Well it has been over a year and a half, but fate brings me once again to the best birding in the country, here in Texas. 1. 1272 south of Muleshoe 11/28. I chased the COMMON CRANE like so many others, and thanks to Justin Bosler (who advised an afternoon search), I ran into him and another birder along Rt 1272 south of the Muleshoe NWR yesterday at about 3, and they were already on the bird. He also detected (and several of us saw and heard) five CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS at the same site, flyovers. 2. South side of 50th Street, heading out of Lubbock. Before the turnoff for Buffalo Lake, there is a very productive edge along the south side of the road looking very slightly uphill southward at what appears to be an active energy plant, with large steaming tanks. Here near the active prairie-dog town early yesterday 11/28 I had 4 FERRUGINOUS (all light morph) and 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (light morph); a juv. PRAIRIE FALCON also flew through. Along the north side of the road at this stop, I had a CURVE-BILLED THRASHER that didn't entirely fit the expected oberholseri plumage, in that the upper breast spots were not distinct and in fact smudged altogether--below there were round spots, but they were not especially crisp. The photos (first three) posted to flickr don't show the wings or tail well, but in general there was little evidence of white in the tail (some on the underside) and no evident wingbars. These are not clear but here are the photos just the same: https://www.flickr.com/photos/14115261@N05/15909734042/in/photostream/ Comments on this bird are welcome. Very close here there is a dirt road heading north through more prairie-dog habitat (has a sign marking Panhandle Birding trail), I found one BURROWING OWL. 3. Early 11/28, at the Lubbock Cemetery, I had a RED CROSSBILL (heard-only) right at the entrance. It gave one good flight call, comprised of 3-4 notes in fly-away, research on line indicates to me that it was Type 6 (s. AZ and s. NM reportedly within its range), although a few of the Type 5 recordings on xeno canto (particularly the higher-pitched, more flat calls) come close. Later the same day, I had a fleeting view of two Carpodacus finches, one looked very good for a female CASSIN'S FINCH. It was in the northeastern part of the cemetery, close to exit for the Canyon Lake property. Both birds were very skittish and landed briefly in the treetops before moving north. Justin was with me but did not get a look, we waited for return but to no avail. The bird I was able to study fleetingly and from some distance had what appeared to be white underparts and a plump, short-tailed gizz, I figured from the distance streaking was pretty much obscured. The head had a Purple/Cassin's type pattern but was not seen well. We also figured among the EASTERNS that five WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were here, and I have a photo of one male somewhere with rust in the scapular. Later, thanks to Greg Cook, I was able to track down one of the six COM. MERGANSERS on adjoining Canyon Lake, but there was no sign of the RN PHEASANT posted to EBird recently. 4. Departure birds. On the way back to Houston today, 11/29, I had an interesting stop at the southeast edge of the town of Ballinger in Runnels Co. I don't know if these are normal here, but among a good flock of passerines were two PYRRULOXIA, and in the marshy matted grasses I heard a LE CONTE'S SPARROW, in close quarters with about 5 LINCOLN'S. Later, near the Brown-Coleman County line, between the communities of Bangs and Brownswood, an adult GOLDEN EAGLE was soaring over a hillside to the north. Final notes--close to dusk 11/27 at Paul's Lake, while enjoying the dark-morph FERRUGINOUS HAWK there, a PINE SISKIN flew over (heard only). Scott AtkinsonLake Stevens, WAmail to: scottratkinson@xxxxxxxxxxx © 2014 Microsoft Terms Privacy & cookies Developers English (United States) Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner