Successful Big Day

The Big Day for Wild Bird Rescue, held yesterday, was fun and exhausting.

The core road team consisted of me, Brady Surber and Rick Folkening. We met at 6 AM at Sue and Warren King's home for a wonderful breakfast. Waffles, fresh fruit, bacon, and muffins! Considering we brought things like granola bars and PBJ sandwiches to eat throughout the day, breakfast was a treat.

The Kings have a barred owl in the neighborhood, and we tried valiantly to get the bird to show before hitting the road to no avail. We did pick up a few songbirds in their backyard before light. Our first bird of the count was an American Robin. Before we left, dark-eyed juncos, northern cardinals and a white-throated sparrow showed. We also heard a northern flicker.The Kings continued to watch their feeders all day to see if they had any visitors to add to the count, and we did add Inca Doves that spent an hour at their feeders that morning.

We proceeded to Sikes Lake, where we primarily picked up a few common birds, such as three species of doves, Canada and Cackling geese (pictured above).

Next, we birded Lake Wichita, checking in at the spillway, Lake Wichita Park and behind Wild Bird Rescue. We also walked the Chat Trail while we were in the park. Jonathan Alfonso and Becca Herd, new birders, joined up with us at Lake Wichita Park.

We picked up some ducks, several shorebirds, a few songbirds and a northern harrier. The highlight was a Black Scoter, a duck that has not been documented in Wichita County before. Rick took some photos--due to the distance, the pictures on the camera looked a little fuzzy, but I am hoping when seen on the big screen of the computer, there will be no doubt about the bird's ID.

Leaving Lake Wichita, we headed to Camp Stonewall Jackson where we had some good luck with our smaller birds to include everyone's favorite Eastern Bluebird and a Golden-fronted woodpecker. From there, we headed to Lake Kickapoo in Archer County. We didn't have much luck with waterfowl, but did add field sparrow, least sandpiper and gadwall.

By the time we left Lake Kickapoo, it was obvious we were already running low on time. We headed to Lake Longley for some more ducks and then to Iowa Park, hoping to find some rare gulls that had been reported just the day before at Lake Iowa Park. We checked Lake Buffalo, Lake Iowa Park and Lake Gordon, hoping we would find the reported Thayer's Gull and Lesser black-backed gull, but it wasn't to be. We did find a black-crowned night heron at Lake Iowa Park, which is an uncommon bird in this area. Jonathan and Becca left the group at Lake Buffalo (missing the heron,) leaving me, Brady and Rick to finish out the day.

By this time, it was getting dark, and we sped back to Wichita Falls. We made a quick pass through Rosemont Cemetery, hoping for nuthatches, but struck out. We got to Lucy Park just at dusk. We headed for the back part of the park, where in the past I've had the best luck with woodpeckers and small deciduous woods species. Unfortunately, the flood-control project has completely cleaned out the underbrush and most of the trees that used to provide excellent birding habitat. We came up with nothing in the short time we had available. I hope the engineers are correct that this will help prevent flooding (should we ever get rain again) because the negative impact upon the birds in the park has been substantial. I am consoling myself that the new nature park on Seymour Highway is not intended to be developed beyond a portion of the circle trail.

We decided to swing by the small pond behind Wal-Mart on Lawrence Rd as Rick mentioned he had seen Wilson's snipe there regularly. Sure enough we discovered two, even though it was after dark.

We made one more unsuccessful try for the barred owl at the King's house before calling it a day, with 96 species. Not quite the 100 we were shooting for, but a great day of birding nonetheless. The weather was near perfect.

Here is a list of the birds we saw for the day: American coot, northern shoveler, mallard, ruddy duck, bufflehead, green-winged teal, black scoter, gadwall, redhead, canvasback, lesser scaup, American wigeon, northern pintail, ring-necked duck, hooded merganser, pied-billed grebe, eared grebe, American white pelican, Canada goose, cackling goose, snow goose, greater white-fronted goose, double-crested cormorant, sandhill crane, great blue heron, black-crowned night heron, spotted sandpiper, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, killdeer, western sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, Baird's sandpiper, least sandpiper, American avocet, long-billed dowitcher, Wilson's snipe, ring-billed gull, Herring gull, Bonaparte's gull, Forster's tern, rock pigeon, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, white-winged dove, Inca dove, northern harrier, Cooper's hawk, red-tailed hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, American kestrel, northern flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, golden-fronted woodpecker, Carolina wren, marsh wren, sedge wren, Bewick's wren, Carolina chickadee, blue jay, American robin, eastern bluebird, brown thrasher, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, dark-eyed junco, Loggerhead shrike, American crow, great-tailed grackle, common grackle, Brewer's blackbird, red-winged blackbird, European starling, brown-headed cowbird, eastern meadowlark, western meadowlark, American pipit, Sprague's pipit, yellow-rumped warbler, eastern phoebe, house finch, American goldfinch, pine siskin, spotted towhee, Lincoln's sparrow, white-throated sparrow, Harris' sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, fox sparrow, song sparrow, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, swamp sparrow, savannah sparrow, and house sparrow.

You can still support the rehabilitation and education efforts of Wild Bird Rescue by donating at their website or sending a donation to 4611 Lake Shore Drive, Wichita Falls, TX 76310.

Good birding!

Great Start to 2012!

Me and Brady Surber caught in the act by Katherine Smith at Lake Kickapoo during the Wild Bird Rescue Big Day.

January 1 was the Big Day fundraiser for Wild Bird Rescue. Twelve hours of birding in Wichita and Archer counties.  We ended the day with (officially) 91 species, an excellent day for this time of year, although there were plenty of fairly common birds we didn't get. Later, I went back through the notes and added a couple of birds from a separate birder (Scotty Lofland) that we didn't get incorporated earlier in the day, and instead of 91, we actually ended up with 98 species. But for all of those people who pledged per species, the 91 is the "official" count at the end of the day.

The main team consisted of me, Brady Surber (Vernon), Steve Welborn Quanah) and Katherine Smith. Steve left mid-afternoon to prepare for the Quanah Christmas Bird Count, being held today and Katherine left late afternoon. Scotty Lofland worked an area around Archer Lake, which saved us from having to stop there. The team started at Wild Bird Rescue, went to the chat trail and the barrow pit at Lake Wichita Park, followed by the Lake Wichita spillway. Then we went to Crestview cemetery, went down 79 to 1954 to 368 to Camp Stonewall Jackson. Then on to Lake Kickapoo, which was atypically barren. However, this is where we picked up some excellent sparrows and a verdin. When we left Lake Kickapoo, we took a lot of backroads in Archer and Wichita counties.

We had a good day with bluebirds. We had lots of eastern bluebirds and several mountain bluebirds. We tried for a bluebird trifecta, but couldn't get good enough views to be absolutely certain of the western bluebird (although the likelihood was high there was one or more in the flocks we saw.) We then went to the Dundee fish hatchery after searching for the tundra swans that were reported in the area a couple of weeks ago. We continued on some more county roads on the way to Lake Buffalo, which was also unusually quiet. We whipped through Lake Gordon in Iowa Park and then on to Lucy Park. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Lucy Park, it was getting dark. So we tried for owls. Coming up empty handed, we decided to try the chat trail again as there are great horned owls there we have seen many times. But again, no owls called or showed before we had to get back to Wild Bird Rescue to finish the day. However, Scotty was able to pick up a great horned owl in his area. All told, the main team drove about 140 miles.

Some of the really good birds we got: common goldeneye, Ferruginous hawk, snow goose, Say's phoebe, mountain bluebird, and verdin.

What didn't we get that we would have thought would be a slam dunk? House finch, downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee would be expected. Other reasonable possibilities would be Inca dove, Cooper's hawk, blue-winged teal, white-throated sparrow, brown creeper, red-crested nuthatch, brown thrasher and Carolina wren. No luck with those either.

In addition to the birds, we had a great look at a large beaver, a beautiful white-tailed buck and heard some coyotes.

Here's our list for the day (hopefully, I won't leave any out): Canada goose, cackling goose, snow goose, white-fronted goose, mallard, northern shoveler, green-winged teal, common goldeneye, American wigeon, ruddy duck, ring-necked duck, gadwall, pintail, bufflehead, lesser scaup, wood duck, canvasback, redhead, hooded merganser, American coot, pied-billed grebe, eared grebe, double-crested cormorant, neotropic cormorant, white pelican, great blue heron, sandhill crane, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, killdeer, Wilson's snipe, least sandpiper, spotted sandpiper, ring-billed gull, Herring gull, Bonaparte's gull, belted kingfisher, wild turkey, great horned owl, sharp-shinned hawk, northern harrier, American kestrel, Ferruginous hawk, red-tailed hawk, rock pigeon, Eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, white-winged dove, Northern flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, golden-fronted woodpecker,  ladder-backed woodpecker, marsh wren, Bewick's wren, winter wren, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, blue jay, eastern phoebe, Say's phoebe, robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, eastern bluebird, mountain bluebird, cedar waxwing, Chihuahuan raven, American Crow, red-winged blackbird, European starling, Brewer's blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, great-tailed grackle, common grackle, eastern meadowlark, yellow-rumped warbler, orange-crowed warbler, yellow warbler, common yellowthroat, loggerhead shrike, roadrunner, American pipit, Harris's sparrow, lark bunting, white-crowned sparrow, song sparrow, savannah sparrow, swamp sparrow, chipping sparrow, fox sparrow, rufous-crowned sparrow, Lincoln's sparrow, field sparrow, vesper sparrow, verdin, junco, spotted towhee, American goldfinch, house sparrow.

Overall, a great day of birding that helped raise some much-needed funds for Wild Bird Rescue. I don't know exactly how much money was raised, but every dollar helps return our wild birds to the wild for our enjoyment and provide educational programs about birds to the community. Since this was a first event, we learned some things for next time. Many thanks to all of the birders who took part and to the people who donated. We'll do this again.

Good birding!

Great Day Birding (Again!)

A chilly morning at Lake Kickapoo with some super birds.


We continued the pursuit of good birds with the Houston Audubon Society group. We intended to start the morning at Lake Kickapoo, but on the way out, one of the group saw a hooded merganser on a roadside pond, and we all piled out to enjoy several birds--to include greater yellowlegs, pintails, etc. After a nice half hour there, we continued to Lake Kickapoo.

When we got out of our vehicles a flock of Franklin's gulls flew overhead, and we saw some Bonapart's gulls on the water. We saw eared grebes, horned grebes and pied billed grebes. We circled around the lake and stopped for some songbirds. We had the opportunity to watch a swamp sparrow for several minutes--these birds are normally pretty secretive, so this was a special treat. In the same area a little later, we saw a red-shouldered hawk.

Two other wonderful opportunities were a great horned owl and a golden-crowned kinglet up close.

I was able to get a lifer today; we came across some longspurs. These were target birds for our visitors, so we have been trying to find some. There was a mixed flock of McCowan's and chestnut-collared longspurs. Both would have been life birds for me, but I wasn't able to get a good look at the chestnut-collared, so I will have to be content with one new bird today.

While we were trying to get good views of the longspurs, a photographer from the Vernon Daily Record came by. Look for a photo of some of the group on the front page of the paper. I just pulled it up on line--since I stayed away from the photographer, I'm telling you about the short little article.

Tomorrow is this group's last day. Due to a lack of time, we'll have to skip Lucy Park. We're going to bird Lake Wichita and then head out to Lake Arrowhead to find the tundra swans before lunch so the members can get back to Houston at a decent hour.

Good birding!