October 2009 - Pineywoods Audubon Society

Pineywoods Scissor-Tales
Newsletter of the Pineywoods Audubon Society
VOLUME XXXIX
ISSUE # 2
from Houston Audubon Society. Great for
kids.
October, 2009
December 3, 4, or 5
October 25 2 p.m. Nancy Hopkins Possible Lecture—to be announced
UPCOMMING
FIELD TRIPS
Mark these dates!
October 3: “Birds and Butterflies
Beginner’s Walk” at Ellen Trout Park in
Lufkin. LEADER: David E. Wolf. Meet
at 8 a.m. at the parking lot for the train depot. NOTE: this is NOT a trip to the zoo, it
is a birding walk around the lake and park.
October 10: “Bird Walk” on the
Azalea Trail in Lufkin. LEADER: Rick
Schaefer. Meet at 8 a.m. at Grace Dunne
Richardson Park.
October 17: Kurth Lake Field Trip.
LEADER: Louis Debetaz. Meet at 8 a.m.
at the entrance road to Kurth Lake. Adults
Only. Limited to 10. Email [email protected] to make a reservation.
October 18 2 p.m. Dr. Craig Rudolph Lecture: “The Red-cockaded
Woodpecker. An endangered species success story?”
Reily Lecture and Book Signing:
Georgia O’Keeffe A Private Friendship
Part II Walking the Abiquiu and Ghost
Ranch Land
December 58 a.m.Birding with Da-
vid Wolf at Kit McConnico Park
December 6 2 p.m.
Cliff
Shackelford Lecture and Book Signing:
31 October: “Beginner’s Bird and But- Hummingbirds of Texas
terfly Walk” at Ellen Trout Park in Lufkin. December 11
LEADER: Rick Schaefer. Meet at 8 a.m. Owl Prowl at Boggy Slough led by
at the parking lot for the train depot.
Cliff Shackelford—auction item at private preview opening
November 5, 6, or 7
December 12 8 a.m. to noonBirdPossible Lecture—to be announced
ing with Louis Debetaz & Carroll
Moore at Kurth Lake—Adults Only.
November 7 8 a.m. Birding with Limited to 10. Email louisdebetaz@
Susie Lower at Ellen Trout Park
suddenlink.net to make a reservation.
7-9 p.m. Members’ Gala
November 8 2 p.m. Heinz Gaylord Lecture: “A Sample of East Texas December 19-23
Fungi” (tentative date)
Extended Hours—Museum open until
8 p.m.
November 14 8 a.m. to noonBirding with Louis Debetaz and Carroll December 20 2-4 p.m. Family Day
Moore at Kurth Lake—Adults Only. with special guest Charlotte Henley,
Limited to 10. Email louisdebetaz@ Director of Education, Ellen Trout Zoo
suddenlink.net to make a reservation.
January 9 8 a.m. to noon BirdNovember 15 2 p.m. Gina Don- ing with Louis Debetaz & Carroll
ovan, Executive Director Houston Moore at Kurth Lake—Adults Only.
Audubon Society, lecture: “Birds and Limited to 10. Email louisdebetaz@
Bottomlands.” Ms. Donovan will be suddenlink.net to make a reservation.
available to sign copies of her new 1-3 p.m. Super Saturday with Ruth Heibook, Neches River User Guide
no (planning in progress)
November 19, 20, or 21
January 17 2 p.m.Possible LecPossible Lecture—to be announced
ture—to be announced
November 21 8 a.m. Birding with
October 24: 1 to 3 p.m. “Pumpkin
Jim Neal and Cliff Shackelford at Ellen January 19 5 p.m. AUDUBON
Party” at the Museum of East Texas, with
closes
GUEST SPEAKER Mary Ann Weber Trout Park
Pineywoods Scissor-Tales
David Wolf gave a wonderful presentation on Butterflies
at the October 1st meeting of the Pineywoods Audubon
Society. The meeting was held at the Museum of East
Texas in Lufkin. David explained how he became interested in butterflies and showed slides of many different
species in our area as well as some rare butterflies. He
took the photos shown with his compact digital camera
which has a great macro setting on it for just such shots.
He also talked about the many varieties of Hairstreaks
and Swallowtails indigenous to our area and the plants
which attract them while giving some tips as to which
plants should be in your garden to attract butterflies.
October, 2008
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Pineywoods Scissor-Tales
October, 2009
Page 3
AUDUBON EXHIBIT OPENS IN LUFKIN
Along with Original Pen & Ink Drawings
by Mimi Hoppe Wolf
DON’T MISS IT!
This exhibit is
only open till
January 19,2009
Pineywoods Scissor-Tales November, 2009
Page 4
the
The 15th annual Big
Sit!* will take place
on Sunday, October
11, 2009. Remember,
this FREE EVENT
is open to every person and club in any
country! -- editor Bill
Thompson, III.
The Big Sit! is an annual, international,
noncompetitive birding event hosted by
Bird Watcher’s Digest and founded by
the New Haven (CT)
Bird Club. Every
team that observes this year’s “Golden
Bird” has a chance to win $500. We
hope bird watchers from around the
globe will unite on this special day by
participating in this event (it’s free!).
The Big Sit! is sponsored by Swarovski
Optik.
Some people have called it a “tailgate
party for birders.” Today there are Big
Sit! circles all over the world, including Guatemala, India, the Netherlands,
England, Vietnam, and New Zealand.
The simplicity of the concept makes The
Big Sit! so appealing. Find a good spot
for bird watching -- preferably one with
good views of a variety of habitats and
lots of birds. Next you create a real or
imaginary circle 17 feet in diameter and
sit inside the circle for 24 hours,
counting all the bird species you
see or hear. That’s it. Find a spot,
sit in it, have fun.
THE BIG SIT! is like a Big Day,
or a bird-a-thon in that the object
is to tally as many bird species as
can be seen or heard within 24
hours. The difference lies in the
area limitation from which you
can observe. THIS FREE EVENT
is OPEN to every person and club
in any country!
Although The Big Sit! is a noncompetitive birding event, there
are three basic categories in which
teams can “win”:
Best Overall Count (Most species seen
by a single circle - you win Big Sit
“braggin’ rights”)
Best State Count (Highest combined total from circles within a state - you win
State “braggin’ rights”)
The Big Prize!: Swarovski Optik is offering $500 to the circle who finds the
“Golden Bird”.
Pineywoods Scissor-Tales November, 2009
Bird
Sightings
Louis Debetaz
Date: August 5, 2009, 12:32 PM
Aug. 5, 2009 Warm, Partly Cloudy
Kurth Lake
L.Debetaz
*Species: 10
Pied-billed Grebe - 12
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Anhinga - 4
Great Blue Heron - 2
Turkey Vulture - 15
Bald Eagle - 1
Purple Gallinule - 1
American Coot - 2
Killdeer - 1
Spotted Sandpiper – 6
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1
Red-eyed Vireo - 4
Blue Jay - 7
American Crow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Brown-headed Nuthatch - 2
Carolina Wren - 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Gray Catbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 1
Yellow Warbler - 1 - female/jun.
Yellow-throated Warbler - 3
Pine Warbler - 2
Hooded Warbler - 1
Yellow-breasted Chat - 1
Summer Tanager - 3
Northern Cardinal - 9
Indigo Bunting - 1
Orchard Oriole - 3 – females
Date: Aug. 30, 2009
70, PC. nice to be out
L. Debetaz, C. Moore, L. Smith
Kurth Lake Dam and staff house
*Species: 40*
Pied-billed Grebe - 12
Aug.27, 2009
Double-crested Cormorant - 1
L.Debetaz
Anhinga - 2
Species: 33
Great Blue Heron - 2
Mourning Dove - 5
Cattle Egret - 125 - US 59 N Winston
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 1
Ranch
Black-billed Cuckoo - 1 - what are our Black Vulture - 1
records for this species for Fall migra- Turkey Vulture - 11
tion?
American Coot - 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 5 - all Spotted Sandpiper - 2
jun,/females
Black Tern - 8
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
Forster’s Tern - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 2 - Lufkin
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 3
Mourning Dove - 1
Least Flycatcher - 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Empidonax sp. - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Great Crested Flycatcher - 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
White-eyed Vireo - 7
Downy Woodpecker - 2
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Pileated Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - 3 White-eyed Vireo - 8
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1
Blue Jay - 5
American Crow - 4
Tree Swallow - 1
Carolina Chickadee - 3
Tufted Titmouse - 5
Carolina Wren - 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 15
Eastern Bluebird - 1
American Robin - 1
Northern Parula - 3
Yellow-throated Warbler - 3
Pine Warbler - 13
Common Yellowthroat - 1
Hooded Warbler - 1
Summer Tanager - 4
Chipping Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 1
Eastern Meadowlark – 1
L. Debetaz
Clear, 70, no wind
8:30-10:30
Kurth Lake and Vicinity
Sept. 27, 2009
*Species: 36
Blue-winged Teal - 8
White-cheeked Pintail - 3 - FOS
Pied-billed Grebe - 18
Double-crested Cormorant - 3
Great Blue Heron - 2
Great Egret - 2
Little Blue Heron - 25
Turkey Vulture - 11
Osprey - 1 - FISHING
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1 - Loop 287
American Coot - 78
Forster’s Tern - 1
Pineywoods Scissor-Tales
November, 2009
Mourning Dove - 4
Ruth Heino
NE San Augustine County
Common Nighthawk - 1 - 9/26 Lufkin
2nd st.
Some September Bird sightings
Chimney Swift - 1
9-8-09 My home, NE San Augustine
Belted Kingfisher - 1
County FOS Whip-poor-will heard
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 3
outside
Downy Woodpecker - 2
9-20-09 Etoile Park
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
3 Snowy Egrets
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1
1 Empidonax
Eastern Phoebe - 1 - 9/26/09
Common Yellowthroat
White-eyed Vireo - 3
(heard “witchity” call)
Blue Jay - 5
American Crow - 6
Carolina Chickadee - 5
Tufted Titmouse - 3
Carolina Wren - 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5
Eastern Bluebird - 4
by Ruth Heino
American Robin - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Brown Thrasher - 3
Northern Parula - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
Northern Cardinal - 5
with nice paved asphalt trails. There is
a a parking area right on Starr where the
place to re-cycle used oil is located.
I checked it out just the other day and
was very impressed. There are lots of
trees and along the trail which has been
cleared there there are lots of flowers,
grasses, and weeds. The seeds from all
these plants should provide good feed
for wintering birds. Because of recent
rains, there were quite a few mushrooms about. I also noted several flowers which I couldn’t identify. The terrain is hilly and the trail meanders quite
a bit. There are several bridges which
cross a very pretty, good size creek. A
sizable group of Elephant ear plants
grew at the edge of the creek, where the
main bridge was. There was a smaller
unpaved path leading down along the
creek, but I didn’t take time to check
that out.
Since it was late morning and quite
warm, I didn’t see or hear too many
birds. Seven Mourning doves foraged
along the trail. Two female Indigo Buntings were checking out a brushy area.
A Pine Warbler trilled, along with the
fussing of some chickadees, and wrens.
A Red-bellied Woodpecker called in
the distance. My best sighting was a
box turtle crossing the trail. It was the
first one I had seen in a long time, so it
was a nice treat.
I think this a great place to enjoy nature
and look for birds. It is so easily accessible and convenient. It is close to the
Arboretum and near Pecan Acres Park.
so it gives us one more place to look for
birds. The only downside to this area is
the noise from University Drive. OtherThere is a nice new natural area avail- wise it such a lovely place to enjoy naable in Nacogdoches. The land which at ture. I’m so glad the baseball complex
one time was going to be a new baseball was voted down. This is so much betcomplex is now a natural area complete ter! I hope to go back soon.
NEW NATURE TRAIL
Replaces Ballpark
Marcus A. Arreguin
Monday at Alazan Bayou WMA near
Nacogdoches I saw a Swainson’s Hawk
Light Juvenile, one or more Blue Grosbeaks (not adult males), a BG Gnatcatcher, and a N. Parula.
The weekend before I saw a WB Nuthatch at Martin Creek Lake State Park
near Tatum. This bird was not on the
park’s checklist. Is the person on this list
who I need to report this to? If so, please
tell me you got this.
9-22-09 NE San Augustine County CR 121
1 American Kestrel seen on a fencepost!
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Pineywoods Scissor-Tales November, 2009
Page 7
Pineywoods Scissor-Tales
Pat Wallace, Editor
1010 Northwood Circle
Nacogdochdes,TX. 75965
Pineywoods
Audubon Society
2008-2009
OFFICERS:
President: Vice Pres.: Secretary: Treasurer: Field Trips: Newsletter: Heinz Gaylord
Rick Schaeffer
Ruth Heino
MiMi Wolf
David Wolf
Pat Wallace
www.pineywoodsaudubon.com
Pineywoods Audubon Society
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