BIRDING AROUND THE LAKE

We have so many interesting, not to mention entertaining, birds around our lake. Sometimes it is hard to fish because I am more entertained by the birds! Here are just a few that we see almost daily...

Little Blue Heron
These birds are often seen on the banks of the lake fishing along side us for the bait fish that the big fish are pushing into the shallows. They are a great indicator of what banks to fish! They don't care for your company when they are fishing and will often squawk and fuss if you venture close enough to make them move. In the spring they are in the tree tops (which seems to weird because they are so long legged) nesting in groups of 3 or four to raise their young.

Click here to here the Little Blue Heron calling

Great Blue Heron

I love this guy, he lived right by Llano County Park for a very long time and would stalk the shores for bugs and rodents, much too close to the road! I have stopped on the side of the road several times to get his photograph and each time he seemed to enjoy it. The herons have a great life in the summer, fishing along the lake. During the winter months they move up into the neighborhoods along the lake and change their diet to mostly rodents. I have seen them patiently hover over a gopher hole for hours, as still as a statue, until they finally pluck that poor unsuspecting creature from his hole. Gross!

Click here to hear the Great Heron audio

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The Crested Caracara 
At first glance you will think you see an eagle among the vultures eating off the side of the road but at closer look it is the Crested Caracara. If you closed your eyes you would think it was a pig by the sounds you are hearing!
Click here to listen to their sound

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The American White Pelican
The White American Pelican has strong legs and webbed feet which makes them great swimmers! They have a distinct beak shape that allows them to scoop fish and drain water. These Pelicans have strong wings for horizontal gliding which enables them to make daily foraging trips of up to 100 miles! (Now that's a long trip to the grocery store.)
Click Here to here their call

Black Vulture

I call these pictures "the town council". It looked like a town meeting with the "council" on the fence and the meeting down below.

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Red Tailed Hawk 
Did you know the red tailed hawk has the very cool eeeee-arr call and not the eagle?  In the movies the eagle cry is usually dubbed over with the call of a red tailed hawk for a more dramatic effect. The Bald Eagle has more of a clucking noise not worthy of a majestic national icon.
Click here to hear their call

Great Horned Owl
This beautiful momma and her two babies were spotted by photographer, Jim Baines at Reveille Peak Ranch. They are very common on Lake Buchanan.
Click here to hear their call

American Bald Eagle
The Eagles migrate here in the fall and usually have 2-3 eggs in the nest by Thanksgiving which hatch around the first of the year. In just eleven weeks, the eaglets will be grown and they will all leave around the end of March for cooler weather up north.
Click here to hear their call
Click here for more eagle pictures by Jim Baines

Osprey 
Very often, we see ospreys fishing very close to our boat. They dive into the water with an explosive force and come up with a bass or carp as if to show us how we should be fishing! It is entertaining to see them enjoying their meal and surprising how they can eat an entire carp, throwing away only very few of the pieces!

Click here to hear their call