Monday, March 30, 2009

Warbler Walk


We decided to spend Sunday morning looking for warblers at the Edith L Moore Sanctuary. At most times of the year this isn't a great birding site but in the spring it's a good place to see warblers on their northern migration.
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As it turned out, our warbler walk started even earlier than expected. When we walked out of the house, we noticed movement in the tree next to our garage. It was a Tennessee Warbler, a new yard bird for us.

After admiring the Tennessee Warbler - and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet that was buzzing it - we drove down to Edith Moore. There we got out of the car, looked up and immediately saw a Northern Parula.
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The gardens at the cabin and the area around the pond were almost startlingly green as a result of recent rains.


The garden had butterflies ...


while the pond had a group of Red-eared Sliders.



We really enjoyed walking the creekside trails for the next 90 minutes, although we weren't very successful at finding warblers. The most common birds were White-eyed Vireos, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. However, we did see another Northern Parula and a Nashville Warbler. Then came the sighting of the day: A very helpful birder called Charmaine showed us a Worm-eating Warbler, US life bird #426 for me.

Back at the cabin, the feeders were attracting a succession of Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves and American Goldfinch.

American Goldfinch

Our final bird of the day was this White-eyed Vireo.


Edith L Moore
The sanctuary entrance is at 440 Wilchester Boulevard, just south of Memorial a few hundred yards west of the West Sam Houston Parkway. It is open 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. every day of the year and entry is free.

Each Wednesday in the spring there is an 8:30 a.m. birdwalk, led by a great local birder, Jim Hinson.

4 comments:

Kyle said...

Jeff, I love the Edith L Moore site. As you said, it's not always the birdiest of places, but it is a beautiful and relaxing place to walk and enjoy nature inside the city limits. I took my son out there a couple of weeks ago, and while we probably saw a dozen species at the most, we had a blast hanging out on the bridge and the trails.

Jeff said...

It's certainly a real oasis in the city. I wish I had the money to live in one of those houses overlooking the creek!

Isaac said...

Beautiful zebrawing. I've never seen one before.

Jeff said...

Hi, Isaac. I'd never seen one down here before but I had seen them in Austin.