Birds of Willow Waterhole Greenspace 
by Joy Hester
President-elect, Houston Audubon Society

I had the pleasure recently of accompanying Becky Edmundson as she led a group of 20 participants on a WOW (Working on Westbury) field trip at the new Willow Waterhole Greenspace. The 280-acre park is still a work in progress, but large grass-lined ponds there are already being visited by an amazing variety of birds. On our two-hour walk, we enjoyed a dozen or so species on a bright and windy day. As we began our walk around the ponds, we passed a group of White Ibis, Snowy Egrets, and a majestic Great Egret feeding peacefully in the shallow water near the shore, and a pair of Pied-bill Grebes glided over the deeper water further out. American Coots scooted across the water as we passed, and Laughing Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls lifted off to circle above us until we were a safe distance away. The familiar chips of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Cardinals followed us near the wooded area on the western side of the lake, and we spotted a Great Blue Heron as it set down to feed across the water from us. When a Red-tailed Hawk flew over as we crossed the footbridge, a swirl of white shapes rose into the sky across the water from us as the gulls, ibis, and egrets made dramatic escape. By the time we finished our walk, though, most had re-congregated and were feeding convivially again in the same spot. As we left the park, an Eastern Phoebe watched us calmly from its perch on a bare shrub near the path, flicking its tail as the branch it perched on bobbed in the wind. It was a wonderful winter birding day in Westbury.

Note: Although we didn’t see any that day, Becky Edumondson has seen Roseate Spoonbills in the ponds at Willow Waterhole Greenspace, so watch for those quite large, rather prehistoric-looking, and very pink birds next time you’re in the Park. We hope they’ll become regulars there.

Locality: 77035, Houston, Harris County, TX Observation
Date: FEB 18, 2007
Start Time: 9:00 AM Total Birding Time: 3 hours Party Size: 1
Skill: excellent
Weather: excellent
Habitat(s): deciduous woods, grassland, suburban freshwater
Number of Species: 39
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Lesser Scaup - 3
Red-breasted Merganser - 4
Snowy Egret - 2
Turkey Vulture - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Common Moorhen - 1
Killdeer - 15
Greater Yellowlegs - 12
Willet - 2
Western Sandpiper - 20
Ring-billed Gull - 125
Rock Pigeon - 15
White-winged Dove - 6
Mourning Dove - 5
Inca Dove - 3
Rufous Hummingbird - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Loggerhead Shrike - 1
Blue Jay - 15
American Crow - 2
Purple Martin - 6
Carolina Chickadee - 5
Carolina Wren - 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1
American Robin - 45
Northern Mockingbird - 8
European Starling - 5
American Pipit - 40
Sprague's Pipit - 2
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 9
Pine Warbler - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
Great-tailed Grackle - 2
Brown-headed Cowbird - 2
American Goldfinch - 20
House Sparrow - 15