Greetings All:
I watched, in amazement, as storms hit each of my remaining Breeding Bird
Survey areas on Friday night and Saturday, making all five routes
undriveable for at least a week. The single most challenging aspect of my
BBS routes is that our soft-soil, dirt roads are rendered non-navigable by
rains: each quarter inch of rain equals roughly a day of drying down before
these roads can be attempted. I spend a lot of time watching the weather
channel this time of year.
That certainly freed up my weekend a bit and I spent Saturday catching up
on field notes and yard work. By Sunday I was a tad restless and decided
to see what kind of damage I could do, from paved roads, in rain-swept Lynn
County.
Roadside flooding ranged from mild to entertaining and birds were active
throughout the morning and early afternoon, taking advantage of soft soils
and stirred up prey items, and I spotted quite a few goodies including 1
Gadwall at Skeen Playa, 3 American Wigeons at Skeen Playa, 4 Blue-winged
Teals at Skeen Playa, 2 Northern Shovelers at Skeen Playa, 2 Green-winged
Teals at Skeen Playa, 2 Redheads at Skeen Playa, 3 Ruddy Ducks at Skeen
Playa, 1 Scaled Quail near Draw, 1 Scaled Quail near West Point, 2 Eared
Grebes at the CR Y x FM 3332 Playa, 4 Black-necked Stilts at the CR Y x FM
3332 Playa, 34 Black-necked Stilts at Skeen Playa, 2 American Avocets at
Skeen Playa, 2 Snowy Plovers at Skeen Playa, 9 Double-crested Cormorants at
Skeen Playa, 1 Snowy Egret at Skeen Playa, 1 White-faced Ibis at the CR Y x
FM 3332 Playa, 5 White-faced Ibises at Skeen Playa, 1 Bell's Vireo near New
Moore, 14 Purple Martins in O'Donnell, 2 Cave Swallows in New Moore, 2 Cave
Swallows near West Point, 2 Lesser Goldfinches in O'Donnell, 1 Canyon
Towhee at Frog (Frost) Lake, 2 Pyrrhuloxias near Frog (Frost) Lake, and 1
Yellow-headed Blackbird at the CR Y x FM 3332 Playa.
On the way home I stopped at Leroy Elmore Park in Lubbock (Lubbock County)
where highlights included 3 Cackling Geese, 1 Canada Goose, 2 Northern
Shovelers, 3 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Great Egret, 4 Snowy Egrets, and
7 Cattle Egrets.
All in all, a very good showing for a day in June (my region's slowest
month); Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson, Lubbock
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