Greetings All:
With a couple of lessons learned from my efforts along the Canyon Lakes of
Lubbock this past year, I have decided to chase and photograph critters in
Hockley County (the county just west of Lubbock County) this year. Again,
I am setting ambitious goals: 50 species of butterfly, 5 species of
amphibian, 10 species of reptile, 200 species of bird, and 10 species of
mammal with 90% of the species identifiably photographed.
Hockley County is roughly 100% agriculture or oilfield but there are some
very interesting hotspots, generally near the few towns and one city in the
county. Sundown has a park/golf course/water treatment facility complex
and an incredibly well-planted school/cemetery complex - both warrant eBird
hotspot status, in my opinion. Smyer has a well publicized feedlot playa
just west of town. Levelland has a tree-rich city park, a tree-rich
college campus with decent butterfly gardens, and at least two good
playa-centered parks. Road birding can also be surprisingly good in the
county with abandoned homesteads, woodlots, and a plethora of playas
readily viewed and photographed from roadside. There is a particularly
good stretch of brushland and woodlots available along FM 597 in the
northwest corner of the county - with any luck and any weather this should
be a real hotspot.
November was much better than expected, especially given that I only had
time and opportunity for two good visits, and I even got one last bite at
the apple on photographing a migrant, finally picking off Blue-headed
Vireo.
I got in two lengthy visits to the county - and racked up 17 species of
butterfly, 2 species of amphibian, 0 species of reptile, 99 species of
bird, and 5 species of mammal, bringing me up to 56 species of butterfly,
10 species of amphibian, 15 species of reptile, 206 species of bird, and 15
species of mammal in the county for 2016. This brings me 112%, 200%, 150%,
103%, and 150% of the way towards my goals with regards to taxa. Of the
302 species seen so far, I have identifiable photographs of 283, boosting
me up to 94% for species photographed - closer than I ever got to the 90%
goal during my 2015 game.
For funsies: a list of the nineteen species I have missed photographing so
far - explanations of why - chances of getting it in December: Giant
Swallowtail - vanished onto private property - 0%; Little Yellow - seen
only once and I moved too slowly - 0%; Mourning Cloak - very poor flights
this year - 20%; Spotted Chorus Frog - private property - 20%; Lesser
Prairie Chicken - private property and too slow - 0%; Common Poorwill -
difficult to photograph nocturnals - 0%; Cordilleran Flycatcher - VOPP -
0%; Carolina Wren - VOPP - 0%; Ovenbird - too slow and VOPP - 0%,
Black-and-white Warbler - VOPP - 5%; MacGillivray's Warbler - seen only
twice and VOPP - 0%; Common Yellowthroat - too slow - 25%; Townsend's
Warbler - VOPP - 0%; Spotted Towhee - too slow - 80%; Black-headed Grosbeak
- VOPP - 0%; Lazuli Bunting - VOPP - 0%; Hispid Cotton Rat - too slow - 50%.
By the by, too slow means that I was too sluggish to get the photograph:)
and VOPP is an acronym for Vanished Onto *@@#*$* Private Property with the
naughty words removed.
Without further ado, the list with *s for species that are new for the year
and (y)s for species photographed.
Common Checkered Skipper
Checkered White
Orange Sulphur
Southern Dogface
Sleepy Orange
Dainty Sulphur
Gray Hairstreak
Western Pygmy Blue
American Snout
Monarch
Variegated Fritillary
Phaon Crescent
Pearl Crescent
Common Buckeye
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Goatweed Leafwing
Barred Tiger Salamander
Great Plains Toad
Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teall
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Scaled Quail
Northern Bobwhite
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunnerl
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
American Avocet
Killdeer
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper'
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Great Blue Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl
Burrowing Owl
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Prairie Falcon
Hammond's Flycatcher
Say's Phoebe
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo(y)
Blue Jay
Chihuahuan Raven
Horned Lark
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren*(y)
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Sage Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing*(y)
House Sparrow
American Pipit
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Fox Sparrow*(y)
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Desert Cottontail
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Coyote
Gray Fox
Striped Skunk
Mule Deer
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
