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The Birds: Twenty Mile High

I took a twenty mile bike ride along the trails and roads around our neighborhood. I found myself keeping track of all the birds I saw along the way and saw 21 different species. Better than a bird a mile.

Great Blue Heron… flying over the creek, slow and beautiful

Snowy Egret… trailing the heron by a few minutes

Great Egret… swooping over the lake and landing

Green Heron… hunting along the edges of the lake. I wasn’t sure what he was. I had to call and leave a description on the answering machine so I could ID him when I got home

Common Grackle, Great-tailed Grackle, European Starling… foraging in a field near a basketball court

Northern Mockingbird… everywhere; it is the state bird after all

Northern Cardinal… until today I had only seen these guys at feeders, but today they were everywhere along one trail

Inca Dove, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove… they have a trail where they’re the only birds I see

Purple Martin, Barn Swallow… martins in the sky, swallows along the ground, all patrolling the same trail

Blue Jay, House Sparrow… everywhere

American Crow… small flock congregating in the middle of a country road, flew off when I approached… kaw-kaw

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher…. watching from the power lines

Mallard, Muscovy Duck, Swans… feral domestic breeds hanging around the local duck ponds

And that’s just what I could ID as I blazed by on my bike. I know I saw a few that I couldn’t place, particularly sparrows.

Published inBirdsNature

3 Comments

  1. […] I watched a ghostly pale moon slowly climb the afternoon sky, and I decided to count birds species as I did last June on the day after the Summer […]

  2. […] Birds:Twenty Mile High II by James on June 26th, 2008 | Go to comments Last year, on June 22, I rode my bike 20 miles and counted the different birds I saw while zipping along the trails and roads in my little corner of north Austin. I intended to […]

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