Prairie Birds

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As I forgot to report on a quick trip I took out to the Katy Prairie on November 24th, I'll give a quick summary here.

I was hoping for sparrows at the Cypress Creek bridge on Sharp Road. All I actually saw was a Downy Woodpecker that was looking rather agitated.

Further east on Sharp I came across a flock of several hundred Brown-headed Cowbirds. Most of the birds flew off when I pulled over but a couple of juveniles stayed behind.

The only interesting bird at the Bear Creek Bridge on Longenbaugh Road was an Inca Dove.

There were a couple of Vesper and Field Sparrows along Longenbaugh. However, they were greatly outnumbered by Savannah Sparrows.

I finally spotted the Ferruginous Hawk that had been hanging around in the area for weeks. The bird was too far away for photos and so I had to settle for photos of a nearby Red-tailed Hawk instead.

At the corner of Longenbaugh and Porter Road End I had to brake as a family of eight Northern Bobwhites crossed the road. They were the first Bobwhites I'd seen this year. And very handsome birds they were, too.

My final sighting was of the young Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that I'd been watching for weeks on Longenbaugh and that seemed to have decided not to leave when the other Scissor-taileds migrated in late October.

P.S.
There have been no reports of a Scissor-tailed in our area since November 24th, so I guess the Longenbaugh bird finally reaized it was time to head south.
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