White-throated Thrush (lifer)

We decided to go on the nature walk this morning. It was led by Gilbert who is a herpetologist. There were 4 other folks on the walk besides us and one volunteer. A couple of people really wanted a bird walk instead of a nature walk. Since there wasn’t much ‘nature’ to see, Gilbert happily let Mark point out the birds. Gilbert is not a birder and didn’t have binoculars. We didn’t see any snakes or lizards on the walk so it turned into a bird/nature walk.

The only new bird we saw was an osprey.



About mid-afternoon we picked up Sharon and Rick and headed to Estero Llano Grande. We looked at the ponds for a little bit then walked down to where the White-throated Thrush was being seen. It came in to drink/bathe about 5:20. A Chachalaca ran him off fairly quickly but the Thrush flew onto an open tree right in front of us and stayed there for quite a while (just until everybody reached for their cameras, then he flew off). This is the first lifer we've gotten in a long time.

The only other new bird we saw was a Wilson’s Warbler.

We started slowly walking back to the visitor center. Right at the path to the visitor center we saw a Bobcat! We all got good looks. He wandered down the trail toward the visitor center. We walked down the trail but didn’t see him again. We looked at the ponds again before going to the car.