Blue Grosbeak at Lake Georgetown

This afternoon, we went hiking along the section of the Goodwater Trail around Lake Georgetown from Jim Hogg Park to Russell Park. The water level has been consistently low for several years and we were able to walk down onto a meadow that used to be completely underwater. There, we found a half dozen Northern Mockingbirds displaying from stubby tree tops. In the water remaining in the inlet, we found a Great Blue Heron and Great Egret feeding as well as a lone American Coot. A couple of Red-winged Blackbirds and Killdeer were also calling near the water.  Later, alerted by strange duck-like noises coming from the somewhere off the trail near Liz Ln, we found an egret nest, high in the branches of a deciduous tree. After Murphy Park yesterday, seeing a single egret nesting in isolation seemed pretty odd. At various places along the hike, we heard a very distinctive song which I am fairly sure is a White-eyed Vireo, especially at the creek crossing at the apex of the inlet. We have yet to see it.

The highlight of our foray into the meadow was finding a Blue Grosbeak, only the third one we have seen this year.

Canon SX-50 HS - 215mm, f/6.5, 1/320 sec, ISO-400