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 repeat the experiment on the same day a year later, but missed it by a day. So, here’s the birds I spied while riding 20 miles on June 23:
Northern Mockingbird… everywhere
White-winged dove, Mourning dove… poking along trailsides, but no Inca doves this time
Common grackle, Great-tailed grackle… open fields and parking lots
European starling… patrolling the medians
Great egret… hunting in the pond like a snake on a stick
Barn swallow… loads of them by the lake–riding over the dam one paced me about 3 feet above my head, a great look
Scissor-tailed flycatcher… a personal favorite, singing from a signpost
Northen Cardinal… singing from a wire
Hummingbird… most likely black-chinned, but too fast to be sure
Pigeons… flying over the parking lot
Blue jay… hard to miss from the trails and near the houses
House sparrow… waving goodbye from my driveway
Purple Martin… chillin’ on a martin house along one trail
Western Kingbird… perched in treetops on the trail where the Incas were last year
Turkey vulture… circling in the distance
American crow… kaw-kawing from the treetops
Great blue heron… looking like a statue on a pole near the golf course
Green heron… flying through a swarm of mockingbirds and scissor-tails
Swans and Muscovy ducks… feral domestics on the duckponds
This year, I saw 22 birds in 20 miles. Though I didn’t see last year’s Inca doves and snowy egret, I did catch the kingbird, hummingbird, pigeon, and turkey vulture. There are others, but I was moving too fast to really see whatever titmice, chickadees and sparrows might have been lurking in the trees.
In addition to the birds, I saw rabbits, deer, and humans.
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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