Winter Birds

As long as it has been since I posted, you would think I gave up birding. Not true! I just haven't been good about sharing with others. I will say I haven't done as much as usual--between a never-ending respiratory infection and work, I haven't been out as much.

I thought I would give a summary to catch up though. I haven't seen a lot of birds, or unusual birds, but they have still been enjoyable. I continue to lead bird walks at Lake Arrowhead State Park on the second Saturday of each month. However, I have noticed that Texans are not fans of cold weather. In January, it was cold and windy and in February it was cold and there was some fog. Both months, I was the only person who showed. I birded anyway and saw some good birds--not a lot of birds, but some good ones.

Fog over Lake Arrowhead
View from the "swim beach" area

Yesterday, it was a little foggy and cold enough that I had a smattering of ice crystals on my glasses. That was not very helpful. The picture to the left is very poor, but you can see the fog laying over the lake, reducing visibility of the birds on the water or the opposite shore of the lake.

A group of about 20 white pelicans trying to stay warm

I didn't see a lot of species of birds, but I did see some of my favorites, so that was nice. I also managed to run a mesquite thorn through the bottom of my shoe and (somehow) slice my finger. I am just a walking accident. Here is a picture of one group of white pelicans that were gathered in a huddle to keep warm. It is amazing to me that my phone, at 4X magnification on the camera, still takes pictures that look further away than the birds were.  This is one of two groups that were in a sheltered inlet--around the group further away and not in this picture, was a raft of some 200 or more ring-billed gulls. It's possible there were a few other gulls mixed in, but very few took flight while I was observing them. I scared up two Wilson's snipe moving in to take this photo.

Yes, there is a deer in this picture!

I did see some white-tailed deer. It amazes me that these large animals can be standing in the open and unless they move, or you get lucky, we just don't see them. Take the picture below for example. You may not see anything, but if you look carefully right in the middle of the frame, a white-tailed deer is looking right at you. There was a group of four right there together.

There were an unusually large number of eastern bluebirds out and about this month. I saw nine. Here's a complete list of the birds I saw yesterday:

American coot
Gadwall
Northern shoveler
Northern pintail
Ruddy duck
Mallard
White pelican
Canada goose
Pied-billed grebe
Wison's snipe
Killdeer
Ring-billed gull
Great horned owl
Ladder-backed woodpecker
Northern mockingbird
Northen cardinal
Eastern bluebird
Ruby-crowned kinglet
Carolina chickadee
Dark-eyed junco
White-crowned sparrow
Harris' sparrow
Eastern meadowlark


I did take part in the Christmas Bird Count. There were three of us supposed to go in my group to bird the Lake Wichita segment of the CBC circle. I ended up the only one who went from my group and was sicker than a dog. One of the others was also sick and the third had never done the count before and didn't want what I had (and I don't blame her a bit.) Usually, I walk around 5 miles during the count, but not this time--I think I walked about 2 miles. It was cold and windy. Not a great day for birds. But the three teams turned in a respectable count. I think my favorite bird of the day was a white-throated sparrow.

Other than that, I have been taking part in Project Feederwatch. This is my 20th year taking part. I am finally starting to see a little payoff to the yard improvements I have been working on--there have been a few species this year I haven't had in this yard before--I have been watching an orange-crowned warbler on the suet block quite a bit. This is the first year I have had a ruby-crowned kinglet. I did have my first Bewick's wren in the yard, but he didn't check out the feeders, so I couldn't count him for this project. If I could get my neighbors to plant for the birds, it would be even better!

So,  you see, I have been birding--I just need to do a better job of sharing!

Good birding!