Claudia Dorn, Jerry Gips, Jimmy Jackson, Brent Ortego and Bron Rorex mist-netted birds at the Dobie Ranch in Live Oak County from 24-26 October 2008. This is the 4th year in a row mist-netting has been used to survey the avifauna of this ranch in late October. Weather was very nice with nights dropping into the low 50’s and highs in the 80’s with relatively light winds. 28 species and 246 birds were captured and are both records for the ranch.
2007 was a fairly wet year leading into a very dry 2008 making for a fairly dense, but dry herbaceous community. 5 water features provided by the landowner has made a major positive difference in the abundance of select species (GKIS, GREJ & NOCA) on the ranch to thrive in drought conditions.
Red-shouldered Hawk, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-and-White Warbler and White-crowned Sparrow were new species banded on the ranch. Neither of these are surprising captures, but are just hard to catch at this site.
Com. Ground-Dove, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, N. Mockingbird, Long-billed Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia and Audubon’s Oriole were call caught at well above average rates.
A list of species captured are provided below:
| MIST-NET HOURS | 430 | 420 | 571 | 829 | 684 |
| SPECIES | 10/05 | 3/06 | 10/06 | 10/07 | 10/8 |
| SSHA | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| COHA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RSHA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NOBO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 unbanded | |
| MODO | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| COGD | 0 | 2 | 43 | 1 | 16 |
| WTDO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| EASO | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PAUR | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| WPWI | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| RTHU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| GFWO | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| LBWO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| EAPH | 3 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 5 |
| GKIS | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| WEVI | 5 | 2 | 11 | 15 | 6 |
| GREJ | 14 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 30 |
| CARW | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| BEWR | 2 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 3 |
| HOWR | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| WIWR | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| BCTI | 1 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| GCKI | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| RCKI | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 4 |
| BGGN | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| VERD | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| HETH | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2 |
| GRCA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| NOMO | 10 | 35 | 4 | 10 | 19 |
| BRTH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LBTH | 2 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 19 |
| NAWA | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| OCWA | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 11 |
| BAWW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| HOWA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| OLSP | 2 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 5 |
| SPTO | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FISP | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LASP | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| LISP | 3 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 1 |
| WCSP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| NOCA | 10 | 51 | 34 | 46 | 71 |
| PYRR | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 |
| PABU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| INBU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| AUOR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| SPECIES | 21 | 22 | 27 | 28 | 28 |
| TOTAL | 79 | 128 | 189 | 177 | 246 |
In addition to individuals captured, a number of additional species were observed on the ranch that were potentially available for capture:
| Wild Turkey | Mourning Dove |
| N. Bobwhite | White-tipped Dove |
| Turkey Vulture | Greater Roadrunner |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | E. Screech-Owl |
| Cooper’s Hawk | Great Horned Owl |
| Harris’s Hawk | Barred Owl |
| Red-tailed Hawk | Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
| Crested Caracara | Meadowlark sp. |
| Am Kestrel |
Brent Ortego
The Texas Bird Banding Team
Leave a Reply