Bright Sun Shiny Day

I visited the bird blind(s) at the park this morning. The new blind, currently under construction, is an open air bring your own chair affair at this time. But the water feature is very well planned out. Lots of brush cover behind makes the new blind very birdy and a great new attraction for bird watchers to the park.

Nothing more than the ordinary winter birds showed up at the blinds including two warblers: Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped. Sparrows included the Lincoln, Field, Dark-eyed Junco and White-throated. A flock of Cedar Waxwings came in to socialize up in the trees. Several Ruby-crowned Kinglets were enjoying the suet logs. I did hear an Eastern Bluebird calling from the horse pastures farther back off the road.

Later in the morning I hiked up from Pedernales Falls to an old tower which has a nest platform on top. I am assisting park personnel with placement of sticks on the platform in hopes of attracting an Osprey, Bald Eagle, or Great-horned Owl nesting pair.

Water levels are good this time of year in the Pedernales River keeping all the wildlife happy. I recently discovered one of my nest boxes from my bird study, which is 7' above water levels, had incurred flash flood damage, as the top of the box was missing and mud lined the bottom inside of the box. Soon it will be time to check the other boxes for water damage before the new breeding season is here.

1st New Year Sunrise

The morning chill in the air brought in the birds to the bird blind. Ten species of sparrows including the elusive Fox Sparrow for a five minute show time at 7:35 AM. A Song Sparrow made its presence down by the Pedernales River. Spotted Towhees are common at the blind as are White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows. A single Dark-eyed Junco hung around at the crack of dawn for about a half hour. Several Orange-crowned Warblers have been frequenting the suet for the last month.
Along my hike down to the Pedernales River I saw a flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets. There is one male who continues to visit the suet feeders at the blind who sports the ruby crown without any provocation. Though I did not checkout the Falls I could hear their roar from the bird blind. It appears the ground is still saturated from recent rains and river levels are good for this time of year.