be worth it because of the traffic, but I'm very glad I did, as
in a plowed field about a mile east of McDonald Road was a pair of Sandhill
Cranes! One of them looked like it had a hurt wing, so my guess is that it
was a mated pair, and the "well" one decided to hang tight with his mate -
how sweet! J
The last part of the route was the tour road at the refuge, and by that time
it was getting rather warm (even though Diggory's thermometer still said
59), so things were quieting down at bit. At one stop I didn't even notice
the young Swainson's Hawk on the post until after I had done my two-minute
look and listen - I'm surprised he stayed put when I got out of the car! An
adult White-tailed joined the Swainies that were hanging around there, so
that was very nice! Some Purple Martins were making a lot of interesting
noises at their house near the headquarters, and as I turned the corner and
continued down the tour road, I was almost sideswiped by a refuge truck with
a big antenna on top who was coming off a side road! When she stopped to
open the gate I asked her if she was tracking chickens, and she said yes, so
I told her about the bird I saw that was nowhere near the refuge, but she
said they did occasionally get out into that area. As a matter of fact, I
noticed that same "space ship" structure from the tour road (way in the
distance, of course)!
Decided to check the overlook at the little pond there, and got the route's
only Carolina Chickadee in the little riparian woodland there. The pond had
a pair of Pied-billed Grebes, a few Coots, a single Common Gallinule, and a
Catbird calling across the way, but that was it (besides a posing Cardinal).
Finished up the route adding a mess of vultures, grabbed a piece of chicken
for lunch, then headed for Huntsville.
And what a beautiful park (and drive to get there)! I love the big trees;
it's amazing how things change in only 100 miles! Now we're in a whole new
habitat, with Tufted Titmice, Brown-headed Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers,
and Hooded Warblers added to the list right away! That longing to get a
camper and just live at the state parks for the rest of my life came back to
haunt me J; didn't have time to check the water, but an Eastern Kingbird was
perched on one of the reedy things near the shore. After scouting the
roads, I went back and hiked a couple of trails: the Loblolly Trail was a
nice easy nature trail with a bench halfway through, so that made it handy
to watch the White-eyed Vireos fighting! I took a little of the Dogwood
Trail, where there were several downed logs at the ten-minute mark that made
for a handy bench! I heard some cah-haing that I thought might have been
Fish Crows, but as I listened, the calls became more passionate, and then it
was obvious they were juvenile American Crows that were begging (and a quick
perusal of the TOS Handbook show that they don't occur here anyway; boy,
that book is a must have, I tell you)! Both Carolina and Viola's Wood
Satyrs were bouncing along the trail, along with what I'm assuming is a
Northern Cloudywing at this point.
Called it a day after that with 62 species for the day. Bird List:
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
Northern Bobwhite Colinus virginianus
Greater Prairie-Chicken Tympanuchus cupido
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Great Egret Ardea alba
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
White-tailed Hawk Geranoaetus albicaudatus
Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata
American Coot Fulica americana
Sandhill Crane Grus canadensis
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica
Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway
Eastern Kingbird Tyrannus tyrannus
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus
Yellow-throated Vireo Vireo flavifrons
Red-eyed Vireo Vireo olivaceus
Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
Purple Martin Progne subis
Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Carolina Chickadee Poecile carolinensis
Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor
Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla
House Wren Troglodytes aedon
Sedge Wren Cistothorus platensis
Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas
Hooded Warbler Setophaga citrina
Northern Parula Setophaga americana
Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata
Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis
Grasshopper Sparrow Ammodramus savannarum
Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii
Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys
Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
62 SPECIES
So Far: 152 SPECIES
Mary Beth Stowe
McAllen, TX
miriameaglemon.com
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