The rest of the CBC started at 730 AM. For the most part, we had the same crew for our route as we did for the previous circle. The two new folks were fun to meet, and after grabbing a cup of coffee, we were ready to head out. We didn't have high expectations because it was so cold and windy.
Our first stop didn't yield much, except a grouchy landowner and a local deputy, until we were getting ready to leave. Out of the east came a Cattle Egret (an early bird for this county). We made the original finder fill out the rare bird sheet…no one likes doing that. We then broke into two groups. Our group headed to the local water treatment plant. On the way, we had some Eastern Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, White-winged Doves and European Starlings. When we got to the plant, we had American Kestrels, American Coots, Bufflehead, Ruddy Ducks, Mallards, Pied-billed and Eared Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, and Killdeer.
The water treatment plant was one of the first places we really noticed that there was a definite lacking in numbers of birds. We had decent diversity of species, but not in the numbers we would have expected. We were also missing some expected species like Osprey, Canvasback, and Redhead. After scoping the lake, we walked a field that had normally been very good for sparrows. We had exactly 2 Vesper Sparrows.
We met up with the rest of the group and left the water treatment plant. Fortunately, not all landowners are grouchy, and we were granted access to a very large private ranch that again did not have much. The sun had finally come out, but the temperature just didn't get very high (by South Texas standards). We left the ranch and drove down to one of the lakeside neighborhoods. Again, we had some nice species by the water (including a Swamp Sparrow), but the numbers were very low.
As we were leaving, we had a couple of unknowns on a wire. We got out, scoped them, and had our first unexpected birds of the day: Black Phoebe! On our high, we headed to the main part of the lake to do our last bit of birding. We pulled in and had a bunch of American Pipit near the restrooms. There was a gorgeous Vermillion Flycatcher on the volleyball net which provided another highlight to a fairly mediocre day of birding. Our proximity to the first clean restroom in hours prompted us to take a bathroom break. While I was washing my hands, I heard "Caracara!", so I hit the dryer because I wanted to get out and see our first Caracara of the day. The rest of the group was still watching the bird and telling our complier Ray to hurry up and get out of the bathroom. I watched the bird fly west into the sun and didn't understand why everyone was so excited. The shape didn't look like a Caracara at all. The bird was soaring and much larger than a Caracara. The group was then shouting "Bald Eagle! Bald Eagle!" I thought they were pulling my and Ray's legs. I had told them a story about how when I first started birding, I was always trying to turn Caracaras into Bald Eagles, so I thought they were doing the same to me. They were so insistent that we all hopped in the cars and drive to the end of the park where we saw the bird fly. We got out and heard Ray call out that he had the bird. It was a freaking Bald Eagle! Best bird of the count, by far! The day started out slowly, but the last hour of birding really made up for it.
I would highly recommend a CBC to anyone, beginner to advanced. You can always learn something new from the count and have a great time hanging out with other birders.
Bald Eagle
Vermillion Flycatcher
American Pipit
