FIRST TC BIRD WALK A SUCCESS !

The First TC Bird Walk was  a success with 20 people attending. We saw 25 species during a slow ramble around Blue Valley and Carrington Prairie. The bird list for the morning is below the picture.

 

Number of Species: 25

American Robin Bewick's Wren Black Vulture Black-crested Titmouse Blue Jay Carolina Chickadee Carolina Wren Cedar Waxwing Chipping Sparrow Common Grackle Cooper's Hawk Downy Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Great-tailed Grackle House Finch Ladder-backed Woodpecker Lesser Goldfinch Mallard Mourning Dove Northern Cardinal Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-shouldered Hawk Ruby-crowned Kinglet Turkey Vulture White-winged Dove

Our favorite bird of the morning was a Red-Shouldered Hawk. A pair has been nesting in Travis Country each spring for the past few years.

I took the above photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk at 

the Driskill Hotel in Austin last week.

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Copyright © 2015 Glen Novinger All Rights Reserved

SPRING & SUMMER IS COMING & THE GREAT MOSQUITO CATCH IS ON

Bats are our Friends !

The Little Brown Bats can catch and eat 800 - 1000 mosquitos per hour for a total of 8,000 to 10,000 mosquitos in a night!

TC BIRD WALKS with GLEN NOVINGER

New in 2015 ! Join us for monthly BIRD WALKS.

Get to know the common birds and migrants in Travis Country.

BIRD WALKS will leave the Community Assoc. Office in Blue Valley

at 9:00am on the following Saturdays in 2015.

1.) March 14

2.) April 11

3.) May 9

4.) June 13

·    Bring binoculars and a bird book, if you have them.

·    Young adults of 12+ years welcome if accompanied by parent.

·    Please understand that dogs will not be welcome.

·      Bird Walk will last 1 to 2 hours.

Glen Novinger

Glen@Novinger.com

2015 TRAVIS COUNTRY NEST-BOX SEASON

Since the launch of the TC Birds and Nest-Box Program in April of 2014, we have made great progress.  We now have 35 nest-boxes in place throughout the following greenbelt areas of Travis Country:

BLUE VALLEY 

COMMUNITY GARDEN

HILLTOP POOL

WILD FLOWER PRESERVE

CARRINGTON PRAIRIE

GREENBELT SOUTH OF SENDERO

GREENBELT NORTH OF SENDERO/MAGDELENA

As you go on your walks, watch for the nest-boxes.  They are all painted a green/grey color and each has a number on it. If you notice a problem or any damage to a nest-box.  Please let me know and I will rectify the problem right away. There are 6 different nest-box sizes, each for different species and sizes of birds. The boxes range in size from the smallest for wrens and warblers to the largest for Barred Owls.

All of the nest-boxes are now in place and ready for the beginning of the nesting season which will begin in February for Eastern Screech Owls and continue for the various species into July.

Watch for Bluebirds this year.  We have 3 BlueBird nest-boxes located along the trail in the Wildflower Preserve and are hopeful that will attract these beautiful birds to our neighborhood. The photo of a male Eastern Bluebird which appears below was taken by William H. Majoros.

Photo by William H. Majoros

NEST BOX PROGRAM SUMMARY

TRAVIS COUNTRY & CARRINGTON PRAIRIE

  

On April 17, 2014, the Board of Directors of Travis Country Community Service Association approved the construction and installation by Glen Novinger of bird and owl nest boxes in the Travis Country common areas.

On May 2, 2014, Dr. Sherry Lepine, the Academy Director at Clint Small Middle School's Green Tech Academy approved the installation by Glen Novinger of bird and owl boxes in Carrington Prairie, a.k.a. the AISD property in the center of Travis Country.

Since the above dates ten nest boxes have been installed in Travis Country at the Community Garden and near the Community Association office in Blue Valley. Five nest boxes were also installed in the Carrington Prairie clearing on Trail West across from View West.

The plans for this Nest Box Program include the installation of additional nest boxes in appropriate habitat locations throughout the common areas of Travis Country and Carrington Prairie in consultation with Cynthia Wilcox of the Travis Country Board of Directors and with Dr. Sherry Lepine, the Academy Director at Clint Small Middle Sc hoo0l's Green Tech Academy. It is not expected that we will have many, if any, nesting birds in the boxes during 2014, because we are installing the boxes this year during the nesting season and most birds have already made their nests and are already laying eggs and fledging their broods. But we will have a full number of boxes installed by next spring and expect many broods of fledglings in the spring of 2015.

The Nest Box Program will initially include the installation of 5 different types of nest boxes which will accommodate birds ranging in size from small Bewick’s Wrens, Chickadees, and Warblers that use a 1 1/8 inch entry hole to our largest nest box with a 3 inch entry hole that will accommodate an Eastern Screech Owl. We will later consider adding boxes for Purple Martins. And, time permitting, we may add one or more Bat Houses for Mexican Free-tail Bats.

Please follow this blog for further updates and information on the Nest Box Program at Travis Country and Carrington Prairie.

Glen Novinger

Glen@Novinger.com
512-537-8772