Birding at White Rock Lake

After a long time went to White Rock lake for birding. The best place to see the wintering ducks :-)

I reached a little early and went for walk. The weather was really good for trail walks today. I went to Spillway area of White Rock Lake. Wanted to check the ducks and Gulls near the spillway. Since I arrived a little early there were no Gulls but I did see some Gadwall's, Blue-winged Teals, Mallards and Least Sandpipers near the spillway. I also saw lot of Coots near the spillway and a lone Spotted Sandpiper and Killdeer as well.

Blue-winged Teal

Gadwall

Spotted Sandpiper

Red Admiral

I had ebird reports about White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos and Thrushes in the same area. So I started walking the trails. I did see lot of Yellow-Rumped Warblers, White-Throated Sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I also saw an orange-crowned Warbler and few White-eyed Vireos in the trail. I also saw Monk Parakeets and an American Kestrel which was too close to the Monk Parakeets roosting place. You could hear their calls a lot on the trails. And in one of the ponds I saw few Wood Ducks too.

White-eyed Vireo

Wood Duck

White-Throated Sparrow

After walking the trails in Spillway area decided to try my luck with American Black Duck which was reported at Winfrey point. I started the drive on Lawther drive, I wanted to see if I can see the Rudy ducks. I always see them on this drive hence wanted to see if they were still here. After reaching the Winfrey point, at the top I saw there were lot of Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Blackbirds and Mockingbirds there. I headed towards the lake to try my luck with the Black duck. I also saw there were lot of people looking for this duck. But no one had any luck with the same. I did check the NARBA report to see when was the last sighting of this duck and it was on March 17'th. I did not have much expectations but anyways wanted to try my luck. I did not get to see the duck though.

Anyways during the walk I saw lot of Mallards, Coots and Pelicans here. There were some Ring-billed Gulls and Terns flying over the lake. I also saw few Pied Grebes, Blue-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers and long Wigeon too. There were lot of Grackles and Red-winged blackbirds too. There were some White-throated sparrows and Savannah sparrows too.

Red-winged Blackbird

Chloe Wigeon(exotic)

Pied-billed Grebe

Savannah Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Red-eared Slider

I did walk the trail to see if I could see other birds and I did get to see lot more sparrows, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker and a lone Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. After this I head back home with another satisfactory day of birding. I started late this season but it has been good couple of weeks :-)

Painted Lady

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Cardinal

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

ebird report : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35293731

List of birds seen during the day.

1 Canada Goose 2 Wood Duck 3 Gadwall  4 Mallard    5 Blue-winged Teal    6 Northern Shoveler    7 Ruddy Duck 8 Pied-billed Grebe 9 Double-crested Cormorant    10 American White Pelican    11 Great Blue Heron    12 American Coot    13 Killdeer    14 Least Sandpiper 15 Spotted Sandpiper 16 Ring-billed Gull    17 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)    18 White-winged Dove  19 Red-bellied Woodpecker    20 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  21 Downy Woodpecker    22 American Kestrel    23 Monk Parakeet    24 White-eyed Vireo 25 Blue Jay    26 American Crow    27 Carolina Chickadee    28 Tufted Titmouse    29 Carolina Wren    30 Ruby-crowned Kinglet    31 Northern Mockingbird    32 Cedar Wa wing    33 Orange-crowned Warbler    34 Yellow-rumped Warbler    35 White-throated Sparrow    36 Savannah Sparrow    37 Northern Cardinal    38 Red-winged Blackbird    39 Great-tailed Grackle