Join Chris Gunter and Celeste Treadway for a winter hike at Travis Audubon’s Baker Sanctuary, looking for our winter visitors as well as year-round resident birds. This 715-acre sanctuary is located in northwest Travis County, and is part of the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. It contains prime habitat for the federally protected Golden-cheeked Warbler, and is normally open only to Travis Audubon members and their guests, except during these guided walks and other special events. In December, we will be birding the upland area around the historic bunkhouse on the south side of the sanctuary, then hike down the Baker Springs Trail. Baker has fairly dense tree and understory cover, therefore we will be employing quite a bit of “ear birding” as well as visual identification.

Portions of this hike will be moderately difficult, with uneven footing, trip hazards, and loose rocks/gravel along some sections of the trail. Most of it is level, but there are some short sections of ascent/descent that can present moderately challenging footing. However, the entry/upland area is level (short grass and packed dirt) with very few trip hazards, and can present good “parking lot” birding. This area also has places to sit for stationary birding. Please email celestetreadway@gmail.com to discuss any access concerns you may have, and possible accommodations we can make to include you in portions of this walk.

Restrooms are not available on-site, please plan accordingly. Additional details will be sent out to trip registrants a few days before the walk.

Trip limited to 15 participants. Members: free; Non-members: $10.00

REGISTER HERE

The email used to register for this walk will be used to communicate any changes or cancellations due to weather or other factors. Please ALWAYS check your email inbox on the morning of the walk, prior to leaving your home, in case of last-minute changes in the trip plan. Please also check to be sure our emails do not land in your spam folder. When in doubt, please call or email your trip leader. We encourage participants to put the leader’s email address in their safe sender list.