Our Bird Station Is Under Construction

by Sue Ann Kendall

Members of the El Camino Real Texas Master Naturalist chapter, led by Ann Collins, our resident avian expert, are banding together to work on our latest project, which is an area created for the benefit of our Milam County birds that will allow for visitors to safely see and enjoy them. Ann will announce its name at an upcoming event, so stay tuned!

With much appreciated assistance from agencies such as Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Gene Rek has been preparing the area that Ann selected for the station, which happens to be near the Wildscape we’ve created. Gene and his crew have built beautiful new fencing around the birding area, cleared brush and some trees to create open space, started a road that will lead to the area, with parking, too. Yaupon mulch will be used to protect new plants.

There is already water running to the site as well, which will make the next stages of the project much easier.

Those future plans include planting many native plants that will provide food and shelter to birds and installing water features for both birds and people to enjoy. There will be different kinds of bird feeders in addition to natural sources of food like beauty berries, yaupon, pokeweed, and nuts. Benches will also be installed (and donations of benches with backs are welcome).

As of now, there are large logs created from trees that have been thinned outlining the main observation area and providing seating. I was there yesterday and observed a Downy Woodpecker busily hollowing out the remnants of a broken limb to create a house or somewhere to store food. I also watched dung beetles hard at work moving a ball of cow dung to wherever they wanted it to be. As this was happening, Carolina Chickadees were feeding in the oak trees and chirping merrily, as Painted Buntings, Carolina Wrens, and a Pileated Woodpecker contributed to the chorus.

Birds seen or heard yesterday:

• Barn Owl
• Barn Swallow
• Carolina Chickadee
• Carolina Wren
• Downy Woodpecker
• Northern Cardinal
• Purple Martin
• Painted Bunting
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo

It’s already a beautiful and pleasant place to relax and observe our amazing world. I plan to help out with the project by documenting it here on the blog and keeping a count of birds I and others observe as time goes on.