August Meeting Report

Derrick Walter of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's J. D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area was to present the program for the membership meeting on August 17, 2000. However, this was not to be. I hope we will be able to get a rain check for that program which was to be on Mottled Duck Banding on the Texas Coast.

The meeting became a sharing of individual adventures and local happenings. To highlight a few, let me start with Sherrie Roden. She told us about the Purple Martins roosting in Groves at the Super K-Mart. About 7:45 pm each night the purple martins begin to gather overhead and around 8:15 pm in one full swoop fly into the three trees on the left-hand side of the parking lot to roost for the night. Everyone should try to go to see this wondrous event. Carol Lynn Loker and Merry Cox took a very inexpensive trip to Michigan to see the Kirtland’s Warbler. Ken Sztraky reported that several fall migrants were seen at Sabine Woods: eight warblers species and a couple of vireo species. Harrison and Rose Ann Jordan took a trip to Fredericksburg to see one of the largest populations of bats with their grandchildren. Don and I reported on a White-tailed Kite nest with two immature birds on the nest on Bob’s Road on Bolivar Peninsula. Jana Whittle spoke with us about a Southeastern Arizona trip taken with David Bradford. They averaged about 85 species of birds a day. She told us about their nights birding for owls: Western Screech, Whiskered Screech, Flammulated (heard), and Elf. They saw thirteen species of hummingbirds, eleven of them at Portal, Arizona. They saw 196 species and heard 4 more. This was David’s last Southeastern Arizona trip for a while. Robert Hurt spoke to us about fall migration and why this time of year is so interesting. It is a very active part of the year and you should see some of the same spring migrates, along with hawks, ducks and geese. Steve Mayes added that some of the warblers (i.e. Wilson, Nashville and Canada) that are hard to find in the spring are actually easier to find in the fall. Robert will be teaching a beginning birders class at the Lamar Port Arthur campus on October 3, 10 and 17 with a field trip on October 21. Anyone interested in attending the class is welcome.