Rock Wren at Lake Wichita

Rock Wren, Photo by US National Park Service, Wikimedia Commons

Sunday was more typical of the weather in the winter, with a cold wind. Brady Surber and I went out for a final morning of birding with the Houston Audubon group. Lake Wichita let me down a little--usually there are many more birds. But windy conditions are never a good thing.

On Saturday we had spent a fair amount of time trying to entice a rock wren out at Miller Creek Reservoir with no success. Brady had records of the bird there, but Saturday was a different story. Sunday at Lake Wichita we were heading up to the spillway and Jennifer with the Houston group said it looked like good habitat for rock wrens. I told her I often saw sparrows in the rocks, but never a rock wren. As we were scoping birds at the top of the spillway, Jennifer said, "There's a rock wren." Sure enough, there it was, right out in the open. Everyone got good looks. That was the highlight of my morning.

We made a quick stop at Bridwell tank (Three Island Lake for non-area residents) to make sure the group members could see the tundra swans before they left.

Brady decided to spend the rest of the day working on his Wise County list. I have to admit I was more in the mood for hot tea and a book, so I headed home.

Overall, a very good birding weekend. My feeder birds were not happy with the neglect this weekend though--not a single bird at my feeders (that I saw) Sunday afternoon. I imagine there will be a crowd today though with the storm front/frigid weather moving in.

Good birding!