Austin Colony – Webberville, Travis, Texas, US
March 5, 2016 9:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
8.0 mile(s)
EPISODE 118: Spring Done Sprung
Yep, there are flowers popping everywhere, leaves on the trees, warm air, water inviting you to swim, and birds flying north. I found about 10 different flowers blooming, Sandhill Cranes were flying over. To me that says that winter is done and spring has spring. Our most excellent bird list includes one lone Gull, a Bald Eagle, Sandhill Cranes, and a Marsh Wren. All these are very good birds for our survey. Nesting and territory activities are getting started too. Carolina Chickadees were singing all day. We heard more Downey Woodpeckers than we got all winter. Northern Cardinals, Titmouse, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Carolina Wren were all very vocal all day. A couple other mentions to round out our 60 species include Pileated Woodpecker and Barred Owl. Also White-eyed Vireos are back and singing.
News report about the river. Last falls floods cause huge damage at the mouth of Onion Creek. Trees were torn out and the bank was washed away where the two stream meet Downstream there is deposits of sand and gravel in the river bed making a scene of bareness and desolation. I will put a few pictures on Facebook to show this.
In the other critters department we found Gulf Fritillary, Pipevine Swallowtail, Red Admiral, Whites and a few others With the warmer weather there are bees and wasps butterflies. Thee were Red-eared Sliders, Texas Cooters, Water Moccasin, and Diamond-backed Watersnake for herptiles.
Last but not least, with the warmer weather there are bees and wasps starting their summer.
Always a pleasure to thank those who came on the trip. Today was Linda Williams, Monica Ramirez, Stacey Bucklin, Sharon Richardson, Peg Gavin, Ron Armbruster, CR Smith, Tam Tran, John Muller, Sachin Aggarwal, Stuart Bailey, Denis Breining, Bob West, and John Barr. Thank you all for another great day.
Don’t forget to like the Austin Bastrop River Corridor Partnership Facebook page. Here you will find more information about the river and water issues in central Texas. Learn more about the Austin-Bastrop River Corridor Partnership at the CER website.
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53 species (+7 other taxa)
Wood Duck 32
Gadwall 200
American Wigeon 2
duck sp. 100
Double-crested Cormorant 18
American White Pelican 22
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 4
Snowy Egret 5
Black Vulture 35
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 3
Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 8
Red-tailed Hawk 5
hawk sp. 3
American Coot 17
Sandhill Crane 40
Killdeer 24
Spotted Sandpiper 14
Greater Yellowlegs 5
Least Sandpiper 54
Semipalmated/Western Sandpiper 1
gull sp. 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 1
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Inca Dove 1
Mourning Dove 2
Barred Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker 17
Ladder-backed Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 6
Pileated Woodpecker 4
Crested Caracara 2
Eastern Phoebe 3
White-eyed Vireo 7
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 11
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3
swallow sp. 3
Carolina Chickadee 38
Tufted/Black-crested Titmouse 14
Marsh Wren 1
Carolina Wren 31
Bewick’s Wren 1
Eastern Bluebird 4
Northern Mockingbird 4
Cedar Waxwing 32
Yellow-rumped Warbler 200
White-throated Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 5
Lincoln’s Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 44
Red-winged Blackbird 80
Common Grackle 25
Brown-headed Cowbird 100
American Goldfinch 14
House Sparrow 12
