Baker Sanctuary 2018-01-28

I spent a couple hours walking about 3 miles on Travis Audubon's Baker Sanctuary in northwest Travis County this morning. I wasn't expecting to find exceptional birds, and I didn't. But it was fun encountering an occasional mixed species flock in the quiet dense oak-juniper woods that make up most of the preserve. There's always something new to learn, even about the common species. Today I learned that Oranged-crowned Warbler can make a soft flight call that sounds very similar to the soft high whistle call notes that titmice and chickadees make to each other in mixed-species foraging flocks.

I wanted to see a little spring that I found on the eastern edge of the preserve last June. Near the spring where the trail went along the fence, I heard two Lesser Goldfinches singing. I realized one was mixing American Robin calls in with its song. I've heard Lesser Goldfinches imitate other birds before, but not this species.

The spring was just as pretty as I remembered, although most of the ferns were brown from our hard freezes this winter. It was still flowing out of the limestone wall. Nearby was this interesting block of limestone:

Limestone Block

On the north side of Lime Creek Road there is an old quarry site where blocks of limestone have been blasted out with dynamite. But this was on the south side of the road, near the eastern border of the preserve. Just one block sitting crookedly in the hole it presumably came out of.

Here's my complete eBird list.

Posted on January 28, 2018 09:59 PM by mikaelb mikaelb

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