keely – Page 21 – State of Wilderness

A Year of Birds on the Brain

It’s Christmas day, and I am ridiculously excited about two of the presents I received – an audio CD of bird songs from Jason to learn how to identify species by ear, and a birding journal from my mom. “It’s so funny that you got so into this bird thing,” he says, “considering you’re so scared of birds”.

I was scared of birds, potentially still am in the up-close and personal, and it is true that I never really cared for them before I got involved with Jason. I reminded him of what changed that for me; an experience during our 2010 road trip in which we stopped at a wildlife refuge in Wyoming, and we saw a bird do something I didn’t know birds did – pretended to be injured in order to lure us away from what was probably her nest. I was intrigued about this but didn’t even know what kind of bird that was to be able to describe it in a story form. Later research would teach me that this bird was a Killdeer, and this is one of their identifying behaviors.

Also, Jason was mildly into birds, mostly birds of prey, and I indulged his interest and began to share it with him. I am a lot more obsessive than he is, so when I latched on to this as an interest of ours, I became absorbed in learning all kinds of details.

Also, he pointed out, the thing that is remarkable about birds is that they are truly free. I love the concept of freedom and that is probably what roped me in. I always loved wild horses because of the the freedom they represented, but they are bound to the land, with restrictions on their roaming. Fish are free, but bound to the water. Birds know no master; land, sea or sky, and have no care about the constraints us humans have put on the earth. Only the laws of nature restrict them.

So this year, I said I was going to keep a record of all the species we identified, as we got better at visual identification. The rule was we were not going to go out of our way per se to find birds, but just keep track of the different species that we encountered on our normal path. However, our paths did meander quite a bit this year. Work sent me to Florida, Michigan, Illinois, and Georgia. Recreational travel had us in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. We also visited some places in Texas that may or may not be outside our normal flight path. Some birds we saw were unique to those places or ranges, so they might be birds we rarely or never see again. This is a record of what we saw and where the first place is that I recorded seeing this species at this year, divided by type.

Ducks, Geese and Swans

Black Bellied Whistling Duck (Brazos Bend State Park)

Greater White-Fronted Goose (Paul Rushing Park)

Canada Goose (Michigan)

Muscovy Duck (neighborhood)

Wood Duck (San Marcos)

Gadwall (Paul Rushing Park)

American Wigeon (Paul Rushing Park)

Mallard (neighborhood)

Mottled Duck (Florida)

Blue Winged Teal (Brazos Bend State Park)

Northern Shoveler (Florida)

Ring-Necked Duck (Hermann Park)

Lesser Scaup (Cross Creek Ranch – Polishing Pond)

Barrows Goldeneye (Montana – I think)

Hooded Merganser (Houston Zoo)

Partridges, Grouse, Turkeys and Kin

Wild Turkey (Florida)

New World Quail

Northern Bobwhite (Caprock Canyons State Park)

Loons

Common Loon (Plano)

Grebes

Pied Billed Grebe (Brazos Bend State Park)

Pelicans

American White Pelican (Bishop Fiorenza Park reservoir)

Brown Pelican (Houston Zoo)

Cormorants

Neotropic Cormorant (Sylvan Rodriquez Park)

Double-Crested Cormorant (Florida)

Bitterns, Herons and Egrets

Great Blue Heron (ubiquitous)

Great Egret (Bishop Fiorenza Park reservoir)

Snowy Egret (Brazos Bend State Park)

Little Blue Heron (Florida)

Tri-Colored Heron (Florida)

Cattle Egret (ubiquitous)

Green Heron (Bastrop)

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Cinco Ranch)

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron (Cinco Ranch)

Ibises and Spoonbills

White Ibis (Bishop Fiorenza Park reservoir)

Glossy Ibis (Cross Creek Ranch)

Roseatte Spoonbill (Cinco Ranch)

Vultures

Black Vulture (Brazos Bend State Park)

Turkey Vulture (Brazos Bend State Park)

Hawks, Kites, Eagles and Kin

Osprey (Florida)

Mississippi Kite (Cinco Ranch – Willow Fork Trail)

Bald Eagle (The Woodlands)

Coopers Hawk (Florida)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Addicks Reservoir)

Broad-Winged Hawk (Houston Arboretum)

Swainson’s Hawk (neighborhood)

White-Tailed Hawk (Katy Prairie)

Red-Tailed Hawk (ubiquitous)

Ferrunginous Hawk (Montana)

Caracaras and Falcons

Crested Caracara (Paul Rushing Park)

American Kestrel (Katy)

Rails and Coots

Clapper Rail (Galveston)

Common Moorhen (Cullinan Park)

American Coot (Cullinan Park)

Cranes

Sandhill Crane (Florida)

Lapwings and Plovers
Killdeer (Brazos Bend State Park)

Stilts and Avocets

Black-necked Stilt (Cinco Ranch)

Sandpipers, Phalaropes and Kin

Lesser Yellowlegs (Sylvan Rodriquez Park)

Willet (Galveston)

Spotted Sandpiper (Cinco Ranch)

Long-Billed Curlew (Paul Rushing Park)

Western Sandpiper (Cinco Ranch)

Long-Billed Dowitcher (Inks Lake Fish Hatchery)

Gulls, Terns, Skimmers and Kin

Laughing Gull (Galveston)

Ring Billed Gull (Plano)

California Gull (Montana – I think)

Black Skimmer (Galveston)

Pigeons and Doves

Rock Pigeon (Katy)

Eurasian Collared Dove (Katy)

White Winged Dove (Katy)

Mourning Dove (Katy)

Inca Dove (Riverside Park – Sugarland)

Common Ground-Dove (Burnet)

Cuckoos, Roadrunners and Allies

Greater Roadrunner (Oklahoma)

Typical Owls

Great Horned Owl (neighborhood)

Nighthawks and Nightjars

Common Nighthawk (San Marcos)

Swifts

White-throated Swift (Utah)

Hummingbirds

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Sugarland)

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird (Colorado)

Rufous Hummingbird (Idaho)

Kingfishers

Belted Kingfisher (Spring Creek Nature Center)

Woodpeckers and Allies

Red-Headed Woodpecker (Bear Creek Park)

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Brazos Bend State Park)

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Brazos Bend State Park)

Ladder-Backed Woodpecker (Spring Creek Nature Center)

Downy Woodpecker (Cinco Ranch – Willow Fork Trail)

Tyrant Flycatchers

Eastern Phoebe (Brazos Bend State Park)

Gray Kingbird (Florida)

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher (Katy Park)

Shrikes

Loggerhead Shrike (Cinco Ranch)

Northern Shrike (Colorado)

Vireos

Blue-headed Vireo (Sylvan Rodriquez Park)

Warbling Vireo (Colorado)

Jays and Crows

Blue Jay (ubiquitous)

Pinyon Jay (Utah)

Black-Billed Magpie (Colorado)

American Crow (Brazos Bend State Park)

Common Raven (Burnet)

Swallows

Purple Martin (neighborhood)

Cliff Swallow (Michigan)

Barn Swallow (Cinco Ranch)

Chickadees and Titmice

Carolina Chickadee (Brazos Bend State Park)

Tufted Titmouse (Brazos Bend State Park)

Black-Crested Titmouse (Burnet)

Nuthatches

Brown-headed Nuthatch (Florida)

Wrens

Carolina Wren (Katy Park)

House Wren (Oklahoma)

Dippers

American Dipper (Montana)

Kinglets

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (Brazos Bend State Park)

Old World Warblers and Gnatcatchers

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Brazos Bend State Park)

Thrushes

Eastern Bluebird (Brazos Bend State Park)

Mountain Bluebirds (Utah)

Townsends Solitaire (Utah)

American Robin (ubiquitous)

Mockingbirds, Catbirds and Thrashers

Northern Mockingbird (ubiquitous)

Starlings

European Starling (ubiquitous)

Waxwings

Cedar Waxwing (neighborhood)

New World Warblers

Yellow Rumped Warbler (Brazos Bend State Park)

Yellow Throated Warbler (Bastrop)

Tanagers

Scarlet Tanager (Rosharon)

New World Sparrows

Spotted Towhee (Utah)

Eastern Towhee (Houston)

Chipping Sparrow (George Bush Park)

Field Sparrow (Paul Rushing Park)

Savannah Sparrow (George Bush Park)

Song Sparrow (Cinco Ranch – Willow Fork Trail)

Dark-Eyed Junco (Arkansas)

Cardinals and Kin

Northern Cardinal (ubiquitous)

Blue Grosbeak (Caprock Canyons State Park)

Blackbirds, Orioles and Kin

Red-Winged Blackbird (ubiquitous)

Eastern Meadowlark (Florida)

Brewers Blackbird (Paul Rushing Park)

Common Grackle (ubiquitous)

Boat Tailed Grackle

Great Tailed Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird (Florida)

Old World Sparrows

House Sparrow (Sugarland)

That makes 134 recorded species for 2014. I am sure there is a lot we missed. Now, for next year, let’s see how many more we can find. In 2015, we might even go out of our way for birds ;-). It also appears, from the difficulty I had finding pictures for this entry, that we need to work on taking pictures of the birds we see.

Cross Creek Ranch: Where Nature Resides

Scenes from dawn to dusk at Polishing Pond, an area within the Cross Creek Ranch neighborhood dedicated to nature. The fifty acre series of connected ponds acts as an engineered water quality basin, filtering water for use in irrigation in the nearby community. It also attracts a LOT of wildlife, mostly birds. Although primarily waterfowl can be seen here, we have also spotted many other types, such as blackbirds and hawks.
There are several boardwalks around the lakes to get a closer look. Can you see the two white ibis at the end of this one? A Glossy Ibis (#125) was also spotted this morning flying over the southwestern-most pond.
Although it seems quiet and calm in these pictures, the waters are literally teeming with ducks. Hundreds of them make their way through the ponds; mostly American Coots, but also other exciting species such as Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups (#126), and Gadwall. Pied Billed Grebes can be seen ducking under the water, sometimes just the tip of their heads peeking out as they swim under the water surface. Also, numerous egrets, herons, and ibis can be found along the shores or perched in low-hanging branches.
One of the best parts about this place is that it is relatively quiet. We have rarely run into other people out here, although if the secret gets out about how great this place is, maybe the humans would flock here, too. I found this place due to geocaching, due to the fact that I needed a find on a specific day, and one cache was hidden out here. Since then, we have hidden another on the other side of the pond ourselves, and visited a few times to look at the birds.
We have also been spending time at the Canine Commons dog park in the neighborhood, and enjoying some brief walks with the dogs along 150 acre Flewellen Creek Park. The Cross Creek Ranch neighborhood was brought to you by the Johnson Development Corp, the same company that also planned Sienna Plantation, Imperial Sugar Land, Harmony, and many other familiar master planned communities. The mission here was to accomplish two objectives: an enhanced lifestyle for its residents, and to be eco-friendly in the process. They have planted 1,000 trees, native grasses and shaped new trails for hiking and biking that wrap around waterways and creekbeds.
We entertained the idea that we might like to live here, until we looked at the price range of the houses. The houses we saw listed in the neighborhood ranged from 350K to almost a million. I suppose we will have to just be happy living a short drive or long bike ride away for now, but it is nice to know there is so much to explore here.

Kaleb: Destroyer of Peace and Serenity

My second child is sometimes a bit of a mess. He doesn’t really know how to be quiet. Given that, we should have known better when we decided to bring him into the forest with us when we stopped in Bear Creek Park to look for the rare and elusive Greater PeeWee.

However, what are we going to do with him while we look. Besides, he is very interested in “legendary” birds, and I am trying to keep him interested in looking for birds so it will be easier to drag him along with us.

Only, he did kind of ruin the experience for us. We were trying to walk softly through the woods as not to scare the birds away, and he was clomping behind us. No matter how I tried to quietly explain how to roll from heel to toe to make as little noise as possible, he insists on shuffling loudly and then lifting his feet heavily. His brother says he is about as quiet as an elephant in the forest. He’ll never sneak up on anything.

It is frustrating though, when you are trying to listen for little noises, like cheeps and peeps. Some of the bird noises are at such a frequency that Jason can’t hear them. In a way, you would think Jason and I would make a great birding team, because I can hear the birds better, yet he is better at making them out visually. However, I don’t know how to identify them on sounds alone yet, and he is no good at identifying at sight. So it is kind of like the blind leading the blind out in the forest, followed by the loud, when the three of us are out together, and we get little accomplished.

Jason was trying to show me the place in the park that he has discovered as a peaceful escape during his lunch break. He wanted me to understand the tranquility he finds there, and let me see and hear all the birds that surround him in his lunch walks, but mostly we just heard kids in the park nearby screeching, Kaleb clomping, and the thumps he was making with a stick he picked up along the way. He is forever picking up sticks and wacking the trees and bushes with them, playing at swordmanship.

We didn’t see the Greater PeeWee today (although I almost had a visual on a bird that MIGHT have been it). We did hear a Barred Owl out there, and saw a handful of robins, warblers, and kinglets, but it was nothing compared to the experience Jason usually has out there. I’ve decided we should go back in the early morning or late afternoon sometime and just sit for a while…without my noisy second child…in order to see this ordinary-looking bird that happens to be living way outside its normal range.

Brazos Bend, Take Three

November 29, 2014

Pilant Slough Trail. Wheels turning on slightly damp fine gravel paths. Watch out, I say to the little one, watch out for the rocks in the path. Stay on one side of the trail, announce yourselves to the pedestrians, tread lightly, go quietly.

We step off the path for a moment. Tiny ruby-crowned kinglet (#122) forages on upper branches. We find things to marvel at; a big creepy bug, spider webs, a little frog inside a split log, ammo cans with fun swag. Forest opens up into a clearing, grass and weeds about waist high. Eventually we cross a bridge and then we are approaching the wide path that loops around Elm Lake.

Along the islands in the middle of Elm Lake, gators are stretched out like old tires across the landscape. People are out walking slowly along the path, stopping to point or take pictures of those ever-present mascots of this park. Great flocks of black bellied whistling ducks make a racket along the shoreline next to them. Common moorhens are standing in the water feeding. American Coots are moving in between the islands. A Pied-billed Grebe or two (#123) ducks its head into the water as we approach.
We make our way all around the lake. The little one, who really isn’t all that little anymore, starts pretending like his legs were going to come off from so much pedaling. How much further, he asks. We’re almost there. Around the parking lot, just around this watchtower, just past this bridge, just around this corner, and then we are climbing a small hill ascending to the Nature Center, where we left our car. He is just dying, so we slow down, walk, park our bikes and go inside to see snakes and pet the baby alligators.

On the way home, we stop at the stop sign to the main road home. A line of bikers are trying to turn left to go towards the park, and we aren’t in a particular hurry. Jason is trying to get a visual on the red bird in the bushes, a Scarlet Tanager (#124).

In the end, it was less than three miles by bike, but felt like forever for an eight year old who needs more bike rides. On the way home, still feeling adventurous, we try a new asian fusion place near our house, which suddenly is everyone’s favorite. Maybe we can go again next weekend; for a ride, to the park, to Akashi. This was the sweet spot for our holiday weekend.