Thanks to BirdingGirl, I discovered The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s very cool citizen science project, Project FeederWatch.
I picked Saturday and Sunday as my count days as those are the days I’m home. The idea is to count the highest number of individuals seen at one time that show up to partake of the delights provided for their enjoyment.
I have a dinner bell with meal worms, a platform feeder, a suet feeder, and a couple of tube feeders as well as a birdbath and a good variety of native plants.
This weekend, most of the usual suspects showed up, though not in great numbers:
Bewick’s Wren (1)
House Finch (1)
Blue Jay (2)
Northern Mockingbird (2)
Northern Cardinal (1)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
White-winged Dove (7)
Carolina Wren (1)
House Sparrow (6)
Chipping Sparrow (4)
Black-crested Titmouse (2)
The project runs from November up to sometime in April so I’ll be posting my counts here. Maybe I’ll think to take some pictures next time too.
I parked at Auditorium Shores, which is a good place to walk around and look at the ever-changing skyline except for the fact that the whole area smells like dog crap. Why can’t people just pick up after their dogs?
Avoiding the mines, I walked to the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue where I took this obligatory Austin photo.
Hard to believe I’ve been here longer than that statue and I’m only just now doing the Stevie-Ray-and-skyline shot. Maybe there’s something to be said for leaving things for oneself to do.
Red-winged Blackbirds
After the statue, I followed a small flock of Red-winged Blackbirds west for a few yards trying to get a closer shot of one.
I was pleasantly surprised to see them as I had hoped to see more than just the one at Hornsby.
Red-winged Blackbird
Then one came right at me!
Red-winged Blackbird in flight
Aside from the red-wings, I also saw some Gadwalls, American Coots, Great-tailed Grackles, Rock Doves, and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron fishing on the far shore.
High above the night heron, one of the new condos was also visible.
I left early this morning hoping that it wouldn’t be raining at Hornsby Bend, and despite a few quick showers on the toll road, it turned into a nice day with overcast skies and a steady cool breeze.
The egrets, herons and other waders I’d watched over the summer had all moved on, but the ponds were filled with ducks.
A clusterduck, mostly Northern Shovelers
I saw hundreds of Northern Shovelers as well as a few Blue-winged Teal, Ruddy Ducks, and some Lesser Scaup. Along with the ducks, there were numerous American Coot and even a couple of Least Grebes.
Northern Shovelers
I drove along the ponds, studying the ducks. The male Northern Shovelers are transitioning into their breeding plumage, which they do in November, so some of their breasts were a bit streaky.
American Coots
Other than the ducks, I saw some flocks of some kind of sparrows (I think) that I couldn’t ID and a single Red-winged blackbird, which surprised me after the huge flocks of them I had seen over the summer.
Eventually, I decided to hike down the river trail to the lookout over the Colorado. I could hear Northern Cardinals and Carolina Chickadees, though I didn’t see either.
River Trail
Walking along the trail, I spotted a few Carolina Wrens and a Northern Mockingbird as well as small brown birds that darted about, defying easy identification.
I watched the sky for hawks and eagles, but saw only vultures, both Turkey and Black. When I reached the river, a Double-crested Cormorant noisily flapped off away from the bank.
I didn’t see many more birds, but the trees looked especially good. There are three amazing trees that I always have to stop and look at and today, I had all my gear so I took a few pictures.
These are some of my favorite trees in Austin.
Tree at Hornsby BendAnother tree at Hornsby BendYet another tree at Hornsby BenCloser to the previous tree
After taking this last picture, the wind picked up along with the kawing of a crow. I listened and a few more crows picked up the cry. I watched the sky and saw 3 American Crows hurrying towards a spot behind the tree I had been photographing.
Assuming they were mobbing, I looked around for a hawk and sure enough, I caught a fleeting glimpse of a hawk’s silhouette as he swooped out of the tree and towards the river.
By the time I got back to the car, the wind had picked up and it looked about to rain so I called it a morning and a good one at that.
It never ceases to amaze me that even after four years, I’m still discovering little things in our neighborhood.
Over the summer, I stumbled upon a side trail leading to the small creek that feeds the nearby pond. A wooden footbridge connects our neighborhood with the one next to ours.
In the summer, it was a good place from which to spy hummingbirds and woodpeckers. Now that it’s the season that passes for autumn around here, it’s a good place to watch the leaves almost change color.
I saw this bird on my walk the other day. It looked like a flycatcher, and something told me it was an Eastern Phoebe, though I wasn’t certain.
According to my Sibley guide, the Eastern Phoebe is a 7-inch bird. I compare everything to the Northern Mockingbird to judge size since I see them all the time and they’re a handy 10-inches or so, thus half the size of a mockingbird is roughly 5 inches.
As I was watching the suspected phoebe, a mocker conveniently landed a few feet away, and I could clearly see that he was about 2-3 inches longer. After studying the picture I took and comparing it to other pictures online, I’m pretty sure that this is the Eastern Phoebe, which isn’t really all that exciting since they’re pretty common birds, but it’s nice to know what I’m looking at.
While searching around, I stumbled upon these bloggers who also found themselves confronted with the Eastern Phoebe and a bit of uncertainty: Nature Tales and Camera Trails, Birding Girl, and At the Water. Their pictures helped my with my ID, which I hope is right. I also discovered SE Texas Wildlife, which didn’t have a picture of the Eastern Phoebe, but still looks like a cool blog to explore.
Much easier for me to identify is the Western Spotted Couch Phoebe, caught here in her natural habitat:
Several books I’ve read (can’t recall specific titles as I’ve seen it many places) suggest that following agitated Blue Jays and crows can often lead you to an owl or a hawk.
What’s going on in those cases is mobbing behavior, which is when a group of birds harass a predator, usually without directly attacking it, in order to annoy it into leaving.
I had never successfully managed to follow birds to the source of their ire until just a few weeks ago.
On a Saturday morning, I heard Blue Jays screeching in the trees and groups of them flying north along one of the nearby trails. This persisted through most of the morning and, finally, I decided to follow as it was a good morning for walking.
I walked down the trail in the general direction of the jays’ racket until I reached a clearing at the bottom of a hill. I couldn’t see any Blue Jays, but I could hear them in a stand of trees off the trail to the east so I followed their calls into a thick stand of cedar and live oak.
The jays calmed for a few minutes when I entered, but then resumed their cries. I saw flashes of blue in the trees while I tried to locate the object of their insults. Then I sensed movement, large and slow, directly above. I looked up to see a hawk swooping through the trees and angling upward and away, gaining speed with each beat of its wings. The hawk was gone before I got a great look, but by its banded tail, I suspect it was a Red-shouldered Hawk.
So, I thought to myself, I guess there’s something to this mobbing thing after all. It’s always oddly surprising to me when I read something and then later witness the very thing I’ve read about. I’m not sure why that is, except perhaps that there is a part of me that has to see something to really believe it.
Last week, I saw it again from my car. This time it was a small flock of crows chasing something – I couldn’t tell if it was a hawk or an owl – away from a stand of trees along Brushy Creek. I wanted to turn and follow to see what they were chasing, but I decided to head home and let the dogs out instead.
I have seen and believe what can happen if I fail to do that.
There are as many skeletons as bird feeders out now, and you can feel the changes. I notice for the first time the days shortening, shadows at six o’clock filling the house and from a more southern angle. The world is ticking back to fall and the birds know it.
Mainly due to allergies, I haven’t been out birding like I like to, but I’ve noticed some interesting things through the windows of the house and the car.
The House Sparrows are returning to the front flower bed. Last winter a small flock of 20 or so of these little birds took up residence in the thick bushes off the front porch. They dispersed in the spring, only a few pairs staying behind, but now that flocking season is here, they’re back. Every time I open the front door a burst of sparrows appears and hurries to the neighbor’s flowerbed.
The Cardinals and Blue Jays are still around. Last year, we went out of town in late July and when we came back they had gone, and I didn’t see them around again until March. This year when we left, we had the neighbor kids keep the feeders going and they’ve stuck around. I guess last year the feeders going empty right at the end of nesting season inspired them to move on.
The Chipping Sparrows aren’t back yet, but I don’t expect them for another month or so.
The Chickadees are back in force. They are occasional visitors to the feeders during the summer months, but they are much more common in the fall through spring.
The hummingbirds seem to have left, but I’ll keep the feeders up for a little while longer in the hope a Rufous Hummer will come by.
I’m suddenly seeing more Carolina Wrens than Bewick’s, though the Bewick’s are still here. I wonder if any are the ones I saw fledge back in June.
Around the neighborhood, I’ve noticed ducks starting to come back to the ponds while more hawks drift overhead.
Driving to work each morning, I look for the Scissor-tails. They’re still around, flocking up in preparation for their long journey to the Central American highlands. I thought they’d be gone by now, but each morning I see more and more sitting on the power lines, and I find I am grateful for each day that I get one more look at these favorite birds before they leave. I suspect that like many birds they’re waiting for the morning the light falls in just a certain way that will say to them, “fly.”
I saw this guy climbing along the house a few months back and happened to have my camera. Unfortunately, I cropped off most of his tail. Need to pay more attention to framing instead of thinking, “!Whoo hoo! A lizard!” That’s the trick of shooting animals, though. Slow down. Relax. Get the right shot.
Their tails do grow back, but I’m not sure it will show up in the picture.
