Monthly Bird Count – September 2016

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.

Here's Jason's wrap-up (slightly edited) followed by the monthly bird count. Our next birding adventure is September 10th. Hope to see you there!

We had our September bird walk today with 17 species listed below. The highlight was the Great Horned Owl that Les flushed from across the bayou. Looking back at our spreadsheet, January and August are the only months that we have never seen a Great Horned Owl at the park. Our next walk will be on October 8th.

  • Great Blue Heron - 1
  • Great Egret - 1
  • Green Heron - 1
  • Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 1
  • White-winged Dove - 55
  • Mourning Dove - 5
  • Great Horned Owl - 1
  • Chimney Swift - 7
  • Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
  • Blue Jay - 13
  • Tufted Titmouse - 1
  • Carolina Wren - 3
  • American Robin - 5
  • Northern Mockingbird - 2
  • European Starling - 14
  • Northern Cardinal - 3
  • Great-tailed Grackle - 7

View the official record of birds at Woodland Park as kept by the Houston Audubon Society.

Monthly Bird Count – August 2016

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.

Here's Jason's wrap-up (slightly edited) followed by the monthly bird count. Our next birding adventure is September 10th. Hope to see you there!

It was a slow bird day this morning with only 14 confirmed species. We did get really good looks at Black-crowned Night-Herons and Great Blue Herons.

Great Blue Heron - 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
White-winged Dove - 25
Mourning Dove - 1
Chimney Swift - 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Blue Jay - 6
Carolina Wren - 3
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Northern Cardinal - 3
Great-tailed Grackle - 2
(possibly 2 immature yellow-crowned night-heron)

One Good Bug

Found under logs and other dark, damp places, the Alaus oculatus larva looks like a stocky, yellowish-brown, segmented worm. It has a flat, dark brown rectangular head that ends in 2 powerful jaws. The jaws, which resemble small crab legs, are used to disable and dismember prey.

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