(The Austin area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 5:40 July 12, 2012. Send interesting sightings–complete with species name, location, and contact information–to Kenny Anderson.)

My last edition of the Austin Area RBA didn’t publish on Texbirds, so I will again include some of the information this week. It was yet another quiet week but arrivals of southbound migrants and post-breeding wanderers, and departures of local breeders have livened local birding.

Rarities Found Past 3 Weeks

Fulvous Whistling Ducks were a nice find at Hornsby Bend in Travis County on 7/8. Two were photographed on the 8th, a report of three on 7/9 on pond 1 west.

A Mississippi Kite flew past an Utley home on 7/8 in Bastrop County.

Purple Martins are staging at Highland Mall in Austin. An estimate of 600,000 birds on 7/7 might indicate nearing peak in the roost numbers. This is a grand spectacle.

A Least Bittern has been vocal at Austin’s former airport’s (Mueller Austin) Mueller Lake Park off of Airport Boulevard. The bird has been present from at least 6/21, and photographed on 6/23. Last report was 6/28- a tricky bird to get in the circle.

A Least Tern was a nice find along the Lake Austin portion of the Lower Colorado next to Austin’s Laguna Gloria on 6/21.

A pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers have been studied in Bastrop State Park’s post-wildfire surveys. Birds were observed 6/24-28.

A Double-crested Cormorant was viewed at Slough Pond in Temple on 6/27.

Continuing Birds From Previous Week

A Black-crowned Night-heron continues along the Lower Colorado River in Austin. The last report the bird was seen between I-35 and Longhorn Dam on 6/27.

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.