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Photos / Sounds

What

Feral Pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, light drizzle. Walking directly under the Congress Avenue Bridge on its northern end (5:02 pm), I immediately noticed the black specimen at first because I thought that it was an usual bird. But as I took a closer look and at its surroundings, I thought more or less that it was going to be a pigeon; its companion is a rock pigeon, and the same goes for all of the other pigeons that were roosting over my above in an alcove directly below the bridge. However, I was struck by its almost pure black plumage and neon orange leg, and I could be mistaken by what it is; I couldn't find a mention of a pure black rock pigeon in my field guide.

Photos / Sounds

What

Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Place

Town Lake (Google, OSM)

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, heavy drizzle. At 4:17 pm, we took cover under the South 1st Street Bridge on its southern end to get away from the rain. I saw these two male grackles standing close to the edge of the Colorado River observing each other. The one on the right began alternating with bending its head backwards and puffing out its body. The male on the left did the same, except it could bend its head back greater than 90 degrees. This seem to be posturing for dominance, and that the bird who could bend its head further best seems to be the more dominant one in the eyes of its opponent.

Photos / Sounds

What

Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Place

Town Lake (Google, OSM)

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, heavy drizzle lightening up. At 4:36 pm, after feeding the pond sliders and ducklings present in the pond, this male grackle flew in and landed on the railing on the west side of the pond. It puffed its body at the sight of me and my cousin, but then promptly ignored us and began to dry its feathers by shaking its body.

Photos / Sounds

What

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta ssp. elegans)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Place

Town Lake (Google, OSM)

Description

One of the four adult Red-eared sliders mentioned in http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1483832. They seem to be quite shy, and would duck their head back under the water and into their shell at the sight of people. They became more bold once they realized that there was no threat associated with eating the bread that I was throwing in, and began to crowd below where I stood waiting for food.

Photos / Sounds

What

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Place

Town Lake (Google, OSM)

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, heavy drizzle. This pond was surrounded by grass and there was pavilion off to the side, and there was no visible connection from this pond the Colorado River that was on its northern side. I was trying to tempt the Red-eared sliders in the small pond to surface by throwing pieces of honey wheat bread into the water, but I was so focused on the turtles that I did not notice these two ducklings swimming up to the spot where I was throwing the bread. There were no other ducks (adult or juveniles) in the immediate area, and these two seem to be from the same brood. They would swim alongside each other for the most part, but when there was food (i.e. the bread) present, the two would turn on each other and race each other to get to the food first. They seem to be not afraid of the four large, Red-eared sliders that were also present in the pond, and would quickly swim over to snatch the food away from the turtles.

Photos / Sounds

What

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, light drizzle. This is the same brown bird that was mentioned in http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1483750. We were walking down the bike trail heading east at 3:51 pm, and I noticed two European Starlings on the ground nibbling at a nut. I was trying to get closer to get a better look when the brown bird in the picture swooped in and aggressively attack one of the starlings. The other starling flew off, and this brown bird kept opening its mouth wide and screeching at the starling. The starling flew off into a nearby small tree, but this bird followed after it. After battling it out in the branches, the starling flew back to the ground, but the brown bird bird would not let up and followed it to the ground as well. Finally, the starling flew into another nearby, small tree, followed by the brown bird, but then another starling came to the harassed starling's rescue and the brown bird flew away after that encounter with the second starling.

Photos / Sounds

What

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, light drizzle. We were walking down the bike trail heading east at 3:51 pm, and I noticed two European Starlings on the ground nibbling at a nut. I was trying to get closer to get a better look when the brown bird in the picture swooped in and aggressively attack one of the starlings. The other starling flew off, and this brown bird kept opening its mouth wide and screeching at the starling. The starling flew off into a nearby small tree, but this bird followed after it. After battling it out in the branches, the starling flew back to the ground, but the brown bird bird would not let up and followed it to the ground as well. Finally, the starling flew into another nearby, small tree, followed by the brown bird, but then another starling came to the harassed starling's rescue and the brown bird flew away after that encounter with the second starling.

Photos / Sounds

What

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Place

Town Lake (Google, OSM)

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, drizzling rain. At 4:55pm, my cousin and I walked through the underpass of the bike trail that runs beneath the South 1st Street bridge heading east. I noticed a homeless man standing near the wall of the bridge, but since there were a few bikers and joggers passing by, I didn't really pay him much attention. I saw the male Mallard and the female just right off the path standing close to a large puddle. The female was dipping her beak into the puddle, and the male seemed to be keeping watch against any threatening humans. My observation was cut short because my cousin was warning me that the homeless man had started to approach me from the back, and so my cousin and I quickly walked away from the area since we did not feel comfortable around the homeless man.

Photos / Sounds

What

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, drizzling rain. At 5:04 pm just past the South Congress Avenue Bridge on its east side, I heard chirping and looked up into one of the trees just a few steps off the trail, and saw a flash of red. At first, I thought it was Summer Tanager, but then I saw that the bird had a brown body and red wings, and realized that it was a female Northern Cardinal. I watched her hop up higher and higher up into the tree, and after a minute, I realized that there was a male Northern Cardinal present as well. The female climbed all the way to the top of the tree and stayed up there while the male stayed within the foliage. It is likely that the two have a nest in this particular tree, which wasn't very dense in terms of how much leaves were present and how far apart the tree's main branches were spaced out. The female might have gone to the top of the tree to keep a look out for predators or for those annoying grackles in the area.

Photos / Sounds

What

White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, light drizzle beginning to stop. At 5:16, my cousin and I were crossing from the east side of 1st Street to the west, and we passed by this island of Oak trees waiting for the next crossing signal. I saw the adult White-winged dove fly down onto the paved patio where two juveniles where sitting near the base of a hedge bush. As soon as the adult touched ground, the two juveniles immediately began crowding the adult and making aggressive actions at the adult's head. At first, I thought that the two juveniles were fighting off the adult, but upon further observation, I realized that they were actually feeding from from the adult's mouth, and that the adult was likely their mother. They continued to feed for another minute before the mother flew off, either from running out of food or from me approaching the trio, and she left the two juveniles behind on the ground, where they made no attempts to move away from me.

Photos / Sounds

What

Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

67 degrees F, 97% humidity, heavy drizzle stopped about 10 minutes prior. At 5:28 pm, walking back to my car with my cousin, I spotted this male Wood Duck in the southern end of Shoal Creek, which was separated from the Colorado River by the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail. The water looked more murky than usual, likely due to rainfall disturbing the silt at the bottom of the creek. The male was at first in water between a small island where two female Great-tailed grackles were fighting over something, and the overhanging foliage on the right side. There was a fisherman in the back, but he was far enough not to be a concern to the duck. He began to swim northwards up Shoal Creek, towards a Red-eared slider basking on top of storm drain, but I tried to lure it back by throwing pieces of honey wheat bread into the water. The break caught his attention, but he was very wary of either me, or of this male Great-tailed grackle that flew into the scene once I started throwing bread. The closest I could get him to come was about 10 ft from the grassy side of the bike trail where I stood, and after 10 minutes, he retreated under the hanging foliage without eating any of the bread.

Photos / Sounds

What

Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)

Observer

jotat

Date

May 12, 2015

Description

At 11:09 am, I was walking from my apartment eastward to my friend's apartment. It was around 65 degrees F and drizzling. I noticed this male grackle (along with two other females nearby), hanging out in the small flow of rainwater at the base of curb that emptied into a nearby storm drainage. The male was messing around with a nut, trying to crack it open by throwing it onto the ground with his beak. He kept trying to get at the nut, but why he didn't move to the grass or sidewalk where there would be less of a chance of the rainwater washing his food away is unbeknownst to me. The two females hung out in the grass close to the curb where the male was, but they were more focused on picking up small invertebrates from the grass and shaking off the rainwater from their feathers.

Photos / Sounds

What

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 7, 2015

Description

11:05AM. Walking back from the docks, I've seen this Great Blue Heron in this same reservoir since the night before. It was the only bird in this reservoir, so maybe this is its territory? It moved very slowly, and occasionally bobbed its head into the water to catch the small fish in the reservoir. I tried to approach it stealthily to get a better picture, but it heard me even though it was facing the opposite direction, and made a throaty, harsh, cawing noise before flying away to the other side of the reservoir.

Photos / Sounds

What

Gulf Killifish (Fundulus grandis)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 7, 2015

Description

2:26PM. Chilly wind and even colder waters (around 46 degrees F), and dark overcast. Muddy sandbar lined with trees and thick, tall grasses. The mummichog was one of the goodies pulled up from the shallow seining (about 7ft from shore). Probably is a mummichog due to its coloring and its band pattern (thin and light bands on a dark background), but cannot say 100% sure. One of the larger catches; other things caught along with it: one blue crab, lots of silversides, one pipefish, mullets, and pupfish. It flopped a lot, and kept gulping for oxygen, until it was dumped into a bucket to be later preserved for research purposes.

Photos / Sounds

What

Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

3:25PM. This specimen was caught alongside with two others in shallow sweep of the net over very shallow body of water (less than 2ft) of the drainage creek. It is a grassy area with lots of water lettuce and grass growing in the water, with human debris (pipe, glass) littering the bottom. There were a lot of mosquitos and other Poecilia present, as well as two larger unidentified fish. The Poecilia we caught was part of a small school of them swimming in the creek. The pictured specimen was very jumpy and did not want to stay in my hand, and managed to throw itself into the grass below where it took some digging to retrieve it before it died. It stayed alive for about 10 more minutes before dying.

Photos / Sounds

What

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta ssp. elegans)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

3:48PM, 78 degrees F, 88% humidity. We were out looking for the gar to catch and identify, but we came across this juvenile turtle buried in the muddy bottom alongside the drainage creek where patches of long grass was growing in the water, and swooped in with a net to scoop it up. It was covered in mud, so we rinsed it off in the bucket of water that we used to hold our catch. It had a lot of algal growth on its shell (dorsal side). It stayed mostly in its shell as we were playing with it, and when we released on the shore close to the water, it remained in its shell and stationary. However, we gave it a nudge into the water, and once submerged, it immediately and quickly buried itself in the mud once again. It is likely that this juvenile was someone's pet and was released in the drainage ditch to fend for itself. Many red-eared sliders can be found and caught in other ditches close to this area.

Photos / Sounds

What

Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 7, 2015

Description

10:58AM, 56 degrees F, a little warmer than in the early morning, clear day. As the research boat pulled in to dock, this pelican was waiting alongside on the dock itself, while another one and a subadult pelican waited right below in the water. The pelican waiting on the dock watched and followed the people on board the ship as they moved around, likely hoping to get a free meal or an opportunity at the holding tank where the live specimens were being held. It seemed to know where live fish was being held. The other two floating in the water ate the small fishes that were tossed overboard.

Photos / Sounds

What

Bighead Searobin (Prionotus tribulus)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 7, 2015

Description

One of the finds from the deep water trawling, which is not surprising since they are benthic dwellers. This one was found around 10:23AM, and is quite small, around an inch long. This one was the only sea robin pulled out from the trawl. When placed into the holding tank, it settled itself into a corner on the bottom of the tank, and did not move unless it was agitated. It pretty much ignored the squids and blowfishes that it shared the tank with.

Photos / Sounds

What

Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 7, 2015

Description

Around 10:10AM (very cold and windy out on the waters, around 50-54 degrees F), as the boat began to pull in the deep trawling nets, these Laughing Gulls began to line up on the beam attached to the trawling net. They came in as individuals or as pairs, and fought each other for a spot on the beam. The gull on the far left side is missing a foot, and is much more aggressive and screeched more at the other birds if they tried to take its spot. This particular gull managed to hold onto to its spot the longest. A maximum of 9 gulls managed to fit themselves on the beam after about half an hour, although one tried to perch on the slanted support beam, but could not stay on and gave up. They probably knew that they could get an easy meal once the net was brought up with its goods, and that's why they hung around for as long as they did, as well as getting a free ride and not having to waste energy flying.

Photos / Sounds

What

Domestic Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata var. domestica)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

At 2:30PM, I was sweating up a storm in the humidity (77 degrees F) as my cousin and I started to walk along the jogging path that goes behind the houses that line West Oaks Boulevard. This area is mostly lined with grass and trees that overhang over the fences that line one side of the path, and the drainage creek that lines the other side. The Muscovy Duck population (they number around 20-25 individuals) in this neighborhood often flock to this area to rest because they're less likely to be disturbed by the human inhabitants. This particular drake came up very close to me (less that a foot away) as I was trying to take a picture of the rest of the flock that was busy fighting for food 20ft away. Why was this one trying to come to me when I obviously had no food? I got a very nice picture of it in the end though.

Photos / Sounds

What

Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

At 2:38PM, coming back from the nearby creek to gather fishing supplies, I noticed this lizard hanging out by the lamp illuminating the house number by itself (it was probably basking in the brief sunshine that we had today) and got closer to take a picture. The front of the house had a lot of shrubs and trees decorating the landscape, and there were probably more of them hidden among the greenery. It seems to be shy, because as soon as I turned my head, it disappear around the side of the house. These lizards are fairly common in this neighborhood.

Photos / Sounds

What

Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

My friends and I crossed a busy intersection of the residential area where the jogging trail continued around 2:09PM (77 degrees F and quite humid), and walking down the side of the flood control/drainage ditch to the small creek that is separated from the lake that is part of Westlake Residential, we spotted this gar swimming slowly through the slow moving creek (although there were areas of more rapid moving water where the plant life created a bottleneck). The gar is fairly small for what its species is know for, a little over a foot and a half long, and there was an even smaller one downstream of it by a couple of feet (but I did not identify or take a picture of it) that was pointed out by one of my friend. The black spots were mostly focused along the sides of the fish, and were more concentrated closer to the caudal fin. This particular gar liked to swim close to the denser patches of vegetation, and seemed to stay fixed to the particular spot shown in the photo; however, when we returned about 30 minutes later with a net to try and capture it to get a better identification, we were not able to find it again (or its companion) along the 40 ft stretch starting from the drainage holes by Fite Road.

Photos / Sounds

What

Domestic Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata var. domestica)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

At 1:48PM, my friends and I were walking along the popular jogging trail to do some naturalizing and came across this pair nesting close together in the grassy area dotted with small trees and flowers adjoining the trail. It was around 76 degrees F, and getting warmer as the time passed. There were no other visible ducks in the vicinity at the time, but plenty of insects flying about. The larger one seemed to be the male with its heavier face details, and the smaller one that stayed close to it is the female of the pair. They both stood up as we approached, and the male was wary of us, and tried to keep the female behind him. However, once they realized that we had Hawaiian rolls with us, they were much more relaxed and took turns eating. The male even pooped in our presence.

Photos / Sounds

What

Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

My friends and I were feeding the small population (~17 total) of domestic Muscovy ducks pieces of Hawaiian rolls around 1:54PM when this creature ran up to our little group and started to make a grab for the bread as well. It was quite aggressive, pushing the other ducks away, and it even started to attack the largest drake in the group by jumping on his back and nipping at his head and neck area. It is quite fast, much faster than the ducks with its longer legs, and is about 1.5 times larger than the drake that it attacked (more than 1.5ft tall), and it was aggressive even towards approaching us humans in its desire for food. I observed it being able to fly the short distance (about 3ft) from one side of the small creek that runs through the drainage ditch where we were to the other, and can run up and down the high grassy slopes of the ditch quite easily. This area is right next to a popular jogging trail. It does not seem to be able to swim, as it just walked alongside the creek where the ducks were gathered. It has a very distinct call that I was not able to record. I had previously seen it back in late December of 2014 in hanging out with a flock of Muscovy ducks on the lawns of the residents in the neighborhood.

Photos / Sounds

What

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

Observer

jotat

Date

March 19, 2015

Description

At 4:11PM, I observed the single mourning dove resting on the concrete driveway of a residence, bordered by a silver Lexus on its right, a garage, and a fence on its left lined with elephant ear plants. It was around 78 degrees F, with 83% humidity, and it was quite hot out despite the cloudy overcast. It was basking in the sun (as seen in the photo), likely taking advantage of the warmth since earlier in the day, it was cooler with a slight drizzle. It saw me approaching closer (less than 5ft away) and flew away to perch on top of the aforementioned fence. I suspect that it was a female dove, seeing that it lacked the iridescent patch on its neck that is common with its male counterpart.

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