Balcones Songbird Festival
Hill Country Birding
Tour Description:
Join top Texas birders to look for special Hill Country birds that nest on the Refuge. This tour makes multiple stops along one of the quietest, birdiest country roads in western Travis County, and then brief stops at Doeskin, Flying X and Simons, affording participants the opportunity to see and hear many of the breeding and spring migrant birds of the eastern edge of the Edwards Plateau. The trip leader is familiar with these birds and their vocalizations, and will strive to get scope views for all participants of most of the target birds on the route. We do not specifically target Golden-cheeked Warbler, but occasionally encounter them on this route. In addition to the targets mentioned below, we also often see spring migrants including Raptors, Flycatchers and various smaller birds.
Targets: Wild Turkey, Cave Swallow, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Summer Tananger, Painted Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, Bell's Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo (migrant, but singing), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow and occasionally Vermillion Flycatcher, Canyon Towhee and Black-throated Sparrow.
Guide(s): Shelia Hargis & Cheryl McGrath
Shelia Hargis was first introduced to the amazing world of birds during the summer of 1996 when she took an Introduction to Birds class taught by Fred and Marie Webster. She encountered her first male Painted Bunting, and her world transformed! She quickly slid down the slippery slope into obsession and has happily remained there for over 25 years. She spends most of her free time birding or thinking about birds. (She spends some of her work time thinking about birds too, but please don’t tell her boss!)
Within the last few years, she has become very interested in watching bird behavior to better understand how birds live their lives, and she completed the Cornell Lab’s Ornithology: Comprehensive Bird Biology online course with some of her birding buddies. Shelia gives presentations on a variety of bird topics, teaches the Introduction to Bird Behavior and eBird classes for Travis Audubon, surveys birds for the City of Austin and the North American Breeding Bird Survey, participates in numerous Christmas Bird Counts each year, and regularly leads birding field trips. She is Past President of both Travis Audubon and Texas Ornithological Society and is still very active in both of those organizations. She is also a proud graduate of the Capital Area Master Naturalist Class of 2022. Yes, Shelia is totally obsessed with birds!
Cheryl McGrath has lived in Austin since 1982, and has been actively birding Central Texas for the past ten years. Growing up in Central New York, her mother was an avid birder, who in 1975 spotted a Snowy Owl hanging out in nearby fields. It was a good bird to launch a life list, and a life-long fascination with birds great and small!
Transportation:
Tour attendees will be transported via 15-passenger van. This tour will include birding from the van, as well as some walking, including areas of uneven, rocky roads and trails.
