Location: Howard Lane to Utley (969) Bridge, Bastrop, US-TX
Observation date: 8/4/2012
Number of species: 38 (+ 3 other taxa)
EPISODE 75: Dog Days of Summer
I do not remember if we have ever had a dog along on a survey. Today we had Roxy. Roxy positioned herself on the front of her boat and help guide us downstream. Oh yea, she was also a ball fetcher. I used the power vested in me to proclaim Roxy our unofficial mascot of the day.
From a bird point of view it was one of those special days. Sometimes you just have days where you find things you don’t really expect and it makes the entire day for you. There are six things I want to mention. First we found several large flocks of Cattle Egrets. It has been a long while since we have found them large flocks. Some flocks were as large as 50 – 70 birds. Second, from the wish list, we got two Tricolored Heron. Third, thanks to the sharp eye of Roger Shaw, we got a Mississippi Kite. This was a good spot as it was a lone individual in a grey tree: a very difficult spot. Fourth and fifth are Prothonotary Warbler and Pileated Woodpecker. Sixth, the best sighting of the day were two large white birds with black on the trailing edge of the wing leading me to believe Wood Stork. The only alternative would be juvenile White Ibis. I think these birds were much too big to be White Ibis.
Also, Upland Sandpipers are migrating and I heard several fly over while we were still at the CER. We did not get any while on the survey itself so none were included in my list
In all we had a list of 41 species. We also have a great group to thank for the help they provided today. Margaret Hanks, Gayle Fincannon, Linda Williams, Pam Hohman, Jane Dyal, Bill Forshey, Betty Zeugin, Cathy Kopp, Julie Bollman, Odilia DeLeon, John Barr, Roger Shaw, Dennis Beining and daughter Lina, Bob West, and Greg with mascot dog Roxy. Thanks to a great group of people for a great day.
(Click any image below to view larger. Photo of Powdered Dance is Roger Shaw. Photos of cooling off and Egrets are Bob West. Other photos by Claude Morris.)
Number of species: 38 (+ 3 other taxa)
Wild Turkey 5
Wood Stork 2
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 7
Snowy Egret 2
Little Blue Heron 8
Tricolored Heron 2
Cattle Egret 300
Green Heron 12
Black Vulture 25
Turkey Vulture 30
Mississippi Kite 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Swainson’s Hawk 1
Crested Caracara 6
Killdeer 1
Spotted Sandpiper 15
peep sp. 5
White-winged Dove 20
Mourning Dove 8
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 5
Chimney Swift 1
hummingbird sp. 1
Belted Kingfisher 6
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 3
White-eyed Vireo 9
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 4
Cliff Swallow 100
Carolina Chickadee 18
Tufted x Black-crested Titmouse (hybrid) 5
Carolina Wren 7
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Prothonotary Warbler 1
Summer Tanager 2
Northern Cardinal 32
Painted Bunting 5
House Sparrow 22
