Birding the Balcones Canyonlands/Water Quality Preserves-Part 1

Partnering with Travis Audubon, the City of Austin Wildlands Division offers a series of Friday morning birding hikes on Balcones Canyonlands Preserves and Water Quality Protection Lands. After the September walk at Common's Ford (BCP), the hikes will be held on properties not usually accessible to the public.

Each trip will be led by Jim O'Donnell, wildlife biologist with the COA BCP, and Black-capped Vireo expert. Additional support will be provided by Mark Wilson, COA Wildlands volunteer and Travis Audubon member. Hikes will be held on one Friday of each month, in the morning, currently scheduled through February, 2016. Hikes are free, limited to 15 participants, and do require registration. You will be sent specific location informant, maps, etc, the week before the hike.

This will be a chance to improve your birding knowledge and see the birds change through the seasons. With practice, you will not only be able to rapidly identify more species of birds, but also build a greater sense of awareness of the natural world. While long considered a birder’s paradise, central Texas has something for both the novice naturalist and the expert. Its unique history has marked its landscape in interesting ways. Hikes will variously pass through the rich shrublands and canyons of the Balcones Preserves, or the grassy hillsides and oak mottes of the Water Quality lands. Guides will discuss the history of these preserves and how it is expressed in today’s natural communities.

Most of these properties are rarely hiked, and trails may be rough to non-existent. The morning may include "bushwacking" through fields of native grasses and oak and juniper thickets. Please come properly dressed with good footwear and plenty of water! Ages 12 and up.