[leasbirds] Good birding in Motley County yesterday

From: Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, leasbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2014 10:19:40 -0600
Greetings All:

Yesterday, Phillip Kite and I birded in Motley County from 8:00 AM to 6:00
PM.  Though I located none of the target species I was hoping to add to my
regional year list, we did have generally good birding and ended up with 74
species in the county by the end of the day.

We started with the drive along Highway 70 from the Dickens/Motley County
line.  Highlights along this leg of the journey included Ferruginous Hawk
(not easy to find this far east in our region), 2 Common Ravens, 1 House
Wren, 1 Winter Wren, 1 Carolina Wren, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and 3
Harris's Sparrows.

Matador (the cemetery, sewage ponds, and town) was unusually slow, with
only one species of duck on the ponds, and the closest thing to a highlight
was the 10 Pine Siskins located at East Mound Cemetery.

We then spent a good chunk of time working the Ballard Creek Ponds and
Ballard Creek with 2 Cackling Geese, 82 Canada Geese (geese are hard to
come by in this county), eight species of dabbling/diving ducks, 1
dark-phase Ferruginous Hawk, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 House Wren, and 1 Harris's
Sparrow.

The drive along Highway 94, from Ballard Creek to Northfield produced more
rather slow birding but we did spot 1 Eastern Phoebe and 2 House Wrens.  We
also located a freshly road-killed Great Plains Rat Snake - easily the
latest in the year I have seen this species out and about!

Northfield was our first hint that some good birding is arriving from the
north and lingering from the breeding season.  Sparrows were all over the
place and, though highlights were few, we did kick out 1 House Wren, 3 Lark
Sparrows (very rare in the region in December), and 2 Pine Siskins.

The FM 565 crossing of the North Fork of the Pease River was where things
really got entertaining, particularly in the stretch of brushland/woodland
running for about a mile east of the crossing.  Highlights included a
lingering Red-headed Woodpecker, 1 Eastern Phoebe, 1 Winter Wren, 31 Field
Sparrows (it's not the species but the high number that is noteworthy
here), 6 Fox Sparrows, 1 Swamp Sparrow, 10 White-throated Sparrows, and 5
Harris's Sparrows.

We went off notes for a while as we boogied back to Matador and grabbed
some lunch at the local diner.

The cruise up to Whiteflat and over to Whiteflat Lake was uneventful - no
highlights.

Whiteflat Lake - way off in the distance - kicked out Buffleheads, Hooded
Mergansers, and Ruddy Ducks (three species of duck we had not yet tallied)
and one genuine highlight in the form of a Double-crested Cormorant (only
my second ever in this county).

CR 214, running from Highway 70 east to its terminus at a lockable gate,
didn't kick out any highlights but it was a great place to observe our
local trio of woodpeckers: five miles kicked out 8 Golden-fronted
Woodpeckers, 5 Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, and 11 Northern Flickers.

The Highway 70 crossing of the Quitaque Creek Branch of the North Fork of
the Pease River provided the startling experience of watching 2 Merlins (a
highlight in itself) harassing 2 American Kestrels: the Merlins repeatedly
flying from the bridge railing or nearby cottonwoods to displace the
kestrels from the kestrels' cottonwood perches.

Our last highlight of the day was another falcon; a Prairie Falcon haunting
the fields just east of Flomot.

Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
[leasbirds] Good birding in Motley County yesterday

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