[texbirds] Re: Junction, Texas sites

From: "Rhandy Helton" <rjhelton@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 20 May 2013 17:21:17 -0500
To answer some questions:
The County Fairgrounds are actually privately owned by the Kimble County 
Fairground Association but I don't think anyone is going to get arrested for 
birding the place. Someone might inquire as to what you are doing but even that 
is unlikely. Most of the local people know that birders are visiting the area 
and welcome them. I've spent 11 years trying to educate them. The Rodeo 
Arena/dance pavilion is the best place for Cactus Wren in the Junction area. 

The Junction Wastewater Ponds (on FM 2169) are always open. The city knows 
birders come in and they even spent $1,000 to build a fence "walk-over". But, 
they leave all the gates open so the walk-over is not used much now. I ask them 
to build the walk-over when they put the fence up separating the road in from 
the ponds. The city officials told me the state required them to put up the 
fence, which looks intimidating when you drive in. You cannot bird this area 
effectively by staying in your car and I think most birders do not bird this 
area properly. Drive into the facility half-way and another road goes to the 
right through a gate. This gate is always open and you can drive in and park 
off of the road. This is the only restriction---do not park on roads. If you 
drive in through the second gate and park the height of the levees will hide 
you from the birds and they won't flush. I drive through the 2nd gate and down 
near the metal building at the end of this road and pull off. The best 
shorebird pond is the pond just north of this building.  Waterfowl are mostly 
on the front two ponds, which you can mostly scan from your vehicle. You can 
walk over the whole area. The back area used to be a great sparrow area but the 
pro-longed drought has pretty much decimated the place. Cassin's Sparrow can be 
viewed (although I haven't checked lately) and it was pretty reliable for Lark 
Bunting in season. Another issue is that the property owner adjacent to the 
west started some dry-land farming so plowed up the fields thus removing all 
the native grasses and forbs. The whole area was awesome for seed-eating birds 
but not so much now. 

My fear for this area is that someone (non-birder) goes in and dumps trash or 
steals some city equipment (tractors). If that happens then I think the city 
closes all the gates. 

Rhandy J. Helton
Junction, Tx. 
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
[texbirds] Re: Junction, Texas sites

Other related posts:
