Nalle Bunny Run 2017-05-20

After early morning storms, only 4 people out of 12 who registered braved the risk of rain on Saturday morning and joined me for the monthly group bird and nature walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run Wildlife Preserve. We spent about 1.5 hours walking on the preserve and looking for birds while I carefully watched the weather radar. We returned to the gate just as the rain started, and despite cutting the walk short, we found 29 species of birds.

Birding after a storm this time of year can be especially exciting because just-passing-through migrating birds might stop in patches of good habitat. We saw this effect on Saturday morning, especially in one spot on the west side of the preserve. While stopping to look at a couple summer-resident White-eyed Vireos, we stayed put as three species of migrants joined them: Black-throated Green Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and 2 Wilson's Warblers. A little further down the trail we found an Eastern Wood-Pewee. But my favorite moment was when someone noticed circling gulls rising above the trees. They were about 50 Franklin's Gulls gaining altitude before they flew off to the north, on their way from the west coast of South America up to their breeding grounds in Canada.

Newly returned summer residents also made a good showing. We got to see and hear Summer Tanagers at close range, and we saw at least 3 different male Painted Buntings. White-eyed Vireos and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were heard during the entire walk, and we got to hear one Red-eyed Vireo. (The male Yellow-throated Warbler was conspicuously absent from the cypress trees by the lake.)

Since my camera isn't waterproof, I left it in the car. So the only photo I took was with my iPhone of this native species of milkweed we found called Pearl Milkweed. See the iNaturalist observation attached below.