Monthly Fieldtrip at Hornsby Bend

On July 15th I participated in the monthly Birding Field Trip at Hornsby Bend. This is a great way to meet other birders and to get some help learning birds that are challenging to me. This month's fieldtrip was led by Mikael Behrens and it was really well attended. I had been contacted by a woman from Dallas who was coming to Austin and especially wanted to attend the fieldtrip. All of us had a blast together, and saw some great birds. One of the highlights was this aerial flyover of several "whirly-birds" which got the egrets airborn. It was quite a sight to see!

Roseate Spoonbills

On Saturday July 8 I decided to head over to Hornsby Bend to help out with the monthly bird count. This is held the second Saturday of every month and has been since 2000. It's a great way to help out at my favorite birding location.
Since I was getting there after the group had already left the gathering point, I thought I could be the most help by counting the Egrets on pond 1W since there are so many there. Boy was I surprised to find 4 Roseate Spoonbills there! They must have been migrating and stopped to catch their breath.

By Sunday morning they were gone. What a thrill though!