the roadrunner...pair of blue birds at a neighbor’s place across the creek on 7/10/15. nothing...
TRANSCRIPT
THE ROADRUNNER Central Texas Audubon Society
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September 2015
I ssue 291
President/Janet Wallace 366-6280 [email protected] Vice President/Annette Jones 772-1622 [email protected] Treasurer/Gail Cupit 776-2838 [email protected] Rec. Secretary/Carolyn Edwards Corr. Sec. /Harriet Shearer 772- 9597; [email protected] Newsletter/Anna Dunbar 744-7638;
[email protected] Field Trips/Programs by committee Education/VACANT Membership/Bryan Stone 776-3385; [email protected] Social/inactive State Rep/Conservation/ Nada Wareham 799-7170 [email protected] Check List/Rare Bird Reports/Frank Bumgardner 836-4183 [email protected]
President’s Message
Hope you all have had a good summer and are ready for a new year of Audubon. We had some good field trips through the summer and will be planning more for the fall. Our first meeting in on September 15, at the Arboretum. Spencer Moore, vocal wildlife photographer, will be sharing some of his wonderful photos of birds and wildlife in our area. Please mark this date on your calendar. The Heart of Texas Master Naturalist trainees will be joining us for this meeting as it will count toward their less on ornithology. Please welcome them and share your birding experiences with them. Our group is participating in an introduction to birding with the Master Naturalist trainees as we take them on a field trip to Meridian State Park on September 5, at 8:30 AM. Anyone interested in going is welcome to meet us at the park for this bird walk. Matt Perzan is leading the walk. We want to express our condolences to EG White-Swift in the loss of his wife, Christy, last month. Christy was a wonderful lady with a ready smile and an addition to our chapter. We will miss her greatly. Everyone be looking to the skies for the beginning of migration-share your sightings with us on centexaudubon.org and at our meetings. See you on the 15th, Janet
Upcoming Events
9/5 – CTAS field trip to
Meridian State Park. Meet @
8:30 AM
9/12 – Drug Take-back Day
9/15 – CTAS meeting @ 6:30
PM @ Carleen Bright
Arboretum (program starts at
7 PM). Program by Spencer
Moore, known local
photographer.
9/26 Waco Cultural Arts Fest
at Indian Springs Park and the
Waco Convention Center
9/26 - National Public Lands
Day; Helping Hands for
America's Lands; watch the
news for details.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday, September 15 at the Carleen Bright Arboretum at 6:30 PM-program begins at 7:00 PM. The evening’s program will be Spencer Moore, local wildlife photographer, who will share some of his wonderful photos of birds and wildlife in our area. He has been involved with photography for over 40 years, beginning when he was in the University of Houston Optometry School. See more at http://www.drspencermoorephotography.com/ All who are interested are invited to attend. Please be sure and plan to be there!
Friendly reminder:
Earth Share's Mission To engage individuals and organizations in creating a healthy and sustainable environment
www.earthshare.org/index.html NOTICE!! We want to encourage EVERYONE to receive our expanded Newsletter via e-mail and save a tree (as well as the cost of printing and postage)!! By receiving the newsletter electronically you will also see more photos and more information! Contact Anna at [email protected] to receive future newsletters via e-mail!
From Bryan Stone, July, 2015: Common Nighthawk
From Ann Gordon: Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird at her puddle in Harris Creek, August, 2015.
Black-throated Green Warbler at drip puddle in Harris
Creek, McLennan County. Photo by Ann Gordon. This
smaller woodland bird is a migrant.
SIGHTINGS Ann Gordon: I had a chance to photograph a nesting pair of Blue Birds at a neighbor’s place across the creek on 7/10/15. Nothing unusual in the bird sanctuary until 7/31/15 when a Black-throated Green Warbler came to the drip puddle. A little more than 2 weeks later on 8/16/15, I photographed a Yellow Warbler and a Black and White Warbler at the drip puddle. When nothing else is in the yard I work on hummingbirds. I have a chance to get out beyond my yard and bird around Waco several place including the Wet Lands as it was drying up. On one of the outings around Waco I photographed a White-eyed Vireo. There were many dragonfly opportunities and I finally got to photograph a Flag-tail Spinylegs.
Jim Edwards: Carolyn and I took a short trip Aug. 10-16 to the Davis Mountains. While there, we took in the McDonald Observatory, Davis Mountains State Park and the Davis Mountains Preserve operated by the Nature Conservancy. The highlights included a star party, meteor shower, good birds at the bird blinds at the state park and an open weekend at the Davis Mountains Preserve. While a portion of the preserve is open year round, the larger portion is closed except for a few open weekends during the year. During these open weekends, the Nature Conservancy hosts various activities for the public in order to get familiar with the preserve. We took in some of the trails (auto) and also enjoyed the hummingbird stations that had been set up by the volunteers. Six different species of hummingbirds were observed over the weekend at the feeding stations along with sitings of the white-eared hummingbird in the Tobe Canyon area. We missed out on it but saw all of the others at the feeding stations. We highly recommend taking in the preserve when you are in the area. By the way, dragonfly hunting and photographing was very good too. On the local scene, I have seen a brown thrasher, American Avocet and yellow warblers at Woodway Park lately. The woods seem alive since the cool front passed through with several yellow warblers noted. Also, I took a short trip to Lake Waco the other day and observed a crested caracara and a bald eagle near Waco Marina. The eagle was perched in a tree feeding on a fish so I took his picture.
Nancy and Fred Gehlbach Not a whole lot going on in the Sugar Creek ravine and environs. Several nesting pairs of White eyed Vireos early in the summer and we are still hearing an occasional one sing. Our Mississippi Kite numbers have been dwindling and we saw only 2 this morning on our street walk--we think the majority have left. Heard the Kestrel on the power pole yesterday--we think they nested there early in the summer. The dogwood berries are attracting Great Crested Flycatchers which we common nesters, a couple of Eastern Phoebes. We are hearing Blue gray gnatcatchers on our street walk in several places as of this week although they also nested in the area. Ruby throated and Black chinned hummers at feeders and Turk's caps. Nighthawks overhead but Chimney Swifts seem to have left and I haven't heard any Purple Martins since the first of August. Frank Bumgardner: Jeanette and I had 15-18 Mississippi Kites at Barclay over Highway 53 in Falls County on 18 August, along with 100-150 Swainson’s Hawks on the ground. On 6 August we had the Collared Plover on the playa near Hargill in Hidalgo County. We still have 4 to 5 Painted Bunting coming to the feeders.
Joe Yelderman – Book Review! In the summer of 2015 I received “Gifts of the Crow”, literally; as a “gift” for my birthday. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The subtitle for Gifts of the Crow is “How Perception, Emotion, and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans”. If you are familiar with books like “That Quail Robert” or “Wesley the Owl”, this book is quite different. It is not a collection of pet stories from caretaker observations, but rather a scientific approach to understanding the intelligence of corvids. The observational accounts are fascinating and one of the most interesting aspects about the book, but author John Marzluff is a professor of wildlife Science at the University of Washington and places the observations in analytical context with hypotheses and discussion. In fact, the book may contain too much scientific discussion for some readers. However, don’t let this discourage you because much of the science detail is placed in appendices making its inclusion the reader’s choice.
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