Monthly Bird Outing This Saturday

We have a bird outing the second Saturday of each month at Lake Arrowhead State Park. It is generally a small group and open to anyone who wants to see some birds.

We used to call this a "bird walk", but changed the name to "bird outing" last year to encourage anyone to come. Calling it a walk (although we do walk) discouraged those with mobility challenges. This is not a strenuous walk at all. Most of it is paved and the small portion that isn't, is level. If the ground is wet, there is still pavement not far away. We do occasionally have people in wheelchairs or using a cane participate, which is great. This is also not a strenuous walk. It is more of a saunter and can last anywhere from an hour to two hours, depending on the weather and the birds we see.

Members of the Rolling Plains chapter Texas Master Naturalist lead the walk, which means we look at more than birds--at this time of year, dragonflies, butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, and plants are among the sights the group take a look at, and photograph. If we are lucky, we may get a good look at a painted bunting (picture, left). We hear them frequently in the summer, but we don't always get a good look.

Kids are welcome, as are other newcomers to the hobby of birdwatching.

There is an entry fee to enter the park ($4 per person). Since the office doesn't open until after the walk starts, come a little early to have time stop at the self-pay station. We meet in the parking lot of the admin building (previously called the dining hall). Not sure where that is? It's adjacent to the fishing wharf. We meet in the part of the parking lot on the other side of the building. If you have never been to the park, take the third right after entering the park, go to the right at the stop sign into the parking lot, and look for a small group of people with binoculars. We start at 8 AM. See you there!

Good birding!

What's the Deal With Lists?

List, Parque Edwardo VII

Many people who enjoy birds keep lists. Most keep a life list. Others keep all kinds of lists (patch list, county list, etc.) Why list?

First, some birders do not keep lists. They feel that focusing on listing interferes with enjoying the birds because you are recording your sighting instead of truly looking at and absorbing the experience. And that can happen, although I don't think listing and observation are mutually exclusive.

For those who list, there are various reasons.

• Competition. Having large life lists can be a big deal and people can become competitive. And yes, there are birding competitions, both formal and informal. If you haven't seen it, watch The Big Year. It's a comedy, and most birding people do find it funny. My husband, who has little interest in birds, didn't find it funny at all. He just didn't get some of the jokes. People do engage in big years. I followed the blog of a person doing an ABA-area big year (The ABA area is the 49 continental United States, the Hawaiian Islands, Canada, the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, and adjacent waters to a distance of 200 miles from land or half the distance to a neighboring country, whichever is less.. Excluded by these boundaries are Bermuda, The Bahamas, and Greenland.) It wasn't a formal competition, but he was trying to see the most birds he could in a year in the area he selected and compare it to others who did the same thing in previous years. I also had an acquaintance who did a Texas big year. Big years are expensive projects. There are also Big Days (we used to do one of these as a fundraiser for Wild Bird Rescue), which is the number of birds you can find between midnight and 11:59 PM on a given day. I participate with the Wichita Wingmen in the Great Texas Birding Classic each year, which raises money for Texas Parks and Wildlife Conservation Grants. And yes, the focus is on the quantity, not the quality, of observations.
• Contributing to our knowledge of birds. We submit lists for the Christmas Bird Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count, for example. I also submit checklists to eBird when I go birding on my own (if you see a list of birds in a blog post, that list, which the specific numbers of each bird seen, is being submitted to eBird). Over time, lists submitted by many people in many locations, adds to our knowledge of bird populations and ranges.
• Memories. I like to look back at my lists to remember places I have been. For example, the illustration at the top of this post comes from eBird. When I visited my son in Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year, we visited Parque Edwardo VII. Although I didn't go with the express purpose of watching birds, I did see some and recorded them. Now, when I look at the list, I can revisit the area in my mind.

My husband finds the whole listing process humorous, although he does help me. I had him out with me looking for a Whooping Crane which had been reported in Wichita County a few years ago. Looking at my life list on eBird, I found it on January 1, 2011. Once I explained what a "lifer" was, he asks me when I go on trips if I found a lifer, because he knows it's a big deal. And when we travel together by car (because he does not fly), he'll help me keep track of counties, since I count by county in Texas (Texas Century Club).

Listing can be a great way to add to your enjoyment of birds, as long as it doesn't become the be-all and end-all of your experience.

Good birding!

Hummingbird Presentation Slides

At the River Bend Sip 'n Science program on hummingbirds on the 19th, some of the attendees requested a copy of the slides I used. Here is a link to those slides.

Hummingbird Presentation

I Am Over Summer

Dominic Sherony, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 I am not a Summer fan. The prediction for today is 106 degrees. Ugh! Come on, Fall!

However, I did get out this morning early and did a short bird walk in Lake Wichita Park. I spent almost an hour, going down the chat trail, around the barrow pit, and most of the way around to Murphy's Mound. It was 80 degrees with a light breeze at 7AM when I started out and too darned hot by the time I got back to my car.

July is not the best time for birdwatching in Wichita Falls. The birds are finishing up raising their broods and most have ceased their territorial singing, making them harder to find in the foliage. Since we had more rain than usual so far this summer (yeah!), the foliage is fairly full. The birds are also too darned hot and not expending more energy than necessary and hiding out in the shade. Fall migration has now started. Our first spring migrant, the purple martin, has departed the area within the last week.

Having explained all the reasons birding sucks in late summer, I had a good morning. My favorite bird was the yellow-billed cuckoo (shown above). These birds are considered a threatened species and are secretive. I didn't see it this morning, but I heard its distinctive call. My birds this morning: double-crested cormorant, cattle egret, great egret, yellow-crowned night heron, green heron, mallard duck, Mississippi kite, Eurasian collared dove, mourning dove, yellow-billed cuckoo, northern cardinal, Carolina wren, blue jay, western kingbird, robin, scissor-tailed flycatcher, barn swallow, chimney swift, red-winged blackbird, common grackle, and great-tailed grackle.

Good birding!

More Hummingbirds!

The hummingbird presentation at Wild Bird Rescue went fairly well. I'll be doing an expanded version for the River Bend Nature Center Sip 'n Science program this Friday, July 19, 6:30 - 8:30 PM. Register at their website. You must be 21 to attend.

Amazing Hummingbirds!

 

I've never met anyone who didn't love hummingbirds. These amazing little birds are so fascinating.

If you would like to know more about these tiny birds, I will be doing an educational program at Wild Bird Rescue at noon on Thursday, June 27. The program will be about 45 minutes.

What will we talking about? We'll discuss some interesting things about this family of birds. We'll talk about how to identify the two most common species of hummingbirds in our area. Feeding hummingbirds, and what you can do to encourage hummingbirds to come to your yard

I hope to meet you then.

Good Birding!

Finally! Almost There!

I was supposed to retire at the end of 2023, but things did not go as planned. However, we're moving along and at this point, I am about 90% retired and should be 100% by mid-September.

That's my excuse for not keeping up as well as I should with this blog. I have several items to talk about so, we should be good for a while.

In the meantime, Good Birding!