78210

A strange title for a blog, but like 90210 this is also a zip code, in this case it is for San Antonio, Texas.

I received a large envelope in the mail this past Saturday from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, opening it up, I found a good number of bird reports enclosed.

The letter asked that since I had volunteered to be an ambassador for the Great Backyard Bird Count in years past, would I help out with entering data from the mail in reports that they had received.

Aggh! This compressed stack was an inch or so high and not the kind of stuff I normally like to do.

Slowly thumbing through the reports I noted something about the hand writing, these reports were from mostly elementary school students. Perhaps their only method of getting these reports entered was by The United States Postal Service?

I quickly became intrigued by this request and stated sorting out the reports, generic names such as Dove were to be discarded since there are a number of Dove species in the area, I would have no idea which species of Dove they were reporting.

It was quite pleasing, sitting at my computer in Connecticut, looking over the bird report listings for San Antonio, Texas.

Not being a big traveler, and never having been to Texas, a number of these birds were only a drawing in a guide book to me. They were species that I would not expect to see in my home state, this led me to research many of these species, simple just to learn more about them.

So thanks to various reports from youngsters, some of their names being, Miguel, Aaron, Irma, Corey, Ileana, Sabrina, Amber, Joe, Alexandria, Kayla, Oscar and many others, thank you for enlightening me to a part of the world of Texas Birding.

Here is a sampling of Texas birds they reported, all would be considered a rarity in Connecticut.

Inca dove, Common Ground Dove, Great-tailed Grackle, Loggerhead Shrike, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Harris hawk, Black-crested Titmouse, Brewers Blackbird, Olive Sparrow, Rufous Hummingbird, Blacked-chinned Hummingbird, Sedge Wren, Verdin, Rock Wren, Harris Sparrow, Bushtit and the list goes on.

I hope these young birders find a lifetime full of the enjoyment of nature, as I have.

They are the future, the birds are in good hands.