Nutmeg Mannikin at Bob Woodruff Park

This week I decided to try my luck at Bob Woodruff park to see if there were any early migrants. I joined Suresh from Audubon Dallas forum for today's walk. It was good birding with him.

We decided to meet at 7:15AM. The sunrise was at 7:30 today and we decided to reach just before the sunrise to use the time better. When I started from home I thought the day would be warm and there was no need for a jacket. But I realized immediately after stepping out that it was a cold morning. Had to carry the jacket and it was cold :-)

I met Suresh at Woodruff parking lot. And from there we decided to checkout the pond and start birding the park edges(My favorite birding spot in the park). The birding was slow today not sure if it was because of the cold but we saw very little activity. We started off with some Yellow-rumped warblers and big group of Cedar Waxwings. We were photographing some sparrows and suddenly a Red-shouldered hawk flew and perched on a tree behind us. It was as if he wanted to be photographed and it was just for a moment :-)

Red-shouldered Hawk

After photographing the hawk we kept walking along the edge when suddenly the bird activity picked up. Initially we saw some American goldfinches then there was Brown thrasher then came yellow-rumped warblers, few sparrows and a long Blue-gray Gnatcher. Couple of Bluebirds flew over us too. There were couple of titmouse's too. We did see about 4 Brown thrashers chasing each other.

Brown Thrasher

Eastern Bluebird

Blue-grey Gnatcher

Cedar Waxwing

Mourning Dove

Tufted Titmouse

After that it was quite period. We headed towards the Parula bridge and decided to walk the trails towards the Learning center.  You get a very good feel walking these trails. I always feel as if I'm back in India walking the forests there. Especially one stretch of the trail towards learning center. The trees are not huge but you do get a good forest feel. And in this trail we saw few Red-bellied woodpeckers, couple of Hermit thrushes and lot of Northern cardinals. We did see lot of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated sparrows while walking the trails.

Hermit Thrush

White-winged Dove

Northern Cardinal

Red-bellied Woodpecker

After walking the trails past the learning center. I came back to learning center to see if the humming bird was back. I did see the Ruby-throated humming bird. My first hummer of the season. After this I decided to walk the trail close to the stream. Even before that in small grass patch near learning center I saw couple of small birds. When I checked them through Binoculars I could not believe what I saw. It was Scaly-breasted Munias(Nutmeg Mannikin). I was confused how these birds could be found here. I have never read any reports of this bird here. I thought it would be some birds that escaped(pet birds). After coming back home I read about these birds and looks like my assumption was correct. And it was strange to read that there are good breeding colonies in California and Houston. Interesting piece of information learnt for the day.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Nutmeg Mannikin (Scaly-breasted Munia)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Also while walking the trail on my way back took some of the butterfly photographs. It was good day to see number of butterflies too.

Graphic Crescent?

Common Buckeye

Carolina Anole

Tiger Swallowtail

Dusky Blue?

Looks like my Tamron lens is having issues. Auto focus did not work today. I had to use manual focus during the day :-(

ebird : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35433892

Birds seen during the day.

1	Mallard
2	Double-crested Cormorant
3	Black Vulture
4	Turkey Vulture
5	Red-shouldered Hawk
6	American Coot
7	Killdeer
8	White-winged Dove
9	Mourning Dove
10	Ruby-throated Hummingbird
11	Red-bellied Woodpecker
12	Downy Woodpecker
13	Blue Jay
14	American Crow
15	Barn Swallow
16	Carolina Chickadee
17	Tufted Titmouse
18	Carolina Wren
19	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
20	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
21	Eastern Bluebird
22	Hermit Thrush
23	American Robin
24	Brown Thrasher
25	Northern Mockingbird
26	Cedar Wawing
27	Yellow-rumped Warbler
28	White-throated Sparrow
29	Savannah Sparrow
30	Northern Cardinal
31	Great-tailed Grackle
32	American Goldfinch

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

Birding in Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

It's been almost 4 months since my last birding outing. Since I did not get a chance to look at any waterfowl in Hagerman this winter I thought I will try my luck before all the waterfowl leave for the summer.

Started home early at 6AM and reached the refuge center by 7:30AM. The access road to refuge center is laid new. When I reached I could already see people looking for birds and some of the folks with fishing lines in the water too. I did not see any Geese on the fields. The first pool I checked had good number of ducks. It had Shovelers, Blue-winged teals, Gadwalls and Coots. There were lot of ducks around but not in the same number as we see in December and January.

I could see Shovellers, Blue-winged teals, Green-winged teals and Coots everywhere. I saw only one Pintail among all these other ducks. There were lot of Wilson's snipes and few Yellowlegs scattered across the pools too.

Blue-winged Teal

Ross's Goose?

Shoveller

I saw a group of Pelicans at the back of the lake right next to a group of Terns. Just behind them I could see there were group of dowitchers too.

Wilson's Snipe

American Golden plover

Killdeer

Yellowlegs

Pelicans and Terns

After birding the lake decided to walk the Meadow pond trail. Just before I entered the trail, I did some birding right next to the gate. There I saw couple of nuthatches, lot of Yellow-rumped warblers and sparrows. The near by stream had a lone Belted Kingfisher too.

The walk on Meadow pond trail was great. I saw almost all the sparrows I had seen earlier(Savannah, Lincoln, Harris, Fox, Vesper and Chipping). It was great to see all these sparrows again. The other birds I saw on the trail were Brown Thrasher, lot of Ruby crowned Kinglets, Chickadees and Titmouses.

Red-bellied woodpecker

Northern Cardinal

White-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper

Harris Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Lincoln Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Tufted Titmouse

Brown Creeper

After walking this trail I decided to try a Crow Hill Trail for the first time. And it was good idea to try this since I got to see first Black and White warbler for the season.

Black and White Warbler

And started photographing butterflies too :-)

Goatweed Leafwing

Dusky-blue Groundstreak?

Southern Dogface

Elada Checkerspot?

Mournful Duskywing?

Red Admiral

Buckeye

ebird : http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35121007

Birds seen during the day :

1	Snow/Ross's Goose
2	Canada Goose
3	Gadwall
4	Blue-winged Teal
5	Northern Shoveler
6	Northern Pintail
7	Green-winged Teal
8	Pied-billed Grebe
9	American White Pelican
10	Great Blue Heron
11	Great Egret
12	Black Vulture
13	Turkey Vulture
14	Northern Harrier
15	Red-tailed Hawk
16	American Coot
17	American Golden-Plover
18	Killdeer
19	Least Sandpiper
20	Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher
21	Wilson's Snipe
22	Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs
23	Ring-billed Gull
24	Mourning Dove
25	Belted Kingfisher
26	Red-bellied Woodpecker
27	Downy Woodpecker
28	American Kestrel
29	Eastern Phoebe
30	Blue Jay
31	American Crow
32	Carolina Chickadee
33	Tufted Titmouse
34	White-breasted Nuthatch
35	Brown Creeper
36	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
37	Eastern Bluebird
38	Brown Thrasher
39	Northern Mockingbird
40	American Pipit
41	Black-and-white Warbler
42	Yellow-rumped Warbler
43	Field Sparrow
44	Fo  Sparrow
45	Dark-eyed Junco
46	White-crowned Sparrow
47	Harris's Sparrow
48	White-throated Sparrow
49	Vesper Sparrow
50	Savannah Sparrow
51	Lincoln's Sparrow
52	Northern Cardinal
53	Red-winged Blackbird
54	Western/Eastern Meadowlark