[texbirds] Adding Crane County to my TCC list

  • From: Anthony Hewetson <terrverts@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2012 13:26:06 -0700 (PDT)

Greetings All:

With only two counties left to clear by the end of the year to meet my goal of 
adding all the west Texas counties to my TCC list (Crane and El Paso) I decided 
that my seventh visit to Crane County was in order.  I already had 92 listed 
for the county but with most of the regular residents and breeding visitors 
accounted for knew that success would hinge on spending large amounts of time 
at what little water is available in the county ... and hoping for oddballs 
like migrant hummingbirds and swallows.

I spent the bulk of my time between 9:45 and 4:00 in Crane County (with 
occasional trips through unavoidable portions of Pecos and Ward Counties.  The 
following is a chronological version of the acquisition of this very tough 
county for my TCC list.


All preparative musing aside, the first bird I added was a breeding species 
after all: a singing Bell's Vireo along Caprock University Road just west off 
of Highway 385 - number 93 for the county.

A stop at the golf course just north of Crane kicked out another breeder that I 
had somehow missed during previous visits - Mississippi Kite was number 94.

There were a fair number of Black-chinned Hummingbirds about (all female or 
subadult) but a stunning male Rufous Hummingbird tending a desert willow 
thicket along Highway 385 - in downtown Crane - was a pleasant surprise as well 
as number 95 for the county.

My next stop was the athletic fields on the north side of Crane; the fields 
near the absolutely-closed-to-the-public sewage ponds.  Closed the ponds may be 
but from the top of the bleachers at the baseball field, using a scope on a 
shoulder mount, one can just barely scan one corner of one pond - WooHoo!  From 
this perilous position I was able to spot four Blue-winged Teals gliding across 
the silken waters (number 96) and 8 American Avocets clustered along the 
noisome shoreline (number 97).  There were thousands of swallows gathered along 
the lines over the ponds and those which chose to remain distant were 
unidentifiable.  Every now and then, though, some would break off from the 
immediate environs of the ponds and drift over the soggy, from recent watering, 
playing fields.  Amongst the hordes of Barn Swallows, the large handfuls of 
Cliff/Cave Swallows, and the small handful of Northern Rough-winged Swallows I 
was able to pick out 2 Tree Swallows
 and Tree Swallow became species number 98 for my Crane County list.

Species number 99 was a real surprise.  I stopped to photograph butterflies 
exploiting the bountiful crop of wildflowers in the canyon cut along FM 1053 
just north of the Pecos River and I heard the familiar sound of Upland 
Sandpipers overhead.  A quick scan of the skies kicked out the sight of two 
Upland Sandpipers winging their way northward (?) and species number 99 was in 
the book!

I spent over an hour at the FM 1053 crossing of the Pecos River, hanging out in 
the shade under the bridge and waiting for something tasty to show up.  Almost 
immediately I lucked into a Greater Yellowlegs and added, technically, Crane 
County to my TCC list.  I like to have a little cushion, though, and kicked 
back in a folding chair with my fourth twenty ounce bottle of water for the day 
... and waited.  Then I waited some more.  Then, getting a bit tired of 
waiting, I decided to do some more waiting instead.  Did I mention that it was 
hot?  I mean really hot (like 108 degrees Fahrenheit hot).   I had finally 
given up on adding anything new when a gorgeous Western Sandpiper wafted in 
from upriver and hit the exposed mud just downriver from the bridge.  Number 
101 and the list felt the better for it.

I then beat feet through a small chunk of Pecos County to get to the FM 11 
crossing of the Pecos River where I immediately popped up two Green Herons and 
made the list 102 species strong.

And that was it for the county on this fine and toasty day.  I spent another 
hour working the stretch of FM 1053 and RR 1233 between Highway 349 and the 
Crane/Ward County line ... with no new birds for the county at all.

And so it was that Crane County became my latest TCC county: 174 down; 89 to 
go:)

Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock

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