Report Out 1st Day Hikes

Photo courtesy of Lynn Seman

Every January 1st, the state parks host 1st Day Hikes. I attended the hikes at Lake Arrowhead State Park. It was a beautiful, although chilly, day. Bright sunshine and a relatively light wind made it seem warmer.

The earlier hike was on the Dragonfly Trail and the later one on the North Onion Creek Trail. In between there was a gap of time that I used to bird other areas of the park. The earlier hike was not as well attended as the later one (go figure!) As far as birds go, the day was not the best, but I still saw some good birds. In addition, I watched a couple of coyotes and some white-tailed deer.

Birds seen/heard included: Canada goose, gadwall, green-winged teal, northern pintail, northern shoveler, American coot, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, killdeer, ladder-backed woodpecker, black vulture, Carolina chickadee, common yellowthroat, Loggerhead shrike, song sparrow, savannah sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, and a flock of meadowlarks. The meadowlarks could have been eastern or western as both occur in our area.

On the way home, I picked up an American kestrel.

Plan now for next year. Pick a park and plan to attend one of the hikes.  The various hikes are at different times (to include beginning at midnight!), lengths, and difficulty.

Good birding!

New Year Bird Prediction

 

Bernard DUPONT, CC BY-SA 2.0
 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>
via Wikimedia Commons

I have a superstition that the first bird I see on New Year's Day is a predictor of my birding success for the upcoming year. Because of that, I tried very hard not to look at my feeders that morning. I was heading out to a hike later and thought I would likely see a better bird on the way. But motion in yard drew my attention anyway, and there were two birds on one of my feeders--a white-winged dove and a Eurasian collared dove. Just what I was trying to avoid!

I was bummed. I told some of my fellow Texas Master Naturalist members at the hike and one of them said I should look at it that I saw two birds and therefore, that would mean I will see twice as many birds, regardless of the fact that neither of these birds are particularly exciting. I'm going to use their interpretation.

                                                    Good birding!                                                   

Mohan Raj, CC BY-SA 3.0
 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>
 via Wikimedia Commons

  

Bird Books!

 

If there is one thing my family knows I would like for a gift at Christmas it is a bird book. Their challenge is to find one I don't have.

This year, I received two. I have provided pictures. Obviously, I took them with my cell phone in poor lighting, but I never claimed to be a decent photographer.

I have only browsed them so far, but will post reviews once I have had an opportunity to read them (I received several books for Christmas touching on many of my interests, so it may take a few weeks).

Good birding!

Christmas Bird Count Report

National Archives at College Park - Still Pictures,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Well, the Wichita Falls CBC did not happen on the 14th. Due to some team members falling ill to a respiratory illness going around, we delayed the count for a week.

As I stated in my last post, we break our circle into three sections, with a different team for each one, and then consolidate our results with the other teams at the end of the day.

Frank was on my team. We started at the Lake Wichita Spillway a little before 7:30 AM. It was a chilly, but beautiful, morning. I was hoping we would get the rock wrens each of us had seen in the past couple of weeks, but of course, on count day, they were absent. We did see a small flock of American pipits, which was a new bird for Frank. When we got to the chat trail in Lake Wichita Park, we enjoyed a large number of cedar waxwings at the beginning of the trail. They were apparently attracted by the pool of water in the drainage ditch, as they were taking turns bathing.

Frank and I covered our section fairly thoroughly, driving 61.8 miles and walking another 5.4 miles on the day. The other two teams mostly drove. At the count dinner, eating delicious Luigi's pizza and nibbling yummy petit fours, we compiled our lists. Overall, it was not a great day in terms of numbers of species or individuals. The numbers of individuals have been in decline for years. I believe the only bird that we counted over 1,000 individuals was the European starling, and that is not a native to the U.S.

Overall, a fun day, but disappointing in terms of the numbers and types of birds. A consolidated list of birds seen by the three teams included (in order of the Audubon checklist): cackling goose, Canada goose, black-bellied whistling duck, gadwall, mallard, northern shoveler, northern pintail, canvasback, ring-necked duck, bufflehead, ruddy duck, wild turkey, pied-billed grebe, double-crested cormorant, American white pelican, great blue heron, turkey vulture, black vulture, northern harrier, sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, bald eagle, red-tailed hawk, American coot, Killdeer, greater yellowlegs, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, Eurasian collared dove, white-winged dove, great horned owl, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, northern flicker, American kestrel, loggerhead shrike, blue jay, American crow, Carolina chickadee, tufted titmouse, black-crested titmouse, eastern bluebird, American robin, brown thrasher, northern mocking bird, European starling, American pipet, cedar waxwing, common yellowthroat, lark sparrow, fox sparrow, dark-eyed junco, white-crowned sparrow, Harris's sparrow, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow, spotted towhee, northern cardinal, red-winged blackbird, meadowlark, Brewer's blackbird, common grackle, great-tailed grackle, house finch, American goldfinch, and house sparrow.

Good birding!

Christmas Bird Count

National Archives at College Park - Still Pictures,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for the Wichita Falls area is scheduled for December 14. We have a 25-mile circle to complete. We generally break up the circle into 3 sections, each with its own team to count every bird we can find. The team lists are then consolidated and submitted to the Audubon Society. 

The CBC is the longest running citizen science project in the U.S., starting in 1900. On Christmas day of that year, 27 people started the count, in various locations across the country, counting 90 different species. It is now conducted in 20 countries in the western hemisphere.

If I remember correctly, our CBC has be held since 1954.

I'll be starting at 7:00 AM and bird pretty much all day. It is a combination of driving and walking. The other two teams have their own schedule, but are similar to mine. People can also count at their feeders. The data compiler needs to know who is taking part in order to make arrangements to get the data to add to the report. If the weather is so bad that we are unlikely to find many birds or it is unsafe to drive, the count will be rescheduled to the following weekend.

If you would like to take part in this year's CBC, whether for an hour or an entire day, contact me at txbirds@gmail.com.

NO December Bird Outing at Lake Arrowhead SP

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) for our area is scheduled for December 14. Since most of the people who regularly participate in the monthly bird walk at Lake Arrowhead SP will also be taking part in the CBC, the bird walk is cancelled for that date. Join us again Saturday, January 11, 8:00 AM.

Neighbors

FranzFranz,
CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>,
 via Wikimedia Commons

I was disappointed when we moved across town and discovered I had far fewer birds in my yard. None of my neighbors feed birds and all of them have the typical lawns with a tree in the front yard and maybe one in the back. However, in the last couple of years, things have improved. Until now.

My neighbor decided to cut down his two large, beautiful trees. One was a live oak and the other an elm tree. Why? Because they were messy and shaded his lawn grass, making patches. Also, he was concerned if there was a storm one of them could fall on his house or cars. Since he cut them down, I haven't seen any woodpeckers. I also haven't seen the chickadees or orange-crowned warblers I usually have at my feeders. My counts for Project Feederwatch are way down. Just white-winged doves and house sparrows. I hope Santa puts coal in his stocking.

I know he would love for us to cut down our trees, especially the pecans, because they are messy. Not happening. In the meantime, I'm depressed.

Good birding!