January Birding Summary for Bell, Coryell & Lampasas Counties

January might be considered the winter birding doldrums for the Bell-Coryell-Lampasas tri-county area. There was not a lot new to report; mostly just the continuation of several previously reported birds. Fort example, the eastern Bell County goose “Shangri-la” of Oenaville and the Elijah Road grassland bird hotspots continued to harbor interesting wintering birds. In general, reports seemed to be down for the month. In part, that was likely due to the weather. The tri-country area received several blasts of cold weather and several fairly intense precipitation events that likely kept folks indoors. Additionally, several of the regularly reporting birders seemed to go further a field, out of the tri-county area, during the month. With the continued rain fall, local creeks have been gushing and the local reservoirs have been 8-10+ feet above normal. Ponds and tanks are full and there is water in the ditches, depressions, and other low-lying areas. With how wet everything has been and continues to be, habitat conditions should be quite good as we enter the spring migratory period. It will be interesting to see how the birds respond to the increased availability of water and to what should be a very green and vegetatively productive spring.

GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE
25 and 120 Oenaville area (Bell) 8 [RPi] and 26 Jan, respectively.

SNOW GOOSE
2000-3000+ Oenaville area (Bell) 8 [RPi] and 26 Jan, respectively.

ROSS’S GOOSE
1-300 Oenaville area (Bell) 8 [RPi] and 26 Jan, respectively.

CACKLING GOOSE
~12 fields west of Oil Loop Rd, Oenaville area (Bell) 8 Jan [RPi]

GREATER SCAUP
1 Fort Hood (Bell) 13 Jan [GEc]

BUFFLEHEAD
18 Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 18 Jan [DCi] – High count.

COMMON GOLDENEYE
2 females Lake Rogers (Bell) 5 Jan [RPi]
1 female Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 18 Jan [DCi]

COMMON MERGANSER
1 female/young male Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 18 Jan [DCi]

COMMON LOON
3+ Union Grove WMA, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 12 Jan [RPi]
2 Temple Lake Park, Belton Lake (Bell) 14 Jan [RPi]

HORNED GREBE
15 Union Grove WMA, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 12 Jan [RPi]
7 from Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area, Fort Hood (Bell) 13 and 20 Jan [GEc]

EARED GREBE
2 from Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area, Fort Hood (Bell) 13 and 20 Jan [GEc]
1-2 Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) through 24 Jan [DHo, DCi, RKo]

PIED-BILLED GREBE
45 Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 24 Jan [RKo] – High count.

AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN
3 and 1 Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 6 Jan [DHo] and 18 Jan [DCi], respectively.

BALD EAGLE
1 Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 3 Jan [GEc]
1 adult Owl Creek Park, Belton Lake (Bell) 14 Jan [RPi]
1 adult Chalk Ridge Falls Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 24 Jan [RPi]

MERLIN
1 Fort Hood Cantonment, Fort Hood (Coryell) 11 Jan [DCi]

COMMON MOORHEN
1 West Range Rd crossing of House Creek, Fort Hood (Coryell) 6 Jan [KJo] – A rare but not unprecedented winter record.

LEAST SANDPIPER
24 Rogers area ponds (Bell) 10 Jan [RKo]
17 Fort Hood (Bell) 13 Jan [GEc]

LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER
24 Rogers area ponds (Bell) 10 Jan [RKo]

AMERICAN WOODCOCK
1 Table Rock Creek just west of Fort Hood boundary (Coryell) 16 Jan [SSu]

COMMON GROUND-DOVE
3 “Vireo Alley” area, Fort Hood (1 Bell/2 Coryell) 13 Jan [SSu]

MONK PARAKEET
1 (at least) continues at the traditional 31st St and Marlanwood location, Temple (Bell) 13 Jan [RPi]

BURROWING OWL
1 Elijah Rd, Fort Hood (Coryell) continuing through at least 20 Jan [GEc]
1 Live Fire, Fort Hood (Corell) 25 Jan [TTS]

SHORT-EARED OWL
1 Bottoms Rd-FM 438 jct (between Temple and Oenaville, Bell) 4 and 8 Jan [RPi]

SAY’S PHOEBE
1 Rod & Gun Club Loop area, Fort Hood Cantonment (Coryell) through at least 26 Jan [RKo]

HORNED LARK
50 Hunt-Jones Rd (Bell) 5 Jan [RPi]
3 Lometa Reservoir (Lampasas) 18 Jan [DCi]

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
1 near Stillhouse Hollow Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 3 Jan [GEc] – Likely a continuation of one of the gnatcatchers reported from the same area in December and it probably represents a rare overwintering attempt by the species.
1 Shell Mountain, Fort Hood (Coryell) 6 Jan [SSu]

ROCK WREN
2 Chalk Ridge Falls Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 24 Jan [RPi]

PINE WARBLER – Somewhat sparse this winter.
1 Fort Hood (Bell) 13 Jan [GEc]

LARK SPARROW
11 Fort Hood (Coryell) 5 Jan [GEc]
6 Cedar Valley Rd (Bell) 24 Jan [RPi]

LE CONTE’S SPARROW – Regularly record on Fort Hood, few reports from off Fort Hood.
4 Chalk Ridge Falls Park, Stillhouse Hollow Lake (Bell) 24 Jan [RPi]

HARRIS’S SPARROW
30 Fort Hood (Bell) 13 Jan [GEc] – High count.

MCCOWN’S LONGSPUR
25 Hunt-Jones Rd (Bell) 5 Jan [RPi]

CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR
Up 2000 Fort Hood (Coryell) continuing through at least 26 Jan [GEc, RKo] – Incredible numbers.

LAPLAND/SMITH’S LONGSPUR
1 near Elijah-Georgetown Rd jct, Fort Hood (Coryell) 9 Jan [DCi] – DCi leans towards Smith’s based on analysis of audio recordings of the bird, but key field marks to clinch the ID were not seen and there is a lot of similarity in the calls of the two species.

DCi = David Cimprich, DHo = Daniel Hodges, GEc = Gil Eckrich, KJo = Ken Jones, RKo = Rich Kostecke, RPi = Randy Pinkston, SSu= Scott Summers, TTS = Toni Taylor-Salisbury