Nalle Bunny Run 2019-08-17

Four people joined me this morning for the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run wildlife preserve. Here are some highlights.

Before the group arrived a pair Summer Tanagers flew in with some interesting behavior. The male was in heavy molt, and he was "whisper singing" which is singing a quieter version of his normal song. See how uneven his tail feathers are in this photo:

A female joined him and she was quivering her feathers like I often see begging juvenile birds do. I don't know if this was a young bird still begging from its parent or the male's mate reinforcing their bond. Here they are together:

After the group arrived we enjoyed a slow walk covering about 1.5 miles and touring most of the preserve. Birds were present but mostly heard rather than seen. Here are some fun non-bird observations we made.

We found these armadillo tracks in the road shortly after we started:

This tiny Green Anole that we found by the graveyard must've been newly hatched:

One of several dragonflies we found was this beautiful male Roseate Skimmer:

I was excited to find this White-striped Longtail butterfly feeding on Lantana flowers:

One fun bird observation we made was this female Summer Tanager, chasing, catching, and eating a red wasp!

By the end of the walk I had recorded 22 species of birds. Here's our complete eBird list.

Here are a few more photos on Flickr.

And attached are the same photos as iNaturalist observations.

Posted on 18 de agosto de 2019, 12:00 AM by mikaelb