Junction, Texas

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Sunday afternoon I went over the the Junction city park, which is usually a good place for birding. We had checked it out the previous day but had found the park packed with people attending a fair. This time it was much quieter.

A Turkey Vulture was enjoying what looked like a piece of left-over b-b-qed chicken.

A couple of Eastern Phoebes were flitting about nearby.

One of them decided that this would be a good time for some preening.

A pair of Vermilion Flycatchers moved off as soon as I approached them, so I photographed a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher instead.

Shortly after this, the male Vermilion agreed to pose.

While I was photographing the Vermilion, he flew up into a tree. I walked towards the tree and, just at that moment, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew onto a branch. It was my first Cuckoo of the year. Although I had seen many others over the years, this was the first time I'd noticed what a pronounced yellow eye-ring this species has.

Since the park was otherwise quiet for birds, I drove up to the city's water treatment (ie., sewage) plant, hoping for shorebirds. The entrance area utility lines had Cattle Egrets as well as Barn and Cave Swallows (below).

 

I was disappointed to see that all the ponds were full of water and therefore shorebirds were absent except for a Solitary Sandpiper and five American Avocets (below).

On Monday morning I fitted it a very quick visit to the city park, where I hope to get photos of more Vermilion Flycatchers.

A Great Blue Heron was standing at the foot of the spillway.

Shortly after I arrived, it flew away.

The trees were full of roosting Black and (mainly) Turkey Vultures.
 

The adult Vermilions were nowhere to be seen but an immature male let me grab a quick picture.
 

A male House Finch was greeting the dawn from its perch on a chain-link fence.

The top of the same fence held a molting Indigo Bunting and a couple of Eastern Bluebirds (below).

My final sighting was of a bird we had missed seeing at South Llano River State Park: a Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

So if Junction hadn't produced as many birds as usual, it had at least produced a few nice ones.
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South Llano River SP

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As we approached the Visitor Center, we noticed that a Purple Martin house there was busy with both Purple Martins and the inevitable House Sparrows. The front porch of the Center had several hummingbird feeders that were attracting large numbers of both male and female Black-chinned Hummingbirds.

The Visitor Center staff were very friendly and they showed us how to get to the other three bird blinds.

We started by visiting the Agarita Blind, which is just a minute's walk behind the Visitor Center. The birds here were mainly the same species as we had seen at the first blind, and Painted Buntings were again the stars of the show.

However, there were a few different birds, including a female Summer Tanager.

A male Indigo Bunting was another new bird for the trip.

So, too, was an Inca Dove.

I was a little surprised to see a Pine Siskin.
 

The water feature at this blind offered several bathing areas for the birds, and the latter took full advantage of them. The bathers included Field Sparrow, Northern Cardinal and Painted Bunting.

A White-eyed Vireo dashed in and out of the water half-a-dozen times but never stayed long enough for me to get a photo. Another bird that I missed photographing was a Bewick's Wren, which perched and sang briefly from a tree top. 

A Yellow-breasted Chat stayed around longer and took a leisurely bath.

The final two blinds were much less busy with birds. However, we would probably have been thrilled by them if we hadn't been spoiled by the number and variety of birds at the first two blinds.

Back at Laura's Blind we watched a Golden-fronted Woodpecker fly in to drink.

As it was now getting very hot, we left the park, pausing to let a Wild Turkey cross the road ahead of us. We drove into Junction and had an excellent Mexican lunch. Then we checked into our motel, the Legends Inn. It turned out to be as comfortable as on-line reviews had led us to expect.

Dee decided to rest but I wanted to explore the area, so I drove to the city park. I scoured the river banks with binoculars, looking unsuccessfully for Green Kingfishers. There were several other birds, though, including Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Bluebirds, Western Kingbirds and Bronzed Cowbirds.

A group of maybe a hundred Black Vultures were resting under trees just outside the park and it was odd to see one of them cross to wade in the water in the company of several exotic geese.

A Great Blue Heron looked on.  

The following day we were due to head home to Houston. However, I planned to return to do some early morning birding at South Llano River SP and then to take Dee back there for another couple of hours before setting off down I-10.
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