Hi All,
Yesterday was such a beautiful day that I put aside some of my chores and
decided to drive from Lubbock to Plainview on County Rd. 400. I was hoping
for some lingering winter residents, longspurs in particular. While I
didn't get my longspurs, I found 6 raptor species! Yay! I know we are lucky
during the winter here in Lubbock. We have great waterfowl and raptor
diversity, but I rarely leave the city to specifically bird our rural
areas. Always a mistake! What a treat it was yesterday to stumble across
several male Northern Harriers, two Rough-legged Hawks (one light morph and
one dark morph), two Ferruginous Hawks (both light morphs), Red-tailed
Hawks, an American Kestrel, and a Merlin from the Prairie population! At
one intersection, I stopped to watch the Kestrel and a Rough-legged Hawk
landed on a nearby power pole. It stayed for several minutes before
swooping into the grass and when I looked up again there was already a
Red-tailed Hawk on the same pole! I also saw Lark Buntings (females or
non-breeding plumage), White-crowned Sparrows, numerous Savannah Sparrows,
and many singing Western Meadowlarks. There was so much action along the
way that I never made it to Plainview. On the way back, there were even two
Ring-necked Pheasants feeding next to the road. Ahhh, West Texas :)
Jennifer
--
Jennifer Miller
Lubbock, TX
{o,o}
/)_)
" "
Blog - http://foundnature.weebly.com/index.html