Day One Great Backyard Bird Count, Lake Wichita Spillway

 

Beautiful clear morning on
Lake Wichita

It was a cold start to the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). I started at the Lake Wichita Spillway, arriving just a few minutes before 8 AM. I admit, it was a little warmer than yesterday and not quite as windy, but the wind off the water this morning was still a bit cold with temps in the 20's.

I only stayed 35 minutes, but saw some good birds., mostly water birds. I haven't found any dead birds in my outings, so hoping the bird flu is staying away from our area.

I saw some ducks that I didn't immediately know so I took a short video. The distance was farther than I would have liked, but it turned out between the poor quality video and my memory of the markings I saw through my binoculars, I was able to identify them as lesser scaups. Their plumage was overall dark, with the base of the bill white, which is not what I am used to seeing. I learn something every day.

All told, I saw 15 species of birds in that 35 minutes, so it was worth getting out in the cold. The birds seen included: green-winged teal, northern shoveler, ruddy duck, mallard, lesser scaup, American coot, Canada goose, white pelican, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, ring-billed gull. northern cardinal, American robin, red-winged blackbird, and great-tailed grackle. I also saw a couple of shorebirds I could not identify. I was looking toward the sun, so they were just black blobs in the general shape of a shorebird. I can tell you several shorebirds I can definitely say they were not, but couldn't be certain of what they were. That happens.

There are still three more days for the #GBBC, so get out and bird. It looks like the afternoons over then next few days are going to be nice. If you want to go with someone, I posted days, locations, and times in my previous post.

Good birding!

Not-So-Fair-Weather Birding

Saturday, Jan 9, was the monthly bird walk at Lake Arrowhead State Park (2nd Saturday of each month.) The forecast was for a mixture of rain and snow with little or no accumulation and this time, the weather forecast was spot on. However, the further out of Wichita Falls I drove, the more rain and less snow. As you can see by the photo to the right, there wasn't much accumulation at 8AM when the walk started, and what little there was, was gone by the end of the walk at 9:30.

Although I had posted on Facebook that the walk was a go, I thought it unlikely anyone but me would show, and I was right. Texans are definitely fair weather birders. All I have to say is, "You snooze, you lose." It was a pretty good morning with some decent birds. On the drive out to the park, I saw a flock of wild turkeys in someone's front yard on FM 1954 (Archer Co.)

Overall, I saw the usual birds, although there were some special moments. Dozens of white pelicans were following one another over the lake--there was a large pod of white pelicans and cormorants fishing. Periodically, a group of  pelicans would take off for another part of the lake, flying low over the water.

Marsh wren, Wikimedia Commons, Allan Vernon

I had a close-up view of a Loggerhead shrike. There were several ruby-crowned kinglets--these little inquisitive birds would alight on branches right in front of my face, making sure I got a clear look. A marsh wren was also checking me out, so I had the chance to get a very good look. There were two birds I wasn't able to identify because I caught only fleeting glimpses--one was a warbler (not a yellow-rumped or orange-crowned) and the other was a larger bird flying through the trees.

Birds seen: double-crested cormorant, white pelican, Canada goose, gadwall, American coot, mallard, pied-billed grebe, great blue heron, killdeer, ring-billed gull, red-tailed hawk, red-bellied woodpecker, northern flicker, mourning dove, Bewick's wren, marsh wren, northern cardinal, dark-eyed junco, European starling, meadowlark, Loggerhead shrike, northern mockingbird, eastern phoebe, American goldfinch, ruby-crowned kinglet, American crow, song sparrow, and white-crowned sparrow.

On the way home, I made a quick drive past Stone Lake, just to check for ducks. In addition to more mallards and coots, there was a lone male shoveler and some lesser scaup.

Overall a good morning.

Good birding!

Flat Day at Lake Arrowhead State Park

Eastern Phoebe, Photo by Andy Reago and
Chrissy McClarren
Wikimedia Commons

Our monthly bird walk at Lake Arrowhead State Park on December 13 wasn't one of our better months in terms of the birds seen, but hey, a bad morning birding is better than a great morning doing most anything else.

Walk regular, June, came as well as Mike, who has participated the last few months. This month we also had a newcomer, Sharon. It is always extra nice to have people relatively new to birdwatching along as almost any bird is going to be a good bird. We did have a few decent birds, most notably very good views of an eastern phoebe. These often appear fairly drab little birds, but in the right light like we had on Saturday, they are really very pretty.

I was hoping for a lot of ducks so we could work on duck identification, but that didn't work out for us. The only ducks we saw were gadwall. But we did see a nice raft of white pelicans on the water, although further away than I would have liked.

Here's the list of our birds for the morning: Canada goose, gadwall, double crested cormorant, white pelican, ring-billed gull, killdeer, great blue heron, mourning dove, Eurasian collared dove, yellow-shafted northern flicker, red-bellied woodpecker, red-tailed hawk, northern harrier, mockingbird, eastern bluebird, cardinal, Bewick's wren, eastern phoebe, brown-headed cowbird, great-tailed grackle, red-winged blackbird, junco, eastern meadowlark goldfinch, house finch.

The walk next month will be January 10, 8:00 AM.

Good birding!