Floyd;
Thanks for bring the young folks up to date!
Pat and I and Brad are probably the oldest remaining members of Llano Estacado
Audubon society left as we started birding in the 70's,
before the city took over the Frank Gray Farms. (BTW, I treated cattle and a
horse or two for Mr. Gray, who was a very fine individual, before I started my
own practice in 1967). the Boles road playa was nearly always full as were the
"Twin Ponds" on down 50th St. about a half mile. The city was pumping water to
Mr. Gray's farm and he could not use all of it, thus the full playas. This led
to a very shallow water table which was extremely toxic
with nitrates which flowed under ground and contaminated the citizens in and
around Buffalo Springs Lake and Lake Ransom Canyon. Lubbock was then forced to
build pipelines to both cities to provide safe drinking water. My first
birding memory along Boles Rd. was seeing this beautiful little green bird
which I finally identified after a long search of the bird book I had at the
time as a female Painted Bunting,
Dr. George W. Jury
Pat Jury
3807 75th Place
Lubbock, TX 79423
-----Original Message-----
From: Floyd and Clarice Robertson <47robertson02@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: LEAS <leasbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sun, Apr 19, 2020 3:43 pm
Subject: [leasbirds] Boles Road story -- Yellow-headed Blackbirds
#yiv3824005667 body {margin:0.7em;}#yiv3824005667 body.yiv3824005667OECFntDef,
#yiv3824005667 body.yiv3824005667OECFntDef div {font-family:"Times New Roman",
"Segoe UI", Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12pt;}
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