Nice Morning at Lake Arrowhead State Park

I am just now getting around to writing a summary of our morning at Lake Arrowhead State Park. Saturday, April 12, was the monthly bird walk at the park. A beautiful morning, although a little cool and nippy. One of my regular walk attendees, June, came as well as Karen, one of the new class of the Rolling Plains chapter Texas Master Naturalist. Robert Mauk with Inland Fisheries stopped by for a few minutes, although he was in the park primarily to take some nature photos.

On my way to the park, I noticed my first flock cattle egret of the year in Archer county and then came across a small flock of black vultures around a carcass on FM 1954 in Clay county.  That was a good start for what turned out to be a decent birding morning. Several summer birds have arrived--both snowy and great egrets were around the lake and everyone's favorite, scissor-tailed flycatchers, were everywhere. The highlight was probably the large group (probably easily 300 birds) of white pelicans massing over the park. A front was moving into the area, so perhaps the birds were preparing to head north. No sign of any gulls, so they have apparently all left--I haven't seen any around Lake Wichita for several days now. Some winter birds are still around--most noticeably the white-crowned sparrow.

We spent two hours birding. The birds cited included: Canada goose, white pelican, double crested cormorant,  killdeer, great egret, snowy egret, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, turkey vulture, red-tailed hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, Carolina chickadee, northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, eastern phoebe, eastern bluebird, red-bellied woodpecker, ladder-backed woodpecker, cliff swallow, scissor-tailed flycatcher, Bewick's wren, red-winged blackbird, eastern meadowlark, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, lark sparrow, savannah sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, and house finch.

Overall a pleasurable couple of hours.

Good birding!

Lake Arrowhead This Morning

No one turned up at Lake Arrowhead State Park this morning for the bird walk. The park was fairly empty. The cooler weather combined with a rainy forecast seems to have kept people away. Since I have been fighting the crud for two weeks, in a way it was nice, since it meant I could get home and get back into my PJs and under my fuzzy blanket.

Once it was apparent no one was going to show, I made a short drive through the park and on W. Arrowhead Rd. to Bridwell tank.

Inside the park, I saw a Carolina wren, who was scolding me while I filled out my pass at the gate. Later I saw the following birds: great blue heron, double-crested cormorant, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, ring-billed gull, red-tailed hawk, northern flicker, ladder-backed woodpecker, red-winged blackbird, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird, white-crowned sparrow, house finch and European starling. The prairie dogs were mostly underground, although the sentries barked a warning when I was in the area.

Upon leaving, I took a short jaunt around W. Arrowhead Rd. to Bridwell tank. Only the back side of the tank has any water and the Lake Arrowhead side of the road is completely dry, as it has been for several months. However, I did see three white-tailed deer along the way as well as some eastern bluebirds, eastern meadowlarks and American kestrels. Coming home on FM 1954 in Archer Co, I added northern harrier, mallard ducks and a loggerhead shrike.

So not a bad morning for a quick trip. I'll spend the rest of the day watching birds at my feeder for Project Feederwatch. At least I am getting some American goldfinch now in an otherwise lackluster year.

Good birding!

Bird Walk at Lake Arrowhead State Park

The first bird walk at Lake Arrowhead State Park was this morning. The rain was kind enough to hold off until around lunch, so it was a decent morning although overcast. We didn't see a lot of birds, but it was still a nice time.

The only other person who came was Mike, one of the readers of this blog. We had a nice walk of a little over an hour. The Bewick's wrens were singing all over. We are on the border between the eastern and western meadowlark territories. I tend to see/hear more eastern meadowlarks. Today the meadowlarks were singing and they were westerns.

We saw: northern cardinal, eastern phoebe, Canada goose, American coot, white pelican, great blue heron, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, western meadowlark, Bewick's wren, red-winged blackbird, northern flicker, white-crowned sparrow, field sparrow, great-tailed grackle, common grackle, killdeer, double-crested cormorant and red-bellied woodpecker. We also saw a duck species, some gulls and some small peeps--all were too far away and in too poor light to make a positive ID.

After Mike and I split up--he to visit the prairie dogs and I to do a little more birding--I went over to the area around the equestrian camping area. I had some good luck there, adding robin, kestrel, dark-eyed junco, house finch, Carolina chickadee, eastern bluebird, and ladder-backed woodpecker. 

I didn't get any decent pictures of the birds, although perhaps Mike did. I did get more next pictures to add to my collection as well as this nice picture of one of the prairie dogs (right) and a pretty wildflower (left)--I have not idea what kind it is, but it was interesting, so I took a photo.

We'll be continuing the bird walks on the second Saturday of each month. We start the summer schedule in April, so the walk will start at 7 AM.

Good birding!

Super Sunday Morning on the Chat Trail

I went out the Lake Wichita Park and walked the chat trail (picture left), around the tank and back. What a beautiful morning! The weather was just about perfect when I got out of the truck. I almost decided I didn't need to take my long-sleeved shirt with me. I'm glad I did as soon after I started down the chat trail, a front moved through, bringing clouds, a breeze and the threat of rain. However, the front passed through in about 2o minutes and the bright sunshine came back.

There were several highlights to the morning. First, at the entrance to the chat trail was a ladder-backed woodpecker I had a chance to watch for some time. He flew from the willow to a live oak. When I followed him there, I was able to watch him break open a gall and clean out the inside.

I also had some first of season birds: gold finch, yellow-rumped warbler, and a white-crowned sparrow. I was also lucky enough to watch a song sparrow singing as well as several others along the walk. In addition to these birds, I saw large flocks of house finch, starlings, and red-winged blackbirds. Other birds included: ring-billed gull, Canada goose, mockingbird, great-tailed grackle, eastern phoebe, cardinal, spotted towhee, American coot, American widgeon, pied-billed grebe, ruddy duck, killdeer, pigeon, great blue heron, robin, and double-crested cormorant.

Good birding!