San Saba Area - Thanksgiving Week 2011

[Cal396]

I was on a hunting trip near San Saba, TX (hill country) and managed to see some birds. There was a flyover Pileated Woodpecker and a Caracara on the drive between Houston and San Saba (we drove to Houston first, then to San Saba). I got my lifer Sage Thrasher on the property where we were staying Risien Park in San Saba held some good birds such as Brown Creeper and BC Titmouse. The San Saba Wastewater Treatment Plant had some good duck ponds with most duck species, a Bonaparte's Gull, Least Sandpiper, and Snipe. Nearby Lometa Reservoir had lots of ducks, a Forster's Tern, and good sparrows including Grasshopper. There were Northern Bobwhites seen on the property where we were staying, but I didn't see them.
Overall about 70 species for the trip.

Gadwall
American Wigeon
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
American Coot
Greater Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Wilson's Snipe
Bonaparte's Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Carolina Chickadee
Black-crested Titmouse
Brown Creeper
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Sage Thrasher
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored and pink-sided races)
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow