Rainy Morning at Lake Arrowhead State Park

Snowy Plover

Well, this morning wasn't the nicest for a bird outing but a couple of us braved the rain to see what we could find for the monthly bird outing at Lake Arrowhead SP. The best bird of the morning was a snowy plover, which is considered a rarity for our area at this time of year. I did get an admittedly poor picture (left). I am sure Debra got a better one.

Like I said, it was raining, windy, and in the low 40's when we started out, so we didn't expect much. However, we had a good walk and saw a fair number of birds. 

In addition to the snowy plover, we saw and/or heard American coot, double-crested cormorant, neotropic cormorant, gadwall, norther shoveler, white pelican, killdeer, ladder-backed woodpecker, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, spotted towhee, Harris' sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, ruby-crowned kinglet, dark-eyed junco, American pipit, western meadowlark (and some others that could have been either eastern or western), red-winged blackbird, and great-tailed grackle.

We need the rain, so no complaints, especially since we saw some good birds. This is a good time of year to bird, so get outside, wherever you are.

Good birding!

Hummingbirds Arriving Soon

Male ruby-throated hummingbird

 I haven't had a lot of luck with hummingbirds the last few years, but I get a few, so I make sure there is always a feeder with fresh nectar available.

There have been reports of hummingbirds in Austin, so they should be arriving here before too much longer. That means it is time to get out your feeders and get them cleaned up.

The picture to the left shows a common bottle-type feeder, which is fairly inexpensive.  As I rule I don't recommend them as they are difficult to clean. I had one of these and even with a bottle brush, I couldn't reach all the corners of the nectar bottle. 

A couple of things about feeders. The birds don't care if they are red. Yes, this red and yellow feeder stands out, but somehow, the hummingbirds can tell if the feeder contains the correct percentage of sugar and the nectar is fresh. To prevent ants, get a feeder with an ant moat and keep it full. To prevent bees and wasps, don't fill the feeder all the way or get one with extruders. Looking at the picture above, you can see it has deep flowers. That is intended to discourage bees and wasps, since hummingbirds have longer tongues. I personally prefer an flat feeder that is kept half full. 

Flowers are better than a feeder any day, but it never hurts to have some backup, since we tend to get some pretty hot, dry weather in the summer.

Another recommendation is not to buy nectar at the store. Plain old water and sugar is fine (and less expensive). (DO NOT use honey--this can be deadly to hummingbirds). Tap water is okay, although I do use filtered tap water. You don't have to boil the water. Hot water does make it easier to dissolve the sugar though. Use 4 parts water and one part table sugar (1 c water and 1/4 c sugar). Once the sugar is dissolved, you are ready to go. If you boil the water, let the nectar cool first before putting out the feeder. I can't imagine a hummingbird trying to drink hot sugar water, but you could be scalded if you bobble the feeder when hanging it up.

Keep your feeders clean. Bacteria grows quickly in the warm weather. I clean mine out every other day at a minimum. If you see the water getting cloudy, you definitely need to change it.

I tend to see my hummingbirds more in the early morning and at dusk. I know if the morning they are desperate to tank up. They expend a lot of energy and after several hours of no food, they are in a hurry to find food. I imagine that's why I see them just before their bedtime as well.

I hope you enjoy some hummingbirds this season.

Good birding!

Great Backyard Bird Count Wrap-Up

Small flock of cedar waxwings

 Although I did a post for Day One of GBBC, we're going to summarize the other days, as I have been blowing and going lately.

Day Two I visited Lake Arrowhead State Park. Even though I go to Lake Arrowhead frequently, this is a location that usually has some good birds and people know where it is if they want to go. We didn't get a lot of birds, but there were a couple of good ones (in the sense that we don't see them a lot). We started off with neotropic cormorants. When we see a cormorant here, 99% of the time, it is a double-crested cormorant. But we got lucky with a small group of neotropical. Another good bird was a flock of 32 Bonaparte's gulls flying through. Gulls in the winter here are probably 95% of the time, ring-billed gulls. In addition to these two less common species, we saw ring-billed gull, Canada goose, American coot, gadwall, northern shoveler, ladder-backed woodpecker, great blue heron, killdeer, northern harrier,  meadowlark sp., American pipit, song sparrow, fox sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, Harris's sparrow, northern cardinal. northern mockingbird, eastern phoebe, Bewick's wren, and great-tailed grackle.

On Day 3, it was off to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area. The best part of the count was the cedar waxwings. These elegant birds are winter visitors. They tend to stay in flocks and have a distinctive, high-pitched call. Debra and I watched a few groups flying from tree to tree--easily over 100 individuals altogether. In addition to the cedar waxwings, I saw a single double-crested cormorant flying over, a turkey vulture, and a couple of black vultures. Other birds seen included rock pigeon, yellow-shafted northern flicker, blue jay, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, ruby-crowned kinglet, dark-eyed junco, yellow-rumped warbler,  American robin, song sparrow, Harris's sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, and spotted towhee.

The last day was at Lucy Park. I wasn't there long because of other commitments that day, and I stayed in the picnic area at the Sunset Drive entrance. This has been a pretty good spot for me to find little dickey birds. I did cross the street to take a quick look in the river, but didn't go down the trail more than a dozen yards. The birds I saw included mallard, Canada goose, Eurasian collared dove, white-winged dove, dark-eyed junco, cedar waxwing, blue jay, Carolina chickadee, black-crested titmouse, golden-crowned kinglet, Carolina wren, American robin, great-tailed grackle, white-throated sparrow, American goldfinch, and house finch.

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Good birding!