Greetings All:
I had a fantastic experience at the playa bordered by Parsley Road,
Bertrand Road, Masterson Road, and FM 1912 (called McGee Lake in
GoogleEarth) - on the northeastern outskirts of Amarillo..
The playa (scope essential and even then most birds will go
unidentified) is hosting thousands of waterfowl and at a creek crossed
by Parsley Drive I had close to 3000 swallows (62 fence sections of
perched birds averaging 45 birds apiece - not counting the ones in the
air). The vast majority of these were Tree Swallows but there were
also small numbers of (in descending order) Northern Rough-winged
Swallow (perhaps 40 or so), Bank Swallow (perhaps 30 or so), and Cliff
Swallow (roughly a dozen). If my initial estimate of 2790 birds is
accurate that leaves 2708 Tree Swallows; easily the largest number of
this species I have seen at a time in Texas.
The majority of the birds in the air (roughly 300 to 500 while I was
counting fence sections) were Tree Swallows.
Amazingly, I was not able to pull out a single Barn Swallow at this
crossing - I had plenty elsewhere but not at this particular spot!
I also noted a good shorebird movement (average numbers but really
good diversity at the playas south of Perryton (Ochiltree County) and
east of Pampa (Gray County), White-faced Ibis were about in good
numbers, and Snowy Egrets were worth looking for.
Songbirds, on the other hand, were very patchy - low numbers of
expected migrants widely scattered.
Anthony Hewetson; Lubbock