Nalle Bunny Run 2017-04-15

Thirteen folks joined me Sunday morning for the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run wildlife preserve. It was a beautiful morning, partly cloudy with mild temperatures and a nice breeze.

The bird highlight of the walk was a brief look at a Broad-winged Hawk soaring up from just east of the lower driveway. And a nearby Red-tailed Hawk made a spectacular dive at it before both were out of view. (Different species of hawks are often antagonistic since they usually have overlapping groups of animals they prey on.) Broad-winged hawks are migratory and are just returning to the area for the summer. Years ago most just passed through on their way to breeding grounds further north and east, but lately they've been breeding in Austin more and more commonly. So I'm curious to see if this one will hang around.

I didn't get any photos of the hawks but nearby I got this so-so photo of a singing male Summer Tanager. This is a newly returned summer resident on the preserve, and we were so happy to get a good look at one after hearing it sing for much of the walk.

Other returning summer birds included Blue-gray Gnatcatchers singing and calling all over the place, White-eyed Vireos, and the single male Yellow-throated Warbler was singing in the cypress trees.

Some interesting insects we found included this Common Buckeye butterfly:

this Large Milkweed Bug near one of the many blooming Antelope Horns milkweed plants:

and this male Band-winged Dragonlet dragonfly:

Before the group arrive I was very interested to find a Lindheimer's Silktassel plant up near the gate. This is a common plant in similar habitat around town, but I've never seen it on the Bunny Run until now. (See the attached observation below.)

Here's our complete bird list.
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35983176

And here are a few more photos on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikael_behrens/albums/72157679427675073/with/33217610624/

Posted on April 21, 2017 12:39 AM by mikaelb