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!

Recent Sightings of Interest

I know I still haven't caught up with my travels and the birds seen, and at this point, probably won't because other birds are happening in our own area.

First, on August 14 there was a post on TEXBIRDS by Rick Folening in Holliday that he had spotted (and photographed) a black-bellied whistling duck at Sikes Lake. He took some really good pictures. Since he gave the link to the photos on TEXBIRDS, I am sharing the link here, so others can also see the bird. I had to go out of town, but on the 17th I went to Sikes Lake, and there it was. I have seen black-bellied whistling ducks in Wichita County before, but only once.  The checklist of the North Texas Bird and Wildlife Club shows a few isolated sightings over the summer, but indicates this is an accidental species for the area. I did not get any good pictures of the bird, just a picture of my foot the day after--I stepped in a bed of fire ants while I was looking through my binoculars at the duck. Typical. But at least I didn't almost step on a rattle snake while absorbed in a bird (it has happened.)

Fire ant bites--watch where you put your feet!

Second sighting of note was yesterday. I was working at Wild Bird Rescue and went out to see if any of our newly released Mississippi Kites were hanging about for backup feeding when I saw some large birds over Lake Wichita. They looked like white pelicans, but I was thinking it was too early. Never rely on your memory about when a bird should be in an area. I went again to check the bird club checklist and noted irregular sightings of white pelicans as early as August 3, before they become a fairly common sight in October. Anyway, there was a small flock of 8 birds on the lake. Right now, they should find it easy fishing with the lake being as low as it is. Both of the below pictures were taken with my cell phone on the peninsula that surrounds the cove behind Wild Bird Rescue. That mud flat is not usually there--it is normally covered with water.











The herons and egrets can stand in the water across the entire lake at that end. It is still a little too deep closer to the dam. It was nice to go out to the lake and see some mist from the recent rains. In spite of a couple of inches the last few days, runoff has been minimal--the ground is just too dry. We do have a chance for more rain this week, so perhaps we'll start seeing a little rise in the lake levels.

I did go out to Lake Buffalo on Saturday with some of my Texas Master Naturalist friends to do a mussel watch at Lake Gordon and Buffalo Creek Reservoir (Lake Buffalo.) They too, are way down. Lake Buffalo, especially. However, we did have an excellent morning for mussels. I also saw hundreds of egrets (great and snowy) at Lake Buffalo along with a group of 5 American avocets, a black-necked stilt and a spotted sandpiper.

Overall, some good birding for this time of year. Shorebird migration is in full swing, so get out and see what you can find.

Good birding!

Big Sit 2011

Well, it was me, myself and I for the Big Sit on Sunday. Texans don't have a high tolerance for rain or cool weather (cool being pretty much anything below 75 degrees.) Thankfully, I was raised in a more well-rounded climate and don't melt in the rain, so I was there in my rain gear, binoculars at the ready.

Sunday was a glorious day. In the 60's, a light breeze off of Lake Wichita and a steady, light rain. It was very muddy and slippery accessing the Big Sit site, but once out on the overlook, it wasn't bad at all, although I did get wet.

When I bird, I tend to walk, so the Big Sit is a study in patience for me. When there is a group, it isn't too bad, as you can pass the time talking to the other birders between birds. Although I generally prefer birding alone because I can hear the birds better without people talking to me, the Big Sit is not one of those times. So I only made it an hour being confined to the 17-ft circle. But during that hour, I did see some pretty good birds, starting with an American white pelican flying across the lake just after daybreak. My last birds of the morning were a small flock of American avocets flying low over the water.

The species seen were:

American white pelican

Great egret

Scissor-tailed flycatcher

Mallard

Great blue heron

Red-winged blackbird

Blue jay

Blue-winged teal

Chimney swift

Crow

Great-tailed grackle

Eurasian collared dove

Rock pigeon

Barn swallow

Mourning dove

American avocet

Overall, not a bad return on the 1-hour investment. In addition to the birds, I saw a beaver and a raccoon.

Good birding!

Winter Waterfowl Coming In

With cooler weather and a little rain, plants are starting to bloom and the insects are coming out. I haven't been bitten by a mosquito but once the entire summer until this past week, and they have been making up for lost time. Fortunately, the cooler mornings do keep the mosquitoes down to tolerable level. The monarch butterflies are migrating through and seem to enjoy the sunflowers.

This morning I saw my first white pelicans on Lake Wichita--two rafts of approximately 50 birds altogether. I also saw some American coots and American wigeon on the barrow pit, in addition to some northern pintails that have been there most of the time for the past couple of weeks. A pied-billed grebe was also grooming itself along the reeds. I am glad to see a little more water in the barrow pit; hopefully that will mean more ducks.

I ran across a small flock of clay-colored sparrows in the weedy area on the south side, between the barrow pit and Lake Wichita. A belted kingfisher flew over my head on the chat trail. Overall a good morning.

Good birding!

Snipe Hunting at Lake Wichita

When I was growing up in Indiana, "snipe hunting" was a euphemism among teenagers for parking on a dark country road. Although I was a hobby birdwatcher even then, I didn't know there really was a snipe (and yes, their distribution includes Indiana, although I doubt one would see them at night.)

So, when I moved to Texas I was a little skeptical of reports of snipes. But sure enough, there is such a thing as a snipe. In Texas, the Wilson's snipe. They are here in the winter and are one of the birds I especially enjoy seeing. Although fairly common, you don't see them everyday. I often see them on the east end of the tank at Lake Wichita park (pictured above). I saw my first of the season today. I cut around the end of the tank where I normally will find them if they are present, and stopped to watch a pair of White Pelicans take off and fly over my head. If I had not stopped for that minute, I would have missed my first of season (FOS) snipe coming out of the reeds as I it would have passed behind me. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. A lot of ducks on the tank this morning.

Another special treat today was a small flock of 3 wild turkeys at the entrance to the chat trail.

In addition to the birds noted already, sightings this morning included: European starling, great-tailed grackle, Eurasian collared dove, blue jay, sharp-shinned hawk, northern cardinal, killdeer, great blue heron, green-winged teal, coot, white pelican, American wigeon, pied-billed grebe, red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, and song sparrow.

Good birding!

Big Sit October 11

The Wichita Falls Big Sit, was as usual, chilly. Before sunrise, there was no wind and it wasn't bad at 45 degrees. However, once the sun came up, the wind picked up, which made it feel colder. Although it was overcast, we didn't get any rain. I took the picture to the left with my point-and-shoot camera over Lake Wichita when a line of pelicans was flying past.

I had to leave early so I don't have a final tally (I'll post it when I get it from the official recordkeeper, Terry McKee.) When I left about 8:45. we had seen: Northern mockingbird, scissor-tailed flycatcher, mourning dove, Winter wren (we spent a lot of time searching for this little guy in the reeds in front of our circle), great-tailed grackle, mallard duck, great egret, white pelican, barn swallow, ring-billed gull, Canada goose, great blue heron, white-winged dove, red-winged blackbird, double-crested cormorant, belted kingfisher, yellow-throated warbler, northern cardinal, ketrel, Eastern phoebe, blue jay, and killdeer. I am sure the group saw more birds before disbanding for the day.

A special treat was the pelicans. They winter in this area. Just as the sky was lightening, a long line of pelicans flew across the lake. Although awkward looking when you see them standing on the rocks and piers, they are very elegant in flight. Later a large flock of well over 100 pelicans rose up from the water. It is always surprising to me that a large flock of these distinctive birds can be floating on the lake and you hardly notice them agains the water unless they are herding fish or take wing.

Good birding!

White Pelicans Return

Bob Lindsay at Wild Bird Rescue posted in his blog he had seen the White Pelicans return for the winter on Lake Wichita. I finally saw a small flock yesterday while at Wild Bird Rescue and some this morning while birding Lake Wichita Park.

It was a pretty morning in the park. The winter ducks are coming back. I saw American widgeon, coots and ring-necked ducks with the mallard and the pied-billed grebes on the tank. In addition to the ducks, other birds included northern mockingbird, northern cardinal, eastern phoebe, chimney swift, barn swallow, great egret, snowy egret, Canada goose, great-tailed grackle, red-winged blackbird, robin, double-crested cormorant. killdeer, scissor-tailed flycatcher, belted kingfisher, blue jay, brown-headed cowbird, mourning dove, and Eurasian collared dove.

As frequently happens, there was a bird I wasn't able to identify. In this case, two of them, flying over the tank. A larger sandpiper type bird, with a decurved bill, a white rump, feet that extended beyond the end of the tail in flight and what appeared to be blue legs/feet. They were flying and unfortunately the sun was at an awkward angle. What I was able to see doesn't fit anything exactly. It is possible the leg color was off due to the sun, but they sure looked blue to me. I did not notice any distinguishing wing markings, which are common among the shorebirds. If anyone has ideas, let me know.

Good birding!

Synchronized Swimming

Did you ever have a morning when you just knew it was going to be a great day? I went out this morning to warm weather, sunshine and damp.

When I went up to Wild Bird Rescue to check the carriers for new arrivals and to feed the few birds we currently have at the center, I noticed several water spouts shooting up from the small cove at the end of our parking lot. That can mean only one thing--pelicans fishing!

I walked quietly down to the middle of the lot, where I could see the birds down in the water, but they were unlikely to notice me (I didn't want them to take off!). Sure enough, there were over 100 pelicans in a big cluster, beating the water with their wings (thus the water spraying up into the air) and dipping for fish. The picture above was taken by Bob Lindsay at Wild Bird Rescue on another morning. You can't see the water flying, but you can see the large mass of birds in the small cove on Lake Wichita.

It is fascinating to watch the birds fish in this manner. They herd the fish with the wing flapping, then dip their bills into the water to scoop up the fish. Then the group turns and pushes the fish to another part of of the cove by flapping their wings into the water. They then eat that group, turn and start again in another direction.

Good birding!