Wordless Wednesday

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Katy Prairie

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I didn't have much time to visit the Katy Prairie last week but I did manage a quick drive along Longenbaugh and Sharp Road and a drop-in at Paul Rushing Park.

Longenbaugh was busy with Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds, and there were also a few Brewer's Blackbirds.

Savannah and Vesper Sparrows appeared as expected but a White-tailed Hawk was a pleasant surprise.

Sharp Road had more Savannah and Vesper Sparrows plus a couple of Clay-colored Sparrows, an uncommon bird in our area.

The grass around the easternmost parking lot in Paul Rushing Park was full of birds, of which Eastern Meadowlarks were the most common.

 

More than a dozen American Pipits were grazing and several came within feet of my car.

 

I always feel a visit to Paul Rushing is worthwhile if I see some Horned Larks, because they are such pretty little birds. On this visit I counted seven. Unfortunately, though, they tend to be wary of cars and people and so I ended up with mediocre photos of them.

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Katy Prairie

.On my way to work one day last week, I managed to look in at Paul Rushing Park on the Katy Prairie.

Most of the lakes had very little water and even less bird activity. However, one lake was hosting a handful of Roseate Spoonbills. Some were hanging out on the boardwalk.

A White-faced Ibis (or Glossy?) Ibis was feeding right along a group of Spoonbills in the water.

A Snowy Egret was dashing around in the background, trying to scare up prey with its yellow feet.

A couple of Dowitchers were too far away to photograph but some Yellowlegs were closer.

As usual at Paul Rushing, the short grass held several Horned Larks.

A more surprising bird was a Clay-colored Sparrow, a new bird for my Harris County list. 

Weekend Away
By the time you read this,  we'll be enjoying a weekend away from home. We're heading down to Smith Point to watch some of the hawk migration. We may also drop in at Anahuac and perhaps even High Island to see  if any migrants are passing through there.
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This Week

.In my last post, I focused on photos of Black-necked Stilts seen in Paul Rushing Park on July 4th. The park was quiet for birds that day but we did also see a pair of Horned Larks. These beautiful birds are not very common in our area but you are almost certain to see some if you check out the sports fields at Paul Rushing.

One of the birds we were hoping to see either at the park or nearby was Northern Bobwhite. In fact, we had only the briefest glimpse of one along Porter Road End. However, on Wednesday morning I was lucky enough to see a pair on the main entrance road to the CyFair campus.

The same morning was also when I finally found the tree to which the Western Kingbirds had moved their fledglings from the nest above the college basketball court. This pair of Kingbirds has successfully raised 4 young every year since 2004 but I could only see two young birds this time. Perhaps the smaller brood is because the current drought has made insects - the birds' food source - comparatively scarce.

Nearby I was very surprised to see a group of House Finches snacking on sunflowers. This is only the second time that House Finches have been spotted on the campus. The birds were still in the same area yesterday and so perhaps they are going to stay around for a while.

Away

Dee and I will be away on Friday and Saturday. We're going to do our favorite birding loop again: Anahuac, High Island, Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston. This is probably the least productive weekend in the year for birding in our area but I expect we'll still see enough birds to make the trip worthwhile.
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Friday Focus: Black-necked Stilt

.Black-necked Stilts are one of the few shorebird species that are year-round residents in our area. The ones below were at Paul Rushing (Chain of Lakes) Park on July 4th.

In typical Black-necked Stilt fashion, several of them complained about our presence by circling over us and keeping up a constant stream of loud squawks.

Note:
They normally wade in water only up to the top of their legs but on Monday one of the juveniles  was venturing out into much deeper water.

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Prairie Park

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About once a month I take a slightly extended lunch break so that I can pay a quick visit to Paul Rushing Park on the Katy prairie. The park is at its best in the winter and spring, when it can be busy with a range of ducks and/or shorebirds. It is much quieter for birds in the summer but even then it usually produces something worth looking at.

When I arrived there on a very hot day last week, the park was as quiet as I had ever seen it. The sports fields that normally yield Horned Larks were deserted. 

However, the first boardwalk had an Eastern Meadowlark that was singing its heart out.

Then I disturbed a Black-necked Stilt, which complained loudly as it circled me before moving off.

A dozen or so swallows were swooping and soaring around the boardwalk, sometimes flying over it and sometimes diving to fly under it. 

I managed to hold some of the sparrows in my binoculars long enough to see that they were either Cliff or Cave. The former are much more common in our area but there had been reports of Cave Swallows nesting in the park and I hadn't yet seen a Cave Swallow this year. 

Unfortunately, the two species are very similar in size, shape and coloring. Cliff Swallows have a small white patch on their forehead and have dark rusty red throat but I always find it hard to pick out such details on birds that are in constant swift motion and today was no exception.

So I decided the best way to ID the birds would be to photograph them. Easier said than done! Time after time I took a picture of one of the swallows as it zoomed by, only to find either that I had missed the bird completely or that the image I had captured was so blurred as to be unrecognizable.

In the end, though, I managed to anticipate their flight well enough to produce a couple of fairly clear photos.

 

There was no white on their foreheads and their throats and upper beasts were beige rather than dark rusty red. Cave Swallows! 

Note

The Cave Swallows take my Texas year list up to 257 species, only 6 species fewer than I saw in the state in the whole of 2010. And there are still seven months of the year left!
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Katy Prairie

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Last Thursday I took a slightly extended lunch break so that I could check out the bird situation in Paul Rushing Park on the Katy Prairie. I was hoping that more migrating shorebirds might have arrived.

There were several species of shorebird around: Dowitchers, Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilts and American Golden Plover. However, none of them were new and only the Dowitchers let me get reasonably close.

 

The ponds were fairly quiet with other birds: All I saw were Pied-billed Grebes, Blue-winged Teal, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Heron and Little Blue Heron, while Barn and Cliff Swallows zoomed over and sometimes under the boardwalks.

The sports fields were busier. Scores of  Savannah Sparrows and Brewer's Blackbirds were grazing, along with a few Horned Larks.

 

I was too slow to get a photo of a Cooper's Hawk that was standing on the grass but one of the Horned Larks flew up to a lamppost to give me a different view.

Eastern Meadowlarks were singing everywhere and one of them stayed still long enough for me to get a couple of photos.

So no new species on this visit but, as always, the park provided a very pleasant hour's walk ans some nice birds.

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Paul Rushing Park

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Alerted by a Texbirds message that there were some interesting birds at Paul Rushing Park, I stopped off there on my way to work yesterday.

Killdeer were everywhere and the air was absolutely full of the songs of Eastern Meadowlarks and Red-winged Blackbirds.

Eastern Meadowlark

There were flocks of Brewer's Blackbirds, too. The Brewer's take the place of Grackles on the west coast and so we used to see them all the time around San Francisco. However, I rarely see them in Texas, except on the Katy Prairie.

 

One of my reasons for the visit was to add Northern Pintail to my year list. I love Pintails but there don't seem to have been many around this winter. There was just one pair at Paul Rushing and they were too far away for photos.

The edges of the ponds had Short- and Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, Least Sandpiper and a pair of Pectoral Sandpipers.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Sparrows were everywhere but all the ones I saw were either Chipping or Savannah. Some of the latter posed for photos.

On my way out of the park, I stopped by the cricket pitch. As usual, Horned Larks were grazing.

Then I find found another of the species I was looking for: American Golden Plover.

P.S.
I didn't take my binoculars with me on my walk around the park. So it wasn't till I looked at the photos that I realized one of the Spotted Sandpipers was actually a Solitary Sandpiper, a much less common bird. A poor photo but when it's a lifer, who cares!

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Katy Prairie

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On Wednesday I had an hour free at lunchtime to visit Paul Rushing Chain-of-Lakes Park on the Katy Prairie. As it had been a while since I had been to the park, I wasn't sure what birds I would find but I was hoping for Horned Larks, which are residents there.

I carefully scanned the grass between the parking lots, which is where the Larks usually hang out. Although I didn't see any Larks, I did get to watch a group of American Pipits grooming.

 

There were plenty of Eastern Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows in the short grass, too.

Savannah Sparrow

The edges of the lakes had a nice variety of birds: White-faced Ibis, Great and Snowy Egrets, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and a Wilson's Snipe. A pair of Dowitchers were pottering about in the shallows.

 

Further out in the water were Northern Shovelers, Blue- and Green-winged Teal, and some Gadwall.

Gadwall

Several Canvasbacks were paddling around, some accompanied by Pied-billed Grebes.

 

I checked the field beyond the southern fence for Larks and N. Bobwhites but all I saw were more Eastern Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows, plus lots of singing Red-winged Blackbirds and a Northern Harrier.

As it was almost time to return to the office, I walked back towards my car. Yes! Half-a-dozen Horned Larks were grazing in a fenced area near where I had parked.

So, all in all, my visit to Paul Rushing had turned out to be very worthwhile. I must be sure to check on the park regularly over the next few weeks, because it often attracts some vey good birds during shorebird migration.
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