So the past few days have been crazy. In my last job someone was dumb and I had to go testify for the past two days. I took the time in central Texas to take advantage of the habitat. I wanted to get a look at a real endangered species. The Golden Cheeked Warbler (GCW). Now this species is rare and causes alot of hooplah in central Texas. This is because it is on the endangered species list. It was added to the list in 1990 where it has remained due to habitat encroachment. The GCW prefers rocky hillsides of juniper so that's where we went.
I decided to check out prospect park in San Marcos first. Well needless to say I didn't come up with much. Just lots of vireos, house finches, and a juvenile lesser goldfinch.
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| House Finch, Photo by Shaun Owen |
The next day we went further west to Pergatory Park and let me tell you how many painteds we saw... I think there were at least 20 painteds just at the entrance. When we drove into the park there was one on the road foraging.
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| Painted Bunting, Photo by Shaun Owen |
Well we got to walking and I was just hoping to get a sound of a golden cheeked... We walked and walked. Finally I almost gave up. Meghan said "NO! We have to see this darn bird". Good thing we continued because about fifteen more minutes down the trail and I heard it. We got real quiet and just waited to see where exactly that sound came from... And sure enough!!! This guy spotted us just as I pulled up my camera. I was able to get a few clicks in before he went on his way. Hopefully he's out there repopulating the species somewhere.
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| Golden Cheeked Warbler, Photo by Shaun Owen |
Happy to see that guy and hopefully he will makes tons more of them so that 20-30 years from now when I actually decide to do a big year I can add his great grandchildren to my list. Until next time happy birding!
Current Moderate Year Count - 169 Species
Recently Added Species - Western Kingbird, Golden Cheeked Warbler
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