My Best Birding Buddy

This is Amelia, my granddaughter, and my best birding buddy.  We went to Lake Arrowhead State Park for the monthly bird walk on Saturday, January 9. As you can see, it was a chilly morning, which meant she and I were the only participants that morning. I don't know what it is about Texans, but if the temperature is in the 30's or less, it is very unusual for anyone else to show. The same if it rains. This was unfortunate that Saturday as it was a bright, sunshiny morning with no wind. There was a heavy frost. 

Amelia loves going birdwatching with me, although she is interested in a lot more than birds. She was fascinated with the frost patterns on everything (she is holding some dead leaves she was showing me the lacy frost on) and had a lot of fun breaking off small sheets of ice along the edge of the lake.

We spent about an hour and a half at the park and found 31 species--a good morning. As we were leaving, I stopped at the park headquarters to renew my park pass. The ranger asked Amelia what bird she saw that morning was her favorite. I expected her to say the American Coot because she talked about them a lot while we were walking. But she said the Great Blue Heron. We only saw it for a few seconds before it flew off. But it is an impressive bird. Personally, my best bird of the morning was a Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

Here is a list of the birds seen that morning:

Canada goose, American coot, Green-winged teal, Gadwall, Pied-billed grebe, White pelican, Great blue heron, Greater yellowlegs, Killdeer, Wilson's snipe, Ring-billed gull, Red-tailed hawk, Northern harrier,  Great horned owl, Morning dove, Eurasian collared dove, Golden-fronted woodpecker, Ladder-backed woodpecker, Northern cardinal, Northern mockingbird, Carolina chickadee, Carolina wren, Fox sparrow, White-crowned sparrow, Harris's sparrow, American pipit, American goldfinch, European starling, Meadowlark, Dark-eyed junco, and Red-winged blackbird. We also saw several peeps, but I wasn't able to get a good enough look to identify whether they were western or semipalmated.

Overall, a very good morning. The next bird walk is Saturday, February 13, 2021. This happens to be one of the days for the Great Backyard Bird Count (see an upcoming post). We meet at 8:00 AM at the dump station. The route is a very easy walk of about 1 mile total. There are several COVID-19 safety requirements (which could change, depending upon the circumstances at the time). Group size must be less than 10 (that's not generally a problem). Masks and social distancing are required. Field guides and binoculars cannot be shared. Come on out! 

Good birding!