We had 14 people participate in the monthly group bird and nature walk on the preserve this morning. It was overcast, still, and extremely humid. But there was a fair amount of bird activity and everyone seemed to enjoy the walk. The biggest highlight of the morning was encountering two or three Great Horned Owls, two of which were juvenile birds. These young owls were still learning how to be sneaky, and they stayed out in the open allowing everyone to get great looks at them. We found them near the spring.

Here are some other highlights. During the first part of the walk we got to see and hear an extremely active family group of Black-crested Titmice. Down by the lake we heard and a few of us briefly saw the single male Yellow-throated Warbler that has been on the preserve all summer. (After observing at least two breeding pairs on the preserve last summer, it's disappointing to only find the single bird this year.) We got to see a family of Canyon Wrens in the waterfall area downhill from the spring. The group had good luck with woodpeckers, getting good looks at Downy, Ladder-backed, and Golden-fronted. And on the eastern edge of the preserve we found a Giant Swallowtail butterfly.

Our complete bird list:
eBird observation on Nalle Bunny Run for 6/15/2013

iNaturalist Observations:
Nalle Bunny Run Observations on 6/15/2013

And by request, here are some of the plants I pointed out. These are links to the same species observed previously on the preserve:

Anacua Tree (Ehretia anacua)
Texas Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)
lace cactus (Echinocereus reichenbachii)
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
Agarita (Mahonia trifoliolata)
Blackjack Oak (Quercus marilandica)
Goldenwave (Coreopsis wrightii) (My favorite wildflower)
Brasil (Condalia hookeri)
Bitterweed (Helenium amarum)

Here's about half the group looking at one of the Great Horned Owls:

And here are the other photos I took this morning:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikael_behrens/sets/72157634140489863/