[texbirds] Fourth Visit to Hale County - 2012 Game

From: Anthony Hewetson <terrverts@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2012 13:43:05 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings All:

I spent eight hours in Hale County yesterday, focussing on parks in the 
Plainview area, the 789 corridor, Muleshoe NWR's Hale County property, 
Petersburg, and Abernathy.  

Conditions were initially pleasant (warm, sunny, 
and calm) but quickly escalated to less than pleasant (very hot) during 
the day.  By the end of the day, I was just glad to be able to hang out in the 
shaded woodlands east of Abernathy City Park and watch butterflies work the 
riparian area.  The good news: recent rains have favored Hale County more than 
most of the region and playas are just full enough to pull in the waders and 
shorebirds.  I have therefore raised the bird goal for the county up to match 
that for the Canyon Lakes of Lubbock - right on up to 150!   The recent rains 
have also flooded ditches and some fields making board-turning a little more 
interesting; mostly in terms of small mammals forced to the surface.

Over the course of the day, I tallied 28 
species of butterfly, 2 species of amphibian, 5 species of reptile (all
 five turtles -
 yay!), 69 species of bird, and 7 species of mammal.  Hale County is now up to 
35 species of butterfly, 3 species of amphibian, 8 species of reptile, 125 
species of bird, and 9 species of mammal - mixed results compared to the Canyon 
Lakes of Lubbock with 31 species of butterfly, 0 species of amphibian, 10 
species of reptile, 129 species of bird, and 10 species of mammal.  This brings 
me up to 70% of my goal of 50 species of 
butterfly, 38% of the way towards my goal of 8 species of amphibian, 53% 
of my goal of 15 species of reptile, 83% of my goal of 150 species of 
bird, and 47% of my goal of 15 species of mammal for the county.

The day's list (with new additions to the Canyon Lakes of Lubbock list *sked)

1 Funereal Duskywing
36 Common Checkered Skippers
7 Common Sootywings
1 Orange Skipperling*
3 Fiery Skippers
1 Delaware Skipper*
1 Dotted Roadside Skipper*
1 Eufala Skipper*
1 Black Swallowtail*
62 Checkered Whites
5 Orange Suphurs
1 Lyside Sulphur
15 Sleepy Oranges
47 Dainty Sulphurs
4 Gray Hairstreaks
1 Marine Blue
3 Western Pygmy Blues
13 Reakirt's Blues
2 American Snouts
2 Queens*
1 Gorgone Checkerspot*
3 Phaon Crescents*
13 Pearl Crescents*
3 Common Buckeyes
1 Question Mark
1 Red Admiral
3 Painted Ladies
2 Goatweed Leafwings*

2 Northern Cricket Frogs*
2 Plains Leopard Frogs

8 Red-eared Sliders
4 Yellow Mud Turtles
2 Spiny Soft-shelled Turtles
1 Six-lined Racerunner
1 Western Hog-nosed Snake

28 Mallards
4 Blue-winged Teals
4 Northern Bobwhites
7 Great Blue Herons
1 Great Egret*
4 Snowy Egrets*
101 Cattle Egrets*
1 Green Heron*
63 Black-crowned Night Herons
27 White-faced Ibises*
4 Mississippi Kites
4 Swainson's Hawks
1 Red-tailed Hawk
3 American Kestrels
18 American Coots
40 Killdeers
10 Black-necked Stilts
38 American Avocets
1 Spotted Sandpiper
5 Solitary Sandpipers
4 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Willet*
5 Lesser Yellowlegs
3 Upland Sandpipers*
2 Semipalmated Sandpipers*
17 Western Sandpipers*
7 Least Sandpipers*
23 Baird's Sandpipers*
14 Stilt Sandpipers*
5 Long-billed Dowitchers*
3 Black Terns*
17 Rock Pigeons
52 Eurasian Collared Doves
2 White-winged Doves
72 Mourning Doves
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Greater Roadrunner*
2 Burrowing Owls
6 Chimney Swifts
1 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
1 Willow Flycatcher*
3 Least Flycatchers*
73 Western Kingbirds
1 Loggerhead Shrike
6 Blue Jays
2 Chihuahuan Ravens
4 Horned Larks
6 Cliff Swallows
4 Cave Swallows*
68 Barn Swallows
6 American Robins
2 Northern Mockingbirds
8 European Starlings
5 Common Yellowthroats
2 Cassin's Sparrows*
11 Lark Sparrows
4 Grasshopper Sparrows
6 Blue Grosbeaks
4 Dickcissels
89 Red-winged Blackbirds
4 Western Meadowlarks
4 Yellow-headed Blackbirds
97 Great-tailed Grackles
3 Orchard Orioles
4 Bullock's Orioles
35 House Finches
7 Lesser Goldfinches*
98 House Sparrows

1 Desert Cottontail*
3 Eastern Cottontails
12 Black-tailed Prairie Dogs
3 Hispid Cotton Rats
2 White-footed Deermice*
1 Northern Pygmy Mouse*
1 Northern Grasshopper Mouse*

Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
[texbirds] Fourth Visit to Hale County - 2012 Game

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