[texbirds] Breeding Horned Larks in NE Travis County
- From: Shelia Hargis <shelia.hargis@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2014 08:37:16 -0500
Good morning,
I received a call on Wednesday evening from Debbie Parsley regarding some
birds she was watching in northeastern Travis County. Debbie is a graduate
of the Introduction to Birds and Birding class that Laurie Foss and I teach
for Travis Audubon. Debbie was seeing huge numbers of swallows that she
thought were Cliff or Cave Swallows. Due to the numbers, she had to call
someone! I'm very glad she called me. During our conversation, she
mentioned seeing what she thought were Horned Larks. Both the massing of
swallows and the possibility of seeing Horned Larks piqued my interest and
I added a trip to NE Travis County to my birding itinerary for the next few
days.
Yesterday evening, Laurie and I joined Debbie on Wells Lane between Wells
School Road and Lund-Carlson Road. This area is agricultural land with
corn, sorghum and cotton growing very well right now. We arrived right
after a rain shower had come through. Unfortunately, the swallow numbers
were much decreased possibly due to the rain, but we still had many out in
the sorghum fields. They were Cliff Swallows. A few were flying around but
most were perched on Johnson grass that was growing taller than the
sorghum. We couldn't tell if they were eating the seeds (this doesn't seem
likely), eating insects, just hanging out or preparing to roost there for
the night. I'm not sure if this is common behavior or not, so I'd
appreciate some feedback regarding what was likely happening.
We also found numerous Horned Larks including at least one juvenile bird.
Most of the Horned Larks were found on Wells Lane between the intersection
of Wells School Road and about a half mile north. They were in the road or
along the edge of the road. Laurie observed an adult feeding a juvenile
bird. This was my first observation of a young Horned Lark. Very cool
plumage! We have some photos of so-so quality.I'll be adding them to my
eBird checklist to address that flag that appeared when I tried to add this
species to my list. ( :
A check on eBird revealed mostly sightings from winter or early spring, so
I'm not sure if this is a situation of the birds not being documented
during summer or the birders not being around to do said documenting. The
second edition of *The Texas Ornithological Society Handbook of Texas Birds*
indicates that they are known to breed near this area, but I'd love to know
more about the breeding records for this species in Travis County.
The Common Night-hawks were also a treat! There were numerous birds flying
all around and a few perching on the road and on the wires. They were very
active and vocal. One even did his courtship display of plunging to the
earth, pulling out at the last moment causing a loud booming sound.
Thanks to Debbie for alerting me to the bird activity in this area. It was
a great way to spend the July 4th evening.
Shelia Hargis
Austin Texas
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