Only two people joined me yesterday morning for the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve in west Austin. The temperature stayed in the 70s thanks to staying cloudy for most of the morning, and there was a nice breeze most of the time. The theme of the morning was bird families! We saw family groups of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Black-crested Titmice, and Eastern Phoebes, all with fledglings following their parents and begging for food. We saw evidence of Northern Cardinal and Red-eyed Vireo reproduction as well. Here is one of the fledgling gnatcatchers I found by the gate before the walk started:
Down by the lake not quite under the cypress trees I scared a female Northern Cardinal off her nest. I got the quick iPhone photo showing 4 speckled eggs in it:
Among the tall cedar elms uphill from the buildings, we heard the single male Yellow-throated Warbler singing. We played a recording of its song hoping it would come investigate and we could see it. The warbler didn't come, but unexpectedly, a pair of Red-eyed Vireos came in to investigate. Here's a poor photo I got of one of them. If you look closely you can see it's holding a small twig in its bill, evidence of nest building:
Back up by the gate I was ready to thank everyone for coming and say good-bye, when I heard a buzzy song, and I knew there was a migrating warbler nearby. We soon spotted this stunning male Black-throated Green Warbler:
This was the only north-bound migrating bird we found. It was loosely associated with a family group of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, maybe the same family we'd seen at the beginning of the walk. I got another photo of one of the fledglings, this time actively begging:
We ended up finding 24 species of birds. Here's our complete eBird checklist.
And here are a few more photos on Flickr.
Attached are all my iNat observations.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
A theme for the morning was bird families. We saw families of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Phoebes, and Black-crested Titmice, with fledglings following their parents around and begging for food.
This is a fledgling Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. It was vibrating its wings as it begged.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
The only migrating warbler we found was at the end of the hike. Back up the hill by the gate this male Black-throated Green Warbler was foraging with a family of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a couple Carolina Chickadees.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
A theme for the morning was bird families. We saw families of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Phoebes, and Black-crested Titmice, with fledglings following their parents around and begging for food.
I briefly saw one of the adult gnatcatchers by this nest. It looked like it was maintaining the nest, and I couldn't see if any nestlings were inside. The nest looked like a large hummingbird nest, similarly decorated with pieces of lichens.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
A theme for the morning was bird families. We saw families of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Phoebes, and Black-crested Titmice, with fledglings following their parents around and begging for food.
This is a fledgling Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. You can see the white outer tail feathers in its tail that hasn't grown to its full length yet.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
A theme for the morning was bird families. We saw families of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Phoebes, and Black-crested Titmice, with fledglings following their parents around and begging for food.
I saw a female Northern Cardinal fly out of a very small and low tree as I approached. I looked closer into the tree and found its nest with four eggs.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
A theme for the morning was bird families. We saw families of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Eastern Phoebes, and Black-crested Titmice, with fledglings following their parents around and begging for food.
While trying to attract the continuing male Yellow-throated Warbler by playing its song on one of our phones, a pair of Red-eyed Vireos responded and flew back and forth over our heads. This one was carrying a stick in its bill, probably for a nest.
Taken during the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve.
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