[texbirds] Granger - geese, Mountain Plover, Harris's Sparrows, etc.
- From: Chuck Sexton <gcwarbler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: TexBirds Posting Posting <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 22:32:35 -0600
TexBirders,
I birded several areas around Granger Lake today, starting at the dam just
after sunrise and including a long hike on the Comanche Bluff Trail to the
mouth and backwater sloughs of the San Gabriel River, ending with an afternoon
tour of the plowed fields west of the lake area. Highlights of a nearly
8-hour, 80-spp day included:
— Ross’s Goose - 2 in a V of 40 Snows; my FOS.
— Mallards - A flight of 15 wild types, but very few other waterfowl.
— Bald Eagle - 1 adult.
— Merlin - 1 on CR 346.
— Mountain Plover - just a single bird near 346 x 348 where a flock was
reported recently.
— Winter Wren - at least 3; calls and trills of 1 bird recorded.
— Sparrows - 12 species, included large numbers of Harris’s, and 2 Le Conte’s.
I had a fun opportunity to study a massive grackle and blackbird flock which
was foraging and bathing in roadside ditches along CR 345 about 3pm to 3:30pm.
I estimated the flock to number 8,000 to 10,000 birds, 95% of which were Common
Grackles, but there was enough of a sprinkling of other blackbirds to perk my
interest. I eased up on the flock in my truck and at one point was surrounded
on all sides by bathing, preening, and foraging birds at close range. Try as I
may, I could not turn up any Rusty’s in the crowd nor any other uncommon
species, but just about every age, sex, and plumage of the commoner species was
represented.
Chuck Sexton
Austin, TXEdit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
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- » [texbirds] Granger - geese, Mountain Plover, Harris's Sparrows, etc. - Chuck Sexton
