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.