[texbirds] Re: Breeding Horned Larks in NE Travis County
- From: Ronnie Kramer <ronniekramer1964@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Shelia Hargis <shelia.hargis@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2014 14:00:18 -0500
Shelia, I have a photo of a pair from the same stretch last September 15.
I assume these were too early for migrants.
Ronnie Kramer
Austin
On Sat, Jul 5, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Shelia Hargis <shelia.hargis@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> 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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