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Clearing House April 2001
David Sarkozi
April is always a very impressive month forthe Clearinghouse. This month was exceptional even for
April. I received a record amount of data, 2815 individual sightings. Twenty-two observer combinations turned in
data. Two hundred sixty-three (263) species were reported. A total of 40,206 birds were reported, numbers that
rival winter reports that are loaded with concentrations of waterfowl. The most numerous species reported was
American Avocet.
Unusual lingering wintering birds reported were Homed Grebe, Canada Goose, Redhead, Greater
Scaup, and Le Conte's Sparrow. A Magnificent Frigatebird made a very early showing at Anahuac NWR forthe
second refuge record of that species. A Little Gull spent several weeks at the Beaumont Wastewater Treatment
Plant forthe first UTC record since 1986.
Thirty-three species of warbler were seen, with the Townsend's Warbler at Anahuac NWR on April 14
and 15 perhaps the most unusual.
Every spring I hear many speculating about migration timing changing. When you work with a mountain
of data like this month you can really see how accurate our checklist is and how regular the birds are in the timing of migration. Excellent examples are this month's reports of Gray-checked and Swainson's Thrushes.
The checklist lists Gray-cheeked Thrush as very rare in the first two weeks of April (1-14), uncommon in
the third week (15-21) and common in the fourth week (22-31). There are no reports before 21st, and a total of
ten after that. For Swainson's Thrush it is listed as very rare during the first two weeks and abundant during the
last two weeks. Again there are no reports before the 21st, and this time sixteen reports during the last two
weeks. The same story is reported with many migrants this month. Pretty neat I say!
Keep those reports coming. The work you put into sending in data makes our checklist so accurate.
The format this month is Species, date, County(location) # of birds, Observer. Those birds that are listed
at uncommon to abundant in A Birder's Checklist of the Upper Texas Coast 8th edition forthe whole month are
summarized.
Birds in Bold are very rare by the checklist and those underlined are new to the checklist for that week.
Notes are requested for those species listed in bold. Not all notes received for November are printed here because of space limitations.
County Key: BR = Brazoria, CH = Chambers, CO = Colorado, FB = Fort Bend, GA = Galveston, HA =
Harris, HR=Hardin, JE = Jefferson, LNLiberty
Location Key: ANWR = Anahuac NWR, ABNC = ABNC, BCP=Bear Creek Park, BBSP=Brazos Bend
SP, BF=Bolivar Flats, BNWR=Brazoria NWR, BP=Bolivar Peninsula, HI=High Island, EM=Edith Moore NS,
HP=Herman Park, NF=Nelson Farms, KPC property, PI = Pleasure Island, QU=Quintana, RPP=Russ Pitman
Park, SBNWR=San Bernard NWR, SP = Sabine Pass, SRSP=Sea Rim SP, SW=Sabine Woods, TP=Tyrell
Park, TPNWR=Texas Point NWR, WHC = West Harris County, WMP=White Memorial Park
Observer Key: AM=Art MacKinnon, BH=Bob Honig, DM=Derek Muschalek, DS=David Sarkozi,
DSM=Debbie & Scott MacSorley, HS=Bob Honig and Peter Samuels, JB=John Black, JH=Jim Hinson, JS=Julia
M. Starr, JWR=J & W Risser, KH=Ken Hartman, KR=Kathy Reiser, KRu=Kenneth Russell, MA=Mark Adkins,
MBH=Maggie & Bob Honig, MBS=Margret & Bob Simmons, MH=Maggie Honig, MW=Matt Whitbeck,
Pied-billed Grebe birds=60 reports=ll
Horned Grebe 4/12 GA(BP) 1 NB
American White Pelican birds=91 re-
ports=ll
Brown Pelican birds=i06 reports=14
Double-crested Cormorant birds=63
reports=17
Neotropic Cormorant birds=58 re-
ports=15
Anhinga birds=19 reports=8
Magnificent Frigatebird 4/8 CH
(ANWR) 1 MW
American Bittern birds=6 reports=5
Great Blue Heron birds=l06 re-
ports=30
Great Egret birds=218 reports=33
Snowy Egret birds=591 reports=36
Little Blue Heron birds=293 re-
ports=30
Tricolored Heron birds=29i re-
ports=28
Reddish Egret birds=i2 reports=8
Green Heron birds=166 reports=23
Black-crowned Night-Heron birds=13
reports=l-
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron birds=175
reports=24
White Ibis birds=331 reports=22
Glossy Ibis 4/21 JE(TP) 2 AM
White-faced Ibis birds= 1,047 re-
ports=12
Plegadis Ibis species birds=150 reports =1
Roseate Spoonbill birds-302 reports =20
Black Vulture birds=67 reports=15
Turkey Vulture birds=86 reports=28
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck birds=86
reports=13
Fulvous Whistling-Duck birds=75 re-
ports=4
Canada Goose 4/22 CH() 2 NB
Wood Duck birds=20 reports=4
American Wigeon birds=2 re-
Mallard 4/7 JE(SP) 2 AM
Mottled Duck birds=54 reports=ll
Blue-winged Teal birds=649 re-
ports=16
Cinnamon Teal 4/21 JE(TP) 2 AM
Northern Shoveler birds=157 re-
ports=7
Green-winged Teal 4/1 BR(BNWR) 12
KR, 4/21 HA(WHC) 1 MBH
Redhead 4/15 JE(TP) 1 NB, 4/22
HA(HP) 1,000 NB
Ring-necked Duck 4/15 JE(TP)
1,000 NB
Greater Scaup 4/22 GA(HI) 1,000
NB, 4/22 JE(TP) 1,000 NB
Lesser Scaup birds=39 reports=3
Surf Scoter 4/14 GA(BF) 1 AM, 4/17
GA(BF) 1 MBS, Red-breasted Merganser birds=3 reports=2, 4/24 GA(BP) 1
KR
Osprey birds=ll reports=8
Swallow-tailed Kite 4/2 HA(ABNC) 3
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