Rio Brazos Audubon and the Great Texas Birding Classic 2014

Well what a great way to spend a Saturday! The weather was great, the conversation was friendly, and the birds kept us busy! We started off quite early- about 5:00AM- and immediately had a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD calling and calling and calling from the top of a nearby tree. Soon after, two EASTERN SCREECH OWLS came over to investigate us, and a GRAY FOX thought he could sneak by without getting spotted! Ha! We're here to see stuff! There's no sneaking by us! Unfortunately it was too dark/I wasn't awake enough to figure out how to use my camera in low light to get a picture of either.

One picture I did manage... Sarah and Mark

GTBC Big Sit 2014!!

7:55pm

Alright we're in the home stretch! I think we're all happy about our sightings today- we've got a couple of more target birds we're waiting on- and hoping a couple of birds we've seen elsewhere in the park come for a quick visit. I'll have a full wrap-up of the day... But not until tomorrow! In the mean time, we've got a chuck-will's-widow to listen for!

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It's baby bird time!

Well, we’re making our way through spring migration and quickly into nesting season. Some of our early arrivers/permanent residents have already found nest sites and have had fledges. Most of our bluebird nest boxes have already had one clutch fledge – now we wait to see if the parents like the neighborhood enough to stay for another round.

Bluebirds growing up: 1. hatchling, 2. nestlings 3. slightly older nestlings  4. fledglings (Left to Right)

As you can see in the photo series, these birds go from nearly naked and completely helpless, to reasonable facsimiles of their parents in just a few weeks. Safe in their nest, they spend their time eating, sleeping, arguing with their siblings, and being protected by their parents. All of these things are critical to their survival- and ideally happen in the confines of the nest.

But what happens if they get out?! For whatever reason, sometimes nests aren’t as secure as the parents had hoped and the chicks get loose. What do you do if you find a chick?

What kind of chick is it?

Lots of birds- especially sandpipers (including Killdeer), ducks, and geese have chicks that are ready to rock and roll right soon after they crack open their egg. Owl chicks spend a while figuring out the right way to fly- often ending up on the ground. It’s important to sit back and observe the situation for some time before intervening. Driven by strong parental instincts, adults will continue caring for wayward chicks if they are out of the nest prematurely. If the chick is separated from the parent, it may be just a matter of time before they are reunited. Keep an eye out for any obvious threats to the chick- especially neighborhood dogs and cats.

Here's a great example of a couple of owl chicks trying to get their wings to work. 

How old is this chick?

Important to get an idea of what aged chick your are dealing with to determine the type of response that’s needed. Is it little, barely covered in feathers, and not really moving very well on it’s own? It’s a hatchling or a nestling- maybe just a few hours or days old. Somewhere between picture 1 and 3 above? Try to find the nest and place the baby back in it. Don’t worry about touching it with your hands briefly- the parents are more interested in their baby than your smell. If you can’t find the nest, or the nest is out of reach, you might need to make a nest for it out of a little basket lined with tissue paper. Try to suspend the new nest from a tree branch or place it in a secure, but available place, close to where you found the nestling. The parents won’t come back to it immediately, but should return in a few hours.

Is it covered in feathers more than just fluffy down? Any color coming in? Is it trying to fly, but isn’t very good? You may have an ambitious fledgling that’s just trying out it’s wings a little early. If you feel like the bird is in danger, you can move it to a nearby bush or safe area close to where you found it. Putting it back in the nest is going to be a exercise in futility, since it has already taken the leap once.

Here’s a quick schedule of songbird development

Hatchling
Days 0-3: Mostly naked with a little natal down on body, eyes closed

Nestling
Day 3: Eyes open
Day 4: Primary feathers (also called pin feathers) pierce skin (look like tubes sticking out of the skin)
Day 6: Nestling responds to alarm call of parent
Day 7: Primary feathers begin to unsheath
Day 10: Bird is active and alert in the nest, stretches wings and legs

Fledgling
Days 13-14: Can flutter and hop from branch to branch, fully feathered, but has short tail and wings, leaves the nest.
Days 14-28: They do not return to the nest, but are still fed by the adults in nearby trees or on the ground if the young have not yet mastered flying. They might even be at your feeder!

It’s important to intervene only when absolutely necessary. Birds have been going through these same dangerous and high risk times for ages- they really do know how to survive! If you feel like the baby bird is in significant danger, or appears badly injured, you’ll need to call a local licensed and trained wildlife rehabber. Fortunately, we have just the group for the job: Urban Interface Wildlife Rescue ( http://www.theurbaninterface.com/ ). We’ve called these guys a couple of times and they’ve got the routine figured out! Great to work with! Their full contact:

Phone:          979-255-3064
Email:            rescue@theurbaninterface.com
Address:       P.O Box 5971
                       Bryan TX, 77805

Since I didn't have too many pictures for this one, I've added a clip from the PBS Nature program "An Original DUCKumentary" of Wood Ducks making their way out of the nest. What a leap!

And if you can't get enough of watching these little guys, you're in luck! Technology has really let anyone and everyone with an internet connection peer into the private lives of birds on the nest. There are lots and lots of Nestcams that stream their content over the web for free! I remember getting hooked on a Barn Owl nestcam from California a few years ago. Here's a few links:

Audubon Dakota Peregrine Cam
Cornell's Big List of Cams
Decorah Eagles UStream
Allen's Hummingbird UStream
Osprey Nestcam in Montana

Migrating through the big picture

As exciting and memorable as spring migration is, it’s safe to say that much of what defines a “successful” migration for birding comes down to seeing just a handful of individuals during the month or two that they pass through the area. Of the numerous highlights Sarah and I had last year, one sighting in particular that was especially thrilling: a Cerulian Warbler at Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park. One bird. One individual. ONE! That’s all it takes to make the month, season, year and life (etc etc etc) lists.

Looking back over my list from last spring, there were several birds like this- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeak, Blue-winged Warbler, and Blackpoll Warbler. There were others where I saw so many that they became unremarkable, like Chestnut-sided Warblers, Nashville Warblers or Black-throated Green Warblers. Not that these birds aren’t beautiful and exciting to see, but they became regulars on our daily or weekly excursions.

But neither of these cases really capture what’s going on, does it? I say that Chestnut-sideds were common, but our Ebird data says we saw 28 birds. Nashvilles? 49. Black-throated greens? 24. That’s still not really anything when it comes to the birds that passed through the area. We surely don’t see every last on of them! And it doesn’t even start to describe the population! It’s really quite a challenge to get your mind around what’s really going on with this spring migration: tens (hundreds?) of millions of individuals across 500+ species moving north all in the span of 2-3 months.

RBAS westward ho!

March14-16, RBASers, we’re hitting the road for our monthly field trip for an overnighter to Fort Clark Springs, Del Rio and the trans-Pecos/Edward Plateau. This is an exciting opportunity to visit several excellent birding areas, explore the Tamaulipan mazquital ecoregion, and learn about the paleogeography of the area - fossils AND volcanoes! But really we’re going to see birds.

Bryan Calk gave us a primer on the area with his excellent RBAS talk last fall about Fort Clark Springs. Our intrepid trip leader Bruce Neville has sketched out an itinerary that has us covering some high quality birding territory with loads of unique birds to be seen. Just look: here’s a list of birds from Ebird found in those two counties in this time of year that we rarely see in Brazos county… if at all!

Greater Scaup	Common Poorwill	Green Jay
Common Goldeneye	White-throated Swift	Western Scrub-Jay		Yellow-breasted Chat
Scaled Quail	Black-chinned Hummingbird	Chihuahuan Raven		Olive Sparrow
Northern Bobwhite	Ringed Kingfisher	Common Raven		Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Least Grebe	Green Kingfisher	Verdin
Horned Grebe	Golden-fronted Woodpecker	Bushtit		Canyon Towhee
White Ibis	Ladder-backed Woodpecker	Rock Wren		Cassin's Sparrow
White-faced Ibis	Prairie Falcon	Canyon Wren		Brewer's Sparrow
Golden Eagle	Black Phoebe	Cactus Wren		Black-throated Sparrow
Common Black-Hawk	Say's Phoebe	Black-tailed Gnatcatcher		Lark Bunting
Harris's Hawk	Vermilion Flycatcher	Mountain Bluebird		Summer Tanager
Zone-tailed Hawk	Ash-throated Flycatcher	Curve-billed Thrasher		Pyrrhuloxia
Ferruginous Hawk	Brown-crested Flycatcher	Long-billed Thrasher		Bronzed Cowbird
Snowy Plover	Great Kiskadee	Sage Thrasher		Hooded Oriole
Bonaparte's Gull	Couch's Kingbird	Phainopepla		Scott's Oriole
Herring Gull	Bell's Vireo	Tennessee Warbler		Lesser Goldfinch
Elf Owl	Black-capped Vireo	Tropical Parula		Evening Grosbeak
Common Pauraque	Gray Vireo	Golden-cheeked Warbler

Crazy right!? Loads of good birds- and the chance to see them with loads of good people!

Verdin - from Allen D Wilson

Mountain Bluebird - from Minette Layne

Cactus Wren - from Alan Vernon

So now the planning part. If you are wanting to go, please let Bruce know as soon as possible! We want everyone to be on the same page for timing and location, as well as make sure we bring everyone back. You'll also need to figure out where to stay: travel and lodging are up to you! There is limited camping/RVing at Fort Clark Springs, with the nearest other accommodations in Del Rio. Links to some of these resources are below.

Fort Clark Springs

Camping

RV

Motel

Del Rio Area

Hotels

Our tentative schedule will have us traveling on Friday from College Station to Del Rio for some birding and good border food. Saturday will be Fort Clark Springs, and Sunday will be traveling home.

Don't forget we have a great program on Wednesday 12March with Susan Heath from the GCBO coming to talk to us about her work with American Oystercatchers on the Texas Coast. 6:30PM at the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History.

*****UPDATE*****
OK, so I may have been a little optimistic with mentioning Common Black Hawk, but you never know until you go look! Anyway, I've been given a more practical list for several of the counties in the area from Bryan.

Maverick:
Ringed KF
Couch’s
Chihuahuan Raven
Seedeater maybe
Ducks
Raptors
Val Verde:
Wrens
Seedeater maaaaaaybeeeee… (so you're saying there's a chance!?!)
Scaled Quail
White-throated Swift
Green-tailed Towhee
Lark Bunting
Sage Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Common Raven
Mountain Bluebirds maybe
Kinney:
Black-tailed Gnatcatchers
Lark Bunting
Elf Owl
Pauraque/Poorwill
Kingfishers
Cassin’s Sparrow
Sage Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
Mountain Bluebirds maybe
Seedeater maybe
Uvalde:
Golden-cheeked Warbler
Hutton’s Vireo
Tropical Parula maybe
Scrub-jay
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Everywhere: 
Verdin
Black-throated Sparrow
Pyrrhuloxia
Zone-tailed Hawk (unpredictable)
Olive Sparrow
Green Jay
Kiskadee
Three phoebes (Say’s hard in Uvalde)
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Long-billed Thrasher

ID Challenge ANSWERS!

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ID Challenge #6

This sparrow was seen out in a grassy, mowed field hopping around with several other of his friends.