Swifts have been reported twice over the 16 years of the Guadalupe Delta CBC.
Both times they were in the vicinity of the river in forested areas.
Brent Ortego
Victoria, TX
________________________________
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Petra Hockey <phockey@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 1, 2020 9:57 AM
To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [texbirds] Swift alert for Calhoun Co.
Texbirders,
yesterday mid morning under low, gray clouds with cool temperatures but light
winds I made a stop at the HW 35 Buffalo Lake overlook in the Guadalupe Delta.
I found many hundreds of swallows feeding low over the water, most of them Tree
but also some Cave. They were swirling around and it was hard to stay on
individual birds looking for ID clues. During this scanning I happened across a
swift and managed to follow it around for about 30 seconds before I lost it.
About 5 minutes later I found it again and while I followed it through
binoculars saw a second swift crossing the path.
This is the second time I have seen mid winter swifts at this location and the
obvious question is ….. what species are we dealing with here? The birds were
at a considerable distance (back left when you look at the lake from the
platform) but I believe that they could very well, if not likely, have been
Vaux’s Swifts. They looked small compared to the swallows but the subtle color
and shape differences could not be discerned well at such long range. A late
January sighting does probably favor Vaux’s over Chimney.
I want to mention that across HW 35 from Buffalo Lake is the huge Green Lake
that is almost 100% hidden from public viewing. Many birds fly back and forth
between those two lakes.
Also seen were 2 Bald Eagles along the tree line of Hog Bayou, 5 Anhingas, 1
Great Kiskadee, Marsh Wrens and a Least Grebe was heard only. A Northern
Waterthrush was across the road at an old HW 35 road bed access.
Petra Hockey
Port O’Connor, Calhoun Co.
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freelists.org%2Flist%2Ftexbirds&data=02%7C01%7C%7C7f55f45dc18541416a9708d7a72f8cff%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637161695007092190&sdata=nrPNjWHnrv80%2B%2FQ5qJYW6osBr9WLHc%2BEybduS%2B%2ByaKA%3D&reserved=0
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
