Nature Day at Nalle Bunny Run 2019-06-22

Here are some highlights from Hill Country Conservancy's EPIC Nature Day at their Nalle Bunny Run wildlife preserve, which was on Saturday June 22, 2019. I was able to arrive early and go on a solo birding hike finding 29 species. Most notable were maybe two Yellow-throated Warblers, a rare summer breeding species in Travis county that prefers cypress trees in riparian habitats. For the last few years I have only detected one male returning each spring on the preserve, so I was excited to find one near the white house and then hear another much further west. At least two male Painted Buntings were heard singing on the property and I got this photo of one of them foraging in an agarita bush:

A singing Northern Parula and calling Broad-winged Hawk were two other bird species I was excited to observe.

I flushed two White-tailed Deer does a couple times while walking around, and near the cemetery encountered this little fawn that might have belonged to one of them:

@jacobddowen found this Texas Map Turtle by the boat ramp which finally came out of its shell (literally!) to show everyone the cool markings on its head and neck:

I got to lead a small group of attendees on a short walk around the preserve. During the walk I saw what I first thought was a large tarantula hawk wasp, but it turned out to be this Giant Prairie Robber Fly! This is the largest species of this predatory fly group in north america, and it was the first time I've ever seen one. It was over 2 inches long!

Here's my complete eBird list from my early morning solo walk.

Attached are nature observations from both the group walk and my solo walk.

And here are the same photos on Flickr.

Posted on June 29, 2019 09:56 PM by mikaelb