Productive Birding Weekend
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November 6, 2006:
This weekend I went out birding on the west side of town. I was playing around on eBird and the TEXBIRDS archives and found that a lot of birds I've never seen before show up around the Katy Freeway and Hwy 6, so I thought I'd check it out. Another reason was that I'm going to try to do a Big Year for Harris County starting January 1st, so I figrue I need to familiarize myself with all the hotspots of the area.
First stop was Bear Creek Park. It was a little hard to drive around, since some Constables had the road blocked off for a Walk-a-thon. Of course they didn't put up any signs or use official police vehiciles, so I got yelled at when I drove around their unmarked pick-up truck. That aside, I managed to spot 5 new birds! First, I saw a woodpecker that looked unfamiliar, but it turned out to be a juvinile red-bellied woodpecker. When I got to the big area that was described by other visitors, it didn't disappoint. I first saw a tree full of brown creepers, then a flock of Snow Geese with a few Greater White-fronted Geese flew overhead. Then I saw a Wilson's Warbler across the creek. Then around the corner I saw a Winter Wren (which was quite hard to identify until I heard the call).
After Bear Creek, I headed across I-10 to Barker Reservior. I walked up the hill and looked over the barrier over to the reservior. It was huge! There were Killdeers everywhere, as well as a Snowy Egret and Cattle Egret. I also saw a couple of Sparrows that flew off before I could identify them. While I was looking around, a few Great Egrets flew overhead. Then I saw three female ducks with abnormally large bills. I consulted my field guide and found them to be Northern Shovelers, a life bird for me! On the way back to the car I spotted Blue Jays fighting with Loggerhead Shrikes in the trees along the walkway.
Still on a high from all the new birds I found, I decided to stop by Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary on the way back. I didn't stray far from the entrance, but I got to see an angry Marsh Wren (a life bird!) and a Golden-Crowned Kinglet (which is just damn cute).
The next day wasn't quite as productive. I went to the close-by Houston Aboretum, with the intention of also going to the close-by Russ Pittman Park, but the mostquitos and the rain disenfranchised me and I never made it to the second leg. I saw a little plain yellowish bird in a bush by the building. At first I had a hard time putting my finger on it; I couldn't tell if it was a warbler or vireo. But then it flew off and met up with another bird that looked exactly the same, except for the big red spot on its head! After that I could tell it was a male and female pair of Ruby-Crowned kinglets, another lifer for me :)
Also when I was reading through the TEXBIRDS list, I saw someone list a "BT Green Warber." I looked up the Black-throated Green Warbler, and found that it was exactly like a bird I couldn't identify back in Baytown last July 1st! I listened to the song of that bird and it clinched it, I definitely saw one! That brought my life total up 1 more.
So overall I saw 9 new birds this week! This weekend I'll be going on a road trip to South Texas for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival! I'm hoping to pick up at least 30 new birds, with high hopes of 50 or more. We'll see how it goes :)
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