Seasonal Sightings for Central Prairie and
East Texas Seasonal Sightings for Central Prairie and
East TexasThe 67 Texas counties included in this report are: Anderson, Angelina, Austin, Bastrop, Bell, Bowie, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Caldwell, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Coleman, Comanche, Coryell, DeWitt, Falls, Fayette, Franklin, Freestone, Gonzales, Gregg, Grimes, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardin, Harrison, Henderson, Houston, Jasper, Karnes, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Madison, Marion, McLennan, Milam, Mills, Montgomery, Morris, Nacogdoches, Newton, Panola, Polk, Red River, Robertson, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Smith, Titus, Travis (eastern), Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Walker, Waller, Washington, Williamson, and Wilson.
Reduced from over 3600 reports of 318 species.
Darrell Vollert, 9 August, Washington County, "The high pressure system that has been parked over southeast Texas for two weeks is slowing retrograding to the west. Winds have switched back to the southeast. During the work week winds were blowing out of the south and southwest pumping in that hot air from Mexico. High temperatures during the middle and latter part of the week were 100-105 degrees. The hottest day was Thursday, the 7th, at 105 degrees. Parts of Brenham had some rain on Friday. Chances for rain will increase this weekend."
Rich Kostecke, 14 August, Belton Reservoir, Bell County, "On the morning of August 14, Becky Peak and I birded along Cowhouse Creek and the Cowhouse Creek arm of Belton Reservoir on Fort Hood (Bell County). Water levels have dropped substantially, creating some nice mudflats. Although decent numbers of waders and a few shorebirds were present, there was nothing too unusual to report."
Darrell Vollert, 2 September, Washington County, "Heavy rains from the remnants of Tropical Storm Grace grounded some nice birds in the Chappell Hill area the past couple of days. We received 4.50 inches of rain from Sunday-Tuesday. The Brandt's in Chappell Hills Subdivision had a total 7 inches of rain over the holiday weekend.
Ellen Ratoosh, 13 October, Brazos County, "You've missed some interesting weather. On 10/5, we had a violent storm blow through with 2.75" of rain in 1.5 hours, and confirmed tornadoes in both Millican and Bryan. The next day, we received an additionally 1.25". The ground was still saturated on 10/9 when it started to rain at about 9 a.m. In the next 6 hours, my rain gauge measured five inches. Bee Creek went totally out of its banks, joined the floodplain behind my house, flooded Emerald Forest Park to a depth of three feet, and poured over Appomattox Dr. in a 40' wide river. Needless to say, the road was closed. For the first time in the five years we've lived here, the water came inside our back fence at the low corner by the storm sewer outlet and was within five feet of the back gate that is on higher ground. Fortunately, the floodwater receded rapidly. I'm still finding lizards in odd places though."
Brush Freeman, 26 October, Bastrop County, [after arrival of cold front], "Last night I posted about the numbers of migrants I heard passing over and suspected that a fair number of the chips I heard were Orange-crowned Warblers. Well after a very slow few days, the property here is very active with lots of new arrivals, including 8-9 Orange-crowned Warbler which were absent before last night. There is also an increase of Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, a Lincoln's. A Yellow-breasted Sapsucker is new as is a Chipping Sparrow and Catbird."
David Wolf, 18 November, Nacogdoches County, "Raging winds hit from the northwest."
David Wolf, November, Nacogdoches/Angelina/San Augustine counties, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "With the extensive habitat on Rayburn and mild weather, long-legged waders were found later than normal. … With lake levels on Rayburn very low we finally got some migrant shorebirds. ..."
Tim Fennell, Fall Report, Williamson County, "This season has been a dry one. We are 10 inches behind in rainfall, Granger Lake is at the lowest levels I have ever seen since I began birding the area in 1995, and many stock ponds are dried up completely."
Randy Pinkston, Fall Report, Bell County "Fall 2003 was a season of many exciting finds in Bell County, including three first confirmed county records (Surf Scoter, Short-billed Dowitcher, Thayer's Gull). The primary reason for the season's productive birding was increased effort on my part associated with a County Big Year in 2003. By 30 November my list stood at 272 species, exceeding my pre-2003 expectations by more than 50 species! I look forward to sustained local coverage in the years to come. The region continued under drought conditions with Stillhouse Hollow's lake level the lowest I've seen it in ten autumn seasons. November was characterized by many days of unseasonably warm weather."
Surf Scoters in Bell, Bastrop and McLennan counties.
Brown Pelican in McLennan, Bell, Nacogdoches counties.
Glossy Ibis in Bell and Travis counties.
Swallow-tailed Kite in Williamson County.
White-tailed Kite in Nacogdoches County.
Crested Caracara in Marion County.
Whooping Cranes in McLennan and Coryell counties.
Marbled Godwit in Bell County.
Short-billed Dowitcher in Bell County.
Thayer's Gull in Bell County.
Sabine's Gull in McLennan County.
Black-legged Kittiwake in Travis County.
Monk Parakeets nesting in Brazos County.
Common Pauraque in Guadalupe County.
Black-chinned Hummingbird in Montgomery County.
Calliope Hummingbird in Bell County.
Broad-tailed Hummingbird in Brazos County.
Green Kingfisher in Bastrop, Caldwell and Guadalupe counties.
Lewis's Woodpecker in Travis County.
Pileated Woodpecker in Burleson County.
"Western" Flycatcher in Bastrop County.
Vermilion Flycatcher in Smith County.
Ash-throated Flycatcher in Nacogdoches County.
Great Kiskadee in Bastrop and west Harris counties.
Couch's Kingbird in Travis, Waller and Burnet counties.
Rock Wren in Williamson County.
Chestnut-sided Warbler in Travis County.
Magnolia Warbler in Travis County.
Black-throated Blue Warbler in Travis County.
Black-throated Gray Warbler in Travis County.
Palm Warblers in Nacogdoches and San Jacinto/Polk counties.
Cerulean Warbler in Nacogdoches County.
Scarlet Tanager in Marion County.
Smith's Longspur in Franklin County.
Greater Scaup in Bell and Williamson counties.
Least Grebe in Guadalupe County.
Reddish Egret (white morph) in Bell County.
Roseate Spoonbill in Bell County.
Long-billed Curlew in Bell County.
Dunlin in Bell County.
Bell's Vireo in Brazos County.
Common Raven in Bell County.
Louisiana Waterthrush in Bell, Guadalupe, Karnes, and Washington counties.
MacGillivray's Warbler in Guadalupe and Washington counties.
Henslow's Sparrow in Smith County.
Snow Geese in Coryell County on 15 September.
Common Loon oversummering in Bell County.
American Bittern in Bell County on 13 August.
Sandhill Crane in Austin County on 27 August.
American Woodcock in Travis County on 30 October.
Whip-poor-will in Brazos County on 13 August.
Black-throated Green Warbler in Smith County on 5 August.
American Redstart in Guadalupe County on 20 August.
Fox Sparrow in Nacogdoches County on 30 October.
Dark-eyed Junco in Guadalupe County on 15 September.
McCown's Longspur in Travis County on 28 October.
Little Blue Heron in San Augustine County until 16 November.
Tricolored Heron in San Augustine County until 19 November.
White-faced Ibis in Travis County until 30 November.
Roseate Spoonbill in Freestone County until 23 November.
Purple Gallinule in Angelina County until 10 October.
Purple Gallinule in Travis County until 27 November.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in San Augustine and Harrison counties 7 October.
Yellow-throated Vireo in Nacogdoches County until 16 October.
Cave Swallows in Brazos and Williamson counties through period.
Prairie Warbler in Nacogdoches County until 27 September.
Prothonotary Warbler in Bell County until 21 September.
Summer Tanager in Gregg County until 16 November.
Sightings of particular note are in red. Very rare or casual sightings are in red and bold.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck: (2) 5 August (Randy Pinkston), near Rogers, Bell County [rare to occasional in this county].
Randy Pinkston, "This species is rare, certainly less than annual, and always noteworthy in Bell County, despite its more common status in Travis and McLennan counties."
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck: (26+) 15 August (Jeff Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis
County [high count].
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck: (3) 13 October (Tim Fennell), Sore Finger WMA, Granger Lake,
Williamson County [occasional].
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck: (1 adult with 5 half-grown ducklings) 18 October (Darrell
Vollert), stock pond on Porter Lane, Waller County [late date for ducklings].
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck: (no.?) 29 November (Frank Bumgardner, John Muldrow), WMARSS
sewage ponds, Waco, McLennan County [rare this late in fall].
Fulvous Whistling Duck: (1) May to at least 27 August (Fred Collins), unmarked Road north of FM 2855 that turns into Morrison Road, Rice irrigation reservoir, Waller County.
Greater White-fronted Goose: (flock of 27) 27 September (Shawn Ashbaugh), southwest
Austin, Travis County [rare in late September].
Greater White-fronted Goose: (2000-3000) 30 October (Fred Collins), Stockdick Road north
of the airport on 362 north of Brookshire, Waller County [good count].
Snow Goose: (~100) 15 September (Scott Summers), flock flying over Fort Hood, Coryell County [very early; probably earliest sighting ever reported for the region, and an incredibly large number. Why?].
Ratio of Ross's Goose to Snow Goose in mixed flocks:
(15-18 in 1000) 2 Nov (Ellen Ratoosh), Emerald Forest subdivision, College Station, Brazos County.
(2 in 54) 2 November (Shawn Ashbaugh, Jeffrey Hanson), Wershon Lane, northeast Travis County.
(~1 per 100) 3 November (Ellen Ratoosh), Emerald Forest subdivision, College Station, Brazos County.
(19 in 400) 5 November (Brush Freeman), various locations in eastern Travis County.
(4 in flock of 40 Snow Geese) 5 November (Ellen Ratoosh), Emerald Forest subdivision, College Station, Brazos County.
(~5 in 500 Snow Geese in two flocks) 9 November (Ellen Ratoosh), Emerald Forest subdivision, College Station, Brazos County.
("a handful" in flock of 5000 geese) 14 November (Fred Collins), McGregor Rd, southern Waller County.
Ross's Goose: (4) 13-16 November (David Wolf, Jesse Fagan), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [rare].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "A rare surprise was a family group of 4 Ross's Geese on the exposed flats off the TX 147 bridge from Nov 13-16 (DW,JF)."
Cinnamon Teal: (1 male) 22 November (Richard Kaskan); 24 November and 2 December (Allan Hook), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare].
Three reports of Greater Scaup in the Oaks and Prairies region is an atypically
large number.
Greater Scaup: (1 female) 8 November (Tim Fennell), CR 359
stock pond, Williamson County [very rare].
Greater Scaup: (2) 9 November (Jesse Fagan, Rick Schaefer), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam
Rayburn, San Augustine County [occasional].
Greater Scaup: (adult pair and young male) 22 November (Randy
Pinkston), near Rogers, Bell County [very rare].
Greater Scaup: (8-10) 30 November to at least 7 December
(Randy Pinkston), Dana Peak Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Bell County [very rare].
Randy Pinkston, Fall Report, "Fall 2003 was exceptional for this normally accidental species in Bell County. I had an adult pair and young male near Rogers 22 Nov. A second group of 8-10 birds discovered on Stillhouse Hollow Lake 30 Nov remained through at least 7 Dec."
Greater Scaup: (3) 30 November (Matt White), small pond in Titus County [uncommon].
Peter Barnes, NETFO newsletter, "Greater Scaup are not uncommon on some of the large lakes of the region but three on a small pond in Titus Co. on Nov 30 were notable (MW)."
Wow! What caused the big influx of Surf Scoters into Texas!
Surf Scoter: (1 first-winter) 15 November
(Randy Pinkston), Slough Pond near Temple, (same) 16 November (Randy Pinkston) and 17
November (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove WA, Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, Bell County
[casual, first county record].
Randy Pinkston, 15 November, "The bird was a young Surf Scoter in its first winter. Initially it was alone on the water but it soon joined up with a group of Ring-necked Ducks, N. Shovelers, and Lesser Scaup. The whole group was gone when we returned but I would bet they probably relocated to a gravel pit north of Slough pond. I didn't have time to search for it.
Randy Pinkston, 16 November, "This evening at 1700 I found a first-winter Surf Scoter at Union Grove Wildlife Area on the south shore of Stillhouse Hollow Lake in Bell County. This time I was able to study the bird for over half an hour. It appears to be the same individual I found yesterday on Slough pond in Temple. The two locations are roughly eleven miles apart as the scoter flies.
Rich Kostecke, 17 November, "Following up on the tip that Randy Pinkston posted, I went chasing (luckily before the rain hit) the Surf Scoter first thing this morning 17 Nov at Union Grove WMA at Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, Bell County. Between 0700-0730, I actually found 2 Surf Scoters basically in the same location as Randy did, about half way between the point and the tree line near the south shore. They were actively foraging together about half-way to 2/3 out from the shore to the end of the snag line. One of these birds I would probably call an adult female based on the vertical white patch at the base of the bill and a distinct white patch at the back of the head. The bill looked to be grayish. The other bird looked to be the 1st winter bird that Randy observed."
Surf Scoter: (1 female) 27 November
(Brush Freeman), Shipp Lake, Smithville, Bastrop County [casual].
Surf Scoter: (3) 15 November (Al Bjelland);
(3 female or immature) 16 November (Joe Yelderman); (1 female) 29 November (Frank
Bumgardner, John Muldrow), WMARSS sewage ponds, Waco, McLennan County [casual].
Report submitted by Joe Yelderman: 16 Nov 2003 4-5 PM. observed through 7x35 binoculars and 20X spotting scope at 30-40 yards for 45 minutes. "All three birds were very similar: dark bill, 2 white patches on side of head, one in front of eye and one behind the eye, dark brown to black color, 2 birds flew and I could tell with certainty there were no white wing patches. I heard no vocalizatiions. White-winged Scoter was eliminated because there was no white wing patch. I have seen a few White-winged Scoters and their face patches did not seem as pronounced. Other species in the pond could be compared side by side - Gadwall, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Shoveler and Ruddy Duck. Notes were made during observation."
Surf Scoter sightings this fall were unusually numerous and widespread in Texas.
Besides the 7 birds at 3 sites listed above are the following sightings:
(1 female) 10 November (shot by hunter, fide Terry Maxwell), Twin Buttes Reservoir,
southwest of San Angelo, Tom Green County.
(9) 23 November (Eric Carpenter, Fred Land); (2) 26 November (Eric Carpenter); (5) 27
November (D. D. Currie, Dell Little), Lake Balmorhea, Reeves County.
(1) 1 December (George & Scarlet Colley), Port Isabel and Brownsville ship channel,
Cameron County.
Common Goldeneye: (2) 26 November (Alan Byboth), Lake Tyler, Smith County [rare].
Hooded Merganser: (1 male) 29 October (Rob Fergus), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare
this early date].
Hooded Merganser: (8 males, 9 females) 16 November (Tim Fennell), Meadow Lake, Round Rock,
Williamson County [good count].
Red-breasted Merganser: (2 female) 7 November (Rich Kostecke), Temple Lake Park, Lake
Belton, Bell County [occasional].
Red-breasted Merganser: (4) 8 November (Andy Balinsky); (4) 11 November (Terry Wilhelm),
Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Red-breasted Merganser: (1) 9 November (Jesse Fagan, Rick Schaefer), TX 147 bridge, Lake
Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [rare].
Red-breasted Merganser: (3) 13 November (David Wolf), Etoile Park, Lake Sam Rayburn,
Nacogdoches County [rare].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "Always scarce on our lakes, one Red-breasted Merganser was seen from the TX 147 bridge on Nov 9 (JF,RS) and 3 were off Etoile Park on Nov 13 (DW)."
Red-breasted Merganser: (1 female) 13 November (Rich Kostecke); 14 November (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, Bell County [occasional].
Randy Pinkston, "Red-breasted Merganser: probably this species is an uncommon but regular fall migrant in Bell County, but a female on Lake Belton 14 Nov was my first in ten years here. Rich Kostecke discovered this bird(s) a week earlier."
Red-breasted Merganser: (1) 29 November (Cheryle Beck. Jane Purtle, Carolyn Kelley, Denis Scott), concession area of Lake Tyler, Smith County [rare, ~6th or 8th county record].
Peter Barnes, NETFO newsletter, "The concession area also had a Red-breasted Merganser on Nov 29 (CB, JP, CK, DS) and a Horned Grebe on Nov 30 (PB), both of which are rarely observed in Smith Co."
Northern Bobwhite: (1) 14 August (Margaret Cook), Lynn Road, northern Austin County
[rare?].
Northern Bobwhite: (covey of 10) 20 September (Sharon Kersten), northeast Milam County
[rare].
Northern Bobwhite: (1) 16 October (Darrell Vollert), perched on fence post at junction of
New Wehdem Road and Sander road, Austin County [rare? occasional?]
Northern Bobwhite: (10) 3 November (Fred Collins), his farm on Repka Road, central Waller
County.
Northern Bobwhite: (10) 15 November (Byron Stone and Travis Audubon Society Sparrow
Class), along Turnersville and Satterwhite Roads, a few miles south of Austin, northeast
Hays County
Northern Bobwhite: (6) 17 November (Jane Purtle), Smith County [rare].
Common Loon: (2 in basic/immature plumage) 17 August (Randy Pinkston), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Bell County [casual; same location of reports for 25 June and 13 July of this year].
Randy Pinkston, "At Union Grove Wildlife Area on Stillhouse Hollow Lake I had … two Common Loons in basic/imm plumage. The loons are most likely the same bird(s) that have been observed on the lake all summer."
Least Grebe: (1) 10-20 August (Ernest Jasek), small stock tank south of I-35, northwestern Guadalupe County [rare; second county record].
Noreen Baker, "Yesterday morning (8/10) my Dad, Ernest Jasek, found a Least Grebe on his small stock tank. The fact that a Least Grebe appeared on his pond is in itself interesting, but more interesting is the fact that prior to Saturday night, the pond was bone dry and had just filled up during the night not as a result of rain but as a result of prolonged line flushing at the new water tower that was built just north of his property. Amazingly, within hours of filling up, the Least Grebe appeared out of nowhere and settled in. My first thought was 'poor guy, what will it eat?' but apparently I didn't need to worry as its been happily eating drowned earth worms ever since it arrived. I imagine it will run out of that food supply pretty soon and move on, but it just goes to show that one never knows what's out flying around at night looking for a good opportunity. My Dad's place is located just south of IH-35 in far northwestern Guadalupe County, and while I expect that Least Grebes have been recorded in Guadalupe County before, it was certainly a first for his little pond."
David Sarkozi, "Actually this is only the second record of Least Grebe, the first was on the New Braunfels CBC this year."
Least Grebe: (4) 30 September (Derek Muschalek), near Old Davy Community, DeWitt County
[breeding confirmed-FL].
Least Grebe: (1) 3-4 October (Jeffrey Hanson, Richard Kaskan); 7 October (Eric Isley); 16
October (Sally Breed); 11 November (Terry Wilhelm); 16 November (Ted Eubanks); (1) 28
November (Joe Skraba), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare].
Least Grebe: (1) 2 November (fide Georgina Schwartz and the San Antonio Audubon Society
hotline); (4) 23 November (Mike Creese, Marge Lumpe, et al.); (4) 27 November with
additional sightings in December (Mike Creese), Bird Pond, Mitchell Lake Wetlands, San
Antonio, Bexar County [rare].
Pied-billed Grebe: (2) May to at least 27 August (Fred Collins), unmarked Road north of FM 2855 that turns into Morrison Road, Rice irrigation reservoir, Waller County [chicks produced].
Horned Grebe: (2) 13 November (David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San
Augustine County [first of season; occasional].
Horned Grebe: (1) 30 November (Peter Barnes), Lake Tyler, Smith County [occasional].
Eared Grebe: (1) 2 September (Jeffrey Hanson), in P1E, Hornsby Bend, Travis County [very early; rare].
With the increased success of coastal breeding of Brown Pelicans, there seems to be
more inland vagrants each season.
Brown Pelican: (1 adult, but 2 on opposite ends of the lake
on 22 July) 10 July to at least 2 October and maybe 2 December (Richard Howard with
details and photos, Jeffrey Sammon, Eric Haskell, Joe Yelderman, et al.), Lake Waco,
McLennan County [casual; very long length of stay].
Bert Frenz, "The longest staying inland Brown Pelicans that I've uncovered in my research are:
18 days at Alcoa Lake in fall 2002.
24 days at Lake Travis in May 1991.
30 days at Lake Buchanan in spring 1991.
The Lake Waco bird this year has already stayed at least 85 days (to October 2).
Also, I've only come across two other occasions where two Brown Pelicans have been found at the same time:
2 at Lake Travis on 27 May 1991
2 at Lake Belton on 8 May 2002
By my count, this is the 4th or 5th Brown Pelican for McLennan County, the others being: 21 September 1988, 14 May 1991 and 22 June 1996. Since the species is listed as an "extremely rare visitant" on the 1962 McLennan County checklist, I assume there must be an earlier record that I have not yet found.
Brown Pelican: (1 adult) 18 and 22 October (Randy Pinkston); 22 October (Rich Kostecke, Gil Eckrich); 3 November (Rich Kostecke), Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, Bell County [casual].
Randy Pinkston, "This morning at roughly 10 AM a Brown Pelican was present at River's Bend Park on the south shore of Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir. The bird was an adult and apparently healthy. Skies were bright and blue, the lake was like glass, and it was quite a sight to watch this pterosaur flying around and diving for fish. In the 15-20 minutes that I watched the bird it moved upriver on the lake but was still in view from River's Bend Park."
Randy Pinkston, Fall report, "I discovered this bird, an adult, on Stillhouse Hollow Lake 18 Oct. I also observed the same individual at a nearby location 22 Oct. I believe Rich Kostecke and others observed it on several occasions after the 18th, and perhaps into November. The species should be considered accidental in Bell County with only a couple of other sightings from Belton Lake in the spring seasons of 2002 and 2003."
Rich Kostecke, 3 November, "Likely the same bird that Randy Pinkston found on the lake in October."
Brown Pelican: (1 immature) 2 November (Kreg Ellzey); 9 and 11 November (Jesse Fagan, Rick Schaefer, Georgette Guernsey), Etoile crossing on upper Lake Sam Rayburn, Nacogdoches County [casual; 4th area record and 1st fall record].
Kreg Ellzey (from Hornbeck, LA), "After making a Sunday afternoon bird survey through east Texas I was returning home from Lufkin when I came across a BROWN PELICAN on Sam Rayburn Reservoir south of the Hwy 103 bridge (Angelina River) on the Nacogdoches County side. The bird was on the water and began to take off as I drove by. U-turning at Etoile Park, I recrossed the bridge but the pelican had moved off southward toward the highlines that cross the lake as good distance south of the bridge. I was a bit astonished as this was the first time I've EVER seen a Brown Pelican away from the coast, much less deep in the pineywoods! After referencing several books I noted in Matt White's Birds of Northeast Texas that there have been several fall reports for this species from Lake Tawakoni and one from Lake O' the Pines."
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "The biggest news this month was an immature Bronw Pelican found on Nov 2 at the Etoile crossing on upper Rayburn by Kreg Ellzey, a Louisiana birder passing through. It was seen by local birders on Nov 9 & 11 (JF, RS, GG) thanks to Kreg's posting on TexBirds. This is our 4th area record and the first in the fall."
Neotropic Cormorant: (1 adult) 10 October (David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [rare].
David Wolf, in Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, XXXI, No. 3 (Nov 2003), Fall Migration Bird Report (Sep 21 - Oct 20, 2003). "The only Neotropic Cormorant was an adult off the TX 147 bridge on Oct 10 (David Wolf). Water levels on Lake Rayburn finally fell low enough to expose some mudflats and shoreline, and long-legged waders stayed later than expected."
Neotropic Cormorant: (2) 18 October (John O'Brien), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto and Polk counties [occasional].
John O'Brien, "2 Neotropic Cormorant (not unusual at this location in my experience; there were 200-300 Double-crested)"
Double-crested Cormorant: (1 color-banded hatch-year among 200-300 others) 18 October (John O'Brien), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto and Polk counties.
John O'Brien, "In a visit to Lake Livingston (San Jacinto and Polk Counties) this Saturday I came across a color-marked hatch year Double-crested Cormorant below the dam. It had a standard metal band on the left leg and a very large (covered almost the entire tarsus) light blue color band with white lettering on the right leg. It was too distant to read the lettering on the color band. If anyone knows of a cormorant color banding project, I would like to know the details. I did a quick web search and could not find the project, but did find a sighting of a color-banded DCCO from Tennessee in late October of last year (a hatch year bird with a green color band on the right leg). I've reported the sighting to the bird-banding lab."
Anhinga: (1) 16 August (Margaret Cook), at lake on Lynn Road, northern Austin County
[occasional].
Anhinga: (5+) 17 August (Shirley Wilkerson, Dan Wilkerson), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone
County [occasional].
Anhinga: (2) 11 November (Georgette Guernsey), Kurth Lake, Angelina County [late
departure; occasional].
Anhinga: (2) 30 November (Mike Austin), flying over Pattison Road, eastern Waller County
[rare this late in season].
American Bittern: (1) 13 August (Randy Pinkston), Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Bell County [very early, very rare in August].
Randy Pinkston, "One bird flushed from the lakeshore at Stillhouse Hollow 13 Aug was a total surprise on this date, preceding typical migrant dates by a couple of months."
American Bittern: (1) 5 October (Richard Kaskan), Hornsby Bend, Travis County
[uncommon].
American Bittern: (2) 7 October (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove WMA, Stillhouse Hollow
Reservoir, Bell County [uncommon].
American Bittern: (1) 17 October (Keith Arnold), Country Club Lake, Bryan, Brazos County
[uncommon].
American Bittern: (1) 21 October (Fred Collins), Pattison Road off Morrison Road north of
Hwy 529, eastern Waller County [uncommon].
American Bittern: (1) 2 and 4 November (Scott Young, et al.), Kizer Golf Course, Austin,
Travis County [uncommon].
American Bittern: (1) 5 November (Eric Isley), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [uncommon].
American Bittern: (1) 27 November (Brush Freeman), Fayette Lake, Fayette County
[occasional].
Great Egret: (1000+) 21 August; (25) 23 August (George Russell), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto [massive migration].
George Russell, 23 August, "1000+ Great Egrets flew past our house on Lake Livingston in San Jacinto County on Thursday, August 21 at sunset. Today, we saw no more than 25."
Great Egret: (100s) 28 August (George Russell), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto County [good count].
George Russell, 28 August, "From the time I opened my eyes this morning at around 7 am until about five minutes ago which was around 7:20, Great Egrets were passing in front of my window in groups of from 3 to perhaps as many as 100 birds. Several groups had between 30 and 50 egrets. They streamed from the E. side of the lake where I believe they have been roosting for the night and up the little cove in front of my desk. When they get to the end of the cove they rise over the trees and continue over the peninsula. It is a shortcut on their way to their feeding grounds along the shoreline where they disperse to feed along with the Great Egrest and Snowys."
Great Egret: (400) 31 August (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
Snowy Egret: (171) 9 August (monthly count), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [high count].
Snowy Egret: (100) 31 August (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County.
Snowy Egret: (5) 18 November (Georgette Guernsey); (1) 19 November (David Wolf), TX 147
bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [late departure; occasional].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "With the extensive habitat on Rayburn and mild weather, long-legged waders were found later than normal. Records of note from the flats and brushy islands off the TX 147 bridge were a Cattle Egret on Nov 13 (DW); a juv. Little Blue Heron on Nov 16 (DW,JF); 5 Snowy Egrets on Nov 18 (GG) and 1 on Nov 19 (DW); and a Tricolored Heron on Nov 18-19 (GG,DW). 13 late White Ibis were at the TX 147 bridge Nov 16-18 (JF,DW,GG)."
Snowy Egret: (1) 20 November (Hazel Bluhm), Marion County [late departure; occasional].
Snowy Egret: (3) 22 November (Tim Fennell), San Gabriel Park, Georgetown, Williamson
County [occasional at this time].
Snowy Egret: (3 roosting with 9 Great Egrets) 22 November (Tim Fennell), San Gabriel Park,
Georgetown, Williamson County [late departure; occasional].
Snowy Egret: (2) 30 November (Fred Collins), Pattison Road, central Waller County
[occasional].
Most Little Blue Herons leave the area by the second week in October, yet this
season we had some remain through November.
Little Blue Heron: (7) 8 November (Hornsby Bend monthly count, 5 observers, fide Russell
Nelson), Travis County [rare].
Little Blue Heron: (1) 14 November (Fred Collins), reservoir at FM 2855 and Hwy 529,
southern Waller County [late departure].
Little Blue Heron: (1) 16 November (David Wolf, Jesse Fagan),
TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [very rare this late for East
Texas].
Little Blue Heron: (1 adult) 16 November (Ed Fair); (1 immature) 19 November (Stu Wilson),
Hornsby Bend, Travis County [late departures; rare].
Ed Fair, "I located a Little Blue Heron on one of the "islands" in the southeast corner of Pond One West. While a Little Blue would not generally be of interest at Hornsby, I note that the Travis Audubon seasonal distribution list for Austin does not contain any sightings of Little Blue Heron for the month of November."
Little Blue Heron: (2 adults, 2 immature) 30 November (Isaac Sanchez), Colorado River Park, Austin, Travis County [late departure; rare].
Tricolored Heron: (1) 18-19 November (Georgette Guernsey, David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [very rare this late].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "With the extensive habitat on Rayburn and mild weather, long-legged waders were found later than normal. Records of note from the flats and brushy islands off the TX 147 bridge were a Cattle Egret on Nov 13 (DW); a juv. Little Blue Heron on Nov 16 (DW,JF); 5 Snowy Egrets on Nov 18 (GG) and 1 on Nov 19 (DW); and a Tricolored Heron on Nov 18-19 (GG,DW). 13 late White Ibis were at the TX 147 bridge Nov 16-18 (JF,DW,GG)."
The white morph Reddish Egret that appeared at Stillhouse Hollow Lake in mid July
remained until 4 August, making it the longest stay (21 days) for the species in the Oaks
and Prairies region.
Reddish Egret: (1 juvenile white morph) 14 July to at least 4
August (Randy Pinkston, Grant Critchfield), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse Hollow
Lake, Bell County [rare as Reddish Egret; even rarer as white morph (second occurrence);
longest recorded stay of Reddish Egret in Oaks & Prairies region].
Cattle Egret: (2) 3 November (Brush Freeman), St. Mary's Community area, Bastrop County
[somewhat late departure; uncommon].
Cattle Egret: (4) 8 November (Hornsby Bend monthly count, 5 observers, fide Russell
Nelson), Travis County [somewhat late departure].
Cattle Egret: (25) 30 November (Fred Collins), Pattison Road, central Waller County [late
departure; occasional]
Green Heron: (1) 9 October (Rich Kostecke), Chalk Ridge Falls Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Bell County [late departure; occasional].
Black-crowned Night-Heron: (1) 9 August (monthly count), Hornsby Bend, Travis County
[occasional].
Black-crowned Night-Heron: (1 juvenile) 31 August (Peter Barnes); (2) 7 September (Peter
Barnes and Dallas Audubon Society), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County [occasional].
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron: (1 adult) 13 and 20 September (Darrell Vollert), Clarann
Estate, Chappell Hill, Washington County [late departure; occasional].
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron: (1) 20 September (Rich Kostecke, Anthony Floyd), Bell County
[late departure; occasional].
White Ibis put on a good showing this fall, with a few lingering into November.
White Ibis: (~50) 8 August (Debbie Moore), farm in Burleson County.
Debbie Moore, "We got up this morning and found a flock of about 50 white ibis foraging in a freshly cut hay field just past our front yard. We have seen one or two before near one of the ponds, but never such a large group at one time."
White Ibis: (2) 9 August; (2) 17 August (Randy Pinkston), Bell County.
Randy Pinkston, Fall Report, "White Ibis: Two reports of two individuals each in Bell County 9 & 17 Aug was above our average. Fall 2003 was a banner season for ibises in general."
White Ibis: (25+) 17 August (Shirley Wilkerson, Dan Wilkerson), Richland Creek WMA,
Freestone County.
White Ibis: (2 juveniles) 30 August (Darrell Vollert), north of Chappell Hill along
FM1155, Washington County.
White Ibis: (200) 31 August (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County [good
count].
White Ibis: (1 juvenile) 31 August and 6 September (Rich Kostecke), Iron Bridge Park, Bell
County.
White Ibis: (1) 1 September (Ted Eubanks); (1 immature) 11 September (Jeffrey Hanson),
Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
White Ibis: (1) 6 October (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse Hollow
Lake, Bell County.
White Ibis: (38, including 2 adults) 11 October (Darrell Vollert), foraging in hay field
along FM 1155 at New Year's Creek, Washington County [occasional].
Darrell Vollert, "I saw (38) White Ibis foraging in a hay field along FM1155 at New Year's Creek. The ibis were eating crayfish in the freshly cut hay field. Only two of the birds were adults."
White Ibis: (13) 16-18 November (Jesse Fagan, Georgette Guernsey, David Wolf), TX 147
bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [late departure; occasional].
White Ibis: (38) 30 November (Fred Collins), Pattison Road, central Waller County [high
count so late in season].
Glossy Ibis: (1 among 20 White-faced) 11 August (Randy Pinkston), between Temple and Belton, Bell County [casual; first fall record for Bell County; second county record].
Randy Pinkston, "This afternoon between Temple and Belton I discovered twenty-one Plegadis ibis busily foraging at the edge of a favorite water hole. I decided to check every individual closely. In the process I discovered twenty White-faced and one nice Glossy. All were adults but their head and neck parts were mostly in basic plumage already. Even so, the distinctive facial markings of the Glossy stood out very clearly. What a treat it was to find and then watch and compare this rare bird with its very similar counterparts."
Glossy Ibis: (2 adults) 21 August to 28 November (Jeffrey Hanson, Russell Nelson, Andy Balinsky, Joe Skraba, et al.), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [casual].
Jeffrey Hanson, 21 August, "As of 1:45pm there was at least 2 adult Glossy Ibis in Pond 1 West, at Hornsby Bend - Austin. The birds are almost in the exact middle of the pond. The way I was able to get a good enough look at them for positive ID (a challenge with a fixed 22X scope) was to slowly go east from the western edge ~1/3 of the dike between the large pond (Pond 2) and Pond 1 West. The birds were still almost due NE from where I stopped, but were meandering into a little alcove, and that was my best angle at the time. One of the birds has relatively bold lining around the lores, for a Glossy. The other far less so, but the right characteristics were still there, including the powder blue. There are two other Plegadis Ibis with them, but I couldn't make out what they were at 22X. It may be of note that all four of these ibis are new arrivals. The two White-faced Ibis that have been here for several days were feeding by themselves a few hundred feet east of this group of four."
Jeffrey Hanson, 8 October, "At least one non-breeding adult was in with a very skittish group of 8-9 Plegadis Ibis spp. Another bird appeared to also be an adult Glossy. Most of the other birds were imm.s thus were unidentifiable. These birds didn't seem to be of the same group of 20-30 that had been around for a week but appear to have left.)"
Jeffrey Hanson, 28 October, "I got several decent digital images of an ad. Glossy Ibis that was feeding in the slough part of the extreme western and northwestern part of Pond 1 West at Hornsby this morning. This bird was last seen just before 11. I have a strong hunch that this bird has been here for weeks if not months (I believe I posted seeing an individual here some weeks back)."
Austin RBA, 8 November, for Russell Nelson and Andy Balinsky, "The Glossy Ibis is probably the same bird that has been seen by many observers since first reported on Aug. 21 by Jeff Hanson."
Plegadis species: (1) 2 November (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
[late departure; occasional].
Plegadis species: (2) 8 November (Hornsby Bend monthly count, 5 observers, fide Russell
Nelson); (4) 16 November (Ted Eubanks), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare]
White-faced Ibis: (1) 8 November (Tim Fennell), CR 435, Williamson County [late departure;
rare].
White-faced Ibis: (4) 30 November (Isaac Sanchez), Colorado
River Park, Austin, Travis County [late departure; very rare after mid November].
Roseate Spoonbills had a good breeding year, resulting in many more inland sightings than usual. Typically, they are uncommon through the first week of October, with sightings dropping off quickly thereafter. Sightings are occasional in the second week of October, rare in the third week, and very rare in the fourth week.
Terry Maxwell, "Following Lorrie Black's report of a flock of spoonbills at Abilene, our report pales, but this does seem to be the year of the spoonbill out here on the southern plains. Delbert Tarter reported one today at San Angelo's municipal pond (Lake Nasworthy). There was another seen on the Concho River in downtown San Angelo back in July. One wonders why so many are dispersing inland this summer? Does anyone know if reproduction went well for them on the coast this year? When the great wood stork nesting colony in the Carmen Swamp of Tabasco fails (usually due to high water conditions), the storks tend to show up early in Texas and perhaps in larger number. I wonder if anything happened to spoonbill reproduction this year?"
Winnie Burkett, "It appeared that spoonbills had a very productive breeding season on the Upper Texas Coast. I wonder if birds being seen inland are adults or juveniles."
Roseate Spoonbill: (1 juvenile) 2 August (Randy Pinkston), Milam County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 3 August (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse
Hollow Reservoir, Bell County
Roseate Spoonbill: (2) 6 August (Karen Arquette, James Loesch); (3) 14 August (Joe
Yelderman), WMARSS, Waco, McLennan County [rare in this county].
Roseate Spoonbill: (6) 24 August (Tim Fennell), Mankin's Crossing and Granger Lake,
Williamson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (4) 28 August (Rich Kostecke), Cowhouse
Creek on Fort Hood, Bell County [first record for Fort Hood, although not unexpected].
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Sore Finger Wildlife Area,
Granger Lake, Williamson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Willis Creek Park, Granger
Lake, Williamson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (15+ adults and immatures) 20 and 22 August; (10+) 1 September (Darrell
Vollert), slough along US290, 2 miles east of Brazos River, Waller County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (8) 7 September (Peter Barnes and Dallas Audubon Society), Richland
Creek WMA, Freestone County
Roseate Spoonbill: (6) 8-9 September (Terry Junek), pond on CR 265, Burleson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 55 days until 14 September (Scott
Young), Kizer Golf Course, Austin, Travis County [long stay].
Scott Young, "Sunday's cold front blew away our recent resident Roseate Spoonbill after 55 consecutive days on the course."
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 17 September (Oscar Carmona), FM 60 between College Station and
Snook, Burleson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (13 roosting in one tree) 20 September (Tim Fennell), Willis Creek
Park, Granger Lake, Williamson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (1 immature) 22 or 23 September (Fred Collins) Schmidt Road, Waller
County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (8) 30 September (Rick Schaefer), fare south-east Angelina County
[occasional].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, "... one more record for an excellent fall for this species"
Roseate Spoonbill: (5) 1 October (Eric Haskell, Jane Derrick), Flat Rock Park, Lake
Waco, McLennan County [rare in this county].
Roseate Spoonbill: (2) 4 October (Rich Kostecke), Rogers sewage ponds, Bell County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (9) 6 October (David Wolf), TX 103 at Attoyac, Lake Sam Rayburn,
Nacogdoches County [occasional].
Roseate Spoonbill: (7) 31 August; (1) 4 September; (5) 6 September; (9) 20 September; (1)
4 and 7 October (Rich Kostecke), Iron Bridge Park at Leon River inlet into Belton
Reservoir, Bell County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (4) 10 October (Tim Fennell), Willis Creek Park, Granger Lake,
Williamson County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (3) 27 September; (1) 8 and 11 October (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend,
Travis County.
Roseate Spoonbill: (16) 11 October (Tim Fennell, Joe and Holly Skraba), Granger Lake,
Williamson County [unusually large number, especially this late in the season;
photographed].
Roseate Spoonbill: (3) 11 October (Ellen Carpenter Spracklen), Lake Limestone, Limestone
County [occasional in Oaks & Prairie region at this time; only third county record].
Ellen Carpenter Spracklen, "I am not a birder, but saw what I thought to be an unusual bird Saturday, Oct. 11. While fishing on Lake Limestone in Limestone County, we spotted 3 pink birds, took pictures and identified them as Roseate Spoonbills. While this may be common, I thought I would let someone know."
Bert Frenz to Ellen, "Not many people have reported birds from Limestone County, so almost any sighting is interesting. In fact, in my database of 100,000 bird records for our area, I have only two records of Roseate Spoonbills in Limestone County: 10 Sep 1996 and 25 Sep 1992. Roseate Spoonbills nest along the Texas coast and post-breeding they wander inland to our area, mostly in August and September. By mid-October, the time of your sighting, most of the spoonbills have drifted south. They are occasionally still found, but not so much as before. In another week they will be rare and by the end of October it would be quite unusual to find them in the area."
Roseate Spoonbill: (14) 29 September (David Wolf); (11) 10 October (David Wolf); (1) 14 October (Georgette Guernsey), Marion Ferry, Lake Sam Rayburn, Angelina County [occasional].
David Wolf, in Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, XXXI, No. 3 (Nov 2003), Fall Migration Bird Report (Sep 21 - Oct 20, 2003). "Roseate Spoonbills continued their good showing, with 14 at Marion Ferry on Sept 29, 9 at TX 103 at the Attoyac on Oct 6, and 11 at Marion Ferry on Oct 10 (all DW), and the last one still at Marion Ferry on Oct 14 (Georgette Guernsey)."
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) ~25 October (Eric Carpenter), Salt Lake, south of Luling, far northeastern Guadalupe County [rare].
Brush Freeman, 25 October, "Eric Carpenter sent me a note saying he had a Roseate Spoonbill in far northeastern Guadalupe Co at Salt Lk. south of Luling. There are very few reports of this species from that county for some reason."
Roseate Spoonbill: (16) 2 November (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
[very late departure, especially for such large numbers].
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 23 November (Mike Creese, Marge Lumpe, et al.), rookery area of
Mitchell Lake Wetlands, San Antonio, Bexar County [late departure].
Roseate Spoonbill: (1) 23 November (Peter Barnes), Richland
Creek WMA, Freestone County [very late departure; very rare].
Wood Stork: (200+) 17 August (Shirley Wilkerson, Dan Wilkerson); (2) 31 August (Peter
Barnes); (200) 7 September (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County [high
concentration].
Wood Stork: (1) 7 October (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare in this
county].
Jeffrey Hanson, "In a few seconds the bird started to soar, and by then I could see that it held it's neck out straight, and had one whopping bill. The scope revealed an imm./bird-of-the-year WOOD STORK. Not that big of a deal just ten or so miles east of here (essentially Bastrop Co.), but once you get within sight of downtown Austin (easily seen from Hornsby) Wood Storks are exceedingly rare with 1-2 sightings per year at best."
Wood Stork: (114) 29 September; (80) 10 October (David Wolf), Marion Ferry, Lake Sam Rayburn, Angelina County [occasional in October].
David Wolf, in Pineywoods Scissor-Tales, XXXI, No. 3 (Nov 2003), Fall Migration Bird Report (Sep 21 - Oct 20, 2003). "The high count on Wood Storks for the fall was 114 at Marion Ferry on Sept 29, but 80 were still present on Oct 10 (David Wolf); none were seen after this."
Wood Stork: (3) 11 October (Ben Tedrick), Lake Bryan, Brazos County [occasional in mid October].
Ben Tedrick, "I'm not a birder but I fish often and am into outdoor and wildlife photography. While fishing at Lake Bryan on Saturday evening I observed a single stork-like bird of which I had never seen before, fly in and roost in a tree, at first I though it was a whooping crane but after getting a few photos, I still wasn't sure what it was. I returned home and searched the Internet and I believe it is a wood stork. What's even cooler is just as it was getting dark there were three wood storks that came in to roost near the camping area. I tried to get pictures but they spooked and my camera failed to take the picture. I'll be going back out to the lake and if I can get better pictures I will send them to you if you would like."
Bert Frenz, "Ben, they're Wood Storks alright. They breed in Florida and along the Gulf Coast and then wander in our direction post-breeding. They start showing up in July and through summer and early fall. It's getting a bit late to find them in our area, so yours was a good sighting."
Black Vulture: (97) 27 November (Brush Freeman), circling around power plant at Lake Fayette, Fayette County [good count].
Turkey Vulture: (300 migrating) 14 October (Sue Wiedenfeld, 11 others), Schaezler
property, Guadalupe County [good count].
Turkey Vulture: (1555) 26 October (Jeffrey Hanson), north and
east of Carlson, eastern Travis County [massive migration accompanying arrival of cold
front].
Brush Freeman, "This is good weather for the BIG push of Turkey Vultures that normally start passing through in greater numbers about this time of the year though I have not noted any so far today. I would be curious as to what birds this front brought into the lakes in West and North Texas. [arrival of cold front].
Jeffrey Hanson, "Spent vast majority of 5+ hours on Sunday north and/or east of Carlson in Travis Co., with almost 1.5 hours spent within literal spitting distance of the intersection where Travis, Bastrop and Williamson counties meet. Highlights were ... large numbers of migrating Turkey Vultures, etc. I reached Giese Ln. by 8:40 or so, and for the next hour I saw just about nothing of interest. I eventually wended my way up to (and a bit beyond) the aforesaid intersection of the three counties. On my way back as I rounded the corner I looked up and immediately slammed on my brakes (thankfully I was in the middle of nowhere) as I could see hundreds of TVs streaming right overhead to the SSW. For the next hour I conducted an impromptu hawk watch, tallying some impressive results (below). ... All of the birds were traveling towards whatever direction the wind was blowing. By the end of the counting the wind was due north. I decided to stop counting not just because the birds were becoming so few that it didn't seem worth my time, but also because nearly all of the birds were coming from far north and east of me. With the shift in the wind they were mainly migrating 1+ mile east of me, barely visible even with my scope, and my eyes were seriously hurting after 20+ minutes of squinting and counting."
Bert Frenz, "I tabulated an amazing 52 reports of Osprey this season [m.obs.]. Generally considered an uncommon species fall visitor in Central and East Texas, this season certainly had a good showing. Counties represented include: Bell, Fayette, Marion, McLennan, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Smith, Titus, Travis, Washington, and Williamson."
Swallow-tailed Kite: (1) 22 August; (1) 27 August (Dan Calloway), CR 464 about 3 miles east of Coupland in southeast Williamson County [casual].
White-tailed Kite: (1) 10 August (Ed Fair), Caldwell County [rare].
White-tailed Kite: (1 adult, 1 juvenile) 30
September (David Wolf, Jesse Fagan), campground at Alazan Bayou WMA, Nacogdoches County
[casual; only one other September record shown on Pineywoods checklist].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-tales, "Two White-tailed Kites, an adult and a juvenile, were a surprise at the campground at Alazan Bayou on Sept 30 (DW, JF), but they were not seen again in spite of numerous visits to the area. Were these birds migrants from somewhere?"
White-tailed Kite: (1) 4 November (Brush Freeman), north of Garfield, eastern Travis
County [rare].
White-tailed Kite: (1) 14 November (Darrell Vollert), over his residence on FM 1155,
Chappell Hill, Washington County [rare].
Mississippi Kites remained in nesting areas of Brazos and Washington counties until
17 August and migration was noted the next day. First migrants were reported in Montgomery
County on 5 August.
Mississippi Kite: (6) 5 August (Jerry Walls), Christmas Creek Nature Preserve, Montgomery
County [first migration report].
Mississippi Kite: (at least 6, probably 1 nest site) June to at least mid August (Matt
Wagner), Woodlake, Wellborn area, College Station, Brazos County [summer sightings for 5+
years, increased numbers this year].
Mississippi Kite: (up to 3 adults, and 2 juveniles) through July; (2 adults, 1 juvenile
perched and soaring) 2 August; (1 adult soaring) 4 August; (5 adults) 9 August; (1 adult
soaring) 16 August (Darrell Vollert), Clarann Estate, Washington County [breeding data].
Mississippi Kite: (2 juveniles, 3 adults) 4 August; (8 adults soaring) 11 August; (1
juvenile being fed by 2 adults) 12 August (Darrell Vollert); (1 juvenile being fed by 2
adults) 17 August (Fred & Mary Brandt), Chappell Hill subdivision, Washington County
[breeding data].
Mississippi Kite: (20 adults, 1 sub-adult, 1 HY) lift-off 9 AM 18 August (Darrell
Vollert), Chappell Hill subdivision, Washington County [migration].
Mississippi Kite: (8 roosted) 28 August (Sharon Kersten), XE Ranch Nature Preserve, Milam
County [few reports for this county].
Sharon Kersten, "We have been fortunate this past few weeks to have several Mississippi Kites roosting in snags on the Preserve. In the past three years we owned the property, this is the first time we observed this. Eight Miss. Kites spent the night (and a good part of the next day) on a snag just below the cabin while another group roosted in a snag in a bottomland pasture. Several times in the past few weeks we have observed Kites on both of these snags, but no others, although there are plenty of snags on this 220 acres."
Mississippi Kite migration peaked on 3 September in Bastrop County when Brush
Freeman counted ~550 kites over Utley and Alvin Cearley watched ~300 near Smithville.
Mississippi Kite: (~550) 3 September (Brush Freeman), Utley, Bastrop County [substantial
migration].
Brush Freeman, 1st post, "Next came the Mississippi Kites seen on and off all morning which I suspect over-nighted nearby given their low altitude. Did not do a count of them but est. 160-170"
Brush Freeman, 2nd post, "I mentioned a number of Miss. Kites in my previous post. Well I just got back from a ~3/8 mile walk to the mailbox and the kites are really coming over today along with a few other raptors etc. I saw a string of kites a few minutes ago that contained well over 80 birds but also a few smaller groups in addition to the ones seen this morning. Corpus is about 160 miles to the due south of here so assuming they can cover at the minimum of 25 mph, you will likely start seeing herds of them by 5:30-6:00 pm. assuming they fly straight through. I am not sure where the hawk watch is conducted, as I have never been there, so maybe you are even closer. Just a rough guess but suspect I have seen close to 400 kites today and it is only 1:00pm. Maybe Hornsby will pick up on some of these but that watch is a bit west for the bulk of raptor migration."
Brush Freeman, quarterly report, "Mississippi Kite, ~550, 9/3 Utley, Bastrop Co."
Jeff Hanson, at Hornsby Bend Hawk Watch, "After reading Brush's posts it is clear where the migrant hawks were today - Bastrop! Try as I may, I was only able to muster three total migrant hawks; one Swainson's, and two Mississippi Kites."
Mississippi Kite: (14) 3 September (Brush Freeman), Elgin, Bastrop County.
Brush Freeman, "Notable also are the crickets. Looks like another explosion of them at least in Bastrop Co. this year. At the HEB in Elgin, there were 10's of thousands of them on the front of the building to the point that small drifts of dead ones were at the base of the walls. The parking lot was well oiled with smashed ones. I saw this same thing at two other locations in Elgin and one in Utley.. I did not see any birds that appeared to be interested in them. Perhaps they are already sick of them. I did see about 14 Miss. Kites working very low over a close cropped field and perhaps this is what they were feeding on (?) as Dragonflies were scare this morning."
Mississippi Kite: (300) 3 September (Alvin Cearley), Smithville, Bastrop County.
Alvin Cearley, adding to Brush Freeman's post, "Ah yes! Just south of Bastrop/Smithville, we have had several large kettles of kites today. Yesterday afternoon we had +-300 kites come in to the trees at the top of our driveway to roost. It was a pretty spectacular sight. This is the second time this year we have had large numbers of kites come in for the evening."
Mississippi Kite: (50) 3 September (Darrell Vollert), Chappell Hill Subdivision, Washington County.
Darrell Vollert, "This afternoon around 3:15PM in Chappell Hills Subdivision north of Chappell Hill about (50) Mississippi Kites sailed by heading south. At least a third of these kites were birds of the year. The kites skirted the eastern edge of a thunderstorm."
Mississippi Kite: (1) 1 November (Sumita Prasad), Smith Point Hawk Watch, Chambers County [very late sighting].
Sumita Prasad, "Here are the species totals for the year: … Mississippi Kite 3740. ... Mississippi Kites fell below the 6-yr average by 4%, but this average is largely skewed by the extremely large number of MIKIs counted last year (N = 7879). When compared to the average number of MIKIs seen per season excluding the 2002 count (1997-2001, avg.= 3,100.4), the 2003 MIKI season total is more than 20% above than that 5-year MIKI average. Mississippi Kites and Swallow-tailed Kites are typically early migrants. The last recorded date of MIKI observed at SPHW- fall 2003 was on 1 November -a VERY late date record of a single MIKI, with the next-to-last sighting of 2 MIKIs on 17 Oct."
Bald Eagle sightings were again common this fall, but David Wolf noted that they
seem to be arriving earlier than in the past.
Bald Eagle: (2 adults) 31 August (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
Bald Eagle: (1) 13 September (Peggy Harding), her yard, Rusk County.
Bald Eagle: (1) 23 September (George Russell), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto County.
Bald Eagle: (1 adult) 23 September (David Wolf), Central Heights, Nacogdoches County
[early migrant].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-tales, "As they increase in numbers, Bald Eagles are apparently moving southward notably earlier than in the past. This year an adult kettled over Central Heights with a flock of Broad-wings on Sept 23, while 7 (6 ad.) at TX 147 and Marion Ferry on Oct. 10 surely includes some early migrants (DW)."
Bald Eagle: (8) 27 September (NETFO hawk watch), Lake O' the Pines, Marion County [good
count].
Bald Eagle: (1) 23 September; (2 adults) 28 September; (2 immature) 26 October; (2 adults,
1 immature) 2 November and more sightings thereafter (George Russell), Lake Livingston,
San Jacinto County.
George Russell, 26 October, "A juvenile Bald Eagle soared only a few feet above the new American flag that I had just raised on the flagpole. Had I had my camera in hand I could have gotten an amazing photo. The Eagle was accompanied by groups of mostly Turkey Vultures (up to 50 Turkey V's) and one Osprey and another darker juvenile Bald Eagle, as well as flocks of soaring Pelicans of up to 50 birds or so."
Bald Eagle: (1 adult) 2 October; (2 immature) 15 October (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove
WMA, Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, Bell County.
Bald Eagle: (1 immature, likely a 2nd year bird) 7 October (Rich Kostecke), Iron Bridge
Park, Lake Belton, Bell County.
Bald Eagle: (7, including 6 adults) 10 October (David Wolf), TX 147 and Marion Ferry, Lake
Sam Rayburn, Angelina and San Augustine counties [early migrants].
Bald Eagle: (2 immature) 18 October (John O'Brien), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto and Polk
counties.
Bald Eagle: (1 adult) 2 November (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
Bald Eagle: (1) 2 November (Kreg Ellzey), Sam Rayburn Reservoir at Hwy 103 bridge,
Angelina County
Bald Eagle: (2) 9 November (Jerry Walls & Darrell Vollert), Gibbons Creek reservoir,
Grimes County
Bald Eagle: (1 adult) 14 November (Homer Rushing), Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Bald Eagle: (1) 15 November (Harvey Truskett), Harrison County.
Bald Eagle: (2) 16 November (Harvey Truskett), Upshur County.
Bald Eagle: (1 adult, 1 immature) 8 November (Brenda Muncrief); (1 adult) 18 November
(Oscar Carmona), Huntsville State Park, Walker County.
Bald Eagle: (1) 30 November (Brush Freeman), Sayer's Road, Bastrop County.
Cooper's Hawk: (1 juvenile) 28 September (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Travis County.
Peg Wallace, "This bird put on quite a show! Came blasting into the compost basin from the north, tried to go underneath one of the Scarabs (one of the compost-turner machines)while chasing shorebirds, then came up onto the bank, where it fluttered against the window of a parked van. It ended up on the ground next to the van, then flew up and perched on top for several minutes before disappearing. Obviously a juvenile!"
Broad-winged Hawk: (pair raised 2 young) summer; (4 departed) 12 August (Fred Gehlbach), Woodway Ravine, McLennan County [rare].
Fred Gehlbach, 19 August, "Adults [kites] occasionally sat and foraged under forest canopy like the single broad-winged hawk pair that also raised 2 young about 800 m from the nearest known kite nest. On August 12th, when the broadwings disappeared (presumably migrated) these same kites (same area-behavior) with young were joined by two additional adult kites and appeared to be in a migratory flock."
Broad-winged Hawk: (200) 20 September (Diane Jones, Dorothy Metzer), Caddo Lake, Marion
County
Broad-winged Hawk: (250-300) 22 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob Sandlin,
Camp/Titus counties [common].
Broad-winged Hawk: (410) 26 September (Peter Barnes), UT Health Center, Tyler, Smith
County.
Broad-winged Hawk: (523) 27 September (NETFO hawk watch), Lake O' the Pines, Marion County
[good count].
Peter Barnes, September NETFO Newsletter, "It was a good year for migrating Broad-winged Hawks in the eastern sections of the region, with 200 birds seen over the west end of Caddo Lake on Sept 20 (DJ, DM), 250-300 at Lake Bob Sandlin on Sept 22 (CF, JF), 410 over the UT Health Center at Tyler on Sept 26 (PB) and 523 over Lake O' the Pines at the NETFO hawk watch on Sept 27. In contrast, totals were significantly lower than usual in the western portions of north-east Texas."
Short-tailed Hawk: (1) 20 November (Ben Archer Jr.), San Marcos, Comal County [species not listed on Freeman's 2003 Oaks & Prairies checklist, nor on the Austin area checklist].
Austin RBA, "On the 20th: Ben Archer, Jr. reported a SHORT-TAILED HAWK in San Marcos at LBJ Dr. and Craddock St. This is an accidental species for the Austin reporting area."
Swainson's Hawk: (1) 9 August (monthly count), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [early edge
of migration].
Swainson's Hawks: (13) 7 September (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Travis County
[numbers increasing].
Peg Wallace, "Swainson's Hawks are definitely starting to come through, and I was treated to several that came low enough for me to watch them playing in the breeze above the field across the compost. The local hawks weren't happy, and I saw confrontations between Swainson's and a juvenile Red-tail, a juvenile Red-shouldered, and an Osprey!"
Swainson's Hawk: (300) 18 September; (hundreds) 30 September (Shirley and Dan Wilkerson), large area approximately 2 miles from Gustine on Hwy 36, Comanche County [a peak migration route appears a bit west of where most observers look for this species].
Shirley Wilkerson, 18 September, "Dan was on his way to Comanche this morning [9-18-03], and there is another grounding of Swainson's Hawks, mostly immatures between Hamilton and Comanche, 1 mile West of Gustine on Hwy 36, and there are 100's of Swainson's on the ground. Also saw a few Northern Harriers. He was watching from the side of the road at the entrance to the Deep S_____Cattle Company, just as in the previous past two years. This must be a yearly fly-way stop-over for these huge kettles. We are curious if anyone else in the area has noticed this yearly grounding."
Shirley Wilkerson, 30 September, "Dan and I went to Comanche Tuesday, 9-30-03. We saw another grounding of Swainson's Hawks. Called DeWitt Patton, and he and his wife joined us around 3:30. The hawks were in a field approx. 2 miles before Gustine on Hwy 36 where the Highway Department has all of it's equipment and piles of gravel, in the fields of the Deep S_____ Cattle Company, just past Gustine, and in the county roads to the north of this Cattle Company, on country roads 330, 322 - I think - and FM 1476. They make a square, with Co. Rd. 322 (I think) paralleling Hwy 36. They were in fields just to the west of 330, as well, on Hwy 36. All day long, they were circling above, sometimes in kettles of 1 or 200, but landed once again in the various fields and continued to feed on grasshoppers. I also jotted down Co. Road 591. (They must have been in a field on this country road as well for me to have jotted it down). When we finished chores at the farm, we looked again on the way home, but they were nowhere to be found at sundown in any of these places. Seemed kind of late for them to move on, as I last saw them at around 4:30 p.m."
Swainson's Hawk: (5000+) 11-12 October (Jeffrey Hanson, Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawk Watch, Travis County [unusually large number].
Austin RBA, "On the 13th: Several large kettles of Swainson's Hawks were reported moving over central and west Austin. Number estimates were in the thousands. Large numbers of Swainson's hawks (over 5000) were also reported on the 11th and 12th at the Hornsby Bend Hawk Watch by Jeff Hanson and Peg Wallace."
Swainson's Hawk: (168) 13 October (Tim Fennell), Willis Creek Park, Grangaer Lake,
Williamson County.
Swainson's Hawk: (2000) 14 October (Sue Wiedenfeld, 11 others), Schaezler property,
Guadalupe County [unusually large number].
Swainson's Hawk: (kettles of up to 300+) 14 October (David Cimprich), over Kempner,
Lampasas County [good count].
Swainson's Hawk: (3) 26 October (Jeffrey Hanson), north and east of Carlson, eastern
Travis County [late migrant; rare].
White-tailed Hawk: (1) 10 October (Bob Norris); (1) 18
October (Georgina Schwartz and 5 other Comal County Birders), megafield east of New
Braunfels airport, Guadalupe County [very rare; first county record?; this is the same
field where sandhills, Burrowing Owls and longspurs have been seen historically].
White-tailed Hawk: (1 adult) 30 November (Mike Austin), Morrison Road, Waller County
[rare].
A number of atypical Red-tailed Hawks were reported this season.
Harlan's (Red-tailed) Hawk: (1) 2 August (Shirley & Dan Wilkerson), their farm,
Comanche County.
Shirley Wilkerson, "Today, a strong southwesterly wind ahead of a front preceded a very hawky day. Around 10 a.m. Dan and I saw a Harlan's straight above us at our farm in Comanche, 2 miles east of Comanche on Hwy 36."
Krider's (Red-tailed) Hawk: (1) 25 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob
Sandlin, Camp/Titus counties.
Western Red-tailed (dark phase) Hawk: (1) 3 November (Fred Collins), Betka Road, central
Waller County [presumably the same bird now the 5th year in a row].
Fuerte's (Red-tailed) Hawk: (1 first-year juvenile
light-morph) 12 November (Barry Boyd and ~50 TAMU students), eating a squirrel in front of
Scoates Hall, Texas A&M University campus, College Station, Brazos County
[photographed].
Barry Boyd, "The hawk in the attached photos is in front of Scoates Hall as I write this dining on a squirrel. There are about 50 students watching it, all within about 30 feet of the hawk. It has been there for about an hour. Letting people get that close is unusual. I'm not sure what hawk this is. Can you identify it? I'm thinking juvenile Broadwing."
Red-tailed Hawk (dark morph): (1) 14 November (Dan Wilkerson), CR 190, Grimes County [rare form].
Shirley Wilkerson, "Friday, coming home from a TMPA meeting, Dan came back through County Road 190 and saw a Dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk. He said it was very, very dark, with no white under the neck, as in the Harlan's, but definitely had the red tail. It was sitting in a dead oak tree. Today, we went back to C.R. 190 to try to relocate him, but with no luck."
Red-tailed Hawk (melanistic): (1) 27 November (Brush Freeman), near Kirtley, Fayette County.
Ferruginous Hawk: (1) 2 August (Shirley & Dan Wilkerson), their farm, Comanche
County [occasional].
Ferruginous Hawk: (1 light-morph immature) 19 October (Rich Kostecke), near junction of
Donahoe and Link roads, south of junction with FR 2268, southeast Bell County [rare].
Crested Caracara: (2) 23 August (Rich Kostecke), Slough ponds near Temple, Bell County
[presumedly a pair that perennially nests in the area].
Crested Caracara: (1) 27 September (NETFO
hawk watch), Lake O' the Pines, Marion County [first county record; this species is not
even listed on the 2001 Pineywoods checklist, and is rare on the 1999 Northeast Texas
checklist where it occurs in the western counties; further evidence of the expanding range
of caracara].
Peter Barnes, September NETFO Newsletter, "Perhaps the most interesting sighting was a migrant Crested Caracara at the NETFO hawk watch, providing a first record for Marion Co. on Sept 27. This species is expanding its range dramatically, and this sighting raises the question of where this bird spent the summer."
Crested Caracara: (2) 16 October (Brush Freeman, Dan Ricks), near Goldthwaite, Mills
County [rare for region].
Crested Caracara: (2) 24 October (Debbie Moore), Sawdust Ranch, Burleson County [uncommon,
but Debbie has noticed that they are getting more common in the county].
Crested Caracara: (2) 30 November (Fred Collins), his farm on Repka Rd., Waller County
[behavior; fairly common species in county].
Fred Collins, "Our Farm Repka Road Caracara 2 feeding on a pork roast bone we put out for the "animals" within a couple of hours of being placed on the spot near the creek. For the last 2-3 weeks or perhaps longer there are 2-5 Caracara fly south over our property at first light headed south. About sunset they are seen flying north across our property to roost. I suspect they may roost in a live oak grove just north of our property but have not confirmed the roost site."
It was a good season for Merlins, occasional to uncommon migrants in Central and
East Texas.
Merlin: (1) 23 August (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Peg Wallace, "The real highlight of the day for me was in the mid-afternoon, when the first Merlin of the season showed up. It announced its presence in typical Merlin fashion, by letting one of this years' juvenile Red-shouldered Hawks know who is really the boss at Hornsby! A little later, it re-appeared to teach the same lesson to one of the Red-tails. You gotta love Merlins!"
Merlin: (1 adult male columbarius) 20 September (Tim Fennell), Friendship Park, Granger Lake, Williamson County.
Tim Fennell, "... migrating raptors (including the always awesome sight of of an adult Merlin and an adult Peregrine cruising by at eye-level as they scattered the shorebirds at Friendship Park and Willis Creek Park respectively."
Merlin: (1) 17 and 20 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob Sandlin,
Camp/Titus counties [occasional].
Merlin: (1) 27 August (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Merlin: (1) 12 October (Stu Wilson, et al.), Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Merlin: (1) 18 October (John O'Brien), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto and Polk counties
[occasional].
Merlin: (1 female Taiga) 18 October (Robin Dennis), south Austin in the Sunset Valley
area, Travis County.
Merlin: (1) 30 October (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake Park, Lake Belton, Bell County
[occasional].
Randy Pinkston, 30 October, "The highlight was a nice Merlin that swept along the shoreline and scattered a group of Spotted Sandpipers."
Randy Pinkston, Fall Report, "Fall 2003 was a banner year for this species with multiple sightings at multiple locations 24 Sept through the close of the reporting period."
Merlin: (1) 9 November (Jerry Walls & Darrell Vollert), Gibbons Creek reservoir,
Grimes County [occasional].
Merlin: (1) 17 November (Robert Bates), between Leander and Liberty Hill, Williamson
County.
Robert Bates, "This morning as I was leaving my home between Leander and Liberty Hill, I was pleased to find a Merlin perched atop a dead tree. The Merlin on the other hand, as Merlin generally are, was unhappy to see the resident Northern Harrier hunting the fields. And repeatedly let the Northern Harrier know, he was now boss!"
Merlin: (1) 18 November (Oscar Carmona), Huntsville State Park, Walker County.
Merlin: (1 female, light prairie race) 30 November (Fred Collins), Pattison Road, central
Waller County [occasional]
Merlin: (1) 30 November (Rich Kostecke), central Bell County [occasional].
Peregrine Falcon: (1) 4-5 August (Randy Pinkston), Slough Pond near Temple, Bell County
[rare in August].
Peregrine Falcon: (1 immature) 9 August (monthly count); (same) 15 August (Jeffrey
Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare in August].
Peregrine Falcon: (1 immature) 2 September (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend hawk watch,
Travis County.
Peregrine Falcon: (1 adult anatum) 20 September (Tim Fennell), Willis Creek Park, Granger
Lake, Williamson County.
Tim Fennell, "... migrating raptors (including the always awesome sight of of an adult Merlin and an adult Peregrine cruising by at eye-level as they scattered the shorebirds at Friendship Park and Willis Creek Park respectively."
Peregrine Falcon: (3) 25 September (Jeffrey Hanson); (1) 27 September (Jeffrey Hanson);
(1) 28 September (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch.
Peregrine Falcon: (1) 27 September (Frank Bumgardner, Jane Derrick, John Muldrow, et al.),
WMARSS sewage ponds, Waco, McLennan County [occasional].
Peregrine Falcon: (1) 12 October (Stu Wilson, ~18 others for Big Sit), Hornsby Bend,
Travis County.
Peregrine Falcon: (1) 27 October (Nancy Bird), perched in her yard near Huntington,
Angelina County [rare].
Prairie Falcon: (1) 28 September (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Travis County [rare].
Peg Wallace, "The Raptor of the Day for me was a Prairie Falcon that went right overhead. It was fairly high and hard to see, but I clearly saw the dark axillaries"
Virginia Rail: (1) 15-16 September (Scott Young), Kizer Golf Course, Austin, Travis
County [rare].
Virginia Rail: (1) 27 October (Rich Kosteche), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse
Hollow Reservoir, Bell County [not listed for fall on the Bell County checklist; rare on
the Austin area checklist].
Sora: (2) 26 August; (2 immature, 1 adult) 28 August (Jeffrey Hanson); (1 adult, 1 immature) 1 September (Ted Eubanks), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Travis County [rare].
Jeffrey Hanson, 28 August, "Much to my surprise I had no less than 3 Sora (2 imm., 1 ad.) picking around the grassy edges within sight of the hawkwatch this afternoon. Who knows how many I would have found if I spent any time searching the grassy edges in the central and western part of the pond. I also saw 2 Sora two days ago from the hawkwatch. Our new checklist has them as "Very Rare (e.g. 2 or less records per decade)" any time in August. ........ Oooops!..... We'll fix that next time I guess."
Sora: (1) 6 September (Candy Troop, Peggy Harding, et al.), Texas Eastman in Longview,
Harrison County [occasional, a bit early].
Sora: (1) 8 September (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse Hollow Lake,
Bell County [a bit early].
Purple Gallinule: (6 half-adults) 24 September; (2 adults)
10 October (Georgette Guernsey), Kurth Lake, Angelina County [very rare this late; known
breeding colony; but late dates are much later than usual, with no September records and
only one mid-October record shown on Pineywoods checklist].
Purple Gallinule: (1, injured) late October (Susan Esterson -
sp?) to 27 November (Jeffrey Hanson), Mills Pond at north end of Wells Branch community,
northern Travis County [no prior records for October; only one for September is shown on
the Austin area checklist].
Jeffrey Hanson, "At about 8am this morning, I confirmed that a PURPLE GALLINULE can still be seen along the north and west shore of MILLS POND at the north end of the Wells Branch community in northern Travis Co. … Interestingly, this bird was initially seen about 1 month ago. It will likely stay until its demise as this bird only has use of its right wing. Lastly, I was floored when just before I left I saw it catch, kill (by beating it against a shoreline tree root), and start eating a small fish. What a neat thing to watch."
Austin RBA, "On Nov. 27th: Jeff Hanson confirmed that a PURPLE GALLINULE can still be seen at Mills Pond at the north end of the Wells Branch community in Travis Co. This bird has been at the pond for about a month and appears to have an injured wing. This bird was first reported by Susan Esterson (sp?)."
As is often the case, Stillhouse Hollow Lake held the record this season for American Coots. Numbers started building after mid September and surpassed two thousand by the start of October. By the end of the period they reached an estimated 10,000 coots.
09/20/2003 (95) Rich Kostecke and Anthony Floyd
10/02/2003 (2000+) Rich Kostecke.
10/04/2003 (2925+) Rich Kostecke
10/06/2003 (~3000) Rich Kostecke
10/15/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
10/18/2003 (3950) Rich Kostecke
10/26/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
10/27/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
10/30/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
11/11/2003 (~2650) Rich Kostecke
11/16/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
11/22/2003 (thousands) Rich Kostecke
12/06/2003 (~10,000) Rich Kostecke
Sandhill Crane: (3) 27 August (Jeff Mundy), prairie a few miles west of Sealy, Austin County [very early arrival; very rare].
Jeff Mundy, "Three sandhill cranes were on the prairie just a few miles west of Sealy, visible from I-10, yesterday afternoon. During the winter, they definitely frequent this area, but at the end of August, their presence seemed well ahead of normal schedule."
Sandhill Crane: (740) 27 October (Karen Arquette), Elm Mott, McLennan County [good count].
Whooping Crane: (2 in small flock of Sandhills) 27 October (husband of Nada Wareham), Elm Mott, McLennan County [casual migrant].
Karen Arquette, "I received a call from Nada Wareham at 11:00 am this morning Oct 27th that her husband saw two Whooping Cranes in a small flock of Sandhills flying over their ranch in Elm Mott. A year ago and one week later (Nov 5th 2002) I saw two Whooping cranes in a small flock of Sandhills from my back porch ( and I called Nada and told her to watch for them ) . The Wareham's ranch is about a quarter mile south west of my home. While working in my flower beds today I counted 740 Sandhills from 10 am till 12:30 pm and I didnt see that small flock with the Whoopers !! I wasn't looking for the Whooping cranes because it was a full week earlier than last year."
Tom Stehn, "An aerial census on October 23, 2003 of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas estimated the number of whooping cranes present at 5 adults + 0 young = 5 total."
Tom Stehn, "An aerial census on October 29, 2003 of the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas estimated the number of whooping cranes present at 45 adults + 4 young = 49 total."
Whooping Crane: (2 adults, 1 young) 10 November (Russ Schaffer, fide Rich Kostecke), Fort Hood, Coryell County [casual migrant].
Rich Kostecke, "This morning, 10 November, Russ Schaffer, one of Fort Hood's game wardens observed a family group (2 adults, 1 young) of Whooping Cranes on a quarry pond on North Fort Hood (Coryell County). I have no information on whether or not these birds were banded. Anyway, these birds were observed ~0830. Gil Eckrich and I, as well as a few other people, tried to confirm the sighting, but were too late. The whoopers had apparently taken off by 0900 when we arrived on the scene."
Snowy Plover: (1) 1 August (Mollie Kloepper), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [uncommon at
this location in August].
Snowy Plover: (1-2) 11-28 August (Randy Pinkston, Rich Kostecke), Slough ponds between
Temple and Belton, Bell County [rare].
Randy Pinkston, "I recorded this species 11-28 Aug, regularly from Slough pond (Temple) and once at Temple Lake Park. Two individuals was the daily maximum."
Snowy Plover: (14) 12 September (Rich Kostecke), Lake Belton near Cowhouse Creek, Bell County [rare].
Killdeer: (350) 13 November (David Wolf), along the Attoyac at the TX 103 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [unusually large number, following a cold front].
Mountain Plover: (62) 19 October; (25) 2 November; (29) 8 November; (46) 15 November;
(50) 23 November (Tim Fennell), Granger area, Williamson County [rare].
Mountain Plover: (5) 15 November (Rich Kostecke), Alligator Road, Bell County [rare].
Rich Kostecke, "On 15 Nov, I spent most of the day in Williamson County (Granger area) on a joint Travis and Twin Lakes Audubon Societies trip. However, we did stray briefly into Bell County (Alligator, right near the county lines). While on Alligator Road, Tim Fennell and Scott Summers were eventually able to get me on a small (5 birds), flying flock of Mountain Plovers that came out of Williamson County and flew well into Bell County air space - my first Bell County Mountain Plovers and #268 on my Bell County list for the year."
Black-necked Stilt: (9) 14 August (Joe Yelderman), WMARSS sewage ponds, Waco, McLennan County [nesting].
Karen Arquette, Editor, The Roadrunner. Central Texas Audubon Society, Waco. Issue 203 (Sep). 2 pp. "Joe Yelderman: 8/14 I just visited the sewer ponds ... there are two Black-necked Stilt families. One has 4 almost fully grown chicks and the other had one small chick."
Black-necked Stilt: ("a number", including 2 chicks that were shorter than the rest) 7 September (Peg Wallace), Hornsby Bend Hawkwatch, Travis County [nesting].
American Avocet: (2) 31 October (Matt White), Lake Cypress Springs, Franklin County [rare].
Peter Barnes, NETFO Newsletter, "Two American Avocets were at underbirded Lake Cypress Springs in Franklin Co. on Oct 31, while small numbers were at Lake Tawakoni and Cooper Lake during the month (all MW)."
American Avocet: (3) 2 November (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County
[occasional].
American Avocet: (4) 16 November (David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San
Augustine County [rare].
Willet: (1) 23 August (Peg Wallace); (1) 28 August (Jeffrey Hanson); (1) 31 August to 1
September (Ted Eubanks); (2) 12 September (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County
[uncommon at this location].
Willet: (9, probably all juveniles) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Willis Creek
Park, Granger Lake, Williamson County [occasional].
Willet: (2) 12 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob Sandlin, Camp/Titus counties
[occasional].
Long-billed Curlew: (1 juvenile) 2 August; (1-4) 2-19 August (Randy Pinkston), Slough pond near Temple, Bell County [early arrival; very rare].
Randy Pinkston, "Previously unrecorded by me inside Bell County, this fall I observed from one to four individuals at Slough pond (Temple) 2-19 Aug. While this was partly the result of my Big Year effort, I believe 2003 was a banner year for this migrant in central Texas."
Long-billed Curlew: (no.?) 3 September (Brush Freeman), Utley, Bastrop County [rare].
Long-billed Curlew: (2 juveniles) 12 September (Rich Kostecke), Lake Belton near Cowhouse
Creek, Bell County [rare].
Marbled Godwit: (1) 4 September (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake Park, Lake Belton, Bell County [casual; 3rd county record].
Randy Pinkston, "Single birds observed at Temple Park on Lake Belton 21 Aug and 4 Sept. I'm aware of only one previous record for Bell County."
Marbled Godwit: (1) 12 September (Rich Kostecke), Lake Belton near Cowhouse Creek, Bell County [casual].
Sanderlings, a rare migrant through Central Texas, were found more often than usual
this fall in Williamson and Bell counties.
Sanderling: (juveniles) 25 August and 4-9 September (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake
Park, Lake Belton, Bell County [rare].
Randy Pinkston, "Juveniles observed at Temple Park on Lake Belton 25 Aug and 4-9 Sept. Sanderling is normally a rare but regular migrant in our area."
Sanderling: (1 adult, 2 juveniles) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Granger Lake
dam, Williamson County [rare].
Sanderling: (3) 20 September (Tim Fennell), Friendship Park, Granger Lake, Williamson
County [rare, photographed].
Sanderling: (2) 13 October (Tim Fennell), Sore Finger WMA, Granger Lake, Williamson County
[rare].
Sanderling: (1) 19 October (Tim Fennell), Granger Lake dam, Williamson County [rare].
Tim Fennell, Fall Report, "Sanderling: 9/1/03-10/19/03: Good year for this species at Granger Lake. High counts of 3 birds on Granger Lake on 9/1 and 9/20."
Dunlin: (1) 2 October (Rich Kostecke), Dana Peak Park, Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir, Bell County [very rare; not listed on 2000 Bell County checklist].
Rich Kostecke, "A Dunlin briefly made a stop at the beach at Dana Peak Park before flying off towards Union Grove WMA."
Dunlin: (2) 2 November (Peter Barnes), Richland Creek WMA, Freestone County [rare].
Dunlin: (39) 9 November (Jesse Fagan, Rick Schaefer); (10) 13 November (David Wolf); (16)
16 November (David Wolf, Jesse Fagan), along the Attoyac at TX 103 bridge, San Augustine
County [high count; occasional migrant in East Texas].
Dunlin: (1) 15 November (Tim Fennell, Travis & Twin Lakes Audubon Societies), Willis
Creek Park, Granger Lake, Williamson County [rare].
Dunlin: (3) 30 November (Randy Pinkston), mudflats at Dana
Peak Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake, Bell County [very rare].
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (2-5) 17-22 August (Randy Pinkston), Slough ponds between
Temple and Belton and Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton, Bell County [occasional].
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (2) 19 August (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (1) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), CR 360/359, Granger
area, Williamson County.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (1) 1 September (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Alligator Road, Bell
County
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (9) 3 September (Brush Freeman), Utley, Bastrop County.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (150+) 11 September (Darrell Vollert), Turf farms on FM 50 and CR
443, Burleson County [occasional; good count].
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (at least 20) 21 September (Ellen Ratoosh, Darrell Vollert), Turf
farms, CR 443 and Hwy 50, Burleson County [occasional].
Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (2) 27 September (Tim Fennell), CR 352, Granger area, Williamson
County.
Short-billed Dowitcher: (1 juvenile) 2 September (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend hawk watch, Travis County [rare].
Jeffrey Hanson, "A juv. seen very well at relatively close range, high power, and through a quality scope. The folks from whom I borrowed the scope said there were other dowitchers on P1W, but I did not look for them."
Short-billed Dowitcher: (1 juvenile) 6 September (Randy Pinkston, Rich Kostecke, independently), Iron Bridge Park, Lake Belton, Bell County [first county record].
Randy Pinkston, "This morning, among the many regular shorebird migrants at Iron Bridge Park on Lake Belton, I discovered a bright juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher. I actually heard its call first, then located the bird on the lakeshore. As juvenile dowitchers move through the state over the next couple of months, it is a good time to look for SB at inland locations since the two species are much more easily distinguished at this age."
Randy Pinkston, "One bright juvenile heard and observed at Lake Belton 6 Sept for the FIRST CONFIRMED COUNTY RECORD."
Dowitcher species: (3) 12 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob Sandlin, Camp/Titus counties [occasional].
Wilson's Snipe: (~50) 16 November (Ed Fair), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [good count].
Ed Fair, "scattered among the other residents on the three islands were approximately fifty (50) Wilson's Snipe. Again, the species is not particularly noteworthy, but the number seemed high."
American Woodcock: (1) 30 October (Stu Miller), twice flushed along Bull Creek in St.
Edwards District Park in Austin, Travis County [early arrival].
American Woodcock: (1) 27 November (Brush Freeman), Lake Fayette, Fayette County
[occasional].
Brush Freeman, "Much more enjoyable was the walk along the nature and hike and bike trail that goes around the lake. I did the whole 6 mile round trip walk. Passerines were thick and very numerous, the seed and berry crop outstanding. The woodland were lush and green showing little or no signs of the season and all was untouched by any frost. Even the post oaks were yet to turn or lose their leaves. … The highlight of the day, and perhaps my year, was the find of an American Woodcock, first detected as it walked through some dry leaves. I spotted it as it stopped under some briers. It was less than 25 feet away and was awash in early morning sunshine. Alert and tense, it sat still as stone as I soaked up every detail of its gorgeous plumage. The huge eye stared at me unblinking and I stared back for a good 8-10 minutes, well aware of my good fortune. No photograph or painting could ever remotely capture what I was looking at then. It was one of those rare birding moments that will forever stick in my memory."
Red-necked Phalarope: (1 juvenile/immature) 28-29 August (Jeffrey Hanson); 30 August (Isaac Sanchez); (2 photographed) 31 August; (0) 1 September (Ted Eubanks), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare].
Jeffrey Hanson, 28 August, "By far the highlight of the day (and probably this birding year for me in cent. TX) was when Rich Kaskan and I located what turned out to be a juv. Red-necked Phalarope in the middle of P1W. BTW: It was still spinning and eating in the very middle of P1W as of ~6:00pm when I left it to come here and type this post."
Isaac Sanchez, "My wife and I saw it about 10:30 this morning on Pond 1 West. There are several Wilson's Phalaropes mixed in as well. Look for the one with a darker back, black strip on the back of the head, and a pronounced eye strip."
Laughing Gull: (1 sub-adult) 4 October (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [rare].
Jeffrey Hanson, "Around midday on Sat. the hawkwatch was visited by what initially appeared to be a R-b Gull coming in from the SE. A scope view of this bird from <300', in good light, revealed a sub-adult LAUGHING GULL (!) - which ultimately kettled for a minute or so in front of the hawkwatch over the drying basins then headed north out of sight... go figure, wow!"
Laughing Gull: (2 adults) 18 October (John O'Brien), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto and Polk counties [occasional].
Franklin's Gull: (20) 7 September (Peter Barnes and Dallas Audubon Society), Richland
Chamber Reservoir, Freestone County [early migrants; rare].
Franklin's Gull: (576 in 12 flocks) 18 November (David Wolf), passed high over Central
Heights, Nacogdoches County [high count, "as raging winds hit from the
northwest"].
Franklin's Gull: (2) 23 November (Rich Kostecke), Temple Lake Park, Belton Reservoir, Bell
County [late migrants].
Franklin's Gull: (1) 28 November (Tim Fennell), Lakeside Park, Lake O' the Pines, Marion
County [late migrant; photographed].
Ring-billed Gull: (2) 23 August (Rich Kostecke), Slough ponds near Temple, Bell County
[early arrival; rare].
Ring-billed Gull: (1) 24 August (Darrell Vollert), Fayette Lake, Fayette County [early
arrival; rare].
Ring-billed Gull: (1 adult, 1 first-winter) 4 September (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake
Park, Lake Belton, Bell County [rare through first week of September].
Herring Gull: (1+) 26 October (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove Wildlife Area, Stillhouse
Hollow Lake, Bell County [early arrival; rare].
Herring Gull: (2) 29 October (Rich Kostecke, Eric Carpenter), Temple Lake Park, Lake
Belton, Bell County [rare].
Herring Gull: (1) 8 November (Hornsby Bend monthly count, 5 observers, fide Russell
Nelson), Travis County [rare].
Herring Gull: (1) 11 and 16 November (Rich Kostecke), Union Grove WA, Stillhouse Hollow
Reservoir, Bell County [rare through November].
Thayer's Gull: (1 first-winter) 28 October (Randy Pinkston); 29 October (Rich Kostecke, Eric Carpenter); 2 November (Rich Kostecke); 11 November (Randy Pinkston), Temple Lake Park, Lake Belton, Bell County [casual; first county record].
Randy Pinkston, "This afternoon (28 October) at Temple Park on Lake Belton I discovered a first-winter Thayer's Gull in the company of roughly forty Ring-billed Gulls. I found the bird at about 1630 and carefully studied it through my scope for the next half hour. The bird was very cooperative. While my experience with Thayer's is limited, and I hesitate to use the word 'obvious' with this species, this particular individual was a textbook Thayer's down to the finest detail. I wish I were a photographer, alas I'm not, but my best written documentation will be forthcoming to the TBRC. Better than that, I wouldn't be surprised if the bird hangs around and maybe someone interested in chasing their lifer Thayer's can get some nice images. This one would make a superb first Thayer's. Speaking of firsts, the gull certainly represents a first county record for Bell, and perhaps the first regional record in more than seven years.
"At 1700, without provocation, the bird took off and flew away to the west and then the northeast over Lake Belton. I was unable to wait around for it to return but this is the typical route that gulls and terns take when foraging over the lake. They loaf and roost on a boom surrounding a swimming beach at the park where I expect the birds, and hopefully the Thayer's, to be in the morning. "
Rich Kostecke, "This morning, 29 October, I arrived at Temple Lake Park on Belton Reservoir (Bell County) around 6:45AM or so in search of the first winter Thayer's Gull reported by Randy Pinkston on the evening of 28 October. Soon after I arrived, Eric Carpenter, also arrived at the park. Anyway, between approximately 6:45-7:30AM we were both able to get good views of the Thayer's Gull. Initially, the gull was on the water in the middle of the lake out from the swimming area (thus, a scope was necessary to get good views of the bird). Eventually it flew north and out of sight for a while, but we eventually relocated it near its original location. It then proceeded to fly into the near shore area, where it landed on the water within the roped off swimming area, where we were able to get really good binocular and scope views of the bird (and Eric was able to get some digital photos of the bird too). Note, at least 60+ Ring-billed Gulls and 30+ Franklin's Gulls were also in the area, which often made for good comparisons among species, but which also complicated matters at times as the Thayer's Gull would occassionally get lost admidst all of the other gulls."
Eric Carpenter, "I've posted some of my Belton Lake gull photos from this morning (29 October) on my website. They can be found at the following URL:
<A HREF="http://www.emyadestes.com/bps/THGU_20031029.htm">http://www.emyadestes.com/bps/THGU_20031029.htm</A>
Austin RBA, Isaac Sanchez, "... This bird is an accidental and the last record for the Austin area goes back to 1996."
Rich Kostecke, 2 November, "1 Thayer's Gull (Temple Lake Park), 1 Herring Gull (Temple Lake Park), 7 Forster's Tern (Temple Lake Park), ... Identification of the Thayer's Gull has been quite the challenge for me (I do not find the ID to be that straightforward in the least). However, after studying 2 large, dark, 1st winter non-ring-billed gulls for nearly an hour (1130-1230) at the swimming area at Temple Lake Park, I am fairly convinced that I had the Thayer's, as well as a Herring. Both birds spent the whole hour swimming around within the roped off swimming area, as well as perching on the floats, and bathing and preening. Anyway, for those who might still be interested in chasing the Thayer's, there is at least a chance that the bird is still around. However, I would suggest patience, as both the Thayer's and Herring flew into the swimming area after I had been in the park for at least 1/2 hour. So, staking out the swimming area might be worthwhile.
Randy Pinkston, "Tuesday, 11 November, the first-winter Thayer's Gull was observed from ~1030-1210 at Temple Park on Belton Lake. Initially I spotted the bird in flight over the middle of the lake between Temple Park and Belton dam. An hour later it was relocated with Ring-billed Gulls and a first-winter Herring Gull behind a fishing boat near the point that sticks out north from the park itself. There it landed on the water to rest and preen, allowing careful study for half an hour. From there the gull provided super flight views as it moved north and eastward up the northeastern arm of the lake. Ten minutes later it landed in a group of Ring-billed Gulls on the beach at Temple Park swimming area.
To assist folks who might want to chase this bird with distinguishing it from first-winter Herring Gulls, try to note the following:
1) At first glance in flight, the Thayer's appears to be entirely uniformly pale gray. Closer study reveals relatively darker outer webs and tips on the outer primaries, but their inner webs are pale gray and the undersurface of the primaries is translucent silvery-white all the way to the tips.
2) One look at the folded primaries will give it away. This bird is in very fresh plumage and each primary is edged with a delicate whitish-buffy 'V' at its tip. This lineup of white 'V's along the dark folded primaries can be seen 100-200 meters away with a scope. Today's Herring did not show this feature at all.
3) The scapulars and wing coverts are very neatly checkered with gray-brown on white. I realize that this feature is a matter of degree but you'll recognize it when you see this bird. If you find that you're trying to convince yourself that what you're seeing is the right pattern, then it's not the bird.
4) The bill is entirely black and both shorter and thinner than Herrings.' This feature, coupled with the rounded head and lack of a supraorbital ridge, imparts a rather 'gentle' pigeon-like expression to the bird's face. With that I'm sounding WAY too much like one of those crazy larophiles so I'll quit at this point. Best of luck to anyone who tries for this bird. It has now been present at the same location for two weeks."
Sabine's Gull: (2 immature) 5 October (Frank Bumgardner, John Muldrow), off Lacy's Point in Speegleville II Park, Lake Waco, McLennan County [casual].
Frank Bumgardner, "This morning between 1135 am and noon John Muldor and I had two immature Sabine's Gulls on Lake Waco, McLennan County, just off Lacy's Point in Speegleville II Park. There may have been a third bird, but we were unable to confirm it. The two birds were observed on the water and in flight for approximately thirty plus minutes."
Black-legged Kittiwake: (1) 13 November (Jeff Keeny), Town Lake, Austin, Travis County [casual; no details].
Something strange happened with Caspian Terns in East Texas this season. While most
of the area suffered a paucity of the species, a few visited Lake Livingston throughout
September and October with a surprisingly high peak of 100+ on 4 October (George Russell).
Caspian Tern: (7) 25 September (Jack & Cathie Foster), Lake Bob Sandlin, Camp/Titus
counties [uncommon].
Caspian Tern: (9) 27 September (NETFO hawk watch), Lake O' the Pines, Marion County
[uncommon].
Caspian Tern: (1) 14 October (Jesse Fagan, David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn,
San Augustine County [occasional].
Peter Barnes, NETFO Newsletter, October, "Caspian Tern numbers were well below normal this month with only scattered records from Cooper Lake and Lake Tawakoni, while the number of Forster's Terns was unusually high, with thousands of individuals present all month."
Caspian Tern: (1) ~27 August to 1 September; (small groups of up to 5) 28 September; (100+) 4 October; (15+) 5 October; (15+) 6 October; (several small groups) 8 October; (~6) 26 October (George Russell), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto County [unusually large number].
George Russell, 4 October, "I would like an expert to confirm but I do not know of any other large terns with bright red-orange beaks that flap about with their heads turned down. They have been increasing in numbers over the last couple of weeks and are now quite numerous. I doubt that they could be Royals."
Common Tern: (1) 14 October (Jesse Fagan, David Wolf), TX 147 bridge, Lake Sam Rayburn, San Augustine County [rare].
David Wolf, Pineywoods Scissor-tales, "... but far rarer that day was a Common Tern (JF, DW), a scarce and easily-overlooked migrant here."
Forster's Tern: (~2000) 8 September (George Russell), Lake Livingston, San Jacinto County [unusually large number].
George Russell, "... near sunset on September 8, 2003, I estimated 2,000 small terns in my field of view with the aid of binoculars from my mother s house. Only one large tern which had the characteristics of a Caspian. "
Peter Barnes, NETFO Newsletter, October, "Caspian Tern numbers were well below normal this month with only scattered records from Cooper Lake and Lake Tawakoni, while the number of Forster's Terns was unusually high, with thousands of individuals present all month."
Least Tern: (1 juvenile) 17 August (Randy Pinkston), Slough Pond near Temple, Bell
County [rare].
Least Tern: (15-20) 19 August (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend, Travis County [particularly
rare in this number].
Jeffrey Hanson, "Much to my chagrin, I discovered via the hotline that whilst I was straining my eyes for non-existent Miss. Kites (early on) a flock of 15-20 Least Terns were in Pond 2 just 800' or so south of me. What makes the situation worse was that I believe I saw them briefly flying above the dike. Since I had initially spied them w/ the naked eye, I wasn't thinking terns of any sp. When I finally got my binocs and trained them on that area, they had either left, or had gone lower out of sight... oiy! For what it's worth this is an incredible number for this species in this part of central TX - as far as I'm aware of."
Least Tern: (1 first-winter) 2 September (Jeffrey Hanson), Hornsby Bend hawk watch, Travis County [rare].
Jeffrey Hanson, "The embarrassing story is that this bird was first seen late morning flying over the western side of P1W. I and two birders from FL, who briefly joined me at the hawkwatch site, originally settled on Forster's as an ID. I was never satisfied w/ that, so after the hawkwatch was over I went down to Pond 2 with a prayer on my lips that somehow the bird had stayed. MUCH to my surprise there it was feeding with the Black Terns. Once I finally got the scope on it there was no question about the ID. At long last, my first Least Tern for central TX!"
Least Tern: (2-3) 3 September (Brush Freeman), Utley, Bastrop County [rare].
Least Tern: (several flying with Forster's/Common Terns) 8 October (George Russell), Lake
Livingston, San Jacinto County [rare, particularly this late].
George Russell, "6 pm: 3 species of Terns feeding offshore from the Cathedral. Several small groups of Caspians; mixed groups of very small black-billed Terns that must have been Least, mixed with medium-sized, black-billed Terns that must have been either Common or Forster's."
Bert Frenz to George, "Could be Least Terns, but they are rare in your area, probably passing through in migration. This is also later than all other records I'm aware of for East Texas. The latest I know of is 6 September, although the checklist shows some about a week later. Did you notice the leg color or the terns' call?"
George, "I did not get a good look at the feet. I have not seen any tiny terns since. They were in a couple of small vigorously flying groups associated with the medium sized Terns but tended to stick closely together."
Black Tern: (1) 27 August (Fred Collins), unmarked Road north of FM 2855 that turns into Morrison Road, Rice irrigation reservoir, Waller County ["somewhat unusual on Katy prairie, one of a few or perhaps my only fall record"].
Eurasian Collared-Doves continue to spread to new sites.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (2) 6 August; (2) 9 August; (3) 11 and 14-15 August; (2) 27
August; (3) 2 September (Darrell Vollert), various Brenham locations, Washington County.
Darrell, "Around 3:45 PM this afternoon [6 August] I noticed two Eurasian Collared-Doves in flight over US290 east of Brenham at Woodward Creek. They were flying in the direction of a mobile home park along US290. I have seen Collared-Doves as far east in county as five miles west of Chappell Hill. They are working there way toward Chappell Hill. They have colonized the area around Trinity Hospital on the south side of Brenham and the neighborhoods around Blue Bell Creamery on the east side of Brenham. On July 30th and August 2nd I saw one Collared-Dove in the Bluebonnet shopping center (south side of US290) and at the Four Corners shopping center (north side of US290) at the intersection of US290 and SH36 in Brenham."
Darrell Vollert, "This afternoon (8/9) I saw (2) Eurasian Collared-Doves at the Four Corners shopping center in Brenham. The shopping center is located at the intersection of US290 and SH36."
08/15/2003, FM 577 near Blue Bell Cremeries, Brenham.
08/27/2003, Murski Homestead B&B near Brenham.
09/02/2003, Four Corners shopping center at intersection of US290 and SH36, Brenham.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1) 9 September (Mary Lee Archer), College Station, Brazos
County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1) 14 September (Frank Bumgardner, John Muldrow), McGregor,
McLennan County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1-12) throughout the period (Tim Fennell, Byron Stone), Granger,
Noak and Thrall areas, Williamson County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1) 28 September (Cathy Liles), Hwy 77 near La Grange, Fayette
County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1) 28 September; (1) 13 October (Cathy Liles), FM 50, Brazos
bottoms, Burleson County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (1) 9 October (Cathy Liles), Southwood Valley subdivision, College
Station, Brazos County.
Cathy Liles, "on Thursday 10-9-03, we had a big rain and just as it stopped I had an ECDO at my feeder. It spent the afternoon there. I was showing it to my son and we heard a bunch of noisy crows fly to a tree, so we took a look and there was a wet great horned owl being mobbed, soon the blue jays joined in, then a mockingbird started dive bombing it an harassing it, then we heard a non-crow sound and located the hawk it was coming from- a Sharp Shinned Hawk, just a few feet from the owl, also wet and irritated. We watched the growing group pf crows and bluejays and the very calm owl for about 20 minutes before we saw a second Sharp Shinned Hawk in the same trees. About this time our resident Red Bellied Woodpecker stared dive bombing one of the hawks. When we went into the back yard for a closer look, we scared off both hawks and the owl left shortly after. What fun for my non-birding son and for me too."
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (9) 20 November (Mike Mathews), around KC Hall, La Grange,
Fayette County.
Eurasian Collared-Dove: (12) 30 November (Fred Collins), Schmidt Road near Morgan Road,
central Waller County.
Prior to this fall, adjoining counties Waller and Washington have experienced only small numbers of White-winged Doves. What happened this fall that brought in large numbers? Here's how the numbers built up in Washington County from a handful in summer to 500-600 by the end of August. All sightings by Darrell Vollert.
(20-25) 6 August, lining a power line along West Hilltop Drive in Chappell Hills Subdivision.
Darrell Vollert, "Probably the most WWDOs I have ever seen in the county on one occasion."
(60+) 9 August, Clarann Estate near Chappell Hill.
Darrell Vollert, "a flock flying in an extended line toward the southwest. This is the largest flock of White-winged Doves that I have ever seen in Washington County. Could be part of the large flock that I saw in Chappell Hills subdivision on Wednesday morning."
(5) 11 August, along FM 577 across from Blue Bell Creamery, Brenham.
(5) 14 August, Lubbock Street, South Day Street and along FM 577, Brenham.
(1) 14 August, South Day Street, Brenham.
(60-70) 11 August, along FM 577 across from Blue Bell Creamery, Brenham.
Darrell Vollert, "Three birds seen along FM577 near Blue Bell on 8/14. Sixty to seventy birds seen flying in flocks from southeast to northwest across FM577 in Brenham on 8/15. I watched these birds land in the trees in the neighborhood across the street from Blue Bell. This occurred around 5:45PM. Apparently they were returning from the fields and pastures along Mustang Road and Old Chappell Hill Road."
(500-600) 27 August, Murski Homestead B&B near Brenham.
Darrell Vollert, "On Wednesday morning I spent an hour and 30 minutes surveying the Murski Homestead B&B property just outside of Brenham. ... The most amazing thing I saw during the survey was 500-600 White-winged Doves streaming in from the east and landing in a field of sunflowers and lining the powerlines. The birds started coming in around 8:30AM and continued to land on the property at 10:00AM. Pamela's husband Tom told me he saw 1,000 birds on the property within the last week. Tom hunts doves and he has never seen this many White-wings anywhere in Texas at one time. It's a sight to behold."
(11) 29 August, Stone Street at FM577, Mustang Road, Indian Paintbrush Road, Brenham.
(1) 2 September, Tom Dee Street, Brenham.
(1-9) 13 September to 24 November, Chappell Hill.
(20+) ~24 November, Brenham.
Darrell Vollert, "On the afternoon of Monday, November 24th I saw (7) White-winged Doves in flight over FM2447 east of downtown Chappell Hill. White-winged Doves are now very common in Brenham. Seeing flocks of 20+ birds at one time in Brenham is a pretty common sight. They are especially common around the Blinn College campus, in the neighborhoods around Blue Bell Creamery(FM577), and in the neighborhoods along South Day Street(Hwy. 36)."
Here's the story of a huge build up in central Waller County, decimation during hunting season and then a few remnants thereafter, all reports courtesy of Fred Collins.
(200+, but probably many times that number) 16-22 August, Repka Road, Baethe Road.
Fred Collins, 20 August, "This past weekend on Saturday August 16 there were scores of White-winged Doves flying in tight flocks of 8-50 birds moving from west to east. They were first observed about 9:30 AM and although I only was able to watch during times of leaving and arriving my farm on Repka Road, they seemed to be flying most of the day. I saw more than 200 for the day but indications were that it was an all day phenomena. For a couple of days a year or two ago in the early fall I had a similar experience with a couple of large flocks but never for an extended period. Sunday I was around the house most all day, primarily indoors but saw numerous flocks passing west to east that day as well. One flock was 80 birds. I go to work before light but the afternoon of Monday, and Tuesday driving home through about 7 miles of country roads in Waller County I saw numerous flocks of White-wings 8-20 birds. Again except in feeding areas near rows of trees or in recently harvested corn fields where they were obviously feeding, virtually every group of doves was flying from west to east. Single birds could be seen flying in every direction and throughout the 7 mile route. Aside from the migration witnessed last year I had only observed the species in Waller County on the past year's CBC (7 birds). The number of large flocks reminds me of Mexico 35 years ago when I worked in and around a colony of 500,000 White-wing Doves. If they hang around another 12 days there are going to be a lot of hunters that wish they had purchased white-wing stamps."
Fred Collins, 22 August, "Kassie saw numerous white-wings the last week of July on Baethe Road mid mornings. On Wednesday afternoon they were not nearly so prominent but more than 100 were feeding in a field of goatweed (Croton) on Repka Road in a TPWD dove hunting area. I went home via Hempstead Thursday and only saw a few birds on my farm. The goatweed area is east of my house and I didn't pass it on Thursday. This concentration and duration of white-wing doves is unprecedented in Waller County."
(150+ flying over from 6-7 PM) 27 August, Collins farm on Repka Road.
(100+) 27 August, Repka Road just west of Cochran.
Fred Collins, 27 August, "White-wings are wide spread in central Waller County through yesterday. A croton (goat weed) field on Repka has held >100 since the episode started more than a week ago. Yesterday several flocks of 6-70 birds flew from west to east across my property. It's so amazing to me. … Today I drove across the prairie section of Waller County from FM529 west and then north on Morrison, Pattison, Hebert roads then north on FM362 to Richard Frey, then north on Cochran. White-wing Doves were the most common dove throughout the drive with concentrations only at Repka Road but White-winged Doves in the air throughout most of the drive, about 10 miles."
(1000+ est.) 1 September, Waller County
Fred Collins, 7 November, "The other day I ran into the Waller County Game Wardens and I asked them if the checked the opening dove season harvest (Sept 1). They did and the northern areas of Waller County was 90% White-wings with most hunters limiting. The lower portions around and south of FM529 was mostly Mourning Dove with few if any White-wings in the bags. I saw a group of 6-7 white-wings on Cochran about 2 weeks ago after an absence of a few weeks. The August-September influx was so reminiscent of Mexico. And apparently it was widespread throughout the northern half of the county. I wonder if they will return next year. … The limit is either 10 or 12 birds. TPWD can probably give you an estimate about the harvest by county. … I'd guess that more than 1000 white-wings were harvested in Waller County."
(6-7) ~24 October, Cochran Road [seen after absence of a few weeks following hunting season].
(8) 30 November, Schmidt Road, near Morgan Road
Monk
Parakeet: (nesting pair) 19 September (Shirley Wilkerson); 4 October (Betty
Vermeire, Chuck Hamilton), Bryan, Brazos County [first report of nesting in Brazos
County].
Shirley Wilkerson, "We now have a pair of Monk Parakeets in Bryan. They have a nest. Not sure if they are still constructing, or occupying it. As far as I know, this is the first for our area. Photos can be viewed at http://community.webshots.com/user/shirleyyw "
Bert Frenz, "Except for the incident Keith refers to in November 1985, Monk Parakeets are a very recent addition to the Central Brazos Valley. After that first occurrence, the next was August 2001, followed by October 2001 and then the winter of 2001-2002, all sightings being in College Station. In July 2002, three Monk Parakeets were found in Brenham. In summer 2003, they were again found in Brenham, including the presence of nests - the first such occurrence in the Central Brazos Valley. One Monk Parakeet has been visiting a feeder in College Station since this spring.It seems the 1985 incident is simply escapees that never became established. But this recent spurt of sightings apparently may be a sign of more permanent establishment in the Brazos Valley."
History in Central Brazos Valley:
Nov 1985 - College Station
Aug 2001 - College Station
Oct 2001 - College Station
Winter 2001-2002 - College Station
July 2002 - Brenham
Spring/Summer 2003 - College Station
Summer 2003 - Brenham, probable nestingBetty Vermeire, "October 4: Chuck and I saw the previously-reported 2 Monk Parakeets in Bryan. They were feeding on the ground with starlings and House Sparrows, and adding sticks to their nest. There were lots of Purple Martins and 3-4 Chimney Swifts in the same location. In addition to the recent article on the Monks in "Birding", one has also appeared in "Bird Talk". They build their huge nests not just for breeding, but also for living. The nests have several rooms, with each pair of Monks having a bedroom, an