Location: Howard Lane to Utley (969) Bridge, Bastrop, US-TX (6 miles)
Observation date: October 5, 2013 – 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Number of species: 34
EPISODE 89: The Force of Water
Force equals mass times acceleration. Last month the river was lined with Elephant Ears and Water Hyacinth. We had a couple of good rains during the past month. The flow rates in the river went up to 4000 cfs. Normally 4000 cfs is not that much in the Colorado River. Since we have not had that much in a long time the destruction of the force of that mass of water was very evident. That volume of water ripped out Elephant Ears and washed the Water Hyacinth downstream. I have included some photos that hopefully illustrate that destruction.
We did not get the migrants that I had hoped for today. Birding was rather quiet and we listed 34 species. We did get a mixed group of migrating Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures. We watched them get off their overnight perch, catch thermals, and glide off is a southerly direction. We also had a huge number of Belted Kingfishers, a Green Kingfisher, and several Pileated Woodpeckers. We found a couple of returning migrants; Pied-billed Grebes and Canvasback. Another bird of interest was a Tricolored Heron.
Rounding out our interesting critter list for this month we found a Cottonmouth, a few turtles, and there were tons of those little blue damselflies. We saw no Monarch butterflies bet there were several Whites, Hackberry Emperors and a few Swallowtails.
Helping with today’s survey were Ruth Jansa, Joan Bishop, Bobby Hughes, Bob West, John Barr, and Stuart Bailey. Thank you all for the help. Yes, Stuart was along and built a Cairn.
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. I also post more photos than I send with the email.
Also, these surveys are posted on the Travis Audubon web site.
(Click any image below to view larger. Photos by Claude Morris.)
Number of species: 34
Wood Duck 18
Blue-winged Teal 24
Canvasback 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 7
Great Egret 9
Snowy Egret 5
Tricolored Heron 2
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1
Black Vulture 64
Turkey Vulture 26
Osprey 1
Cooper’s Hawk 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 6
Swainson’s Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Killdeer 23
Spotted Sandpiper 16
White-winged Dove 18
Belted Kingfisher 14
Green Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 9
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Crested Caracara 5
Eastern Phoebe 7
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 18
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 16
Carolina Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 3
Carolina Wren 22
Northern Mockingbird 12
Northern Cardinal 32
