Photo by Pam Rendall-Bass |
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Master Naturalist Jack Chiles, Master Naturalist Mike Petrick and Dr. Wayne Meyer | Each Tuesday a team of experienced birders, including Master Naturalist Jack Chiles, traverse 35 miles of refuge roads and hiking trails, documenting every bird they encounter. This Bird Census is reported to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology for use in research, and each week we will bring you a link to their actual bird count, and a summary of their adventures. Thank you, Bird Census Team! **Turn Phone sideways prior to image enlargment! Point to bird images for full screen view** |
December, 2022 |
Dec 27: Bird Census Results
The morning started out very chilly with temperatures below normal but much better than a few days ago. Most of the marshes had a covering of ice with some patches of open water. Duck species and duck numbers were high. We counted 417 Green-winged Teal, 360 Northern Pintails, 55 Northern Shovelers, 40 Gadwall, 8 Canvasback, 3 Ring-necked Duck, 2 Lesser Scaup, 6 Bufflehead, 11 Ruddy Duck, 18 Hooded Merganser and 200 more ducks that were too far away to identify. Early on there were 16 Wild Turkeys on Wright Road. We saw 1 Greater Yellowlegs, 8 Wilson's Snipe in a field on the west side of the refuge and 2 Dunlin on a sandbar off the end of Tern Pad. We found a total of 166 Canada Geese and 6 Cackling Geese. The Cackling Geese were in with a large flock of Canada Geese in the field by the large pond near the Cemetery. We finished the day with a total of 13 Red-tailed Hawks, 6 Northern Harriers, 4 Red-shouldered Hawks and a Cooper's Hawk. We saw 8 Loggerhead Shrikes today. Our Eastern Bluebird count for the day was 49. We saw 3 Pileated Woodpeckers, 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 6 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 7 Northern Flickers and 7 Downy Woodpeckers, There were over 2000 Ring-billed Gulls and 9 Herring Gulls. More than 6000 white geese were present. We finished the day with 77 species. We had a couple of ladies from New York today and one added 5 species to her life list, one of which was a Greater Roadrunner which she was very excited to see. Today's photo a Greater Roadrunner exhibiting the sunning behavior sometimes observed, where the bird exposes the feathers on the back to the sun to warm up.
Dec 20: Bird Census Results
It was a clear and relatively calm day starting out for our census, with a north wind picking up as the day progressed. We went to the Goode area after making a short walk on Harris Creek Trail. We saw a couple of Pileated Woodpecker flyovers near headquarters. On the way to the Goode area we saw American Robbins, Bluejays, Cedar Waxwings as well as several sparrow species. Viewing the lake from the Goode picnic area we saw many Double-crested Cormorants and American White Pelicans feeding on schooling fish. We also had a flyby Bald Eagle there. We thought that we heard a Common Loon call there but were never able to locate it. On the way to Meadow Pond past the third bridge we found a lone male Rusty Blackbird that had just finished bathing in the ditch by the road. It sat up in a tree and preened as we observed it. There were many ducks on the marshes including a large number of Northern Pintails. We saw a pair of Common Goldeneyes in Muleshoe Marsh and the Long-tailed Duck, Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks continue in Steedman Marsh. White geese numbers were way down today but they might have been feeding off the refuge. There was a lone Greater White-fronted Goose in with the 250 or so white geese.We saw one group of 12 Long-billed Dowitchers. Red-tailed Hawks were plentiful with a count of 15 for the day. We saw a couple of thousand Ring-billed Gulls sitting on the sandbar near Tern Pad. We finished the day with 74 species. Today's photos, male Common Goldeneye and male Rusty Blackbird. Thanks for looking.
Dec 14: Bird Census Results
We did not conduct our bird census on Tuesday as usual, due to severe weather in the area, and opted to put it off until today. The area was very wet after heavy rain yesterday and it was quite a bit cooler. We saw Cedar Waxwings in many locations and finished the day with over 200. Another bird we saw in large numbers today were European Starlings with a count of 472. We found 52 Harris's Sparrows as well as smaller numbers of Field Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrows and only 1 Savannah Sparrow. There were hundreds of ducks in the marshes but many were too far away to identify. We did identify 230 Gadwall, 114 Northern Pintails, 135 Green-winged Teal, 4 Redheads, 11 Ring-necked Ducks, 69 Northern Shovelers, 26 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Canvasbacks, 6 Buffleheads, 2 American Wigeons, 22 Mallards and the continuing Long-tailed Duck. There are almost no mudflats and the Ring-billed Gulls that we did see were sitting on snags in the lake. We saw a Belted Kingfisher at Deaver Pond. Lucy was perched on her favorite pole in the morning. We saw a total of 7 Loggerhead Shrikes. We finished the day with 69 species. Today's photo is a Brown Thrasher that we saw at the bottom of the long hill at the Goode area. This bird species is a skulker and is often overlooked due to its secretive ways. This species is here year round and has a repertoire of over 1000 songs. Some of its songs are similar in sound to the Northern Mockingbird. Thanks for looking.
Brown Thrasher
Dec 06: Bird Census Results
It was a beautiful December morning for today's census. Early on, we walked the first part of the Harris Creek Trail and saw Song Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, a Spotted Towhee, and a Common Yellowthroat as well as other birds. Near Goose Point there were thousands of white geese bunched closely together on the lake. There are more than 6000 white geese on the refuge at present. In Silliman Marsh the Long-tailed Duck is still present as well as quite a few Ruddy Ducks, Buffleheads and some Lesser Scaups. Lucy was present on her favorite pole. We only saw two Canvasbacks today and they were in Mineral Marsh. There are still many Gadwalls at Meadow Pond. On our way back from Meadow Pond we stopped at the second bridge and found a Winter Wren. There were Cedar Waxwings there as well as in several other locations. We did an abbreviated census today and did not go out to the west part of the refuge. We finished the day with 71 species Today's photos, Northern Harrier, Lucy the resident Bald Eagle, Song Sparrow, Long-tailed Duck and Downy Woodpecker. Thanks for looking.
Northern Harrier
Lucy
Song Sparrow
Norther Harrier Lucy Song Sparrow
Long-tailed Duck
Downy Woodpecker
Long-tailed Duck Downy Woodpecker
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6465 Refuge Road Sherman, TX 75092
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