Vcdb 11-4 & 11-7

[lulubelle]

The weather has been so nice and accomodating lately! Susan Thrower and I birded the beds on 11-4 - what a lovely morning! We got a total of 42 species, including FOS (for me at least): Yellow-rumps, Ring-necked Ducks (22), White-crowned Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow (got GREAT looks of 2 of them!!), and White-throated Sparrow (Trammel-Davis Road actually). Got a flyover of possibly up to 200 Cormorants. The Buffleheads were there again, including 1 beautiful male. No sign of the female Hooded Merganser or the Redheads (2 males & 5 females) that I saw on 10-31.

Today I drove out to Dunham road in the Denton/Flower Mound area, hoping for Eastern Towhees - no luck of course. Hit the beds on the way back and again, had a great morning. The muddy portions of the roads are drying out quite nicely. Spotted 2 N. Harriers, one of which was a beautiful juvenile! In the morning sun, he was gorgeous!!! I think this is the first time I have seen Harriers at the beds - it was a real treat! There were more Ring-necked Ducks and Gadwalls there this morning than there were the other day. Coots are doing the usual multiplying by the moment it seems - if you carefully scan the reeds, I swear you can find coots squeezed in every where!!

The Franklins Gulls were not nearly as numerous as they were on 11-4. They were swarming and kettling all over the beds on 11-4. I did see what I thought were 4 female scaups - they definitely didn't have the bicolored bill of the Ring-necked females, but they didn't allow me as close a look as I would have liked. The coloration, shape (overall) and bill were right for scaup species; I am assuming probably Lesser. Heard at least 3, possibly 4 Soras calling on 11-4 and today as well. Couldn't spot one any where, but there were a couple of times where there were overlapping calls in ponds in 2 different areas. 10 Canada Geese graced the beds with their presence this morning as well. Spotted 3 Am. Kesterls, 1 Loggerhead, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Red-shoulder and 2 Red-tails to complement the Harriers!!

Wish I had more time to have walked the berm, but I can't complain - it was a good morning at the beds!!