Lunchtime Birding

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Wednesday at noon I decided to use my lunch hour to make a quick birding trip to Longenbaugh Road on the Katy prairie. As it takes almost 20 minutes to get there from the college, it left me only about 20 minutes for birding.

I started by spending ten minutes where Longenbaugh crosses Bear Creek. Although there were none of the Harris's Sparrows I was hoping to see, several Savannah Sparrows were  present.

So, too, was a pair of White-crowned Sparrows.
 

 

An Eastern Phoebe and an Eastern Bluebird were perched nearby.
 

 

As is usual on Longenbaugh, I didn't have to look far to spot a Loggerhead Shrike.

While I photographing the Shrike, a flock of 200 Cedar Waxwings flew in. Most had the normal yellow-tipped tail.

However, at least one had the much lesson common orange-tipped tail.

After Longenbaugh, I had only a few minutes left for a drive over to Paul Rushing Park, where I was hoping to add Brown-headed Cowbird to my 2016 Harris County list.

As soon as I parked, I saw several Brown-headed Cowbirds mixed in with a large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. They were too far off for photos, so I had to make do with a shot of a closer American Crow instead.

With two minutes left, I got lucky! A Long-billed Curlew appeared and landed only a short distance from where I was standing.

  

So, overall, not a bad little birding trip, considering that it lasted just 20 minutes.   
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