Total Species seen by Month's end: 498
Number of species added during month: 2
Miles Driven: 4500
Review Species Added:
Summary & Highlights:
4-5 October (496
species)
I spent the weekend of
4-5 October on
the upper Texas coast, birding by myself all day at High Island on
Saturday, and then birding at
Sabine Woods and High Island again on Sunday with my dad. I
was primarily hoping & searching for
a Black-throated Blue Warbler but was not able to run across one,
nor were any reported over that
time. I did have a good mix of migrants though.
Highlights include: 18 species of warblers, including
a single Prairie Warbler at Sabine Woods on Sunday; a female
Scarlet Tanager and a cooperative (photographed)
Whip-poor-will at Smith Oaks on Saturday; several groups of Ruby-crowned Kinglets
on both days.
11-13 October
(496 species)
On 11 October, I went on a
pelagic trip out of Port Aransas aboard the Wharf Cat, organized
by Richard Gibbons and Coastal
Bend Audubon Society. We had very few birds in deep water,
though we did encounter several birds
in near-shore waters, including 100+
Cory's Shearwaters, 4
Bridled Terns, a Palm Warbler, and 7
Peregrine Falcons.
On October 12th and
13th, I spent time again at Sabine Woods and High Island,
searching again for Black-throated Blue
Warblers (and not having much luck). Highlights of these 2
days include all 6 species of expected
vireos, several species of warblers, a
Grasshopper Sparrow, and, along the beach, a jaeger (likely
a Parasitic) as well as small numbers of
Franklin's Gulls.
18-20 October
(497 species)
October 18-20 was weekend #3
dedicated to finding a Black-throated Blue Warbler.
Saturday, my dad joined me as we
surveyed both Sabine Woods and High Island. Sunday, I did
the same trip by myself - and, neither
day, was I successful. Monday morning I once again started
out at Sabine Woods. After
about an hour of wandering around, I was finally able to locate a
female. This bird was rather tame and was
foraging mostly on the ground in the southwest section of the main
woods, in approximately the
same area where my only other 2 sightings of Black-throated Blue
Warbler
(both females) have occurred.
Other interesting birds
on this successful weekend: a continuing
Prairie Warbler still
present at Sabine Woods; 2 western Palm
Warblers (one half-way
between Sabine Pass and High Island; the other just west of the willows at
Sea Rim State Park); a Western
Kingbird and an
Ash-throated Flycatcher - both birds just west of
the willows at Sea Rim State Park.
29 October
(498 species)
Checking my answering
machine as well as Texbirds very late the evening of the 28th, I
was excited to hear that Randy
Pinkston had found a first-winter Thayer's Gull at Belton Lake
(near Temple in Bell County.) late that afternoon. I
decided immediately to try for it the next morning "on the way to
work" as the lake was only a little over an
hour away from where I live. I made it to Belton Lake just a
little after first light and joined Rich
Kostecke in searching for the bird. After a short time of
waiting, we were lucky to have the bird fly in
and land very close to us (and where Randy had seen the bird).
I was able to take a couple
pictures of this bird as it
sat for a few minutes before it flew out of view, not to return
again in the next hour that I
spent there before I returned to my job.
31 October
(498 species)
I spent Halloween out
in west Texas, birding Red Bluff Lake in the morning and then spending
some time at Frijole Ranch in
Guadalupe Mountains National Park as well as birding along HWY 54 between the
park and Van Horn. Nothing new
for the year, though I did have an
American Golden-Plover
(unusual for west Texas) at Red Bluff.
I also had a nice look at a
Sage Sparrow, my first of the fall.