March Birding Hike at Blanco Shoals

   Wet, drizzly and chilly marked our bird walk at Blanco Shoals Natural Area. Stephen Ramirez and Colton Robbins (bird list and photos) take us on an hour's adventure the first Saturday of each month. Each time we are rewarded with something new and different. This time, in addition to all the great birds we saw there were three feral hogs across the Blanco River foraging for food and routing up the river bank.
 

Feral hogs on the riverbank

This time the 14 of us were also joined by Gabby Cole, an excellent birder and graduate student in biology.  She also leads the monthly bug walks sponsored by SMGA. Both bird and bug walks have their own Facebook pages -- San Marcos B__ Walk.
   We're in the sixth year of the monthly bird walks started September 3, 2011 by Stephen Ramirez and have been going strong. Both men were recognized as the Volunteer of the Year in 2015 for introducing the community to birding in Central Texas.

Carolina Chickadee (c Colton Robbins)

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker (c Colton Robbins)

Hermit Thrush singing (c Colton Robbins)

San Marcos- Blanco Shoals Greenspace, Hays, Texas, US
Mar 4, 2017 7:05 AM - 8:23 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.75 mile(s)
Comments:     55 degrees. Overcast, drizzling at times. No wind.
31 species

Great Egret  2
Black Vulture  5
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  3
Mourning Dove  10
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
White-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  1
Barn Swallow  4
Carolina Chickadee  6
Black-crested Titmouse  2
Brown Creeper  1
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2
Eastern Bluebird  2
Hermit Thrush  1     Singing
European Starling  5
Cedar Waxwing  20
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5
Chipping Sparrow  2
Savannah Sparrow  3
Lincoln's Sparrow  3
Northern Cardinal  8
Red-winged Blackbird  14
Great-tailed Grackle  11
House Finch  1

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34958533