Nalle Bunny Run 2020-02-15

On Saturday February 15, 2020 eight people joined me for the monthly group walk on Hill Country Conservancy's Nalle Bunny Run wildlife preserve. I was happy to see so many people on the walk; we haven't had this many people in a long time. We spent a little over 2 hours walking around the preserve and here are a few highlights.

Except for Northern Cardinals, the birds were few and far between. We could almost always hear a cardinal singing, and it wasn't too hard to see one if we tried. I estimated we heard or saw at least 20 individuals. On the sandy prairie area down by the water we got to see an American Kestrel twice, once when it landed in the top of a cypress tree near us, and later when it called repeatedly and seemed to catch up with us to land nearby and give us another look. Here it is on the cypress tree:

Shortly after when we started back up the hill we got to see an Orange-crowned Warbler and two Ruby-crowned Kinglets foraging in low bushes next to the driveway. Most of the other birds we recorded were either heard-only or only briefly seen.

Probably the two most common shrubs on the property are Yaupon Holly and Agarita. Some of the female Yaupon Holly bushes were just beautiful with their bright red berries and here's one we encountered on the west half of the preserve in the parkland habitat type:

We are having an early spring this year, and I noticed a couple Agarita bushes were starting to bloom. But I was surprised when we found one bush covered in open yellow flowers. I was happy the group got to see this event that usually only happens for a week or two in March. And look, you can just see the Penneybacker Bridge in the background: