Greetings All:
I conducted my annual survey of the woodlands north of White River Lake -
in search of recently documented breeders such as Yellow-breasted Chat,
Field Sparrow, Summer Tanager, and Indigo Bunting.
Highlights on the way included 1 American Avocet near Acuff (Lubbock
County), 1 Common Raven near Owens (Crosby County), 8 White-faced Ibises at
the FM 40 x FM 651 Playa (Crosby County), 1 Scaled Quail and 2 Cave
Swallows along CR 2794 west of White River Lake (Crosby County).
The survey area includes as much of the woodlands north of White River Lake
as I can access and cover in four hours. There is roughly six miles of
wooded habitat that provides nesting habitat for Yellow-breasted Chats and
Indigo Buntings in most years - and I covered roughly 1.25 miles of that
during my 3 mile hike. The situation is complicated in wet years when vast
forests of 8-10 foot high sunflowers appear to lure the chats, at least,
into isolated stands of willow or hackberry. The bottom line is that I
feel I covered about 20% of the appropriate habitat. Complicating matters
was the very high water levels (highest since 2001) which made habitat
difficult to access in a quiet fashion: I was basically bashing about and
covered much less ground than is possible in a dry year.
Highlights from my three mile, four hour romp: 1 adult White-tailed Kite (a
rare summer visitor - has attempted breeding at this site once), 2 Greater
Yellowlegs (flyovers), 15 Yellow-billed Cuckoos (recovering nicely from the
dismal drought years), 1 Chuck-will's-widow (breeds in wooded areas just to
the north - an interesting time of year to find one here), 2 singing Bell's
Vireos (a recently established breeder at the site), 2 Carolina Wrens, 4
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 41 Yellow-breasted Chats (28 singing from prominent
perches, 13 skulking or carrying food items through the undergrowth), 2
Field Sparrows singing from prominent perches and 1 Field Sparrow carrying
a grasshopper into a smallish thicket (recently documented as a breeding
species at this site), 1 female Summer Tanager carrying an immense grub of
some sort (recently documented as a breeding species at this site), 7 male
Indigo Buntings singing from prominent perches and 4 female Indigo Buntings
skulking or carrying food items (recently documented as a breeding species
at this site), 46 Painted Buntings (a nice recovery from their scarcity
during the drought years - and noted as a rough index of bunting
percentages), 52 Dickcissels (28 singing from prominent perches and 14
skulking or carrying food items - another nice recovery from the years of
drought), and 2 male Bronzed Cowbirds.
It was not all cupcakes and icing, though. This site is usually crawling
with orioles and this visit produce but 1 Orchard Oriole and 4 Bullock's
Orioles. This is consistent with low numbers of orioles, for whatever
reason, throughout the region this year. Also of note: this is the first
time I have tromped this much territory at this site and not seen a single
snake!
Highlights from Crosby County on the way back: 1 Great Egret, 4 Snowy
Egrets, and 8 Purple Martins at White River Lake itself; 2 Northern
Pintails, 14 Cattle Egrets, and 1 Black-necked Stilt at the FM 651 x FM 40
Playa; 1 Snowy Egret just east of Owens; 2 American Avocets just east of
the Crosby/Lubbock County line.
Highlights from Lubbock County on the way back: 4 American Avocets near
Acuff and 2 Cattle Egrets at City Farms.
Any day when you see over 40 Yellow-breasted Chats is a great day, innit?
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
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