Photo by Byron Stone

It was that kind of a day. Cool, drizzly most of the day and everything was wet. Last year I was complaining about the fog and high tides that lasted most of the morning. This year we got rain until early afternoon and higher tides. We can’t control the weather and with the rain I was making recommendations on Plan C at daybreak.

Photo by Cullen Hanks

The first bird of the day was a Cave Swallow roosting in a culvert. There were no owls, Killdeers or anything moving during the rain at 3 in the morning.

Leading up to the Count, the Region experienced 18 months of drought through August. Then we received 20 inches of rain in the next 3 months, went through 2 river floods and then for 36 hours leading up to the count it rained. Not a great volume, but with all of the moisture already on the ground, it just made everything much wetter and limited our vehicle access to roads at some sites and the boat launch on the Guadalupe River.

RESULTS

What a day! There actually were quite a few birds to be found and with our record 79 birders in attendance, and access to new properties obtained by Holcomb and Nunley we did very well. We reported 216 species, and added 4 new species to the Count: Com. Nighthawk, Brown-crested Flycatcher, W. Kingbird and Tennessee Warbler. The BEST BIRD as voted on by Section Leaders was BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER.

No special ducks were found this year because of limited vehicle access to some key wetlands due to soggy ground conditions.

Photo by Kevin Kriegel

WHOOPING CRANE – A pair set up a territory on the Hynes Bay Unit of the Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Area and have been seen daily through December. We have had Whoopers reported twice before on the count, but they were just momentary observations. These birds were present all day.

COMMON NIGHTHAWK – We have had nighthawk sp. before on the CBC and this being a “Common” rather than a “Lesser” was a little surprising. This bird was found in native habitat by Dale Friedrichs. Most winter nighthawks in native habitat are Lessers with Commons more likely to linger at developed areas.

BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER – New for the count and voted as its BEST BIRD. I have caught them in January before. So, I was not that surprised of one turning up. It was a pleasant surprise when we had one reported by both Charlie Brower’s and Derek Muschalek’s teams.

WESTERN KINGBIRD – New for the count. This species is expected to infrequently occur in the area and Michael Kennedy found our first.

GREEN JAYs are continuing to expand their range and this report by Bill Farnsworth makes this our 2nd record.

TENNESSEE WARBLER was new for the count and a surprise. This species rarely lingers and offers identification challenges separating it from the highly variable Orange-crowned Warbler. Bob Creglow found one for our count.

YELLOW WARBLER is a rare but regular wintering neotropical migrant. They breed in the United States and pass through the area by the thousands with a few staying behind. They tend to winter in shrub thickets and with diligence they can be found as was done by Cecelia Riely’s team.

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER occur at the southern end of their breeding range at our count, but this species is not expected to linger. The one reported by Clay Taylor was a very pleasant surprise.

WESTERN TANAGER is new for the count. This is a western species which regularly winters in the area in very small numbers. We not only finally got one for the CBC, but we got two. One was photographed by Mikael Behrens and another was reported by Clay Taylor.

SUMMER TANAGER was also new for the CBC. It occurs much less frequently than western and this adult male was also photographed by Mikael Behrens.

Photo by Cullen Hanks

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was reported for the 2nd time this season. It is an extremely rare lingering neotrops and Cullen Hanks’ team photographed the species along the Delta of the River.

TRENDS

HIGHS: (70 species) Wood Duck, Am. Wigeon, Mottled Duck, N. Shoveler, N. Pintail, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Bald Eagle, N. Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Black-necked Stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Eur. Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Inca Dove, Com. Nighthawk, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, E. Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee, W. Kingbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, Green Jay, Winter Wren, Sedge Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Am. Robin, Gray Catbird, N. Mockingbird, Am. Pipit, Tennessee Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Myrtle Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Am. Redstart, Prothonotary Warbler, Com. Yellowthroat, Wilson’s Warbler, W. Tanager, Summer Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, N. Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle and Bronzed Cowbird.

LOWS: (36 species) Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, Eared Grebe, Am. White Pelican, Anhinga, Little Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White-tailed Hawk, King Rail, Virginia Rail, Black-bellied Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, W. Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Snipe, Herring Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Com. Barn-Owl, E. Screech-Owl, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Barn Swallow, Carolina Wren, Bewick’s Wren, Hermit Thrush, Long-billed Thrasher, Eur. Starling, Yellow-breasted Chat, White-crowned Sparrow, Brewer’s Blackbird, Boat-tailed Grackle, Am. Goldfinch.

WATERFOWL = 9 of 26 species had higher than average numbers and 3 lower. High numbers are reflective of good continental populations and not of local conditions because we only have 2 resident species.

WATERBIRDS = 6 lows and 3 highs amongst 22 species. The region is just coming off an 18 months drought and most local waterbirds have bred in below average numbers over the last 2 years.

RAPTORS = 4 highs and 1 low from 15 species. Amazing numbers for the poor soaring conditions for raptors.

RAILS = 2 low and 1 missing from 7 species. Drought in combination with cattle grazing really damaged rail habitat. The only reasonable numbers of rails in the marsh were obtained from areas not grazed.
The most special birding experience for me was the dawn “Whooping” of the pair of cranes that set up a territory in the Hynes Bay area. At 100 yards they were very loud.

Photo by Kevin Kriegel

SHOREBIRDS THRU GULLS = 10 low and 5 high out of 27 species. No tidal mudflats really reduced numbers. Many of the estuarine shorebirds moved inland to flooded ag fields, and some of these were observed during the day.

DOVES THRU WOODPECKERS = 8 high and 3 lows from 24 species. All doves did extremely well with the drought suppressing grasses which made more space for preferred weedy plant species. Walter Womack was also successful in holding onto two hummingbird species at his feeders which greatly helped the count.

Photo by Mikael Behrens

FLYCATCHERS THRU PIPITS = 16 highs and 6 lows out of 40 species. We did very well with most expected species of flycatchers and a variety of songbirds. Local breeding Carolina Wrens and thrashers occurred in much lower than average numbers.

WARBLERS THRU TANAGERS = This is our “Signature Group” of species. We reported 15 species of warblers and 2 species of tanagers with 14 occurring in above average numbers during the rain. I wonder what we would have found on a good weather day. Our CBC will likely report more species of warblers than any other CBC in Texas. We only missed two expected species: N. Parula and Ovenbird.

SPARROWS = We reported 22 species of “sparrows” with 9 coming in above average with only one below average. I was expecting both species of buntings but we found neither. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak was a very pleasant surprise.

THANKS

This is a very special count because of the habitats it covers where 3 ecoregions merge. It is successful because of the large amount of cooperation we get from the landowners who generally provide us access and as in the case with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Dow, Ineos, Jess and Walter Womack, and Beverly Fletcher they also provide staff and equipment to help us with the count. We would also like to thank Mrs. Pat Welder, Larry Seydler, Frank Pagel, Gene Colville, Don Walden, Dan Kaspar, the Negley Ranch, and the Landgraf, Spandau and Joe Hawes families for providing us access to their lands. Lastly, we thank the 80 birders who spent their day and huge amount of energy in searching the landscape for every species which we could locate.

At the end of the day, our tired, wet and excited birders gathered under the oaks in the river bottom at the Weed Prairie Hunting Camp on the Jess Womack Ranch. We were treated to an excellent meal cooked by A.D. Blackmon, David, CB and Brandon. Lyondel-Basel Corporation provided funding for most of the food and activity fees.

THANKS TO ALL FOR A GREAT JOB!!

Data from the CBC is available upon request.

Hope to see you at our next Christmas Bird Count on Thursday, 16 December 2010.

Photo by Jimmy Jackson

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