Greetings All:
On Sunday I polished off the last of my BBS routes for the year - though it
came close to polishing me off. A full report is forthcoming. This route
runs westward along a line from a point just southwest of Dougherty to a
point just northwest of McCoy with one jog southward across a deep canyon
cut.
The roads were, thanks to recent heavy and region-wide rainfall,
atrocious! At one point I had to make a twelve mile detour to get from one
point to the next as the majority of road between the two points was under
a flooded playa. A second point demanded a similar, slightly shorter
detour of ten miles and the point itself was, technically, under water - I
did the count from the shoreline, 1/10th of a mile away.
The piece de la resistance, however, was a forty foot stretch of eighteen
inch deep ruts, the walls of which had to be dug and pounded flat enough to
stably accommodate my tires so that I could straddle my way from one point
to the next (the detour at this point would have been over twenty miles -
and digging and pounding some rut walls down seemed easier). The good news
was that ten minutes of shovel work in a very mucky environment allowed me
to observe an incredible variety of puddling butterflies, making this -
easily - the best butterfly route of the year. It also afforded me the
opportunity to get in a little aerobic exercise; rare during a BBS:)
Highlights from the route (all in Floyd County) included 1 Common Poorwill
just south of Dougherty; 2 American Avocets southwest of Dougherty; 1
Redhead, 1 Cattle Egret, 1 White-faced Ibis, and 6 American Avocets a bit
further west; 2 Blue-winged Teals, 2 White-faced Ibises, 2 American
Avocets, and 6 Common Ravens a bit further west; 2 Blue-winged Teals and 6
Green-winged Teals a bit further west; 4 White-faced Ibises a bit further
west; 3 White-faced Ibises, 2 Black-necked Stilts, and 3 American Avocets a
bit further west; 1 Cattle Egret and 12 Purple Martins a bit further west;
1 Blue-winged Teal a bit further west; 2 Northern Pintails a bit further
west; 2 Gadwalls, 3 Blue-winged Teals, 2 Cinnamon Teals, 1 Northern
Shoveler, 4 Northern Pintails, 2 Redheads, and 4 Cattle Egrets a bit
further west; 2 Blue-winged Teals and 1 Black-necked Stilt south of
Floydada; 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoos a bit further west; 1 Yellow-billed
Cuckoo and 1 Rock Wren at the CR 121 crossing of White River; 2 White-faced
Ibises just north of McCoy; 2 Blue-winged Teals just northwest of McCoy.
Highlights from Floyd County on the way home: 2 Redheads and 2 Black-necked
Stilts at the McCoy Playa; 17 White-faced Ibises north of Cone; 2 Purple
Martins over Cone.
Highlights from Crosby County on the way home: 2 American Avocets just
south of Cone; 2 Greater Yellowlegs just north of Ralls; 2 Wilson's
Phalaropes just east of Lorenzo.
Whoosh!!
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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