The San Antonio Christmas Bird Count was held December 22. I did my first count last year and it was a total blast, so of course when I got the email about this year's count, I had to RSVP. We bird Sector 4, which is in southern Bexar County, near the town of Somerset. Last year I had a few new life birds, but more importantly, I learned a lot from the folks in the group. I hoped this year would be a repeat of last, and it was. I was very pleased with how everything turned out.
We started promptly at 7 AM, where we had Great-tailed Grackles, European Starlings, Eurasian Collared Doves, White-winged Doves, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, House Finches, and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers. In short, nothing extraordinary. ;) We drove down the main road to our first field and added Crested Caracara, Northern Shoveler, and some Ibises. Unfortunately, the Ibises were flying directly into the sun, so calling a species was out. That was a bummer because it turned out we were the only group with Ibises.
Moving farther south, we came to what I like to call Sparrow Field. This is private propery (as is much of this sector) on which we are fortunately allowed to bird. Here we added Pyrrhuloxia, Northern Cardinal, tons of Meadowlarks (of the strong and silent type), flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds, Lesser and American Goldfinches, oh and sparrows. Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah, Grasshopper, Song, Lincoln's, White-throated, White-crowned, and Le Conte's (my first lifer of this trip!). In the field, we talked about how they have Northern Bobwhite about 50% of the time they bird there and as we were leaving, we joked that they may need to update that percentage since we hadn't had any 2 years in a row. Right then, we got a huge scare as 11 Bobwhite burst out of the grass (about thigh high...and I'm 6 feet tall) and settled down just outside the field. I guess 50% is still an accurate estimate. As we were getting back in the car, I spied a large brush pile which yield Bewick's and Carolina Wrens and the first Verdin of the day.
Driving along, we stopped periodically to check various fields and were able to add Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Black and Turkey Vultures, Carolina Chickadees, Black-crested Titmice, Eastern Phoebes, Loggerhead Shrikes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, and Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers. One one stretch of road, we chanced up 5 Wild Turkey and a field full of American Pipits (which I tried my hardest to turn into at least one Sprague's). Here, we also encountered the rudest person I've ever come across while birding. I'll leave it at that, but he sure put us in a foul (fowl? lol) mood for a bit.
We had luck at some ponds where we had a Solitary Sandpiper, Gadwall and Blue-winged Teal, along with a couple of Great Blue Herons and a Great Egret. One pond also yielded my second lifer, 2 Curve-billed Thrashers. I'm always excited about birding, but getting a lifer after dealing with the aforementioned jerk really lifted my spirits.
After lunch, we continued on in much the same way and saw many of the same birds. Our last stop was another piece of private property with two large ponds. We lucked out and had American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, and Canvasback, along with a grouchy Belted Kingfisher (though when are they not grouchy?). On the way back to the car, we heard the tell-tale sound of Killdeer. I was asked how many I thought there were, so I listened carefully and came up with "at least 3". And then the whole lot of them flew overhead...more like "at least 33".
All in all, a great day birding. I know I left some species off this list, so I'm attaching the full eBird list at the bottom. I didn't go owling (my partner and I decided not to wake up that early), but I always wish I had. They had 8 Great Horned and 1 Eastern-screech Owl before the rest of us managed to wake up. Maybe next year...or maybe not...
CBC Sector 4, Bexar, US-TX
Dec 22, 2013 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
45.0 mile(s)
62 species (+1 other taxa)
Gadwall (Anas strepera) 15
American Wigeon (Anas americana) 27
Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors) 2
Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) 7
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) 13
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria) 2
Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) 11
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 5
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) 27
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 2
Great Egret (Ardea alba) 1
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) 35
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) 7
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) 1
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 6
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) 38
Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) 1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Domestic type)) 11
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 4
White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica) 200
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 53
Inca Dove (Columbina inca) 14
Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) 8
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons) 13
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris) 4
Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) 10
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) 12
Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) 1
Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) 10
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 1
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 8
Black-crested Titmouse (Baeolophus atricristatus) 6
Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps) 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) 9
Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) 2
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) 41
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 107
American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) 56
Orange-crowned Warbler (Oreothlypis celata) 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) (Setophaga coronata coronata) 2
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) 13
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) 2
Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) 89
Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) 156
Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) 4
Le Conte's Sparrow (Ammodramus leconteii) 1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 7
White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 1
White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) 9
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 26
Pyrrhuloxia (Cardinalis sinuatus) 10
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 282
Eastern/Western Meadowlark (Sturnella magna/neglecta) 272
Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) 6
Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus) 182
Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 245
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 5
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) 2
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 18
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 85
