[texbirds] Muleshoe NWR CBC - overview and highlights

From: Anthony Hewetson <terrverts@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:44:30 -0800 (PST)
Greetings All:
The Muleshoe NWR CBC was held on Sunday, 16 
December 2012, and fourteen birders braved the drought-stricken fields and 
thickets to count birds.  The species total of 59 was the third lowest in 
twelve years (45 in 2001/2002 and 43 in 2003/2004 the only lower) 
and this is entirely a matter of drought - both diversity and overall numbers 
were down and the situation, for birds at least, on the refuge is rather grim.  
 I am going to list the highlights 
in taxonomic order with the team in parentheses:  Team 1 (Phillip Kite, Rob 
Lee), Team 2 (Cameron Carver, Craig Carver, Steve Collins, Manuel De Leon), 
Team 3 (Susan Bergeson, Pam Allison, Dana Boswell, Jim Crites, Susan Thompson)  
Team 4a (Anthony Hewetson), Team 4b (Charles Grair, Clayton Rickett).  Species 
poached 
will be followed by the name of the poacher in parentheses.

15 Scaled Quails north of HQ (Team 1)
18 Scaled Quails near HQ (Team 3)
1 Rough-legged Hawk along Highway 214 (Team 2)
1 adult Golden Eagle over HQ (Anthony Hewetson)
1 Virginia Rail at Paul's Lake Springs (Team 4a)
1 Sora at Paul's Lake Springs (Team 4a)
4 Least Sandpipers at Paul's Lakes (Team 4a, Team 4b)

1 Long-eared Owl along the rim (Phillip Kite, Steve Collins)
1 Long-eared Owl at a different spot along the rim (Team 2)
7+ COMMON RAVENS* (a group effort - seen by members of all four teams)
28+ Chihuahuan Ravens* (also a group effort)

4 Lapland Longspurs near Goose Lakes (Team 2)
13 Lapland Longspurs at Paul's Lakes (Team 4a, Team 4b)
2 Chestnut-collared Longspurs near Goose Lakes (Team 2)
19 Chestnut-collared Longspurs near White Lakes (Team 3)
10 McCown's Longspurs near Goose Lakes (Team 2)
1 McCown's Longspur near White Lakes (Team 3)
75 McCown's Longspurs at Paul's Lakes (Team 4a, Team 4b)
1 Common Yellowthroat at Paul's Lake Springs (Team 4a)
1 AMERICAN TREE SPARROW north of HQ (Team 1)
1 Field Sparrow north of HQ (Team 1)
4 Field Sparrows near HQ (Susan Bergeson, Anthony Hewetson)
1 SAGE SPARROW near HQ (Team 3)
5 Swamp Sparrows at Paul's Lake Springs (Team 4a)

The big draw for the ravens, so far as I could tell, were a couple of animal 
carcasses just north of the refuge.  At 11:30 2 Common Ravens and 1 Chihuahuan 
Raven were seen at the very southwest corner of the refuge.  Almost 
simultaneously (11:32 - from the overlook north of the refuge) I counted 5 
Common Ravens and 21 Chihuahuan Ravens along the northern fence line of the 
refuge and could see an additional 6 Chihuahuan Ravens at the far southeast 
corner of the refuge .  There could have been more of both species - 7 and 28 
are the conservative numbers.

Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson, Lubbock
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[texbirds] Muleshoe NWR CBC - overview and highlights

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