Arbor Hills - FOS Activity Spring 2007

[Perry]

I will update this thread as the FOS activity for Arbor Hills occurs. Today was the first real day of new birds. Barn Swallow is about a week late. The BG Gnatcatcher is right on target by one day. The House wren is easily two weeks early.

Barn Swallow - 3/23
House Wren - 3/23
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3/23

[Perry]

Updates through 4/6. It's really slow. I can't wait for spring to pop!

Little Blue Heron - 4/6
White-eyed Vireo - 3/29

[Perry]

Arbor Hills update from today:

Black-chinned Hummingbird - 4/11
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - 4/11
Lincoln's Sparrow - 4/11

Lincoln's Sparrow can be found all winter in certain areas in NCTX, but at Arbor Hills they are strictly migration.

[Perry]

Today's FOS update:

Snowy Egret - 4/12
Franklin's Gull - 4/12
Purple Martin - 4/12
Chipping Sparrow - 4/12
Lark Sparrow - 4/12

Like the Lincoln's Sparrow yesterday, the Chipping Sparrow is a migrant only bird at Arbor Hills. The Purple Martin FOS at Arbor Hills is always a month and a half after they start appearing in NCTX.

[Perry]

Very slow day, but the FOS activity made up for it.

Western Kingbird - 4/17
Chimney Swift - 4/17
Indigo Bunting - 4/17

[Sheryll]

Hmmm...I wonder why certain species show up a month later there than in the rest of NCTX. Your chimney swift is about a month late, too.

[Perry]

It is a function of food source. You see the first Purple Martins in February, but you find them at their roosts and over/near open water. As the foliage starts to appear and fill out, so do the insects. When the Purple Martins leave their roost, they can now forage over the green areas. In five years of birding Arbor Hills, I can always count on Purple Martins showing up a good month after people start seeing them over WRL.

[Perry]

Sedge Wren - 4/26
Swainson's Thrush - 4/26
Nashville Warbler - 4/26
Ovenbird - 4/26
LeConte's Sparrow - 4/26

[karalennox]

I finally checked out Arbor Hills today. Wow, it's beautiful. I saw a brown thrasher and a golden-crowned kinglet (pretty sure) and lots of other more ordinary stuff. I heard a call that might--possibly--have been a yellow-throated vireo but that is just a guess. Also heard the Swainson's Thrush (I'm coming to know that one well).

Thanks for indulging a newbee and feel free to correct me if you think I've made errors!

Kara

[Perry]

Extremely active today:

Green Heron - 5/4
Least Flycatcher - 5/4
Eastern Kingbird - 5/4
Yellow-throated Vireo - 5/4
Gray Catbird - 5/4
Tennessee Warbler - 5/4
Yellow Warbler - 5/4
Wilson's Warbler - 5/4
Summer Tanager - 5/4
Painted Bunting - 5/4
Dickcissel - 5/4
Baltimore Oriole - 5/4

[Nick]

5/5/07

I'm still a relative newcomer to Texas, and this was my first trip to Arbor Hills. I was hoping to see the Summer Tanager and Yellow-throated Vireo (which I may have heard), but was pleased to see two birds not previously listed in the Arbor Hills FOS thread: Chestnut-sided Warbler and Lazuli Bunting.

Trip list: Lazuli Bunting, Painted Bunting, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Bluebird, Western Kingbird, Eastern Kingbird, Dickcissel, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard), Tufted Timouse, Carolina Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Northern Mockingbird, Northen Cardinal, Carolina Wren, Blue Jay, Great-tailed Grackle, European Starling, Turkey Vulture

[Perry]

Can you provide directions to the Lazuli? That's a tough bird anywhere in NCTX. I have only seen it once at Village Creek about 12 years ago. This would be a new bird for me in Arbor Hills. I'd love to make it #167.

[Nick]

If you were to stand on the tower near the center of the preserve and walk toward the creek at the 2:00 position, there is an opening with a steep path down towards the water. I flushed the male and female lazuli into the high limbs of a tree hanging over the creek. Sadly, they didn't hang around for too long. Is this worth posting on Texbirds?

[Perry]

It is definitely worth posting on Texbirds. I also would create a thread here for just that bird. They may not pick it out of this thread. I went looking for it this morning, but not in that area. I know exactly where you are describing. I'll focus there tomorrow. Today's FOS (wishing I had Nick's Chestnut-sided and Lazuli):

Orchard Oriole - 5/7
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 5/7

[Nick]

I found the Chesnut-sided Warblers (at least two) near the railroad tracks. Follow the path along the creek into the woods; there was a flurry of activity yesterday. In addition to the Wilson's and Chestnut-sided, there were two other warblers I couldn't quite pinpoint. One looked to be a Tennessee, the other possibly a Blue-winged. I don't have a Texbirds account at this point, but feel free to post it if you wish, Perry.

[Perry]

Several more FOS today. Some of them are not really FOS to the area. I should have found them long ago, but it didn't happen.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 5/8
Blue-headed Vireo - 5/8
Warbling Vireo - 5/8
Philidelphia Vireo - 5/8
Common Yellowthroat - 5/8

[Perry]

Probably my last FOS post of the season. What a bad year for warblers. I'm missing Magnolia, Redstart, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided and not one rare warbler. I almost always get something rare.

Today's FOS

Olive-sided Flycatcher - 5/25

[Perry]

Copy of Spring Report posted to Texbirds:

Arbor Hills Nature Preserve is located in the southwest most corner of Plano, which is situated barely in Denton county. The spring reporting period covers March 1 through May 31. I made eighteen trips to Arbor Hills in this time span. The breadth of species this year was pretty good. The warblers this year were the most dismal since I began keeping records in 2001. Each species listed below has two numbers. The first number is how many visits out of 18 that I found the species. The 2nd number is the total count of that species from all visits. In total, 103 species were identified during the reporting period. The complete checklist for Arbor Hills contains 166 species.

Pied-billed Grebe - 2:2
Double-crested Cormorant - 1:2
Great Blue Heron - 7:19
Great Egret - 7:9
Snowy Egret - 1:1
Little Blue Heron - 1:1
Cattle Egret - 1:3
Green Heron - 3:3
Black Vulture - 1:1
Turkey Vulture - 5:7
Gadwall - 1:2
Mallard - 12:23
Northern Shoveler - 1:8
Ring-necked Duck - 1:4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2:2
Cooper's Hawk - 5:7
Red-tailed Hawk - 3:3
American Kestrel - 1:1
Merlin - 1:1
Killdeer - 4:7
Greater Yellowlegs - 1:1
Franklin's Gull - 1:8
Rock Pigeon - 3:11
Mourning Dove 18:78
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - 3:3
Eastern Screech-owl - 1:1
Chimney Swift - 7:26
Ruby-throated Hummer - 3:5
Black-chinned Hummer - 8:11
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 13:25
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2:2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - 2:2
Downy Woodpecker - 11:19
Northern Flicker - 1:1
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 1:2
Least Flycatcher - 2:2
Eastern Phoebe - 3:4
Great Crested Flycatcher - 2:3
Western Kingbird - 6:17
Eastern Kingbird - 2:3
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - 6:15
White-eyed Vireo - 6:10
Blue-headed Vireo - 1:1
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1:1
Warbling Vireo - 1:1
Philadelphia Vireo - 1:1
Red-eyed Vireo - 1:1
Blue Jay - 18:69
American Crow - 16:43
Purple Martin - 16:43
NRW Swallow - 1:1
Barn Swallow - 7:15
Carolina Chickadee 18:101
Tufted Titmouse - 17:58
Brown Creeper - 2:2
Carolina Wren - 16:36
House Wren - 3:3
Sedge Wren - 1:1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 5:7
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 10:19
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 8:18
Eastern Bluebird - 7:15
Swainson's Thrush - 5:14
American Robin - 6:144
Gray Catbird - 3:4
Northern Mockingbird - 16:50
Brown Thrasher - 2:3
European Starling 15:99
Cedar Waxwing - 11:92
Tennessee Warbler - 1:3
Orange-crowned Warbler - 3:4
Nashville Warbler - 4:12
Yellow Warbler - 3:7
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 10:104
Ovenbird - 1:1
Common Yellowthroat - 2:3
Wilson's Warbler - 4:11
Summer Tanager - 2:2
Spotted Towhee - 4:9
Chipping Sparrow - 2:9
Field Sparrow - 4:15
Lark Sparrow - 4:15
Lark Sparrow - 2:3
Savannah Sparrow - 4:12
LeConte's Sparrow - 1:1
Fox Sparrow - 2:3
Song Sparrow - 3:3
Lincoln's Sparrow - 3:14
White-throated Sparrow - 12:59
Harris's Sparrow - 3:10
Dark-eyed Junco - 7:29
Northern Cardinal - 18:155
Indigo Bunting - 1:1
Painted Bunting - 6:23
Red-winged Blackbird - 2:5
Common Grackle - 11:25
Great-tailed Grackle - 15:46
Brown-headed Cowbird - 11:49
Orchard Oriole - 2:3
Baltimore Oriole - 1:5
House Finch - 13:46
House Sparrow - 12:42