November 20, 2008

The Austin-Area Rare Bird Alert is a service of the Travis Audubon Society. This update is as of 9.00 am, November 20th, 2008:

--- Exceptional Sightings---

A COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD (Calypte costae) was present (and photographed) at a private residence in Dripping Springs on November 17th and 18th. The Austin-area checklist shows only one prior record for this species from 1974.

--- RARITIES FOUND THIS PAST WEEK---

No new reports for the current week.

--- CONTINUING BIRDS FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS ---

A CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD (Stellula calliope) that first visited a south Austin residence September 20th was still present as of November 11th.

--- RARE SIGHTINGS FROM PREVIOUS WEEKS ---

A SAGE THRASHER (Oreoscoptes montanus) was along FM 1123 between Holland and Belton on November 9th.

A trip to the Granger Lake area on November 9th yielded an adult WHITE-TAILED HAWK (Buteo albicaudatus) over the CR 352 megafield and a SHORT-EARED OWL (Asio flammeus) at Sore Finger WMA.

An AMERICAN BITTERN (Botaurus lentiginosus) was on a small pond on Ft. Hood near its boundary with Killeen on November 8th.

Two migrating WHOOPING CRANES (Grus americana) were spotted passing over Temple on November 8th.

On November 8th, a late YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus americanus) was at (Big) Webberville Park, while a WHITE-TAILED KITE (Elanus leucurus) was in fields just north of there.

Another SAGE THRASHER (Oreoscoptes montanus) was studied at Honey Creek SNA on November 7th.

A SAY'S PHOEBE (Sayornis saya) was on private property near Utley on November 4th.

--
Eric Carpenter
Rare Bird Alert Compiler, Travis Audubon Society