Another Christmas Bird Count - Granger Lake

 This is the second wave of the thunderstorm breaking apart and moving around us.

I hate to start with the weather, but I must. The day was proof of the changeable weather in Texas. We started the morning with thunderstorms. The storms blew through pretty quickly leaving it a little chilly, until it wasn't. The sky cleared and the winter sun was ridiculously bright, but it was never really hot as the wind blew up enough dust to leave a fine film of grime on your face. And by the time the sun went down, I needed a jacket.

We left the house at 5 a.m. so that we could meet with others at the Granger Lake CBC [1] who were staking out a spot where Short-eared Owls are seen. At least six of us stood around in the rain and waited...no owls. The sun came up and we divided the group into two teams. Our area leader EF had provided pages of guidance and 11 pages of maps of the area that was about 10 square miles (or thereabouts - our boundaries were rivers and streams and a lake and some crazy county roads). We were organized and ready.

The rain stopped just before dawn.

How often are you out in the wild and up to see this?

DH and I traveled with two young and experienced birders, JW and CM. They were, as we have found most birders to be, generous of spirit and patient with two inexperienced people of a certain age. [2] We learned SO MUCH and enjoyed what turned out to be a wonderful day (in spite of the weird weather). This trip was very different than our count in Georgetown because of the different habitat. The area was a mixture of farmland, low grass prairie, riparian, and woods, but mostly farmland - former blackland prairie. Like our earlier trip, someone on our team (JW) had experience in this area and knew where we could expect certain birds. Fortune smiled once again!

The rest of this will be some of what we saw. Don't expect bird photos. The birds were usually at too great a distance for my equipment. The list of birds observed (as a team) is at the end of the post. My list was much smaller although I was surprised at how many birds I did recognize (and many were pointed out to us - in song and sight). The list is also fairly dramatically different from that of the first count we attended - similar number of species, but some different ones and different numbers of individuals (An example: First trip saw loads of cowbirds and robins while we saw no cowbirds or robins on the second).

There are birds in this small tree. Really.

One bird....

Two birds...see, not making it up.

After the Short-eared Owls didn't show (but we did hear a Northern Bobwhite [3]), we went to a field where  Mountain Plovers had been seen in past years. [4] This well-plowed field was a little hilly and we saw birds in the distance moving down into a low spot.

Scofflaw that I am, I suggested I walk down the turning row/dirt road-ish track to get a better look (I had memorized this bird and I was cautiously optimistic in my ability to recognize it. And who is going to worry about a 60-year-old woman walking down the turning row?). I grew up in a farm community and never worried about walking in someone's field. I recognize a big crowd of people might be a problem, but I couldn't see the harm in tiptoeing out to look. Apparently I violated one of the cardinal rules of CBC. You don't go on any private property - including out in any fields - without permission . I get it, I get it. I understand trespass. And I understand not interfering with someone's property (I pick up after my dog - I'm a good neighbor - really).

<HEAVY SIGH>  I won't do it again.


In any event, I got a-ways down the road and checked the birds - walked a little further and checked again. Yes, it looked like them. I was convinced these were indeed the plovers.

Back at the car, the guys, who had been looking through a spotting scope,  were confident in the identification as well. We all agreed we should go to the other side of the field along a different county road in hopes of a better view. SUCCESS! We then notified our area leader and he got the word out to the other teams. Suddenly vehicles appeared from all directions bearing birdwatchers (armed with high-tech spotting scopes and tripods). The vehicles had barely stopped when eager birders jumped out, setting up their gear with much practiced speed. The excitement was palpable.

We were about to leave the plover viewers when I thought to snap these shots.

We are talking some serious gear. And some of these folks travel widely for the opportunity to see birds.

As I kicked the mud from my boots I got a little nervous. One birder said, "This is what I'm here for." All I could think was, "What if we're wrong?"

But we were right. Mountain Plovers were putting on a show a mere spotting scope-viewing distance away. Photos were taken. Birds were counted again and again - making sure of the number (we saw 17). Congratulations where shared.

We joked that we could have called it a day, but we were only a few hours into the count. More birds were waiting!

Checking a creek crossing.

Birds in the distant tree. NOTE: We saw a number of windmills. I love to see them still at work on the farm.

The rest of the day was equally wonderful, if not so dramatic (except for a little close encounter of the bovine kind). We experienced all kinds of birds. [5] DH and I became more comfortable with identifying some in flight (gotta love those American Pipits and Meadowlarks). We heard the call of the Pileated Woodpecker - not once, but at least 3 times. We heard the Barred Owl's haunting call along the San Gabriel River. We heard the Western Meadowlark's song!

The San Gabriel River.

A snag in the middle of the river at another spot.

Some of the woods we explored. No lions, tigers or bears...just sparrows, cardinals, woodpeckers and sapsuckers...and a wild beauty.

Improvised bridge? Evidence of birds?

I'm calling sapsucker - likely Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We saw two in this section of woods.

We ended our day at dinner with others from the count and listened to the roll call. The bird list is read and teams call out if they observed that species. Observers shared locations of some of the "rare birds." I wondered how many would return to the fields the following day in hopes of a glimpse of color or the sound of a warning call or ancient avian melody.

As the sun set we ended the count.

NOTES:

[1] http://www.audubon.org/join-christmas-bird-count - As far as I can tell, this one was the last in our area. Maybe it will be like childbirth - we may forget how tired and sore we are today by the time the next count is scheduled in December 2017.

[2] I will admit the day was long and I "took a knee" a couple of times. Once was literal - slipped on the steps down to the river at Dickerson's River Bottom. The others were times I stayed near the car taking photos and getting a little rest before the next hike.

The steps at Dickerson's Bend - take care, especially in damp weather.

[3] Bobwhites have been missing. I'm not sure they really know what has caused the dramatic drop in population. I've heard it is partially due to the demon KR Bluestem that isn't a clumping grass - Bobwhite habitat involves clumping grass for cover. I've also heard the population dropped as part of the scourge of the Imported Fire Ant (quail nest on the ground). I can guarantee my hunting had NO impact whatsoever as I have never hit any flying thing - ever. Anyway, a quick search disclosed a couple of articles if you are interested:

http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_rp_w7000_1025.pdf
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/out-there/2013/11/what-happened-our-quail-observations-old-quail-hunter
http://www.nwf.org/news-and-magazines/national-wildlife/birds/archives/1993/the-case-of-the-disappearing-quail.aspx
http://texashomeandgarden.com/idea-center/garden/what-happened-to-the-texas-quail/
http://wild-wonderings.blogspot.com/2014/12/red-imported-fire-ants-and-bobwhite.html

[4] https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Plover/id

[5] Just go to All About Birds (Cornell University) to start learning about different birds. I use a number of sites, but often start here:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/


OUR LIST:

1 Northern Bobwhite  4 Double-crested Cormorant 6 Great Blue Heron 24 Black Vulture 65 Turkey Vulture  2 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 Red-tailed Hawk 1 American Coot 37 Killdeer 17 Mountain Plover 1 Wilson's Snipe 10 Greater Yellowlegs 75 Ringbilled Gull 8 Eurasian Collared-Dove 3 Inca Dove 70 White-winged Dove 40 Mourning Dove 1 Great Horned Owl 1 Barred Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 11 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Downy Woodpecker  2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Crested Caracara 7 American Kestrel 16 Eastern Phoebe 7 Loggerhead Shrike 4 Blue-headed Vireo 18 American Crow 2 Horned Lark 11 Carolina Chickadee 10 Tufted x Black-crested Titmouse (hybrid) 4 House Wren 13 Carolina Wren 2 Blue-grey Gnatchatcher 2 Golden-crowned Kinglet 13 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2 Eastern Bluebird 6 Hermit Thrush 7 Northern Mockingbird 6 European Starling 130 American Pipit 3 Dedar Waxwing 17 McCown's Longspur 5 Orange-crowned Warbler 70 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2 Field Sparrow 5 White-crowned Sparrow 5 Harris's Sparrow 7 White-throated Sparrow 7 Vesper Sparrow 110 Savannah Sparrow 4 Song Sparrow 5 Lincoln's Sparrow 40 Northern Cardinal 50 Red-winged Blackbird 4 Western Meadowlark 190 Western/Eastern Meadowlark 70 Brewer's Blackbird 5 American Goldfinch 5 House Sparrow CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF A BOVINE KIND: Our group headed out into the pasture of the wildlife management area one last time. CM and JW headed off and we lost sight of them. I was pretty much "walked out" so DH and I flushed and counted a few sparrows and pipits. Then we noticed cattle in the pasture noisily moving in our direction. DH suggested they might be expecting to be fed when they saw us and I agreed we not try and wrestle with a ton of steak. After exiting the gate, DH decided to nap in the shade while I wandered down the road taking photos. Then I noticed a bawling calf walking the fence-line OUTSIDE of the fence. He and one of the cows were in a call and response type of communication. And the calf (all a few hundred pounds of him) was heading closer to my sleeping husband. I headed back down the road to wake DH, called the Ranger and made one futile attempt to get the calf back in the pasture as DH headed to the parking lot for our car. Please note, one of the beasts was clearly a bull (trust me - I may not have been raised on a farm, but I know a bull when I see one).  They made a lot of noise, but left us alone. Still, I was glad to be on the other side of the fence. The calf found mom and dad, but I couldn't interest it in the gate to the pasture. Other Stuff (but not the evidence of ballooning spiders - so disappointed I could not capture that):

I love cockleburs and you can almost always find them in fall and winter along the banks of rivers. Don't put them in your pocket.

Bracket on fallen tree.

I'm calling  Blanchard's Cricket Frog. What? Don't you see it? The sun was in my eyes...I was at the edge of the high river bank...and I was using a cell phone. The frog almost escaped the photo. Now do you see it?

Here you go! We saw another as well, but it jumped into the river before I could get a photo.

Mistletoe - it's stunning in the winter.

There has been a good deal of damage to the trees along the river. I'm guessing drought followed by flood has been too much for many trees. This one is hanging on.

The tree alley just inside one of the wildlife management areas. It's pretty, but caution is always wise. As DH stopped under the trees for a nap, I was taking stock of all the poison ivy clinging to the trunks.

As we walked the river bank we heard and then saw this motorboat heading downstream.

One of the giants of the woods.

None of my photos of the pastures turned out well, but I'll share this one of the cattle trail we followed while flushing out a few pipits and swallows.

The wild is there for us, but nothing is free. We discovered one of the areas where many types of sparrows have been found in the past was undergoing "improvement."

Paving paradise.

And, finally, - I wrote of our efforts on Saturday to scout out the area for the meeting spot and area boundaries. We noted birds, but weren't actively looking for any. We happened upon Robert and Eliza Bird's plot in the Granger City Cemetery and Bird Street just down the way. On "count day" we had been experiencing a dearth of blackbirds. Then on this trek through the cemetery we found the Starling's plot. Then we found the blackbirds - Brewer's blackbirds and, yes, European Starlings....

The headstone for Robert and Barbara (James) Starling. Some quick research indicates Barbara died in 1990 at the age of 48. She had 11 brothers and sisters (or so states the obituary of her sister, Faye James Palmer who died in 2012 at the age of 93). It appears Robert is still living.