Spring Bird Count at Harrison-Long Point

2024 marked our 5th Annual Spring Bird Count out at Harrison-Long Point in Fort Bend County. Our team of volunteers could not have asked for better weather for birding. The team of 12 kicked off the count exploring the various Bald Cypress pond habitats before wrapping up at the Rookery, where various waterbirds have started nesting including Roseate Spoonbill, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, and Anhinga.

During the 4.5 hour count our team covered approximately 5.83 miles of ground and documented 62 species of birds, the highest spring count to date. 5 new species were added to the spring bird count list including Blue-headed Vireo, Cooper’s Hawk, Ring-necked Duck, Sora, and White-winged Dove.

Notable observations: The Yellow-crowned Night-herons started nesting early with several juveniles observed out and about in some of our bald cypress pond habitats. After the conclusion of our bird count as we said farewells, our Great Kiskadees came out and we were able to track them to their new nest! It has been 2 seasons since we have known their nesting whereabouts, after their Rookery nest fell from natural causes.

Great Kiskadee nest.

Adult Yellow-crowned Night-heron.
Photo by: Lawrence Jefferson

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-heron.

December Bird Survey

A small group of local area birders visited the Harrison-Burr Property on Saturday, December 2nd to take inventory of birds, specifically waterfowl, for wildlife reporting. This first waterfowl season survey took place last December 2022 and for the second year, the survey originally planned for November was rescheduled due to inclement weather. The weather on the new date did not disappointment. Cool enough for a vest, overcast but no fog. Due to the extreme drought this past summer, the wetlands were dry so attention was turned to the lakes. The fall colors among the foliage created a beautiful backdrop. The hike began at 7:00am and as the group embarked on their route, it wasn’t long before the group spotted a Limpkin; the first for the property. The group detoured off the original route to get a better look and capture photos. In total, 8 Limpkins were documented on the first lake. While observing the Limpkins a Bufflehead was also recorded, another first for the property. Continuing on the welcome detour, the group then turned focus to the second lake where various species of waterfowl were dabbling and feeding. Species documented included American Wigeon, Gadwall, Pintail, Mottled Duck, Blue-wing Teal, Green-wing Teal, Wood Duck, and American Coot. A big round of applause for our birding team who covered just under 3 miles, over the duration of almost 5 hours, recording 57 species. 12 new count species were documented this year, building on the 2022 base year count. New species for this count included: American Wigeon, Barred Owl, Bufflehead, Carolina Chickadee, Great Horned Owl, Least Sandpiper, Limpkin, Mottled Duck, Roseate Spoonbill, White-faced Ibis, White-winged Dove, Yellow-belled Sapsucker.

Limpkin.

Limpkin.

Fall Bird Survey

A team of 11 local area birders and Texas Master Naturalists spent the morning, September 16th, on the land at Harrison-Long Point for its annual Fall Bird Survey.

• 50 species total documented

• 11 new species recorded on this count, since first Fall Count in 2020.

  • Barn Swallow

  • Cliff Swallow

  • Dickcissel

  • European Starling

  • Least Bittern

  • Least Flycatcher

  • Northern Waterthrush

  • Pied-billed Grebe

  • White-eyed Viero

  • Yellow-crowned Night-heron

  • Yellow Warbler

• 2.68 miles of ground covered

• Approximately 2.5 hours

• Other notable observations:

  • 20 Tri-colored Herons

  • Wood Storks

  • Blue Grosbeak

Harrison-Long Point Spring Bird Count

This spring marked the 4th year of our annual Spring Bird Count on the land of Harrison-Long Point. Taking place on Saturday, April 15th, our team of birders spent the morning glassing various habitat from the Rookery, creeks, ponds, grassland, and wooded canopy, covering just over 4.5 miles of ground. During the 4 hour count, 50 total species of birds were documented to include 5 new species added to our spring checklist. A new species is a species that has not yet been observed during a specific count at a set time. This does not necessarily mean that these new species have not been observed on the property previously. This year’s new species included Boat-tailed Grackle, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher, and Neotropic Cormorant.

Since starting in 2020, a total of 97 species have been observed over the course of our spring bird counts at Harrison-Long Point.

For the full list of all species observed, please visit our eBird checklist.

Green Heron.

Great Egret on nest with chicks.

Spring Merit Badge Workshops

The James B Harrison Foundation sponsored two merit badge workshops at Harrison-Long Point this Spring - Bird Study and Nature. These workshops were open to Scouts active in local area BSA Troops. Held separately, each workshop consisted of instructional topics, an interactive nature hike, and a project component. Instructional topics and nature hikes were led by local area expert volunteers from the Texas Master Naturalist Coastal Prairie Chapter.

The Bird Study Merit Badge Workshop took place on March 14th and welcomed 17 Scouts who learned about various species of birds, how to identify birds by sight and sound, the various parts of the bird, birding tools, bird habitat, and careers in birding. Scouts participated in 3 short bird hikes in various parts of the property, each targeting a different type of habitat - grasslands, ponds and wetlands, and woodlands. During these bird hikes, Scouts were required to identify 20 different species of birds with 5 being documented by sound! The workshop wrapped up with the construction of a bird viewing wall for the project portion of the merit badge.

The Nature Merit Badge Workshop took place on March 16th and welcomed 19 Scouts who learned about various topics of nature including birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, mammals, and plants. During two interpretive nature hikes, Scouts identified 3 mammals, 8 species of birds, 15 wild plants, and fish native to the area, searched for mammal tracks, and listened for reptiles and amphibians. Hands-on activities included making plaster casts of mammal tracks and creating a plant poster identifying and labeling 12 leaves of plants found in nature. For their project, Nature merit badge Scouts participated in planting native plants in the bird sanctuary, creating a pocket prairie.

2022 Harrison-Burr Wharton Peach Creek CBC Results

2022 Wharton Peach Creek Christmas Bird Count at Harrison-Burr

2022 marked the 3rd year for the Wharton Peach Creek CBC. Harrison-Burr has fielded a team since the inaugural count in 2020. This year an ambitious team consisting of 5 local area birders took on the task to cover just under 3.5 miles of various habitats including 3 lakes, several wetland units, open pasture, and woods. During their 5 hour hike, 1477 total observations were recorded. These observations resulted in 80 individual species being observed with 8 new species added to the Harrison-Burr Wharton Peach Creek checklists. New species are species that have not been previously documented on a particular count. The 8 new species included: American Woodcock (1), Barn Owl (1), Eurasian-collared Dove (1), Golden-crowned Kinglet (5), Hooded Merganser (1), Palm Warbler (1), Sora (1) , and Wood Stork (1). The Wood Stork also was an unusual occurrence at that time of the year.

For the full checklist visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S124312621

The 2023 Wharton Peach Creek CBC is tentatively slated for December 21st.

2022 Harrison-Long Point Brazos Bend CBC Results

Brazos Bend Christmas Bird Count at Harrison-Long Point

A team of 15 birders took to the land at Harrison-Long Point on Saturday, December 17th, for the annual Brazos Bend Christmas Bird Count. 2022 marked the 12th year the property has taken place in the count. During the course of the morning, the team covered approximately 10 miles of various habitats documenting 920 total observations. The observations consisted of 87 different species of birds. 4 of these 87 species were “new” species which are species that have not previously been recorded during this particular count and location. The new species for 2022 were Brown Creeper (1), Merlin (1), Northern Pintail (25), and Sprague’s Pipit (1).

For the full checklist visit: https://ebird.org/checklist/S124312621

The 2023 count is tentatively slated for Saturday, December 16th.

2022 Christmas Bird Counts

The Foundation is excited to welcome birders to both the Harrison-Long Point and Harrison-Burr Properties this December for the National Audubon’s Annual Christmas Bird Counts.

This year marks the Harrison-Long Point’s 11th year participating in the Brazos Bend CBC Circle. Over the course of its 10 years participating, the property has averaged 78 species on count day with its best effort occurring in 2020 when birders recorded 87 species. The Brazos Bend CBC takes place during the first Saturday of the National Audubon’s outlined count period.

The Harrison-Burr Property is part of the newly created Wharton Peach Creek CBC, established in 2020. During its first two years, the Harrison-Burr Property has averaged a strong 87 species checklist. The inaugural 2020 count currently holds the best effort with 91 species observed. The Wharton Peach Creek CBC holds the 21st day of December for its count.

For more information about all the local counts, birders can visit the Houston Audubon Society’s Texas Christmas Bird Count page.

December Bird Survey at Harrison-Burr Property

The Foundation welcomed a small group of local area birders to the Harrison-Burr Property on Saturday, December 3rd to perform a December bird survey. What started out as a foggy morning with very low visibility, turned into a beautiful day to be on the property. Covering 2.40 miles in just under 5 hours, our birders documented a solid checklist with 71 species recorded.

For the full checklist, visit eBird.

EBIRD CHECKLIST

Fall Merit Badge Workshop

The James B Harrison Foundation hosted a Fall Merit Badge Workshop on November 22, 2022, welcoming 20 Scouts to Harrison-Long Point. Scouts had the option of completing the Bird Study or Nature Merit Badge. The courses were taught concurrently with the assistance of members of the local Texas Master Naturalist Coastal Prairie Chapter. We’d like to thank our wonderful volunteers for their assistance and our two merit badge counselors Rick Adams (Bird Study) and Ron Grimes (Nature) for leading the courses. Each course had several requirements that Scouts must complete in order to earn their badge. The bird study badge focused on bird-related topics such as bird anatomy, how to identify birds, and various birding tools like field guides and binoculars. The Scouts then went to the field to identify 20 birds, including 5 by sound. Scouts participating in nature merit badge learned about several forms of nature including birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and plants. For the field portion of the badge, Scouts had to identify 8 birds, 3 mammals, 3 amphibians/reptiles, identify 3 fish and collect identify plants. For the project portion of the workshop, Scouts joined efforts to create bird nesting boxes and bird feeders.

Scouts participating in the birding field trip portion of the bird study merit badge workshop.