El Franco Lee

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Last Saturday morning I left home early to get down to El Franco Lee Park, where I was hoping to see a range of wading birds and ducks and perhaps a Bald Eagle.

As soon as I arrived, I ran into a group of 80+ White Ibis grazing near the parking area.

There were more White Ibis perched in several nearby trees.

A walk along part of Nature Trail 2 gave me good views of the water but all I saw were a few Northern Shovelers and a lot of American Coots (below).

The inland side of the trail had only a few common birds, such as Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Back at the gazebo, scores of White Ibis were wading next to numerous Great and Snowy Egrets.

A solitary Laughing Gull seemed rather out-of-place.

A walk to the other side of the lake produced little except three Loggerhead Shrikes.

However, it did allow me to get a photo of a Northern Harrier.

At the gazebo again, several American Crows were perched on lampposts.

Before leaving I spent a while looking for the Say’s Phoebe that has been hanging out there for some weeks. It didn’t take long to find the bird, and I was pleasantly surprised when it let me take photos from only 30 feet away.

My trip hadn’t yielded as many species as I had hoped but even just getting to watch the Phoebe made the visit worthwhile.

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Sunday Birding

.On Sunday morning we drove across Houston to the San Jacinto Monument park to check out the bird situation there. Unfortunately, we didn't reach the park until late morning, by which time almost all the birds except a Sedge Wren seemed to have disappeared.

We decided to visit the nearby Lynchburg Ferry landing area, since it has a reputation as a good place to see gulls, terns, shorebirds and the like. As it happens, the first bird we spotted was less exotic - a Great-tailed Grackle.

The beach area had Laughing, Herring (below) and Ring-billed Gulls.

Most of the terns on the beach and in the air were Forster's but we also saw a solitary Royal Tern.

The only shorebirds mixed in with the gulls and terns were four Semipalmated Plovers.

On our way home we made a quick stop at El Franco Lee Park, where White-faced Ibis and Snowy Egrets were feeding in the water by the gazebo.

While four Great Blue Herons were too far away for photos, a Little Blue Heron was just within camera reach.

The ducks in view included Gadwall and Northern Shoveler. However, the most numerous were Green-winged Teal.

Although it was early afternoon on a warm day, many of the Teal were huddled together in rafts and apparently taking a nap. We drove home to follow their example.

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It's Really Dry Out There

.Sunday morning I took a quick drive down to El Franco Lee Park, just south of Belway 8 between 288 and I-45. There had been reports that a Least Grebe was hanging out in the extensive wetlands there.

When I arrive, I couldn't believe my eyes. The short boardwalk normally juts out into what is essentially a large lake but this time there was no water anywhere near it.

I took nature trail #2 and eventually found some water. However, there wasn't much of it and it was surrounded by sea of mud.

Families of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were wandering around on the mud, looking rather forlorn.

In the distance, the small remaining stretch of water had a good number of birds - Roseate Spoonbills, Great and Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Blue-winged Teal and some shorebirds. Unfortunately, there was no Least Grebe.

I left feeling depressed. Not because of missing out on the Grebe. But because of what the drought has done to what is normally a very vibrant wetlands.

On my way out of the park a solitary Laughing Gull looked totally out-of-place as it stood on a utility pole. 

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El Franco Lee

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Dee and I spent a couple of hours at El Franco Lee Park on the south side of Houston. We arrived a little late for good birding but we still enjoyed walking around the lake and there were some interesting birds.

First up was a male Vermilion Flycatcher - in exactly the same place that I saw him last winter.

This time I saw the female, too. Not as spectacular but still a pretty bird.

The water had hundreds of American Coots and a variety of ducks, as well as a few Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons.

We had to tread carefully along one section of the trail ... 

but the rest of it was busy with Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

My final sighting was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; like the Kinglet, the Gnatcatcher is a small bird with lots of personality.

The List

I added to my 2011 list even before we left home, when I looked out of our front windows and saw a House Sparrow on our feeders and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on our elm. Then the park added six more new year birds.

Friday was a busy day at work but walking between buildings at the college I startled a Great Horned Owl. As it flew off, it was no more than ten feet above my head. As I was leaving work in the afternoon, a Double-crested Cormorant on one of the retention ponds took my list to 82 species.

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On Sunday morning Dee and I spent three hours at El Franco Lee Park. There weren't as many birds this time as there had been ten days earlier but there was still plenty to look at.

Wildflowers had started to appear and were attracting the attention of insects. So it looks as though spring is arriving after what has seemed like a very long winter.


The trees everywhere were very busy with Yellow-rumped Warblers - I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place before - while the grassy areas had small groups of Lincoln's and Savannah Sparrows.

One of the Savannah Sparrows

Most of the birds on the lake were American Coots but mixed in with them were Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Lesser Scaups and my first Ruddy Ducks of the year. Other birds on or over the water included a Great Blue Heron, a Great Egret, Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls as well as our first Anhinga of 2010.

As we approached a lady who was looking through a scope, she beckoned us to come and see what she had found. It was the Harris's Hawk that had been reported several times over the previous couple of weeks. It was quite distant but still a thrilling bird to see, particularly since it is well outside of its normal range.


A little later we met the same lady again and she asked us if we had seen the Eastern Screech Owl. Apparently it was in a tree that we had walked right past without noticing anything. She led us to the tree and pointed up to where the bird was sleeping, oblivious to our excitement. And we were really excited, because this was a life bird for both of us!


After two hours we sat down to have lunch at the picnic tables, serenaded by the constant calls of Red-winged Blackbirds. At one point, the sound of the Blackbirds was drowned out by the noises made by two smaller birds which seemed to be in a total frenzy. As I walked over to where they were dashing around, I saw that they were a pair of Downy Woodpeckers which were frantically trying to dislodge a male Red-bellied Woodpecker that had settled on "their" tree. They kept screeching and flying at the Red-bellied until it finally gave in and moved away. It wasn't until I looked at my photos later that I realized a Cooper's Hawk had flown by unnoticed while the woodpeckers were having their dispute.


Ten minutes later, the Red-bellied returned and the Downys again kept attacking it until it flew off. This time, though, I was able to get a better look at the Red-bellied and I was struck by how much red it had on its face.



As I was carrying our picnic bag back to the car, I again ran into the helpful lady. "Have you seen the Vermilion Flycatcher?" she asked. This is another bird that has decided to winter here, well outside its normal range, and one that I had unsuccessfully looked for on my previous visit to the park. The lady pointed me in the right direction. At first, the bird was sitting at a distance with its back to me and I could only see some of its red plumage when it turned its head, scanning for insects.


Then I got lucky and it flew into a tree a few yards from where I was standing. What an amazing brightly-colored bird it is!


Very happy that our three hours in the park had turned up 34 species and several very exciting birds, we got into the car and started home. But before we had five yards, Dee spotted a Cooper's Hawk in a tree ahead. I jumped out and managed to capture one photo as the bird flew off. It was a good end to a very good morning.


As I mentioned earlier, wildflowers were springing up all over the park. For those of you who like flowers, here are a few of those that we saw.







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