Surprising San Angelo State Park

Back in about 2007 the water was high in O.C. Fisher Reservoir at the park.  Mesquite, cactus, and other trees and plants were in abundance.  There was plenty of fish in the lake and the park was healthy.  All species of wildlife thrived.  A person could go out there to go birding or to photograph that wildlife with great success.  It was nothing to see an osprey or a hawk on any given visit.

Then the great drought hit the area.  It has been only a couple of years or so ago that the lake was bone dry.  Not a drop of water to be seen.  You could walk across the lake without getting your feet damp.  Then it was decided to destroy most of the mesquite and underbrush.  That was done with several controlled burns.  The park took on the image of a burned-out forest fire.

Then several months ago, we were blessed with a deluge.  Huge amounts of rain fell on the North Concho River watershed, and the lake, in days, got back to the level of 2007, and perhaps a bit more.  We are now getting some more periodic rainfalls and the park is coming back.  Everything is looking much greener.  Of course, it will be much longer for the fish to return in large amounts, but the birds and wildlife is making a great comeback.  And that is what this post is all about.

Ann and I spent the past couple of days there checking out the birds.  Yesterday, we saw 44 different species of birds, and we didn’t even stop at the bird blind.  We probably could have added a few more there.  We just took a very leisure drive throught the south section of the park.  Here are a few images from that drive.  As always, click on any image to see beautiful enlargements, especially if you are reading this on a computer.

Driving near the area where the ‘buffalo roam’, in other words the fenced off part of the park where the bison are kept, we were surprised to see a couple of Cattle Egrets meandering near the animals.  This specie is not around every year, but I love their plummage.

Cattle Egret

The Bobwhites were calling and we could hear one nearly every part of the park we visited.  this one was in a nearby tree.

Northern Bobwhite

A Pyrrhuloxia quietly watching over the area.

Pyrrhuloxia

A Curve-billed Thrasher.

Curve-billed Thrasher

This Greater Roadrunner was calling, perhaps for a mate.  First time I had come across one making any kind of a sound.

Greater Roadrunner

In another area we were surprised by four Yellow-headed Blackbirds.  Another specie that we hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  During migration it not unusual to come up with some surprises.  They were deep in the grass so photographing them was difficult.  Here is one of the better images.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Driving towards the boat ramp, actually the only one of more than a dozen that is actually near the water, we spotted this Killdeer in the parking lot.  We discovered that it was sitting on two eggs.  This bird is peculiar in that it doesn’t use a nest per se.  It just picks a spot on the ground, usually a gravel surface, and drops the eggs there.

Killdeer sitting on two eggs.

And speaking of eggs and young birds, we have been returning to Spring Creek Park periodically to check on the offspring of a Great Horned Owl.  Here is my latest photo, taken two days ago.  It appears to be around four weeks old in my humble opinion.  As you can see it is standing on the nest.  It’s ears are beginning to shape up.  It won’t be long before it ventures out farther on a tree limb.

Great Horned Owlet

That’s it for this post.  Try to make it out to San Angelo State Park soon, and you may see some of these 44 species that Ann and I saw yesterday:

• White-winged Dove
• Blue Jay
• Great-tailed Grackle
• Northern Mockingbird
• White-crowned Sparrow
• Mourning Dove
• Cactus Wren
• Pyrrhuloxia
• Golden-fronted Woodpecker
• Barn Swallow
• Canyon Towhee
• Song Sparrow
• Ash-throated Flycatcher
• Brown-headed Cowbird
• House Sparrow
• Northern Bobwhite
• Vesper Sparrow
• Loggerhead Shrike
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
• Killdeer
• Ring-billed Gull
• Spotted Sandpiper
• American Coot
• Gadwall
• Double-crested Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron
• Red-winged Blackbird
• House Finch
• Lark Sparrow
• American Pippet
• Common Raven
• Great Horned Owl
• Curve-billed Thrasher
• Turkey Vulture
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• Black Vulture
• European Starling
• Chipping Sparrow
• Northern Cardinal
• Greater Roadrunner
• Black-throated Sparrow
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Bewick’s Wren
• Black-crested Titmouse