North America
Locations I've birded in North America.
Pearsall Park
| The trail leads from the dog park entrance of the park down to the river walking path. |
Description
Pearsall Park is a 505-acre park that opened in 2016 on the South side of San Antonio, Texas. The park offers 5km of walking/running paths.
For birding, I start at the parking lot next to the dog park and take the trail down the hill to the river. This trail takes you through large fields where you’ll see Barn Swallows, Purple Martins, Western Meadowlarks, and many other birds.
Flanking the trail is a power line that American Kestrels and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers like to perch on to watch for prey.
| Address |
|
4838 Old Pearsall Rd San Antonio, TX 78242 |
Personal stats
Visits
| 📆 | First visited | 12/01/2013 |
| 📍 | Location | San Antonio, Texas |
| 🪶 | Species seen | 79 |
| 📊 | Visited | 42 |
Experiences & anecdotes
12/13/22 - This is one of my favorite and most-frequented birding spots in San Antonio, partially because of proximity but also because it’s a great place to see a wide variety of birds. One of my most memorable experiences at this park was on October 16, 2021, when I arrived to find around 75 Western Meadowlarks flying all over the fields. They were on the ground, flying around in groups on both sides of the trail, and doing lots of singing and calling. It was my first time seeing so many of these birds at once. The experience made for a great TikTok video that I created.
Upon further reading when I arrived home, I learned that Western Meadowlarks are found in larger groups more often than their Eastern counterparts. I’m honestly not able to tell the difference between the two birds visually, but Merlin helped me identify them via the noises that they made.
Captured media
Photographs
| The walking path that follows the river. Parking is located at one end for easy access. 08/2/21 |
| A nice sunset on the trail leading back up the hill to the dog park entrance. | 08/2/21 |
| The birders who attended my first bird walk at Pearsall Park. | 05/21/22 |
| Barred Owl we found on the first bird walk I led. 05/21/22 |
| This a great example of the varying tail lengths due to age. | 05/01/22 |
Audio recordings
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- This is the song of the adorable Killdeer. It’s a high-pitched, unique song that you often hear coming from the skies as the Killdeer fly above.
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- This recording is of the calls of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Portions of the clip are muted to strip out the errant noises.
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- A clear recording of the bouncy Carolina Wren call.
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- Listen to the complex song of the Bewick’s Wren.
From my blogs
- Leading a bird walk at Pearsall Park with Bexar Audubon Society
- Finding a Yellow-billed Cuckoo while birding at Pearsall Park
- Birding at twilight
Pedernales Falls State Park
| A beautiful vista from Pedernales Falls State Park |
Description
Pedernales Falls State Park opened in 1971. It was purchased from private owners and is 5,212 acres. It’s east of Johnson City, Texas and sits next to the Pedernales River. It has multiple hiking trails of varying difficulty.
| Address |
|
2585 Park Road 6026 |
Personal stats
Visits
| 📆 | First visited | 12/14/2022 |
| 📍 | Location | San Antonio, Texas |
| 🪶 | Species seen | 10 |
| 📊 | Visited | 1 |
Experiences & anecdotes
12/14/22 - While on a work trip in Johnson City, TX, one of our activities was to go on a hike at Pedernales Falls State Park. We planned to do the Wolf Mountain Loop trail. We arrived a bit after 9AM. Either it was too late in the day or bad luck, but I only saw 10 species of birds there. I got hyped up looking over the list of recently reported birds there on eBird but didn’t get lucky this time. There were a few opportunities to get some great recordings of a few new species like the Dark-eyed Junco.
Captured media
Photographs
| Wolf Mountain Trail |
| Wolf Mountain Trail sign |
| Another view of the Wolf Mountain Trail |
Audio recordings
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- This is my first recording of a Dark-eyed Junco. I used to see them all the time in California, however I didn't really record birds back then. I started recording more consistently after the Merlin app launched and I got a dedicated microphone setup.
From my blogs
- Coming soon...