Not much time for birding this weekend

I wasn't able to do much birding this weekend. I took my aunt down to the new pond yesterday to show it to her. I kept watching the radar and some pretty heavy rain headed here, so I made the decision not to get out in the woods to be drenched by some heavy rain. I kept waiting for the rain and finally checked the radar. It got to the western side of Harris County and fizzled out. By that time, Kristen was going into town and I had the kids. This morning I'm going to a funeral and then going to the church to get ready for our activity tonight.

One exciting thing is that my aunt e-mailed last week to say that she had seen bluebird activity at the bluebird box in her yard. If none of them use the box in our front yard this year, I think I'll put it in the pasture out of the line of sight of the one in her yard.

I've seen more Purple Martins over the past few days. I've got my house and gourds all ready for them when the young birds arrive. I keep watching them. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not even March yet.

Speaking of the pond earlier, it is absolutely full. I need to find the cattail seeds I have and plant them so we can get some cover for ducks and other birds down there. I'm thinking of cutting some new growth off a couple of the willow trees at the old pond and root them. We pull up as many tallow trees as we possibly can everytime we go down there.

I did see a few birds yesterday just around the house (15 species): Red-shouldered Hawk, Eurasian Collared Dove, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Purple Martin, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

'08 Property List as of Feb. 22: 55
'04 Property List as of Feb. 22: 51

Finally Out Birding

I finally got to go walking out on the property this morning. There is water EVERYWHERE! We've had 4+ inches of rain since Jan. 15. Water is standing everywhere and the gully is out of its banks in several places.

I saw a few birds on the property that I haven't seen in 2008. Hermit Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, Red-tailed Hawk, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Flicker, White-throated Sparrow and Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It was fun to be out birding. The Red-tailed Hawk was hanging out around the new pond.

Speaking of the new pond, the bottom is completely covered now. It needs to rise about four feet to be at full capacity. I may order some fat head minnows to put in there to start getting the balance of the pond in shape for stocking it with catfish. Plus the minnows might encourage some herons or egrets to come by and see what's going on in it.

'08 Property List as of Jan. 19: 32