I am trying a new GMail account to see if my difficultioes sending to Texbirds isn’t solved. I suspect it was my sbcglobal account; we’ll see.

The Austin area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 9:50 on July 26, 2012. Send interesting sightings–complete with species name, location, and contact information–to my NEW address Kenny Anderson at kennya290@gmail.com.

Rarities Found This Week

A possible Brown Pelican was reported off of Windy Point/ Bob Wentz Travis County Park on Lake Travis. The bird was seen on 7/21 and photos were taken. I am awaiting a submission of the photographs to confirm this rarity. A negative report from 7/26 on trying to re-locate said bird.

A seemingly wild Greater White-fronted Goose was photographed on the western shores of Lake Buchanan in Llano County on 7/24. The bird was between Cedar Point Recreation Area and Tow.

The same trip to Lake Buchanan yielded a juvenile Snowy Plover, strongly suggesting breeding occurring at the location for a second straight year.

2 Fulvous Whistling Ducks flew over just east of Utley on 7/24 in Bastrop County.

A Zone-tailed Hawk was seen on 7/21 above Highway 71, .2 miles east of Paleface Ranch Road. This bird could be in the Continuing section as it has been in the area some time now- it just is irregular enough that it is always a surprise to get a report.

3 Tri-colored Herons photographed below the Longhorn Dam in Travis County was a nice group for the area 7/21.

Continuing Birds From Previous Week

The Purple Martin roost at Highland Mall in Austin was reported to be quite impressive in its size as of 7/22. This is a remarkably dense gathering of the species.

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 kennya290@gmail.com.

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

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