New Year’s Eve Birding

For the last day of the year, I visited a couple of local birding sights. And then one more on a whim. I don’t usually have much luck in the winter, but in the end, I added several birds to my lifetime list. I’m currently pruning photos and move galleries around. Some of these photos may disappear if they are replaced. Again, I only keep the best photos of a certain bird.

Mills Pond

Located in the Well Branch subdivision, you wouldn’t know about Mills Pond without looking at a map, really. Right after getting out of the car, I saw a Wood Duck. Good start! First time I’ve seen one not in a zoo. AFAIK, it was the only one. I took dozens of photos, but here is the first one I took. Still processing the others and will post the good ones later.

Wood Duck

This is likely not a complete list of everything there, but here are the photos I kept.

American Wigeon (green)

Northern Shoveler

American Wigeon (blue)

Lesser Scaup

Cinammon Teal

Great Egret

There are currently 4 photos of the Great Egret in the gallery. It was quite photogenic.

Hornsby Bend

Hornsby was suprisingly eventful, with several new birds for me. Not pictured are a pair of Eastern Bluebirds at the entrance as I have better photos. But it’s only the second time I’ve seen them out there. Also missing is a Rusty Blackbird because I’m not sure that’s what I photographed. While I know they were out there in large quantities, getting a photo was very difficult. The snipe was taken at 600mm (300 + two 1.4x extenders).

Loggerhead Shrike

Ring-billed Gull

Wilson's Snipe

Northern Shoveler

American Kestrel

Walnut Creek Wasterwater Treatment Plant

One of the birders at Hornsby suggested I stop by the Walnut Creek Wasterwater Treatment Plant. I had seen it mentioned before on TPWD’s East Austin Birding Sites, but never looked in on it. Turns out it’s pretty close to Hornsby. Two ducks of interest for me, though I’m not sure what the second one is. I’ve found similar ducks but no exact match. If you know, I would love to hear from you in the comments section.

Pied-billed Grebe

Unknown Duck

Advertisement