Sun City Texas Is A Bird Watcher's Paradise

By Ernesto Berturand


Millions of Americans have embraced the hobby of watching birds according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Most people choose to observe birds around their homes but many travel away from home to bird watch. There are many publicly accessible birding locations within a short drive of Sun City Texas, located in Georgetown. Texas boasts the highest number of species of all the states at 636 and Williamson County has over 400 species of birds. Many water birds such as great blue herons, varieties of egrets, wood ducks, and teals are attracted to the water retention ponds built around town to drain rainfall from parking lots.

The numerous water features, streams and wetland areas found in Sun City Texas provide an outstanding ecosystem for indigenous as well as migratory birds. There are many chances to relax and watch birds while in the community. Belonging to the Sun City Nature Club, the Birding Special Interest Group supports the enjoyment of wild birds, especially those native to the Hill Country. Many kinds of research resources are available in their library for club members to borrow which includes books, digital video disks, cassette tapes.

Men and women of the club get together for bird walks, field trips and monitor homes for birds in native habitats. Birds are extremely plentiful in Sun City Texas. You can regularly observe the flocks of wild turkeys that graze on the wild grasses that grow in the roughs of the golf courses. The bridge that crosses Berry Pond on Del Webb Boulevard houses a huge colony of cave swallows that build their mud nests among the concrete spans under the bridge.

Roosting communally in groups along the banks of Berry Creek, is a large population of turkey vultures that glide over the bridge just in front of White Wing Golf Course. The turkey vultures are the largest scavenger birds in the United States. Turkey vultures prefer open areas which provide nearby woods for nesting. This area preferred by the turkey vultures has many dead, leafless trees that were victims of several years of drought and overlooks the creek bed, an open field and further on, the golf course. Squirrels, rodents, snakes and rabbits that fall victim to road traffic in Sun City Texas, become a meal for turkey vultures.

Sun City Texas really is a bird watcher's heaven due to the plentiful wooded areas, water supply and food choices accessible to birds. For individuals that love to monitor the growth and progress of newly hatched birds, there are lots of residents who welcome nest construction by simply setting up bird houses, offering bird seeds, and blooming plant life to beckon them. Furthermore there's a wide range of hawk species attracted to the fields of natural vegetation, hummingbirds attracted to feeders in addition to vibrant flowers, and owls that track small vertebrates in the evening.

Fortuitous Sun City Texas residents have observed the many large road runners that are indigenous to our area. Their habitat is dry and shrubby countryside and the large birds build a nest on a foundation of twigs low in a cactus or a shrub. They may be up to two feet in total length, about 50 % of which is tail. These are especially helpful wild birds which prey on reptiles including snakes, small to medium sized mice, spiders, scorpions and road kills. Several roadrunners may sometimes fight a rather large snake cooperatively.

Sun City Texas Birding Club bird walks are held twice monthly for members to get out and share their love of birds.




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