 |
January 25-28, 2007
Twelve participants enjoyed two and a half nice days of birding in Northeast Texas at the end of January. We really couldn't have asked for nicer weather. We only got sprinkled on a little bit on Saturday afternoon. Well I guess we could have asked for a bit warmer weather on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Ron Baltzegar showed us around Lake Tawakoni on Friday, Hagerman NWR and the surrounding area on Saturday, and Rowlett Nature Trail, White Rock Lake and Village Creek Drying Beds on Sunday. We ended the trip around 1:00 pm on Sunday. We did have a few adventures during the trip: a car almost getting stuck in a field on Friday and finding out that between the four cars no one had a tow rope, a car needing a jump Sunday morning, one of the participants locked their keys in their car and had to call a Locks Smith to get back in their car also on Sunday, and one of the cars getting a friendly visit from the local Greenville Police on our way to Rowlett Nature Trail on Sunday. Fortunately only a warning was issued. I am just glad that all the excitement happened at the end of the trip.
Friday was spent birding around Lake Tawakoni and Richard Kinney was able help us for the day. We stopped first at the state park to walk one of the trails around the lake and through some wooded areas. First bird spotted was a Rock Wren that had been discovered in the rocks near the boat launch during the Texas Ornithological Societies Winter Conference. A great bird to start the trip off with. Other highlights at the state park were Dark-eyed Juncos, Hairy Woodpecker, four Rusty Blackbirds, Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren and Winter Wren (heard only). We spent the rest of the day stopping at marinas around the lake looking for ducks and walking one muddy area and driving another muddy field, where one car almost got stuck, to look for longspurs. Other highlights for the day included a White-breasted Nuthatch, Canvasback, Redhead and Horned Grebe. Notable misses on the day were Common Loons (Richard was really surprised not to find any loons around the lake), Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Smith's Longspur and Lapland Longspur (It has been a real bad year for the ladder four species).
Saturday morning we drove to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge stopping at the pond behind the fire station in Sherman to look for the White-winged Scoter and then driving Terry Lane to look for the Northern Shrike. After scanning the pond behind the fire station for about 15-20 minutes Ron was able to locate the female White-winged Scoter and all the participants got great looks at the bird. We even observed the white wing patch on the bird, which seemed to be only visible on one side of the bird. Other birds of note in the pond were Common Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, more Redheads and Canvasbacks. We missed the shrike along Terry Lane. In Hagerman NWR we drove around the oil pumps looking for more ducks in the ponds and marshes. Ron and the participants in his car got looks at Cinnamon Teal and Blue-winged Teal. We did walk one trail in the morning and got brief looks at a male Eastern Towhee and a female Spotted Towhee. We decided to give the shrike on Terry Lane one more try on the way out of Hagerman to Denison to look for eagles. No sooner then turning onto Terry Lane from Hagerman Road did Ellen spot the juvenile Northern Shrike. We stopped immediately and everybody piled out of the cars and we got all the scopes we had on the bird. Every participant also got great looks at this bird. It was the third attempt that our guide Ron has made to see the bird, which was a state bird for him. We were even fortunate enough to observe it impale a Yellow-rumped Warbler on a branch of a tree and begin to feed on it. It was quite a spectacle. The only other highlight for the day was one Greater Roadrunner flying across Terry Lane in the morning.
We started out at Rowlett Nature Trail in Dallas on Sunday morning after hearing about the good looks that Bill and Ellen had of Eastern Towhee, Spotted Towhee and Fox Sparrow on their way in Thursday. Since it was colder on Sunday then it was Thursday it took a little play back to get the birds moving but we were able to get great looks at Spotted Towhees and Fox Sparrows. Unfortunately we were not able to locate an Eastern Towhee. We then proceeded over to White Rock Lake to look for the Little Gull that had been seen again a few days ago. We missed it but did get to see an active nest site of Monk Parakeets. We ended the trip at the Village Creek Drying Beds in Arlington looking at more ducks and hopping to find a Little Gull among the 100s of Bonaparte's Gulls. The one other highlight for the day was a Common Yellowthroat at Rowlett Nature Trail. A few of the participants followed Ron over to the Hudson Oaks subdivision, which is west of Fort Worth, to see the Costa's Hummingbird.
We wounded up finding about 110 birds on the trip but we missed the Lapland Longspur and Smith's Longspur and did not find any loons, which was a shocker. The overall highlights for the trip were seeing 16 species of ducks including the White-winged Scoter, Horned Grebe, Northern Shrike, Costa's Hummingbird, seeing numerous Spotted Towhees, seeing numerous Fox Sparrows, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock Wren, Dark-eyed Junco, and Rusty Blackbird. I believe just about every participant had a wonderful time and got to add at least one bird to either their life or state list. I would like to thank Richard Kinney for helping us out on Friday at Lake Tawakoni. Everybody who participated in this trip for being so wonderful and making this trip a great one. I appreciate you all for hanging tough in the cold weather on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Finally, a big thanks goes to Ron Baltzegar for leading us for two and a half days and finding us some truly great birds. A list of birds seen during the trip is below.
Horned Grebe (LT, HNWR, WRL)
Pied-billed Grebe (LT,
American White Pelican (LT, HNWR, WRL)
Double-crested Cormorant (LT, HNWR, WRL)
Great Blue Heron (LT, HNWR)
Great Egret (White Rock Lake)
Cattle Egret (White Rock Lake)
White-cheecked Goose sp. (Sherman Grayson County)
Greater White-fronted Goose (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Mallard (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Gadwall (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Northern Pintail (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
American Wigeon (LT, HNWR)
Northern Shoveler (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Cinnamon Teal (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Blue-winged Teal (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Green-winged Teal (LT, HNWR)
Canvasback (LT, Sherman)
Redhead (LT, Sherman)
Ring-necked Duck (Sherman, VCDB)
Lesser Scaup (LT, HNWR)
White-winged Scoter (Pond behind fire station in Sherman, Grayson County)
Common Goldeneye (Sherman, HNWR)
Bufflehead (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Hooded Merganser (Sherman, HNWR)
Ruddy Duck (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Turkey Vulture (LT, HNWR, Denison)
Black Vulture (LT, HNWR, Denison)
Northern Harrier (LT, HNWR)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (LT, RNT)
Cooper's Hawk (Rowlett Nature Trail)
Red-shouldered Hawk (LT, HNWR)
Red-tailed Hawk (*Harlan's - Bill on Thurs.)
*Bald Eagle (Bill on Thurs.)
*Golden Eagle (Throckmorton County by Adam Thursday)
*Prairie Falcon (Throckmorton County by Adam Thursday)
American Kestrel (LT, HNWR)
American Coot (LT, HNWR, VCDB, WRL)
Killdeer (LT, HNWR)
Least Sandpiper (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Wilson's Snipe (LT, HNWR)
Greater Yellowlegs (LT, HNWR)
Bonaparte's Gull (LT, HNWR, VCDB, WRL)
Ring-billed Gull (LT, HNWR, VCDB, WRL)
Herring Gull (Lake Tawakoni)
Forster's Tern (LT, HNWR, VCDB, WRL)
Mourning Dove (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Eurasian Collared Dove (Lake Tawakoni)
Rock Pigeon (Lake Tawakoni)
Monk Parakeet (White Rock Lake)
Greater Roadrunner (LT, Terry Lane, Grayson County)
*Costa's Hummingbird (Hudson Oaks Subdivision by Adam Thurs., Bill and Ellen Sun.)
Belted Kingfisher (LT, HNWR, Sherman)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (LT, HNWR)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Downy Woodpecker (LT, HNWR)
Hairy Woodpecker (Lake Tawakoni)
Northern Flicker (Lake Tawakoni)
Pileated Woodpecker (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Eastern Phoebe (LT, HNWR)
Loggerhead Shrike (LT, HNWR)
Northern Shrike (Terry Lane, Grayson County)
Blue Jay (Lake Tawakoni)
American Crow (LT, HNWR)
Horned Lark (LT, HNWR)
Tufted Titmouse (LT, HNWR)
Carolina Chickadee (LT, HNWR)
White-breasted Nuthatch (Lake Tawakoni)
Brown Creeper (LT, HNWR)
Carolina Wren (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Bewick's Wren (Lake Tawakoni)
House Wren (Lake Tawakoni)
Winter Wren (Lake Tawakoni)
Sedge Wren (Lake Tawakoni)
Rock Wren (Lake Tawakoni State Park Boat Launch)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (LT, HNWR)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (LT, HNWR)
Eastern Bluebird (LT, HNWR)
American Robin (LT, HNWR)
Hermit Thrush (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Northern Mockingbird (LT, HNWR)
Brown Thrasher (Lake Tawakoni)
European Starling (Lake Tawakoni)
American Pipit (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Orange-crowned Warbler (Lake Tawakoni)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (LT, HNWR)
Common Yellowthroat (Rowlett Nature Trail)
Northern Cardinal (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Spotted Towhee (HNWR, RNT)
Eastern Towhee (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
Field Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Chipping Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Savannah Sparrow (LT, HNWR, VCDB)
Vesper Sparrow (Lake Tawakoni State Park)
Harris's Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
White-throated Sparrow (LT, HNWR, RNT)
White-crowned Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Fox Sparrow (HNWR, RNT)
Song Sparrow (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Lincoln's Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Swamp Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Dark-eyed Junco (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Western Meadowlark (Lake Tawakoni)
Eastern Meadowlark (LT, HNWR)
Red-winged Blackbird (LT, HNWR, RNT)
Rusty Blackbird (Lake Tawakoni State Park)
Great-tailed Grackle (LT, HNWR)
House Finch (LT, HNWR)
American Goldfinch (Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge)
House Sparrow (LT, HNWR)
Birds in bold were target birds for the trip and birds in bold and italicized are rare birds for the area or season they were seen in. Birds with * in front of them were seen either before the trip on Thursday or after the trip on Sunday afternoon. LT: Lake Tawakoni, HNWR: Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, RNT: Rowlett Nature Trail, WRL: White Rock Lake, VCDB: Village Creek Drying Beds.
Participants: Kathy Farr, Bernice Hotman, R.J. Pautsch, Mary Helen Pritchett, Bob Ohmart, Bill Saulmon, Dede Snavely, Dave Stewart, Anna Stewart, Bill Tarbox, Adam Wood and Ellen Baker.
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, mailto:birdman_570@yahoo.com, 713-515-1692 |
