[texbirds] The Floydada BBS - Full Report
- From: Anthony Hewetson <terrverts@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <leas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2012 18:37:41 -0700 (PDT)
Greetings All:
I managed to complete (barely) the Floydada Breeding Bird Survey this morning.
I say 'barely' because a recently fallen 0.15 inches of rain had made the dirt
roads just tacky enough, in general, and more than damp enough, in low spots,
to be 'interesting'. Bird-wise, diversity was very low due to the complete
absence of standing water. The route, in most years, features anywhere from
2-20 small to very large playas. This year the only hint of dampness: some mud
in the ditches along the aforementioned dirt roads. The good news: Western
Kingbirds and Grasshopper Sparrows seem to be bouncing back from last year's
very poor showing. The bad news: not a single Ring-necked Pheasant or
Dickcissel along what has, until the current drought, been a very good route
for these two species ... and very few Western Meadowlarks ... though Eastern
Meadowlarks had an unusually strong, for this route, performance.
A complete list of critters seen along the route:
1 Common Checkered Skipper
8 Pipevine Swallowtails
2 Black Swallowtails
132 Checkered Whites
5 Orange Sulphurs
1 Sleepy Orange
1 Dainty Sulphur
2 Variegated Fritillaries
9 Mallards
2 Blue-winged Teals
2 Northern Bobwhites
3 Red-tailed Hawks
2 Killdeers
1 Eurasian Collared Dove
61 Mourning Doves
1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
5 Burrowings Owls
23 Common Nighthawks
52 Western Kingbirds
9 Scissor-tailed Flycatchers
2 Common Ravens
53 Horned Larks
10 Cliff Swallows
33 Barn Swallows
4 Northern Mockingbirds
1 Curve-billed Thrasher
1 Yellow Warbler
9 Cassin's Sparrows
17 Grasshopper Sparrows
22 Lark Sparrows
1 Blue Grosbeak
58 Red-winged Blackbirds
14 Eastern Meadowlarks
28 Western Meadowlarks
9 Great-tailed Grackles
2 Bullock's Orioles
1 House Finch
2 House Sparrows
1 Desert Cottontail
1 Eastern Cottontail
2 Striped Skunks
14 White-tailed Deers
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
Other related posts:
- » [texbirds] The Floydada BBS - Full Report - Anthony Hewetson
