Observation after the freeze.

Seems we lost a large part of our bird population, seen no Hawks, no Quail, or Dove, possible lost our Road Runners. Deer, Javalina and Aoudad seemed to have made it through the freeze.On a day like today where the sun is shining and warming things up I'll see 20-30 Roadrunners, haven't seen a one.

Seeing hawks and buzzards and the normal types of song birds around.

But, there is also a bunch of dead birds on the ground. I know for a fact the coyotes did fine. Saw three and got one on Friday. And I have heard the packs sing at sundown. The three resident whitetail does, I've seen twice in the last three days, so they're fine.

Be great if every last hog died.

I’ve seen quail burry down in the snow like pheasants do. If it got the hawks. Quail population will rebound very quickly

Ive founds several dead birds, but also seeing lots of others flying around.

Had a dozen buzzards fighting in the back yard over the opossum I shot Friday afternoon.

Saw a nice hawk today swooping low. I doubt the hawks got hit hard. Maybe some animals died off, but I think as a whole Gods creation does dang well dealing with the rest of Gods creation....I think He created it that way with a purpose

I saw more hawks (alive) this past weekend while out hunting, than I've seen in a long time. Saw a lot of other smaller birds that faired well, but did find a few that didn't make the freeze.

Biggest observation was the deer were really hammering the protein feed locations. We had just gotten it out a couple weeks before this storm hit and the timing was very fortunate for us.

Ive seen the hawks in my area out and about the last few days.

I’ve seen lots of hawks and owls also. I’m pretty sure with all the small birds so vulnerable that they did fine. Have found several small birds dead. The birders say many just couldn’t get enough fuel to keep them warm during the brutally cold nights. I had a killdeer staying at our swimming pool. I put seeds out every day for him but he didn’t touch them (lots of other birds did). Found him dead Friday morning. Nearly every bird I’ve found dead has been an insect eater (primarily) vs. a seed/berry eater.

I found one dead bluebird on the south wall of my house yesterday. Only dead bird I have found but saw a few piles of feathers around feeders, water or food plots yesterday also. I kept feed out for the birds at the house and also had 5 corn feeders running along with 4 protein feeders. I had doves, sparrows, green jays, cardinals, titmouse and even woodpeckers on the grain at my house. I had about 6 or 7 acres of oats that was green and doing well till the low temps/ice hit. It looks rough now but was full of deer tracks on Friday and I saw 8 bucks, 7does and 1 fawn in one of my 3 food plots on Saturday evening.

I seen several dead birds

Haven’t been the OK place to look around yet

A lot of the live oaks appear to be browning as well.

I've seen live oaks die from extreme cold before. I think around '83 in central Texas.

I was hoping that the cold would have killed the dang black headed buzzards that are not native to this country but they seemed to have survived as they are eating on all the road kills and casualties of the snow and ice.
Adios,
Gary

Black-headed vultures ARE actually native to the American southeast and their range includes Texas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_vulture

Or am I missing something?

Haven't seen anything in these threads about a massive racoon or skunk die off. That would be even better for the quail. Not to mention feeder repair bills.

They may have been native to the Southeast but I sure don't remember them as a kid. I do remember when we first ones started showing up in southern Medina County. I guess I was in high school or early college. May have been about the time we began seeing the white egrets and Mexican eagles. Now all of these birds have made it as far north and west as Menard County. I have not seen the green jays that are so numerous in Frio County make it this far north...yet.
Adios,
Gary

Looks like the Spanish Daggers took a big hit and a whole lot of the prickly pear was killed down to the ground.

I did see my first Turkey Vulture today!

I’m finding dead frogs everywhere today. Not sure if they decided to come out because it was warm and it was too warm but something weird is happening with them.

The ones on the ranch are turning yellow and brown.

We have a lot of Mexican Free-tailed bats that live in the seams of the concrete bridges in our area. A lot of them didn't make it through the severe cold.

Robins everywhere but not much else, few sparrows, the usual resident hawks. I got a bunch of good pictures of hogs and deer during the freeze on game cameras.

I've had 18 coons and 4 skunks die in the last month! Little dog food some marshmellows and some dog proof traps will help immensely.

We needed a thinning, nature is nature

I am seeing the same thing. I have a fairly large Live Oak in my front yard that has started turning brown. Hope it comes out in the next month or so.