Birding the Pond Trail, First Week of Autumn

Last week, the first day of autumn brought a cold front and rain so it actually felt like fall for a few days. I took a walk down the trail that runs through our neighborhood and was surprised to see that some of the winter residents had started to come back. I didn’t bring my camera since it was raining so no pictures.

I wasn’t expecting to see anything more than the grackles, vultures, jays and doves that I’ve been seeing all summer on these weekly counts down the trail so I was happily surprised by the tapping of woodpeckers. Ladder-backs and Red-bellies are fairly common in the neighborhood during fall and winter, but other than a Downy I saw back in July I hadn’t seen one or heard a woodpecker since early April, but I saw at least 2 Ladder-backs and I think I heard a few more farther down. Welcome back, woodpeckers.

As I approached the pond, I saw one of the Red-shouldered Hawks swoop out over the trail. He had some unfortunate something in his talons. Based on size and color, I suspect it was a dove. I saw him again a little farther along. This time he was sitting in a branch about 30 feet off the trail. He stuck around long enough for me to get a quick look and wish I’d brought the camera since it had stopped raining. This hawk has been teasing me all year and one of these days, I’m going to get a decent picture.

When I got to the pond, I was surprised to see a few ducks. I counted 3 Blue-winged Teal in the reeds on the far side. A few days later, I spotted 6 of them, so the ducks are starting to filter back in from points north. I also spotted 3 Pied-billed Grebes swimming in tight formation a little closer to my side of the pond. I can’t help but wonder if these are the same 3 that spent last winter here. These are the first grebes on the pond since May and the first ducks since early April. Welcome back, waterfowl.

For those who may have forgotten (or for any newcomers), I started a so-called Big Year (really more of a committed small year) back in January to see what birds I could see along the trail within a mile of my house. Here’s the updated list as of last week, the first week of fall:

1. Black-bellied Whistling Duck
2. Gadwall
3. American Wigeon
4. Blue-winged Teal
5. Northern Shoveler
6. Northern Pintail
7. Ring-necked Duck
8. Pied-billed Grebe
9. Great Blue Heron
10. Great Egret
11. Little Blue Heron
12. Green Heron
13. Yellow-crowned Night Heron
14. Black Vulture
15. Turkey Vulture
16. Osprey
17. Red-shouldered Hawk
18. Killdeer
19. White-winged Dove
20. Mourning Dove
21. Black-chinned Hummingbird
22. Red-bellied Woodpecker
23. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
24. Downy Woodpecker
25. Eastern Phoebe
26. Ash-throated Flycatcher
27. Western Kingbird
28. Scissor-tailed Flycathcer
29. Blue Jay
30. American Crow
31. Purple Martin
32. Barn Swallow
33. Carolina Chickadee
34. Black-crested Titmouse
35. Carolina Wren
36. Bewick’s Wren
37. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
38. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
39. Eastern Bluebird
40. American Robin
41. Northern Mockingbird
42. European Starling
43. Orange-crowned Warbler
44. Yellow-rumped Warbler
45. Black-and-white Warbler
46. Common Yellowthroat
47. Chipping Sparrow
48. Song Sparrow
49. Northern Cardinal
50. Red-winged Blackbird
51. Common Grackle
52. Great-tailed Grackle
53. House Finch
54. Lesser Goldfinch
55. American Goldfinch
56. House Sparrow

James Brush

James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.

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