Have you been to Hornsby Bend?

Pond 3 at Hornsby Bend

Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory is my favorite place to bird in Austin, and maybe in Texas. It is located east of the airport along CR973. The facility processes waste-water and produces Dillo-Dirt from it.
The first and most obvious birding opportunity is accessed from the main entrance by following the sign to the left indicating "Public Entrance". This takes you to two sludge ponds and the beginning of the River Trail. The ponds have a wealth of bird activity at all times of the year, from thousands of ducks in the fall and winter to shorebirds and waders in the spring and summer. At all times of the year a nice variety of perching birds can be found in the trees that line the ponds. I've seen everything from warblers and vireos to flycatchers and hawks.
Last winter I walked around the ponds at least once week for a month and saw many of the same birds in the same places over and over. They came to feel like old friends! There were two immature Vermillion Flycatchers hanging out and they were very predictable, as was a beautiful male Kestrel. The Loggerhead Shrike never dissappointed either.
These ponds are 1East, 1West and Pond 2. I joke about sunset over the sludge ponds being a thing of beauty, but it's not really a joke. I think it's stupendous.