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 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