Bird count along the Bosque River Trail July 17, 2026 Tanagers, Ducks and Fish

Weather - overcast, a line of thunderstorms to the west, light wind, temp ~70 degrees at 7:00 am.

What a neat day ! There weren’t a super lot of types of birds, but there were many interesting birds doing interesting things.

Summer Tanagers - I saw three Summer Tanagers today, two males and a female. Near the Stephenville museum I saw a flash of red streak through the sky and land high up in a tree. I could just make out a male Summer Tanager. As I watched I noticed that there seemed to be two birds. Just then a person I knew came down the trail, and I pointed out the bird to him. We talked for a bit and the birds moved through the branches of the tree. When the person left the two birds flew down and landed in a tree at eye level about ten feet from me. I saw that birds were a male and a female Summer Tanager. The male was bright red. The female Tanager was not as colorful and was a gray-green color with brown stripes on her chest. Just then another trail friend came walking down the trail. She stopped and we chatted a bit. Then the male Tanager raced out of the tree and flew around my friend and past my shoulder. I was amazed how fast the bird was, and how tightly it circled. I don’t know where the female went. This is the third time I’ve seen a female Summer Tanager, but its the first time I got a good look at one.

I saw the second male Summer Tanager about a mile away sitting in the top of the hayfield tree. I’m pretty sure this is the same one I’ve seen episodically in the hayfield tree over the past two weeks. This Tanager was singing up a storm. He was probably looking for a mate, like his luckier Tanager brother at the museum.

Great Egret - I saw a Great Egret flying slowly across the sky next to the wild flower garden.

Black Belly Whistling Ducks - Some birds fly around a lot, and it’s unclear if you are seeing repeat birds. One of these types of birds is the Black Belly Whistling Duck (BBWD). I’ve seen them all along the BRT commonly in ones, twos (most common) or threes. Often you see more than one group per day. So its unclear if you are seeing the same bird or birds over again. The most BBWD I have seen in a day is seven. But I always questioned how many of the ducks are actually in the area. A few days ago, I saw six sitting together on a branch of a tree. But today I saw eight flying together in a loose formation of a group of four, a group of three, and a single duck. So, I guess there are at least eight BBWDs in the area.

Scissortail Flycatchers - I have the same trouble with Scissortail Flycatchers. How many are there really ? I’ve seen up to eight together, but usually you see 4 or 6 in smaller groups. Today I saw a flock of ten plus between the baseball fields and the swimming complex. I didn’t see them Initially. I only saw them when the flock flew in front of me and disappeared behind a large tree. I managed to count ten of them, but I’m sure I missed a few of the early ones.

Barn Swallows - for the first day in a long time I saw no Barn Swallows. So we’ve gone from 50 to 60 per day about a month ago, to zero today. The decrease occurred gradually.

Fish - Today I saw about 15 fish. Usually you don’t see any. For some reason there were a lot of fish at the surface of the water in one stretch of the river. Maybe something like a large snapping turtle chased them up there. The first fish I saw was about three feet long. I think it was a Gar, but I’m not a fish expert. I took two good pictures of the fish. Just a bit downriver was a school of smaller fish about six inches long. Finally I saw a larger fish further down into the water. It seemed to be about two feet long, but I couldn’t see it clearly.

Turtles - I saw seven turtles today, but they were all standard Red Stripe Turtles. I didn’t see any Soft Shelled Turtles, like I saw the previous two days.

Types of birds - 21 Number of birds - 114

Number‍ ‍Type

~25 Grackles

13 Scissortail Flycatchers

13 Cardinals

9 Mourning Doves

8 Black Belly Whistling Ducks - flying - one flock

7 Western Kingbirds

7 Mississippi Kites

5 House Sparrows

4 Robins

4 Mockingbirds

3 White Winged Doves

3 Summer Tanagers - two males, one female

3 Eastern Phoebes

2 Ducks - type unknown - flying

1 Starling

1 Turkey Vulture

1 Great Egret - flying

1 Hummingbird - type unknown

1 Red Shouldered Hawk

1 Cooper’s Hawk

1 Red Bellied Woodpecker

1 Bluebird

‍ ‍