Birds in the Park – June 2017

UPDATE: This post originally listed May's bird sightings rather than June's. It is now corrected.

From Jason Bonilla with the Houston Audubon Society:

Hi all. We had our bird survey this morning before the rain came down. We ended up with 20 species listed below. The spreadsheet for all years is attached. Becky, if you are looking for another bird of the month for the newsletter we decided on the Black-crowned Night-Heron. Our next survey will be on July 15th. We are going with the 3rd Sat. of the month for this cycle (June 2017-May 2018).

Every month Jason Bonilla, from the Houston Audubon Society, leads a group through Woodland Park and records the species and number of the birds they observe. If you'd like to join us for our hikes through the park please visit our calendar to find the next date and time.

Great Blue Heron - 1
Snowy Egret - 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 1
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
White-winged Dove - 1
Chimney Swift - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Blue Jay - 8
Purple Martin - 1
Barn Swallow - 1
swallow sp. - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Carolina Wren - 5
Red-vented Bulbul - 1
American Robin - 16
Northern Mockingbird - 4
European Starling - 6
Northern Cardinal - 4
House Sparrow - 2

State Capitol Hearing About Plastic Bags

Two students from Travis Elementary spoke to a Texas House hearing in support of HB 3482. We've said it many times here and on our Facebook page — plastic bags are decimating our public waterways in Houston. They're choking our bayous, they're littering the tops of trees after a flood. Other Texas cities have successfully implemented plastic bag bans and HB 3482 ensures Houston keeps the right to simply consider doing so.

Press conference in support of HB 3482.

Texas House Hearing

(testimony begins 1:45:15)

Birds in the Park – April 2017

From Jason Bonilla with the Houston Audubon Society:

We had our April bird survey yesterday. It was a very slow bird day at Woodland Park. I ended up going to High Island afterwards expecting to see the woods loaded with warblers and it was slow there too. We found 15 species at Woodland Park, listed below. A spreadsheet of all years is attached. Chimney Swift was chosen from our list as the bird of the month for the community newsletter.

If you are interested in supporting the "Woodland Park Bulbuls" team for this year's Birdathon, follow this link and click on "Donate." You can either click the "Support a Team" (Woodland Park Bulbuls) for a donation amount, or you can "Support an Individual" member of the team by pledging per Bird Species seen by the team on the day our team will be conducting the Birdathon. If you go this route, beware that we will be around 100 birds that day. All donations raised go to support Houston Audubon's conservation efforts (see video at link). Let me know if you have any questions.

Every month Jason leads a group through Woodland Park and records the species and number of the birds they observe. If you'd like to join us for our hikes through the park please visit our calendar to find the next date and time.

Double-crested Cormorant - 1
White-winged Dove - 4
Mourning Dove - 2
Chimney Swift - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 6
American Crow - 2
Carolina Wren - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
American Robin - 4
European Starling - 2
Cedar Waxwing - 20
Northern Cardinal - 5
Great-tailed Grackle - 1

[FREE EVENT] Light the Night - April 29

Friends of Woodland Park invites Houston to our celebration of Firefly Field on April 29th from 7pm to 9:30pm at Woodland Park.

This free, family-friendly event is the biggest event we've ever done. We'll have food trucks, face painting, fun activities for the kids, a prize raffle and live music from funk/soul/rock band, Supreme Tabby. It's a Houston-sized party for its second-oldest park.

Visit our event on Facebook. Please let us know you're going and share with your friends.

 

Birds in the Park – February 2017

From the Houston Audubon Society's Jason Bonilla:

We had our February bird survey in Woodland Park yesterday with 28 species recorded. The highlight for me was the Great Horned Owl. Thanks to Mary for spotting the owl so that we could get the scope on him/her to see the owl staring back at us. The full list is pasted below and the spreadsheet for all years is attached. Our next bird walk will be on March 11th.

Neotropic Cormorant - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 1
Great Blue Heron - 1
Snowy Egret - 1
Osprey - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
White-winged Dove - 25
Mourning Dove - 1
Great Horned Owl - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue-headed Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 6
Carolina Wren - 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
American Robin - 12
Northern Mockingbird - 1
European Starling - 5
Cedar Waxwing - 35
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 3
Northern Cardinal - 4
Great-tailed Grackle - 5 American Goldfinch - 4

Monthly Bird Count – December 2016

A note from Jason Bonilla:

We had our December bird walk this morning with 17 species recorded. No owls today. The highlight species for me were the Blue-headed Vireo and Loggerhead Shrike (the butcher bird). After we wrapped up, Tim, Mary, and I watched a Cooper's Hawk that perched for us from the parking lot. The full list is below and the chart for all years is attached. Our next Woodland Park survey will be held on January 14.

Also, the Central Houston Christmas Bird Count will be taking place on Monday, December 19th starting at 7:00am (unless you want to do some owling earlier) and lasting as long as there are birds to be found, with a countdown dinner in the evening.

I am participating in the count, along with at least 4 others from our Woodland Park group and 5 other experienced birders who are coordinating Area 5 section of the count. The Area 5 group will be birding Woodland Park and then splitting up into a few other groups to bird other locations within the assigned area.

If you are interested in participating in the count, let me know. Please click here to register and select your preferred area - Woodland Park is part of Area 5. If you register, also be sure to email kelli.ondracek@houstontx.gov to let her know so that Kelli can make sure you are signed up. Some additional info about the count is in the bullet below.

If I do not see you before our January walk, have a great holiday season and Happy New Year!

Woodland Park December 10, 2016 Survey List:

Great Egret - 1 Snowy Egret - 1 Cooper's Hawk - 1 White-winged Dove - 130 Mourning Dove - 15 Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Loggerhead Shrike - 1 Blue-headed Vireo - 1 Blue Jay - 7 Carolina Wren - 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 American Robin - 1 Northern Mockingbird - 1 European Starling - 12 Northern Cardinal - 7 Great-tailed Grackle - 2 Geese (probably Snow geese flying over, aprox. 50 - too high and distant to count to get a positive ID) A Buteo species (probably Red-tailed Hawk that flew off before we could get a good look)