[texbirds] Pear Valley BBS, McCulloch Co. 6/7/12

From: Rich Kostecke <rkost73@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2012 15:33:12 -0700 (PDT)
I ran the Pear Valley BBS in McCulloch County for my 7th consercutive year on 
6/7/12.  The winter and spring rain has noticeably greened up the route and 
there was a nice wildflower display as well as a few puddles of water and even 
some ponds with some water.  There even appears to be a slight rebound in some 
of the bird numbers.  I did run the route under some somewhat unusual weather 
conditions, though.  Rainy weather to the east eventully backed into the route 
and for the latter half of the route I had to cope with drizzle and even brief 
periods of moderate rain.  With the exception of my first couple of points (for 
which temperatures were in the low 70s), temperatures were in the mid-60s all 
morning (I often end the route with temps in the mid to upper 90s if not near 
100).  The weather probably had a mixed effect on the bird activity.  Some 
species seemed quite active, but there were some that weren't (vulture numbers 
were low
 because they weren't flying and no raptors).  It is also difficult to tease 
apart lag effects from last year's drought (were numbers down because of the 
weather or because reproduction and survival were low last year due to the 
drought?).  For the most part, there was actually a slight rebound in numbers 
observed for most species across the board.  However, total species (47) and 
total individuals (533) were down slightly from last year (50 and 545, 
respectively).  Numbers would have been significantly higher though if there 
were more vultures flying, for example.
 
Northern Bobwhite 14
Turkey Vulture 12 (down, primarily due to the weather; I typically observe up 
to 5x this number)
Killdeer 4
Eurasian Collared-dove 6
Mourning Dove 36
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 3 (none last year)
Great Horned Owl 1
Common Nighthawk 14
Chimney Swift 3
Black-chinned Hummingbird 2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 5
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 27
White-eyed Vireo 1
Bell's Vireo 17
Horned Lark 5
Purple Martin 18
Cliff Swallow 15 (the first I have seen since I started running the route; 
historically commonly observed but perhaps mistaken for Cave Swallow or 
displaced by them)
Cave Swallow 38
Barn Swallow 33
Black-crested Titmouse 7
Verdin 1
Bewick's Wren 11
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Northern Mockingbird 44
European Starling 1
Rufous-crowned Sparrow 5
Canyon Towhee 3
Cassin's Sparrow 20 (actually down from last year)
Lark Sparrow 38
Black-throated Sparrow 2
Grasshopper Sparrow 2 (actually down from last year)
Northern Cardinal 26
Pyrrhuloxia 1
Blue Grosbeak 2
Painted Bunting 37
Dickcissel 11 (none last year)
Red-winged Blackbird 13 (number down slightly from last year)
Eastern Meadowlark 6 (number actually down quite a bit from last year)
Common Grackle 3 (numbers always a bit sproadic along the route, but down from 
last year)
Brown-headed Cowbird 15 (number actually down from last year)
Orchard Oriole 1
Bullock's Oriole 3 (none last year)
House Finch 5
Lesser Goldfinch 1 (first time I have had the species on the route)
House Sparrow 17

Richard Kostecke, Ph.D.
The Nature Conservancy
318 Congress Ave., Austin, Texas 78701
Email: rkost73@xxxxxxxxx or rkostecke@xxxxxxx
[texbirds] Pear Valley BBS, McCulloch Co. 6/7/12

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