Greetings All:
When yesterday evening started I had ascertained that three of the five
Breeding Bird Surveys I have to to this month were available (the two in
Floyd County still have dirt roads that are, at worst, under water and, at
best, still undrivable - a week or so of dry-down should do it). By the
time I went to bed I had lost both routes in Yoakum County to heavy rain:
they, at this point, will require a minimum of 3-4 days to dry down for the
dirt roads to become usable. The last route, located near Post, Garza
County, was - literally - still up in the air and, with no mesonet sites
located near the actual dirt road portion of the route, there is no telling
without going.
So I went.
As I drove south from Lubbock, I could see plentiful lightning ahead. By
the time I was within ten miles of the starting point, I was getting a
sinking feeling (to match the floating feeling of the tens of thousands of
amphibians in the roadside ditches and, in some places, in the shallow
sheets of water covering the highway). I could not get to my first point
(the dirt road was under water); I could not get to my backup, parallel
route (the paved road was under water); I had to give up. Great news for
the amphibians; bad news for this sad, got up at 4:00 in the AM BBS
compiler.
So as not to waste the whole getting up early thing, I headed on up to
Hockley County. Hockley County nicely illustrated the way that rain can be
distributed in my region and just how tricky BBSs are to do in the region.
If there was a BBS anywhere in the northeast quarter of the county, it
could have been run this morning. If there was a BBS anywhere in the
southwestern three quarters of the county ... and I had attempted to run it
... I would still be out there, sunk to the floorboards in the suck-mud
that underlies most of our county roads. I wisely restricted my casual,
birding efforts to pavement this morning.
The nocturnal amphibian list really does bear mentioning. On the drive
down, through dark of night and areas that had just been soaked: Barred
Tiger Salamanders, Great Plains Toads, Texas Toads, Woodhouse's Toads,
Plains Spadefoots, and Plains Leopard Frogs were numerous. By the time the
sun was up and I was in the less rain-soaked areas I was down to a few
wandering Great Plains Toads.
There were two birding highlights before I got to Hockley County; 1 Common
Poorwill on the roadside (atop the Caprock Escarpment) well west of Post
(Garza County) and 2 Black-necked Stilts just west of Tahoka (Lynn
County). Common Poorwills are generally not seen in the farm country atop
the escarpment but heavy rains seem to move them about a bit - and the
nearest canyon country is just a few miles away.
Hockley County did pretty well, given that June, when we are pretty much
down to regional breeders, is the region's slowest month: 16 Blue-winged
Teals just north of Roundup, 4 Blue-winged Teals south of Roundup, 2
Blue-winged Teals south of Smyer, 4 Northern Shovelers just north of
Roundup, 2 Northern Pintails just north of Roundup, 2 Scaled Quails south
of Roundup, 2 White-faced Ibises just south of Anton, 8 Black-necked Stilts
just north of Roundup, 4 American Avocets south of Smyer. The Alamo Road
Playa, the Bison Road Playa, and the Smyer Playa were all inaccessible as
they were located down dirt roads that were undrivable.
After a few hours of trying to get to good spots and failing, I went home
and took a nap.
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
