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September 13-16, 2007
This years Hummer/Bird Celebration appeared to be well attended and good weather prevailed for the whole weekend but unfortunately the large push of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds did not hit the area until a couple of days after the festival. However, there were still decent numbers of hummingbirds around for the participants to enjoy. I am not sure how many folks from the OG wound up attending the festival but from asking the two members that joined me for a nice day of birding Saturday it sounds like quite a few were in attendance. I hope those that attended the festival but were unable to join me Saturday had a nice time and enjoyed themselves. A few observations about the festival is that it is definitely better to get a map of the hummer homes and drive around to the hummer homes on your own as most people will tell you. Don't spend money on the Hummer Bus Tour because during the two hour Hummer Bus Tour you only have time to visit three hummer homes and there was no real attempt to discuss identification of the hummingbirds that were being seen. The Fennessey Ranch trip is definately worth the money. It is a great place with a variety of habitats from marshes to woodlands allowing you the opportunity to see a variety of birds from ducks, herons, egrets, raptors, Wild Turkeys to migrants such as vireos and warblers as well as hummingbirds at feeders they have set up. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Fennessey Ranch on Sunday morning and saw some good birds including hummingbirds. I believe I saw about 25 species during the tour but that is unusually low because of the lack of any numbers of migrant warblers and vireos that day. Oh, as a bonus we saw the biggest Coyote that I think I have ever seen that was a real treat.
Saturday Layton, Marie and I spent birding in Blutcher Park, Hazel Bazmore County Park, Hill Top Community Center and we tried to find the Fred Jones Nature Sanctuary but could not due to bad directions. It was a nice day with a few notable birds seen including a Swainson's Warbler and a probable Great Horned Owl in Blucher Park, a Common Paraque at Hill Top Community Center, and a very brief distant look at a Zone-tailed Hawk at Hazel Bazmore. Another highlight was seeing two large kettles of over 1,000 Broad-winged Hawks streaming by the Hazel Bazmore Hawk Watch area. The experience of the day for me was getting to see the golden crown on one of the Great Kiskadees that we saw at Hazel Bazmore. I don't know how unusual it is to see the golden crown on a kiskadee but it was only my second time to witness that and it was spectacular. Overall for the day migrant passerines and hummingbirds were fairly scarce with the only notable migrants being shorebirds and Wood Storks besides the hawks. We wound up seeing 56 species for the day an oddly low total for the places we birded. I bet all the action was on Mustang Island at places like Paradise Pond and Turnbull Birding Center that I was hoping to get to but we ran out of time. I would like to thank Layton and Marie for joining me for a nice day of birding on Saturday and I hope you two enjoyed the day as well.
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, birdsondabrain@earthlink.net, 713-515-1692 |
