December 18th was the Wichita Falls area Christmas Bird Count. This is an annual national event sponsored by the Audubon Society. The North Texas Bird and Wildlife Club host the local event. I joined Penny Miller's Lake Wichita Count.
We met at the spillway at 7:30am for a foggy and chilly start to the day. After we documented the birds we saw there we walked over to the old pier and then over to the chat trail and barrow pit. Penny did all the documentation but I do remember a large number of the species we observed.
The list includes Killdeer, Ringed-billed Gulls, Mallards, White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, a Franklin Gull (we think), Blue-winged Teal, Canvasback ducks, Pintails, American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes, a Common Snipe, Bewick's Wren, Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackles, Mourning Doves, White-winged Doves, Eurasian Collard Doves, House Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Cardinals, Greater Yellow-legs, Harris' Sparrow, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Harrier, Shoveler, Meadowlark (they don't sing this time of year so it is difficult to tell if Western or Eastern), Great Blue Heron, Common Egret (rare for this time of year), Ruddy Ducks, Canada Geese, American Goldfinches, Northern Flicker, four deer and a coyote. OK, we can't count the deer and coyote for the bird count - but they were there also.
Interesting note; we saw a white goose among a flock of Canada Geese. Sometimes Snow Geese will migrate with Canada's. However, they were too far away for a positive I.D. on the white goose. I know I probably left off a species, or two. This is the first year I have participated and I really enjoyed the experience. I look forward to next year's event.
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