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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