By Vicki Stittleburg, Houston Audubon Environmental Educator/Staff Naturalist
A break in a stormy weather pattern allowed Houston Audubon members to participate in the Member Field Trip on March 16. Environmental Educator/Staff Naturalist Vicki Stittleburg led the group to 2 parks in Southwest Houston.
Birding began at The Wetlands Park at Riverstone. The songs of Red-winged Blackbirds welcomed birders to the 9-acre site that is a haven for wildlife and also has interactive features that inspires nature play. There’s a designated area near the lake with distance markers that encourages skipping stones and all the attendees enjoyed taking turns tossing rocks. Scaly-breasted Munias have become established at The Wetlands and gave birders good views of a species native to southern Asia. The group spent almost 2 hours at the park and created a bird list of 40 species before driving to Sugar Land Memorial Park located about 5 miles away.
Sugar Land Memorial Park encompasses 150 acres along the Brazos River. Participants birded the 1.15 mile Lake Loop. While there weren’t many birds in the lake, birders got great views of a pair of Osprey soaring overhead. They also got to observe a Loggerhead Shrike on a power line and a pair of Killdeer at the edge of the lake. Birders were excited to see 2 Purple Martins recently returned from their wintering grounds.
The field trip concluded close to noon and the group had tallied a total of 29 species on their walk around the lake. Everyone enjoyed their birding explorations at parks in Southwest Houston.
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