HItting the Chat Trail

Red Admiral

I haven't been on the Chat Trail in Lake Wichita Park for a while, so I decided to go on Sunday. The birding was average, but there were other attractions. There were a lot of butterflies--the red admirals were thick along the trail. The bullfrogs were all along the shore of the barrow pit. They make a funny noise when they jump in--a type of alarm call. Sounds a little like a squeaky toy.

Anyway, although I didn't come across any excellent birds, I did have a good outing. My favorite bird, the chimney swift, is back for the summer. There are still winter season bird in the area as well.

Birds that morning:

Mallard
American coot
Canada goose
Great blue heron
Killdeer
Red-bellied woodpecker
White-winged dove
Eurasian collared dove
Mourning dove
Chimney swift
Barn swallow
Northern cardinal
Northern mockingbird
Blue jay
Bewick's wren
Carolina wren
Eastern phoebe
Scissor-tailed flycatcher
American robin
Spotted towhee
White-crowned sparrow
Savannah sparrow
Song sparrow
Common yellowthroat
Yellow-rumped warbler
Orange-crowned warbler
Great-tailed grackle
Red-winged blackbird
Brown-headed cowbird

Since I wasn't really feeling the urge to clean house, I decided to head down Southwest Parkway to do a quick drive-by of a few other spots. There was a black vulture sitting on a light pole along Southwest Parkway. Nothing but mallards and Canada geese on Stone Lake. I made a quick pass through Crestview and picked up some gadwall and starlings (Whoopee!) There wasn't much on Sikes Lake either--some double-crested cormorants and pigeons were the only additions. There was a cute little clutch of 5 newly hatched Canada geese along the shore.

Alas! I really did need to get home and do some housework....bleh!...so headed back.

Good birding!

Swift Night Out

Chimney swift at nest

The chimney swift is among my favorite birds--they are so unique. The Driftwood Wildlife Association has an annual A Swift Night Out to gather information about the numbers of chimney swifts each year. This year the dates are 8, 9, 10 August and 6, 7, 8 September.

So what do you do? You try to find a chimney swift roost, whether a few individuals or hundreds (if you find one with a large number of individuals, please let me know at txbirds@gmail.com). Count the number of birds you see returning to the roost at dusk and send the count to the Driftwood Association by email with the information requested on their website. That's all there is to it.

Chimney swift tower when first built

Inside the tower--a nest!

Wild Bird Rescue, Inc.  has a chimney swift tower that my husband built a few years ago. In prior years, we've had nesting chimney swifts in the tower. Unfortunately, none nested there this year. However, the tower is still an excellent place to release the babies raised at WBR and could serve as a roosting spot (although there is no evidence of that this year.)

Be on the lookout for chimney swifts and report them so we can learn more about these interesting little birds.

Good birding!

A Swift Night Out

Anyone know of a chimney swift roost in the area? The annual Swift Night Out is approaching this weekend. This is an opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of these intriguing birds. The first Swift Night Out weekend is 10, 11, 12 August, followed by September 7, 8, 9 next month.

For a short history and instructions, see this link.

There is a chimney swift tower at Wild Bird Rescue, but unfortunately, it has never been used as a roost site. Maybe in future years.

If you know of an area roost, please post in the comments.

Good birding!