Texbirders,
Every third Friday of the month, Feathered Friday is conducted at TNCs Mad
Island Marsh Preserve in Matagorda County. This organized tour is a great
opportunity to bird this unique property. We normally meet at the main gate
at 8am, consolidate vehicles and caravan down the gravel roads of the
property. We mostly bird from the car with a few stops for short hikes and
finish with a sack lunch at the lodge.
In October, the highlight of the morning was a Burrowing Owl perched on a
fence post at 20 yards. Today, the highlight was a pair of Aplamado
Falcons sparing for rights to a patch of coastal prairie with the victor
then perching close to the road providing great looks and good photos
opps. Other highlights that we and the Ornithology Group of the Outdoor
Nature Club of Houston enjoyed at the lodge included a Says Phoebe and
good looks at a cooperative Grasshopper Sparrow. There were also an
unusually high number of White-tailed Kites (9). Complete checklist is
here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32607629
There will not be a Feathered Friday in December in lieu of the Matagorda
County CBC. Come on out in January. The TNC staff at Mad Island are
wonderful hosts.
Good birding,
Bob Friedrichs
Palacios
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner