Bluebird Buddy Box Check

Saturday morning was absolutely gorgeous. As I mentioned in a previous post, the Friends of Lake Arrowhead State Park have a Bluebird Buddy program. Individuals or groups can sponsor a bluebird box for $50 a year.

Greg, Larry and Terry check out one of
the bluebird boxes at LASP.

Me with my bluebird box--empty so far.

Saturday Greg Mucciolo, Terry McKee, Larry Snyder and I visited 15 boxes to affix sponsor names, get GPS coordinates for each box and check the status of nesting. We found one box with newly hatched bluebird chicks, 3 with wren nests and several with wasps.  You too can find your bluebird box with the GPS coordinates. Terry is emailing each sponsor updates on the nesting activity in their box.

Greg has maintained the boxes at the park and other locations for several years. He will be returning to soap the inside of the boxes with Ivory soap to discourage the wasps--birds can't use them when they are full of these stinging critters. The Ivory soap is nontoxic but makes the surface so that the wasps cannot affix their nest to the wood, so they leave to find other accommodations.

Lots of gorgeous wildflowers at LASP

While we were checking the boxes, we saw some glorious wildflowers and did manage to see a few birds including: killdeer, Harris's sparrow, northern mockingbird, western meadowlark, song sparrow, ladderbacked woodpecker, northern cardinal, Carolina chickadee, mallard, American robin, eastern bluebird, turkey vulture, eastern phoebe, house finch, white-crowned sparrow, red-tailed hawk, savannah sparrow, white pelican, Canada goose, red-winged blackbird, European starling, and red-bellied woodpecker. On 1954 outside LASP we saw some gadwall in a tank.

This is a great spring for getting outside, so take advantage before the summer heat sets in.

Good birding!

On the Road Again

Yesterday, I went to Stephenville to make a presentation. I went HWY 281 to enjoy the wildflowers, which I did (see photo for an example).

I didn't get much of a birding opportunity at 70 mph, but I did see some black vultures in Jack and Palo Pinto counties and some wild turkeys in Jack County. I also saw my first great egret of the year in Archer County.

I stopped by Wild Bird Rescue and saw my first black-chinned hummingbird (a female) of the spring.

Tomorrow I am heading out to San Marcos for the weekend (no, not a birding trip.) I hope to see a few birds while tooling down the highway.

Good birding!

Wildflowers

Tuesday I made another round trip to Cresson, TX. Usually, I am watching for birds the entire way. Although I did see some birds, I have to admit to being distracted by the profusion of wildflowers. This time of year is my favorite (well, right there with the fall.) The sides of the roads and the fields were covered with wildflowers.

Two weeks ago, most of the stock tanks were nearly empty; this time almost all were full to overflowing. Also, the fields burnt by wildfires last month are once again green (although there are a lot of burned trees still very obvious.) It is amazing what a couple of days of rain can do. I am going to enjoy it before the heat burns everything to a crisp in another month or so.

Good birding!