Birding at woodruff park

Today morning I went to woodruff park to see the migrants returning for summer. This time I followed the trail suggested by fellow Audobon forum member Siva. It turned out be a very good trail in the park. The only problem was the amount of water everywhere in the park this time around. We had heavy rains yesterday and this made water pools everywhere. But it was beautiful to see the trees around being lush green.

There were lot of birds that I saw yesterday and most of them I could not see but hear and some of the birds which I saw are yet to be id'ed correctly. It's a beautiful park and must visit for the birders around here.

ID?

I thought the below bird was a Nashville Warbler. But I don't see the yellow coloring below and on its neck. Not sure of the ID.

Tennesse Warbler

The beautiful Nashville Warbler. The warblers here are so colorful :-)

Nashville Warbler

Saw this beautiful Nashville Warbler for the first time. There were some enjoying their morning meal. Another bird which looks like a flycatcher but not sure of the bird ID.

There were Sparrow larks to be seen, Vireos and Brown Tharashers too. A lone Indigo Bunting was also seen. Saw the bunting near the lake and as well as near Parula bridge.

Is this below bird Sparrow Lark. I could not get a good view of it.

Great Crested Flycatcher

Here are the sparrow larks which were seen after sometime. I saw 3 of them.

Sparrow Lark

Brown Thrasher

Indigo Bunting

In the trail leading to Learning centre I saw few more birds. Titmouse, Chickadees and Wren's could be heard all along. The woodpeckers were busy moving from tree to tree. Few hawks flying over the tree.

Near the learning centre saw White eyed vireo singing and also a lone Black-chinned humming bird there. My first sighting of a humming bird here in texas. Here I met fellow audobon member Peter. I really enjoyed the chat that I had with him where he explained the birds that we can see here during different seasons and explained some of the bird calls that can be used to identify certain species of birds. Hope to see him again in the park in coming months.

Eastern wood-pewee

White Eyed Vireo

Red Shouldered Hawk

The big celebrity bird here:-) This fellow has so many different notes, most of time I hear some different song and I try to follow it hoping to see a different bird. But I end up seeing this fellow :-) But still I love this bird.

Northern Cardinal

Loud caller in the forest here. He perches at the top of these trees and keeps calling. But it has a very distinctive call which can be made out. Lovely bird.

Carolina Wren

Red-eyed Vireo

On returning to the lake area I saw Western kingbirds flying around catching insects mid air along with scissor tailed flycatcher. Just as I was about to leave a lone Baltimore Oriole flew right in front of me. Love the color of the bird.

Love this yellow-rumped warbler. They are so beautiful to see closeup. Bright yellow color markings on rump, sides and on top of their heads.

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Coopers Hawk

Western Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Baltimore Oriole

ebird : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23062224

List of birds seen during the day.

Mallard  
hawk sp.  
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  
Mourning Dove  
Black-chinned Hummingbird  
Red-bellied Woodpecker  
Downy Woodpecker  
Eastern Phoebe  
Western Kingbird  
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher  
White-eyed Vireo  
Blue Jay  
Carolina Chickadee  
Tufted Titmouse  
Carolina Wren  
Eastern Bluebird 
Brown Thrasher  
Northern Mockingbird  
Cedar Waxwing  
Nashville Warbler  
Yellow-rumped Warbler  
Northern Cardinal  
Indigo Bunting  
Great-tailed Grackle  
Baltimore Oriole  
Tennesse Warbler
Great-crested flycatcher
Eastern wood-pewee
Red-eyed Vireo
Coopers Hawk

Birding at White Rock Lake

Today visited the White Rock Lake for my first bird walk in this park, erlier during winter went for birding but had to return because of the severe cold. Such a majestic lake and we are lucky to be staying close to such a good lake. The variety of birds around the lake is very good here.

I started with a group of cedar waxwings who were enjoying their morning breakfast. And then came the moment to see the flycatchers and the sparrows and other birds. I was seeing some of these birds for the first time. Indigo Bunting, Lark Sparrow, and Eastern Kingbird. There were couple of Scissor-tiled flycatchers flying around too.

Cedar Waxwing

Lark Sparrow

Indigo Bunting?

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Indigo bunting(Back)

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Then near the bay I saw my first Avocets. Pied Avocets are seen in India during winter but I haven't been lucky to see any of them till now. So seeing an American Avocet here was good. I saw three of them on a floating log near the bay.

American Avocet

There were lot of coots, geese and mallards near the bay. I also saw 3 male Wood Ducks and 2 of them were kind enough to give me some nice photographs :-)

Wood Ducks

While I was taking rest on one of the benches there I saw a Spotted Sandpiper coming out looking for its meal. Again fist time sighting of this bird for me. There were couple of American-white Pelicans too trying to dry themselves.

Spotted Sandpiper

American white-pelican

Great-tailed Grackle

Northern Mockingbird

Lincoln Sparrow?

As I drove into a parking lot I saw a lone kill deer walking along.

Killdeer

Also saw lot of Mallards with young-lings today. Kids were really enjoying in the park feeding these Mallards with bread.

The last beauty that i saw during day's walk was a lone Pied-billed grebe. Very pretty bird.

Pied-billed Grebe

Mallard

ebird : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22959711

List of birds seen during the day.

Wood Duck  
Mallard  
Pied-billed Grebe  
Neotropic Cormorant  
American White Pelican  
American Coot  
American Avocet  
Killdeer  
Spotted Sandpiper  
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  
White-winged Dove  
Mourning Dove  
Downy Woodpecker  
Northern Flicker 
Eastern Phoebe 
Eastern Kingbird  
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher  
Blue Jay  
American Crow  
Barn Swallow  
American Robin   
Northern Mockingbird  
European Starling  
Cedar Waxwing  
Lark Sparrow  
Lincoln's Sparrow  
Northern Cardinal  
Indigo Bunting  
Red-winged Blackbird  
Common Grackle  
Great-tailed Grackle  
Brown-headed Cowbird  
House Sparrow