Travis Audubon Society
3710 Cedar St.
Box 5
Austin, Texas 78705
512.300.BIRD (2473)
info@travisaudubon.org
3710 Cedar St.
Box 5
Austin, Texas 78705
512.300.BIRD (2473)
info@travisaudubon.org
MAY:
Sunday May 4th through Saturday May 10th 2008, Travis Audubon
Week at Warbler Woods
Warbler Woods is private property managed as a bird and wildlife
refuge and preserve. It covers 126 acres of varied habitat covering
Pecan Gap sediments with gently rolling topography. Located near
the convergence of three Ecological Regions: South Texas Plains,
Blackland Prairie, and Edwards Plateau, it is also near the Post Oak
Savannah region. Because of the proximity to several Ecological
Regions, a varied habitat supports a diverse plant community which
in turn hosts, feeds, and protects a wide diversity of wildlife. With a
property list of about 230 bird species, including 36 species of
Warblers, Warbler Woods is one of the gems in the spring migration
crown in central Texas.
Travis Audubon will be the special guests of owners Don and Susan
Schaezler during this week of peak migration at Warbler Woods.
Come and be a part of watching and recording the spectacle which
is spring migration in central Texas.
Saturday, May 10th, all day
Travis Audubon Society BIRDATHON
Birdathon is on of Travis Audubon’s major fund-raisers of the year.
Saturday, May 10th, 7 a.m. & 4 p.m.
Monthly Bird Count at Hornsby Bend
Saturday, May 17th, 7:30 a.m. to Noon
Monthly Bird Walk at Hornsby Bend led by George Kerr
Sunday, May 18th, 7:30 – Noon, Balcones Canyonlands NWR led by
Laurie Foss and Shelia Hargis
When Spanish explorers first saw the layers of hills northwest of
what is now Austin, Texas, they named the land Balcones. These
limestone hills and spring fed canyons make up most of the
Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, located north of
Lake Travis. The primary purpose of the refuge is to conserve the
nesting habitat of the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and
Black-capped Vireo. The refuge falls at the juncture of the Great
Plains and Gulf Coast bioregions. In addition, the refuge straddles
the divide between the Colorado and Brazos watersheds. Beneath
the land lies a mysterious labyrinth of caves. Add the unusual
limestone geology of the Edwards Plateau and it’s not surprising to
find plants and animals adapted to live here and nowhere else. At
least a third of the state’s threatened and endangered species live
or migrate through the area. We’ll decide on what locations in the
refuge we’ll visit the week before the field trip, so be sure to contact
fieldtrips@travisaudubon.org for more field trip info and to register.
Limit 12 participants.
Austin's premier birding site. No registration required. Contact
fieldtrips at travisaudubon.org for more information. More
information and directions to the site can be found here.
Contact Eric Carpenter at ecarpe@gmail.com for more information.
Sponsored monthly by the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory.
May 24rd and May 25th, Breeding Warblers of the East Texas
Piney Woods, led by Laurie Foss and Shelia Hargis
Join us for a very special treat – a look at the breeding warblers of
the East Texas Piney Woods. Yellow-throated, Prothonotary,
Northern Parula, Pine, Prairie, Black-and-white, Swainson's,
Kentucky, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warblers and Yellow-
breasted Chats are all known to breed in this region. We'll arrive
Friday evening in Nacogdoches to group up and our field trips will be
all day Saturday and Sunday. The field trip will conclude at dinner on
Sunday leaving you time to make it back to the Austin area that night
if you wish or spend another night and bird on the way back with us
on Monday.
Limit 12 participants. Cost of this trip is $75 to cover the expenses of
the field trip leaders.
May 31st, Birding Without Binoculars, 7a.m. – 11a.m., led by Eric
Carpenter
Have you ever wondered how many birds you could see if you went
on a field trip and left your binoculars and the rest of your "birding
equipment" at home? Join Eric Carpenter for a morning of birding at
Hornsby Bend to find a variety of birds that can be identified with only
your eyes, ears, and previous experiences. Join in the challenge of
birding by impression and by knowing your local bird songs. We will
spend a few hours hiking the trails of Hornsby Bend and will also
visit the ponds there.
Registration required; limited to 14 participants. Contact Eric
Carpenter at ecarpe@gmail.com for more information.
JUNE:
June 4th through June 9th, North Carolina Outer Banks and
Pelagic, led by Laurie Foss and Shelia Hargis with Mary Gustafson
For central Texas birders the outer banks of North Carolina may as
well be on the moon! We’re out to broaden our horizons and get a
bigger picture of conservation and avifauna diversity by traveling to
an ecoregion quite unlike our own. Get there any way you can, and
be there for a land-based field trip led by Mary Gustafson on
Thursday, June 5th. Friday and Sunday will be pelagic trips on the
See Life Paulagics excursion boat also led by Mary. The Outer
Banks is the place to go for Gulf Stream specialties ranging from the
regularly occurring Black-capped Petrel and Band-rumped Storm-
Petrel to the rarely seen elsewhere Bermuda, Fea's, and Herald
(Trinidade) Petrel. Late spring is the best time of year for rarities, is
excellent for regularly occurring birds, and is great for migrating
birds such as Storm-Petrel. Other less frequent rarities are possible
such as European Storm-Petrel, Red-billed Tropicbird, and White-
tailed Tropicbird. Other target birds include Cory's, Greater, Sooty,
Manx, and Audubon's Shearwaters, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, South
Polar Skua, Pomarine, Parasitic, and Long-tailed Jaegers, and
Roseate, Common, Arctic, Sooty, and Bridled Terns. A special note –
mosquitoes and deer flies will be among us for this trip!
Cost of the trip is $350 which covers the expenses of our field trip
leaders. All other costs are up to each participant to arrange. It is
highly suggested that you buy trip insurance for this field trip. Contact
fieldtrips@travisaudubon.org for more information and an expected
itinerary. Limited to 10 participants. FYI, the cost for each pelagic trip
is $135.
Saturday, June 14th, 7 a.m. & 4 p.m. Monthly Bird Count at
Hornsby Bend
Contact Eric Carpenter at ecarpe@gmail.com for more information.
Sponsored monthly by the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory.
Saturday, June 21st, 7:30 a.m. to Noon Monthly Bird Walk at
Hornsby Bend with Jean Martin
Austin's premier birding site. No registration required. Contact
fieldtrips@ travisaudubon.org for more information. More
information and directions to the site can be found here.
Sunday, June 29, 7:30 – 10:30 AM, Berry Springs Preserve (1801
CR 152, Georgetown) led by Kathy McCormack
This relatively new 300-acre preserve includes an old pecan
orchard, open fields, riparian habitat along Berry Creek, and a clear
water pond created by damming Berry Springs. We’ll be walking
about two miles on concrete and crushed granite hiking trails (ADA-
accessible) listening and looking for late spring breeding birds – for
example, six Eastern Bluebird nest boxes in the park have been very
successful, and we may get lucky and see one of the half-dozen
Yellow-billed Cuckoos or Summer Tanagers that will be calling. In
addition, over a dozen species of dragonflies and damselflies
should be found. No registration required. For questions, contact
Kathy McCormack at VEFL21@yahoo.com or 698-9880.
Directions: Driving north on IH-35 to Georgetown, take Exit 261A
(RM 2338, Lake Georgetown, Andice). At the light, turn right onto
Williams Dr, and then take an immediate left onto Austin Ave. Go 0.5
miles, and turn right onto FM 971. Go 1.5 miles and, just after the
light, turn left onto CR 152, just before the Heritage Baptist Church.
Stay on CR 152 for 1.8 miles (the road will make a sharp turn to the
right, go under SH 130, and then go over Berry Creek). The park
entrance will be on your left.
Notes from the Field Trips Chair ...
In the future, Travis Audubon hopes to entice experienced birders to
lead out-of-state field trips by paying their expenses for the trip,
financed by collecting the cost from other participants (like we
currently do with our popular shorebird and warbler classes).
Remember, folks: we always need field trip leaders, and for local
trips you don't have to be an expert, just an enthusiast! To volunteer,
make comments, ask questions, or get on a trip list, contact Laurie
Foss or at 512-751-3677.
Click on the image above to
enlarge the view of a mother
and baby Northern Cardinal
near their nest in a North
Austin front yard, June 2006.
enlarge the view of a mother
and baby Northern Cardinal
near their nest in a North
Austin front yard, June 2006.
| A Yen to Lead? |
Have you thought
about leading an
informal bird walk for
Travis Audubon? You
do not have to be an
expert. To find out
more, contact Laurie
Foss at fieldtrips at
travisaudubon.org.
about leading an
informal bird walk for
Travis Audubon? You
do not have to be an
expert. To find out
more, contact Laurie
Foss at fieldtrips at
travisaudubon.org.
Travis Audubon Field Trips
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| Please use this PayPal button to pay the $75 trip fee for the East Texas Piney Woods field trip. One trip registration per payment. Additionally Please email Fieldtrips to tell them you have paid and the Name of the person going. |