The Austin Area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 9:15 on November 29, 2012. Send interesting sightings–complete with species name, LOCATION, and contact information–to Kenny Anderson at kennya290@gmail.com.

Exceptional Sighting:

Whooping Cranes at Granger Lake in Williamson County are exciting. Two groups: one family consisting of 2 adults and 1 juvenile, and two other adults were photographed and seen by multiple people. Bird reports came from 11/24,25. I would value updates on this as I have heard nothing since the positive report on 11/25.

Rarities Found This Week:

A Calliope Hummingbird is at a Williamson County home 11/26-28.

A Wood Stork was described at Shipp Lake- seen from a moving car- in Bastrop County on 11/23.

An American Bittern flushed from a Decker Lake’s reed edge on 11/25 in Travis County.

White-breasted Nuthatch seen at Berry Springs Park on 11/17-24 is a nice Williamson County find–perhaps under-reported.

Rusty Blackbirds are exciting to have in the circle, with photographs of two at Mankin’s Crossing on 11/24 and up to 4 photographed at Hornsby Bend 11/17-24.

Red-headed Woodpeckers: 1 at McKinney Roughs Park on 11/23 in Bastrop County and 1 at Berry Springs Park in Williamson County on 11/24-28.

A Solitary Sandpiper was at Mankin’s Crossing on 11/25.

Vermilion Flycatchers were photogenic with 1 at Berry Springs on 11/23,24, and 1 at Hornsby Bend at 11/24-25.

A snazzy Common Goldeneye drake was at Hornsby Bend 11/24-27.

Continuing From Previous Weeks:

A male Red-naped Sapsucker on Carlson Lane in Travis County on 11/21.

Reddish Egret continues at Potter’s Creek Park on Canyon Lake in Comal County on 11/21.

Pine Siskins and Red-breasted Nuthatches are being seen/reported throughout the circle.

Reports for the Austin area RBA cover a 60 mile radius, centeredfrom the Capitol in downtown Austin. The circle extends north to Belton (Bell County), south to Leesville (Gonzales County), east to SomervilleWMA (Lee Burleson County), and west to Blumenthal (Gillespie County).Birdsightings 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.