(The Austin area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 9:30 on April 13, 2012. Send interesting sightings–complete with species name, location, and contact information–to Kenny Anderson.)

Rarities Found This Week

I received an interesting report of a possible Stellar’s Jay at the entrance to Longhorn Caverns State Park in Burnet County. The report was from 4/8. While the bird was reasonably described, no photos were obtained. An effort to re-find and document the bird was unsuccessful. If one is in the vacinity, it would be worth a tire-kick to possibly see a real rarity for the area.

A male Western Tanager returned a year later to the West Bouldin Greenbelt in South Austin in Travis County on 4/7. It was photographed 4/7,11, and 12.

A Swallow-tailed Kite was seen flying over eastern Travis County on 4/12.

3 Zone-tailed Hawks were seen near the entrance to Pace Bend Park on 4/7. 2 adults and a juvenile were described. (Travis County)

A Blue-winged Warbler was photographed at Warbler Woods 4/12.

Green Kingfishers were confirmed as county breeders in Bell County 4/8, a county first.

Continuing Birds From Previous Week

A Hutton’s Vireo continues to be seen and photographed at Warbler Woods in Guadalupe County.

Broad-tailed Hummingbirds linger at an Austin home (female on 4/12) and a Liberty Hill home in Williamson County on 4/11.

Reports for the Austin area RBA cover a 60 mile radius, centered from the Capitol in downtown Austin. The circle extends north to Belton (Bell County), south to Leesville (Gonzales County), east to Somerville WMA (Lee Burleson County), and west to Blumenthal (Gillespie County). Bird sightings mentioned here have been filtered and scrutinized by the compiler and are believed to be genuine. When documentation or photographs were provide, that is mentioned along with the other information about the bird(s) being seen.

For questions or updates about birds mentioned here or to report rare or unusual bird sightings in the Austin area, please send an e-mail to nollanderson@sbcglobal.net.

-Kenny Anderson, Rare Bird Alert Compiler, Travis Audubon Society

To view our archive of previous RBA reports, click here.