Group Walk Report December 20, 2014

Only one person joined me for the monthly bird walk yesterday morning. Conditions were cool, calm, and overcast. The birding was mostly quiet with expected year-round and winter species, with one exception. On the sandy prairie area near the northeast corner of the preserve we found a single male Pyrrhuloxia. This arid southwestern species is common in Big Bend but rare in Austin. Last winter there was a female on the preserve that I periodically saw up until April. And this winter several of these birds have been seen by Austin-area birders. I was able to get this decent photo:

Most of our other bird observations were from this same area on the preserve. We got good looks at Song Sparrows, Field Sparrows, many Northern Cardinals, and one Osprey. Here's one of the Song Sparrows we saw:

We found 29 species. Here's our complete list.

Posted on December 21, 2014 08:07 PM by mikaelb