[texbirds] Travis Audubon Sparrowhawks field trip - Reimer's Ranch & Llano County - Saturday Nov 16

  • From: drbirdie@xxxxxxx
  • To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 19:10:31 -0500 (EST)

Hi Texbirders,
We had our first Sparrowhawks field trip today for the November - December 2013 
Travis Audubon sparrow class. Eleven intrepid Sparrowhawks and I ventured out 
to Reimer's Ranch in western Travis County and did so well so quickly there 
with local specialties (Canyon Towhee and Rufous-crowned Sparrow) that we 
decided to press further west to try for Black-throated Sparrow, which we found 
in good numbers on CR 309. Everyone on the field trip today had excellent looks 
at Canyon Towhee, RC Sparrow and Black-throated Sparrow, which are the trio of 
"western specialties" that are almost impossible to find in the Austin 
checklist area without heading out onto the Edward's Plateau west of Austin. In 
addition, we had good looks at Lark, Savannah and Vesper Sparrows, and both 
adult and juvenile White-crowned Sparrows. We had a single Grasshopper Sparrow 
that gave good views to about half the group before it flew off.
Weather was mild, breezy with some high overcast that kept the temps at or 
below about 70 degrees F. Habitat is in pretty good shape in most locations as 
a result of timely rains this year.
We had 12 sparrow species for the class today (I had a single fly-over Chipping 
Sparrow that others didn't get on).
It was a good start to our field trip season, and gives me hope that we have a 
good chance to find all 20 of the regularly-occurring winter sparrows on our 
four planned trips.
An annotated list of today's birds follows.
All numbers are for the Reimer's portion of the trip unless otherwise noted.

Birdlist for Sparrowhawks field trip, Saturday Nov 16



Black Vulture - 1 - more elsewhere
Turkey Vulture - 2 - more elsewhere
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 - Hwy 71
American Kestrel - 1 - Reimer's, and more elsewhere
Mourning Dove - 2 - Reimer's, more elsewhere
Common Ground-Dove - 2 - Reimer's, 1 Llano Co
Great Horned Owl - 1 - Hwy 71, Llano Co
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - 1 - CR 309
Eastern Phoebe - 4 - Reimer's
Black-crested Titmouse - 1 - Reimer's
Bewick's Wren - 6 - and a couple in Llano Co
House Wren - 1 - Reimer's
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3 - Reimer's, and at least one in Llano Co
Eastern Bluebird - 4 - Hwy 71 and elsewhere
Northern Mockingbird - 3 - and a couple on CR 309
European Starling - 70 - Blanco Co & 1 other spot
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2 - 1 at Reimer's, 1 in Llano
Spotted Towhee - 6 - and 2 CR 309
Canyon Towhee - 4 - Reimer's
Rufous-crowned Sparrow - 2 - Reimer's
Chipping Sparrow - 1 - Reimer's - seen and heard only by me
Field Sparrow - 12 - Reimer's
Vesper Sparrow - 5
Lark Sparrow - 6
Black-throated Sparrow - 9 - CR 309
Savannah Sparrow - 3 - Reimer's
Grasshopper Sparrow - 1 - Reimer's - seen by about half the group
Lincoln's Sparrow - 2 - Reimer's
White-throated Sparrow - 1 - Reimer's
White-crowned Sparrow - 9 - plus about 5 on CR 309
Northern Cardinal - 7 - plus 3 or 4 CR 309
Pyrrhuloxia - 1 - CR 309
Eastern Meadowlark - 45 - meadowlark sp
Brown-headed Cowbird - 70 - Blanco Co
House Finch - 9 - Reimer's
American Goldfinch - 1 - Reimer's


It was a good day to be a Sparrowhawk.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin



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