This date is tentative. Please check the website a few days before.
During the first half of August each year, Swallow-tailed Kites congregate in the Trinity River bottomlands between Liberty and Dayton for two or three weeks before they migrate south for the winter.
We will meet at 8:00 AM at the McDonalds at 1923 Highway 90 in Liberty. This is on the north side of the Highway at the intersection with Travis Street, one block west of Main St. Carpooling is highly desirable on this trip. The trip will probably not last much beyond noon.
We will check the area along Highway 90 between Liberty and Dayton, perhaps several times, and also the Liberty Municipal Park area. The relatively new Knobby Knees trail and boardwalk of the Trinity River NWR can be easily accessed from the Park. The part of the trip looking for kites does not necessitate extensive walking, but the trail does. We will check that area for early migrants and a few other songbirds that may well nest in that area. In addition to the Swallow-tailed Kites, there will be Mississippi Kites flying low in the residential areas of Liberty north of US 90.
Brent was the TPWD "nongame/endangered species biologist" for South Texas for 17 years where he was extensively involved with Bald Eagle, Attwater's Greater Prairie-Chicken, Piping Plover, Ocelot, Whooping Crane, colonial waterbirds, breeding bird surveys and Christmas Bird Counts. During his 8 years as manager of the Mad Island and Guadalupe Delta Wildlife Management Areas he developed the nationally famous Matagorda County and Guadalupe River Delta Christmas Bird Counts. He started his career with TPWD in 1982 and worked extensively with Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the National Forests in Texas from his Jasper Office.
Brent is a Past President Texas Ornithological Society and a Past President Texas Organization for Endangered Species. He serves as the coordinator for Christmas Bird Counts in Texas, and the Breeding Bird Surveys in Texas.