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February 18, 2006
Six participants braved the elements on a cold and rainy Saturday to bird Anahuac NWR, Candy Absheir WMA and Cedar Hill Park. We started the morning of at Anahuac NWR and walked the levy and took a quick drive down to the Bay. Highlights included a small flock of Short-billed Dowitchers in the pond off of the levy, a Common Loon and a raft of Horned Grebes seen on the Bay. We didn't spend to much time at the bay due to the weather.
We then drove over to the Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area to look for Henslow’s Sparrows. Unfortunately our trek through the prairie did not yield us a confirmed Henslow's Sparrow but it did warm us up and the rain did break for us. Highlights here included a juvenile White-tailed Hawk, and a Ammodramus sp. Sparrow (which was either a Henslow's or LeConte's).
We ended the day at Cedar Hill Park looking for the Bald Eagle that is regularly seen there. We dipped on the Eagle but did find a female Black-headed or Rose-breasted Grosbeak along the trail around Lake Charlotte, which was the bird of the trip. Another highlight was a Golden-crowned Kinglet.
In spite of the weather we managed to see 68 species of birds in total on the trip. A big thanks goes out to David Sarkozi for leading this trip in the less then desirable weather. Also, thank you to the five other participants that were brave enough to join us birding in the bad weather. You all earned Blue Stars in my book. The list of birds seen during the trip is below.
Common Loon, Grebe sp., American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, White-faced Ibis, Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Geese, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Northern Harrier 2, Osprey, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs 1, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Dunlin, Wilson’s Snipe, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Forster’s Tern, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher 2, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-headed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse (Heard), Carolina Chickadee, Sedge Wren, Rudy-crowned Kinglet, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Heard), Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Pine Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Ammodramus sp., Lincoln’s Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Pheucticus sp., Meadowlark sp., and Red-winged Blackbird.
~Adam Wood, Field Trip Coordinator, birdman_570@yahoo.com, 713-515-1692
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