Floyd, Thanks for jogging my memory.
It was quite the birding spot in the late 80’s. The playa to the west of Boles
Road was quite The Place for the migration of shorebirds. I remember seeing a
Black-bellied and a Golden Plover there. The city, as I remember it, was
using treated waste water to grow wheat. They had more water than they could
use so it filled the playas. It reminded me of the water waster ponds in
Levelland before they built the treatment plant.
I am sorry the whole flock of yellow headed blackbirds did not stay. They had
moved south yesterday when I came back for cruising north, looking for
Jennifer’s mystery hawk.
Thanks
gwj
Greg W. Joiner, Ph.D.
Clinical and Forensic Psychology
PO BOX 16283
Lubbock, Texas 79490
C) 806-786-7115
O) 806-797-7100
F) 806-797-7101
From: Floyd and Clarice Robertson
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2020 3:43 PM
To: LEAS
Subject: [leasbirds] Boles Road story -- Yellow-headed Blackbirds
Clarice and I drove out to locate Greg Joiner's Yellow-headed Blackbird on
Sunday afternoon.
We turned from East 50th St north onto CR2800 and immediately had a flock of 8
fly across and perch on a structure made of pipe, where they posed for a photo.
In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, members of LEAS called this Boles
Road. It bisected a huge playa, which we called Boles Road Lake. The road
through the playa was lower then, and frequently wet. It was a favorite spot
for birders.
All this land is the Frank Gray Farms, which contracted with the City since
1939 to dispose of treated water. The large rectangular earthen storage tank
west of the road is filled by the City of Lubbock Water Treatment plants. The
treated water is then used to irrigate the Frank Gray Farms, north and south of
50th St. The City took over the entire operation, approximately mid 1990s.
The city operates a well that keeps the water table pumped down, and the playa
is a huge dry depression on each side of the road. The City's well pumps
water through a pipeline up the canyon lakes, ending at the first Canyon Lake,
just inside North Loop 289.
There, the water comes out in an attractive waterfall of rocks, designed by an
architect student more than 40 years ago. It is one of the biggest recycling
projects in the country. The re-use of treated water is the reason the string
of Canyon Lakes have water year round.
Another story is the source of Lubbock's water. None of it comes from Lubbock
county.
--
Maps now only call this road Boles Road when north of East 4th Street. The
signs at 50th St say CR2800. It may be that no one is left (other than me) who
would remember it as Boles Road, and Boles Road Lake. I still call it Boles
Road. The area is loaded with Prairie Dogs, and baby Prairie Dogs.
Oh, well, the Birds do not know the difference.
We spent only a short time. We saw one Mourning Dove, one Meadow Lark, one
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 4 White-crowned Sparrows, 4 Lark Buntings. This was
were fewer Lark Buntings that I expected, and they were a bit strange looking,
spring change going on.
A hawk flew over, but I did not get a good look.
Floyd and Clarice Robertson
4702 61st St
Lubbock TX 79414-4527
806-799-4174 home
806-317-5803 mobile
47robertson02@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx