Nalle Bunny Run Group Walk 2015-04-18

This morning 12 folks joined me for the monthly group walk on the Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve in west Austin. It was an overcast morning, still wet from rain the night before, and we found over 30 species of birds. Here are some highlights.

On our way through the "parkland" type habitat on the western half of the property we saw a Black-chinned Hummingbird and heard and saw the first Summer Tanagers I've observed this season. We also heard many Northern Cardinals, Black-crested Titmice, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers singing. While we were watching a Northern Cardinal singing, we briefly got to see two Franklin's Gulls (north-bound migrants) flying overhead.

On the sandy prairie area near the lake the group found some small clumps of white stuff at the bases of some grass stalks. I had no idea what they were. I posted a photo of one of them on iNaturalist and guessed it's some kind of fungi. There has already been one suggestion that it's a Slime Mold! Here's the iNaturalist observation.

In the cypress trees along the edge of the lake we heard two Yellow-throated Warblers singing. I looked for the closest one with my binoculars and was lucky enough to see a male Blue Grosbeak instead! The group got a brief but good look at this striking bird that was on its way north. Here's the poor photo I got:

After the grosbeak flew out of view, we continued to look for the Yellow-throated Warbler. I coaxed one out by briefly playing a recorded song on my iPhone, and we were treated to the best view of a singing Yellow-throated Warbler a group has ever gotten on these group walks! Here's a photo:

We also got to see a Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Red-tailed Hawk fly over while in the sandy prairie area.

It was a fun morning! Here's our complete bird list.

Posted on 18 April, 2015 20:12 by mikaelb