The G-man & I were awake at 6:30 this morning to meet the Bastrop County Audubon Society for the annual Christmas bird count. Each county or Audubon club takes a "Christmas bird count" which takes place on or near Christmas. The tradition in Bastrop County is for birders to gather at the Texas Grill on Hwy. 71 at 7 AM on January 1st & get instructions where to go to watch for birds. The G-man & I usually go with David, Josh, John & Jennifer to ColoVista and along the Colorado River to count birds and that is where we headed this morning.
The G-man & I have bird calls recorded on our iPod with a speaker attached that we use to encourage the birds to gather where we are. We play the Eastern Screech Owl tape and birds flock from all around to "keep an eye on the owl". It amazes me that they gather to check out this "bird". Of course, there is no Screech Owl present, just me & the recording. I also played calls for the Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Phoebe and several other birds.
Today we counted 23 species from 8 AM until around noon. If you click on the bird's name a link will take you to a picture of the bird, the bird's call, map where it is located & other information. The following are what we saw:
Red-tailed Hawk
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Cardinal
Crested Caracara
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-capped Chickadee
Eastern Phoebe
Yellow-rump Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Marsh Wren
Savannah Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Pine Siskin
American Kestrel
Loggerhead Shrike
Great Blue Heron
Common Merganser
Black Vulture
Blue Jay
American Crow
...and in our backyard
Pileated Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse
We also had two hummingbirds (a Buff-bellied and a Ruby-throat) at our house on Dec. 22, but we have not seen them since we returned from out trip out west so we could not put them in our bird count.
PS ~ On Jan 2nd we added Sandhill Cranes to our list of birds. The G-man spotted about 20 flying overhead and turning to go down river on the Colorado to end up along the Texas coast. This little group is late in its travels. They usually fly over during October.
The G-man & I have bird calls recorded on our iPod with a speaker attached that we use to encourage the birds to gather where we are. We play the Eastern Screech Owl tape and birds flock from all around to "keep an eye on the owl". It amazes me that they gather to check out this "bird". Of course, there is no Screech Owl present, just me & the recording. I also played calls for the Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Phoebe and several other birds.
Today we counted 23 species from 8 AM until around noon. If you click on the bird's name a link will take you to a picture of the bird, the bird's call, map where it is located & other information. The following are what we saw:
Red-tailed Hawk
Eastern Bluebird
Northern Cardinal
Crested Caracara
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-capped Chickadee
Eastern Phoebe
Yellow-rump Warbler
Lesser Goldfinch
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Marsh Wren
Savannah Sparrow
Cedar Waxwing
Pine Siskin
American Kestrel
Loggerhead Shrike
Great Blue Heron
Common Merganser
Black Vulture
Blue Jay
American Crow
...and in our backyard
Pileated Woodpecker
Tufted Titmouse
We also had two hummingbirds (a Buff-bellied and a Ruby-throat) at our house on Dec. 22, but we have not seen them since we returned from out trip out west so we could not put them in our bird count.
PS ~ On Jan 2nd we added Sandhill Cranes to our list of birds. The G-man spotted about 20 flying overhead and turning to go down river on the Colorado to end up along the Texas coast. This little group is late in its travels. They usually fly over during October.
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow
Crested Cara Cara (or Mexican Eagle)
The G-man looking for birds
