White-crowned Sparrow by Dennis Palafox

The Austin area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 07/10/2014. Send interesting sightings – complete with species name, LOCATION, and contact information – to Nathan McGowan at natemcgowanbirds@gmail.com.

Rarities Found This Week

• An exceptional record and this week’s highlight was a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, photographed at a Travis residence on 7/5. (see above)
• ZONE-TAILED HAWKS have been well represented this week, with several sightings at Reimers Ranch in Travis, most recently 7/6. Also in Travis, a bird was seen at a private residence along Lake Austin 7/5. Just over the line into Williamson, an individual bird was described 7/6.
• OSPREYS were reported from Lady Bird Lake, Travis, 7/5 and Reimers Ranch, Travis 7/6.
• 3 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS in Bastrop on 7/8 were very early migrants.

Continuing birds from previous weeks

• An adult PEREGRINE FALCON was seen near the Frost Tower building in downtown Austin, Travis on 7/8. The bird at the UT tower in downtown Austin is still present as well. More summer reports of this species are greatly encouraged.

Reports for the Austin area RBA cover a 60 mile radius, centered from the Capitol in downtown Austin. Bird sightings mentioned here have been filtered and scrutinized by the compiler and are believed to be genuine. When documentation or photographs were provided 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 natemcgowanbirds@gmail.com

Nate McGowan
Rare Bird Alert Compiler
Travis Audubon Society

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