First some nesting observations from here on the ranch. The first fledglings I
have seen is a pair of young Eastern Bluebirds now hanging out with their
parents. The Great-horned Owls that have nested in the giant live oak in our
family cemetery for quite a few years have two nestlings that are several weeks
old. Last year the nest failed for some reason. Down on Pine Lake the Cypress
tree is hosting a small rookery. There are between 10 and 15 pairs of Great
Egrets on nests one pair of Great Blue Herons and two pairs of Anhingas.
Another note of interest is has been watching the bird activity on the 100 acre
pasture that we did a prescribed burn on in February. The day of the fire
confirmed one observation a number of had this winter. Namely, the rodent
population crashed this past year. Hawk numbers on our part of the prairie were
way down this winter. Speculation has centered on the very low rodent numbers
seen. During the burn I saw a total of three rats. Two escaping the fire and
one caught by a RT Hawk. There were numbers of other small critters caught up
in the fire as evidenced by the number of Crested Caracara that showed over the
next week. Two days after the burn I counted 31 in the pasture and the number
hovered in the low 20s for about a week. Killdeer, RW Blackbirds and
meadowlarks also were plentiful during the early days. Three days after the
burn we had a good rain. This brought significant numbers of Greater and Lesser
Yellowlegs in for a number of days in the wetland area of the bur!
n. Numbers were in the 20s and 30s for both species for several days. Since the
green up There was an influx of upland sandpipers for over two weeks. Normally
I'm lucky to see a handful on the ground during migration, but they have been
plentiful until the last couple of days.
Finally passerine migration has gotten off to a really slow start so far on the
ranch. I finally saw a single BT Green Warbler today for the first warbler of
the season. I have seen one group of 6 indigo buntings, one Baltimore Oriole,
one Eastern Kingbird, one Blue-headed Vireo and one Great-crested Flycatcher.
Best bird today was a Red-headed Woodpecker. Rare on the ranch and usually seen
in the fall if at all.
Harvey Laas
10 miles N of Brookshire
Waiting on some more migrants
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