Hi Rhandy!
Great find!! Really GREAT! I'd give something precious
for a McCown's here just south of you a bit. Edges of roads
after snows is WHEN to look for roadside longspurs, or other
things, as often they are the only bare surfaces. Further
north winter finches often come down to the salt in such
situations.
In about Feb. 1989 I found Guadalupe Mtn. Nat. Park's
first records of McCown's and Chestnut-collared Longspurs
on the same morning, right along the roadside, after a night
with 6+" of snow. My wife reported I must have done a poor
job of putting up the tent the night before as it was soooo
saggy when we arose in the morning. We looked out and found
ourselves in an igloo! Birding roadsides in such conditions
can be rewarding, not to mention being by the heater.
good work!
Mitch Heindel
Utopia, Texas
On 2015-12-28 13:31, Rhandy Helton wrote:
I had at least a dozen McCown's Longspurs working the eastbound
right-of-way on Interstate 10 this morning at the Cleo exit, about 5
miles west of Junction. This was a mowed right-a-way with mostly snow
cover that was in the process of melting. The chestnut colored median
wing coverts was obvious on several birds as was upper black breast
patch (faint). I suspect Chestnut-collared Longspurs also present but
with grass stubble just could not get a definitive look. Another
likely flock of longspurs flushed off the right-of-way a mile further
east than those reported above.
Rhandy J. Helton
Junction, Tx.
