[texbirds] Travis Audubon Sparrowhawks field trip yesterday - Pedernales Falls State Park bummer and tough weather conditions everywhere
- From: drbirdie@xxxxxxx
- To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 21:25:41 -0500 (EST)
Hi Texbirders,
I had a sparrow class field trip scheduled for yesterday, Saturday November 23,
and because of the grim weather forecast I decided to take the Sparrowhawks to
the bird blinds at Pedernales Falls State Park in eastern Blanco County. My
last few trips there had been somewhat disappointing, but I thought that surely
this strong cold front would bring in some birds to the feeding stations at the
bird observation blinds. As my mother would have said, "I had another think
coming."
We found absolutely no native sparrows at the bird observation blinds, despite
spending about 45 minutes there in two separate trips. Although I had been
assured the day before that volunteers put food out daily for the birds, "but
only in the mornings," it appeared that only peanut butter had been put out
yesterday morning by the time we arrived at about 0845. We could see sunflower
seed hulls on the ground, but no evidence of small seeds (which attract smaller
birds like Spizellas and Lincoln's Sparrows), or cracked corn (which Fox
Sparrows love). Before we left, some small seed and a bit of cracked corn was
scattered near the blinds, but it wasn't put out by volunteers. No sparrows
came in, though, which suggests that they are not accustomed to being fed
there. Cardinals, House Sparrows and House Finches were there in force, and
they did consume some of the seed, but I think they are accustomed to eating
the small sunflower seed which the park volunteers appear to be putting out for
them.
Wow, I miss Don and Joan Felch even more after a trip like yesterday. They
volunteered every winter at PFSP for many years, and kept the feeders
well-stocked.
Of course, the very wet weather may have had something to do with the dearth of
of sparrows there, as the birds have no need to come in to the water feature
right now, with water, water everywhere.
Still, it appears that the small sparrows are not accustomed to being fed there
lately.
We did get good looks at Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, one or two RC Kinglets and
an Orange-crowned Warbler coming in for the peanut butter, but it sure was
disappointing to have no sparrows there. It once was a great place to study
Lincoln's Sparrows next to Song Sparrows, and get good long looks at
White-throated, Fox Sparrows and a few others that don't always allow close
approach. I think I will need to come up with an alternate bad-weather
sparrow-watching venue in the future.
Fortunately, before we reached the park, I took my caravan through the Dawnview
area west of Dripping Springs.
There, we had great looks at 3 roadside Canyon Towhees, plus a small flock of
Field Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows and a single Vesper Sparrow.
Unfortunately, 2 vehicles were meeting us at the park, so those folks missed
the Dawnview birds.
At the park, we did walk down to the falls, which are rushing forcefully right
now, and found a DC Cormorant and a single Gadwall, then decided we would head
back in toward Austin and some of the group checked out Commons Ford Park since
the rain had mostly let up. At CoFo, we found a few Savannah and Vesper
Sparrows, but none of the hoped-for LeConte's or Grasshopper Sparrows. The
prairie restoration area is looking very promising, but I think that the recent
burns there has temporarily altered the structure of the prairie to make it not
to the liking of those two Ammodramus species. I suspect, though, that
continued vegetative growth as a result of recent rains will result in good
conditions for nesting Grasshopper Sparrows next spring, and I bet the
LeConte's will be back next winter.
We did find a few other good birds at CoFo. There were more White-throated
Sparrows than I recall ever having there before, and we did find a couple of
Song Sparrows, which we missed last week. We also had good, close looks at a
pair of Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, which is very localized in Travis County.
And we had a heard-only Winter Wren, and an immature Bald Eagle flying down
Lake Austin.
An annotated list follows.
Bird list for the Sparrowhawks Field Trip, Saturday November 23, 2013 -
Gadwall - 5 - 1 PFSP, 4 CoFo
Double-crested Cormorant - 1 - PFSP
Black Vulture - 8 - multiple locations
Turkey Vulture - 6 - multiple locations
Bald Eagle - 1 - CoFo - immature, flying over Lake Austin
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 - 1 PFSP, 1 CoFo
American Kestrel - 1 - CoFo
White-winged Dove - multiple locations
Mourning Dove - multiple locations
Golden-fronted Woodpecker - 2 - CoFo
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2 - CoFo
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - 4 - PFSP & CoFo
Downy Woodpecker - 1 - CoFo
Eastern Phoebe - 3 - CoFo
Blue Jay - 4 - CoFo
Western Scrub-Jay - 1 - road, Blanco Co.
American Crow - 2 - CoFo
Carolina Chickadee - 1 - CoFo
Black-crested Titmouse - 5 - PFSP & CoFo
Carolina Wren - 3 - PFSP & CoFo
Bewick's Wren - 1 - PFSP
Winter Wren - 1 - CoFo - heard-only
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 4 - PFSP & CoFo
Hermit Thrush - 1 - CoFo - not seen by most of group
Northern Mockingbird - 6 - PFSP(?) & CoFo
Orange-crowned Warbler - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6
Spotted Towhee - 2 - CoFo
Canyon Towhee - 3 - Dawnview, Hays Co
Field Sparrow - 10 - Dawnview, Hays Co
Vesper Sparrow - 13 - 1 Dawnview, 6 Hays Co, 6+ CoFo
Lark Sparrow - 1 - roadside, Blanco Co, not seen by others
Savannah Sparrow - 9+ - 1 Hays Co, 8+ CoFo
Song Sparrow - 3 - CoFo
Lincoln's Sparrow - I think we had one at Dawnview. First time I've missed this
bird at PFSP in season.
White-throated Sparrow - 8+ - CoFo
White-crowned Sparrow - 6 - Dawnview, Hays Co
Northern Cardinal - 12 - Dawnview, PFSP & CoFo
Red-winged Blackbird - 6 - CoFo
Eastern Meadowlark - 30 - Meadowlark sp in pastures along roadsides
Great-tailed Grackle - 15 - CoFo
House Finch - 6 - PFSP
American Goldfinch - 1 - heard only - CoFo
House Sparrow - 8 - PFSP
It was a cold day to be a Sparrowhawk.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
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- » [texbirds] Travis Audubon Sparrowhawks field trip yesterday - Pedernales Falls State Park bummer and tough weather conditions everywhere - drbirdie
