Greetings All:
Eastern Screech Owl, with luck, can still be heard along the river
corridor - from Olive Street on down to at least the Yellowhouse
Canyon crossing with the V8 Ranch the best site until recently. When
I moved here (in 1998) they could be heard in town and we have records
as far west as Muleshoe NWR. A particularly good site was the line of
trees along the county road running north from the Yellowhouse Canyon
crossing.
Numbers, based on CBC data, have also dropped in the eastern portions
of our region with spots in Crosby and Dickens County that could kick
out double digit numbers (by working the entire area carefully) now
down to a few isolated breeding pairs at portions of riparian
corridors that have maintained the best stands of large trees.
I think the pullout/decline came about in the aftermath of the
extraordinary drought of 2009-2012 when the region lost many trees in
our better woodlots and a lot of the understory along riparian
corridors.
As an eBird reviewer I sometimes wish (especially when I am looking at
older records) that we could do different filters for pre-drought and
post-drought.
Regards; Anthony Hewetson
On Tue, Dec 20, 2022 at 7:14 PM Brad Shine <sonofshine@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Also congrats Anthony on the Eastern Screech-owl! Wish we had better luck
with them in town!
Brad
On Tue, Dec 20, 2022 at 7:10 PM Anthony Hewetson <fattonybirds@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Greetings All:
The Lubbock County CBC was held on Saturday, 17 December 2022, and we
had eighteen observers (that I know of) braving the not really bad at
all conditions to tally 133 species of birds. This was at the high
end of normal in terms of species (the worst count ever tallied 57
species; the best count ever tallied 141 species) and folk seemed to
have a pretty good time.
Team One (Jeremy Clark, Manuel De Leon) had the portion of Ransom Lake
that is in the count circle and the eastern chunk of farmlands. The
highlights:
2 Snow Geese - Idalou Golf Course
4 Snow Geese - Ransom Lake
1 Sora - Ransom Lake
3 Cedar Waxwings - Ransom Lake
4 Rock Wrens - Ransom Lake
1 Brown Thrasher - Ransom Lake
Team Two (Anthony Hewetson) had the Lubbock Water Treatment Ponds
(WTP), City Farms, and the central chunk of farmlands. The
highlights:
31 Snow Geese - Lubbock WTP
7 Ross's Geese - Lubbock WTP
9 Greater White-fronted Geese - Kitalou
6 Greater White-fronted Geese - Lubbock WTP
2 Wood Ducks - City Farms
7 Canvasbacks - Lubbock WTP
3 Redheads - Lubbock WTP
1 Greater Scaup - Lubbock WTP
4 Scaled Quails - City Farms
1 Ring-necked Pheasant - near Idalou
16 Eared Grebes - Lubbock WTP
2 Inca Doves - Kitalou
2 Wilson's Snipes - near Kitalou
2 Greater Yellowlegs - Lubbock WTP
1 adult Bald Eagle - City Farms
1 Rough-legged Hawk - City Farms
1 Rough-legged Hawk - near Idalou
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - near Idalou
1 Prairie Falcon - near Kitalou
1 Say's Phoebe - near Kitalou
2 Verdins - City Farms
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet - City Fams
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet - Redneck Riviera
6 Cedar Waxwings - Kitalou
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch - Redneck Riviera
1 Brown Creeper - City Farms
1 Carolina Wren - City Farms
1 Winter Wren - City Farms
1 Winter Wren - near Kitalou
1 Winter Wren - Olive Street
2 Gray Catbirds - City Farms
2 Brown Thrasher - City Farms
1 Townsend's Solitaire - City Farms
8 Chestnut-collared Longspurs - City Farms
17 Thick-billed Longspurs - City Farms
1 Fox Sparrow - City Farms
1 White-throated Sparrow - City Farms
1 White-throated Sparrow - near Idalou
2 Yellow-headed Blackbirds - City Farms
1 Orange-crowned Warbler - near Idalou
Team Three (Tucker Dangremond, Grant Ellis) had the V8 Ranch and
Buffalo Springs Lake. The highlights:
2 Snow Geese - Buffalo Springs Lake
3 Snow Geese - V8 Ranch
2 Common Mergansers - V8 Ranch
2 Wilson's Snipes - V8 Ranch
1 Common Loon - Buffalo Springs Lake
4 Golden-crowned Kinglets - V8 Ranch
8 Rock Wrens - Buffalo Springs Lake
4 Rock Wrens - V8 Ranch
4 Winter Wrens - Buffalo Springs Lake
1 Gray Catbird - V8 Ranch
1 Townsend's Solitaire - Buffalo Springs Lake
1 Lesser Goldfinch - V8 Ranch
1 Orange-crowned Warbler - V8 Ranch
1 Common Yellowthroat - V8 Ranch
Team Four (Glenda Kelly, Matt Smith) had the southern chund of
farmlands (more and more of which is becoming suburbia). The
highlights:
2 Snow Geese at Earl Crowe Park
2 Snow Geese at Huneke Park
1 Ross's Goose at Earl Crowe Park
2 Ross's Geese at McCullough Park
1 Greater White-fronted Goose - Stone Lake
2 Wood Ducks - Andrews Park
2 Common Mergansers - Andrews Park
1 Common Merganser - McCullough Park
2 Common Mergansers - Miller Park
1 American White Pelican - Earl Crowe Park
Team Five (Barry Keith, Bobby Schat) had the northwestern chunk of
farmlands (always a tough hall with almost no water in most years).
The highlights:
2 Redheads - Hillcrest Country Club
1 Say's Phoebe - near Lubbock Lake Landmark
1 Rock Wren - near Lubbock Lake Landmark
Team Six (Elaina Davis, Len Hovey, Peter Keyel, Phillip Kite, Rob Lee)
had the Canyon Lakes inside Loop 289 and the Lubbock Cemetery. The
highlights:
1 Common Merganser - Lake Six
1 Common Merganser - MacKenzie Park
1 Virginia Rail - Erskine Marsh
1 Sora - Erkine Marsh
7 Wilson's Snipes - MacKenzie Park
1 Green Heron - MacKenzie Park
1 Peregrine Falcon - Lubbock Cemetery
8 Cedar Waxwings - Lubbock Cemetery
2 Red-breasted Nuthatches - Lubbock Cemetery
2 Brown Creepers - Mae Simmons Park
1 Winter Wren - Windpower Park
3 Mountain Bluebirds - Lubbock Cemetery
1 Townsend's Solitaire - Aztlan Park
2 Townsend's Solitaires - below Lake Six
2 Townsend's Solitaires - Lubbock Cemetery
1 Fox Sparrow - below Lake Six
1 Rufous-crowned Sparrow - Purina Mountain Bike Trail
1 Orange-crowned Warbler - Lubbock Cemetery
1 Common Yellowthroat - below Lake Six.
Team Seven (Sheri Anderson, Nancy Neill) had East Lubbock inside Loop
289. The highlights:
1 Snow Goose - Stripes Playa
1 Ross's Goose - Ribble Park
1 Black Phoebe - Stripes Playa
2 Golden-crowned Kinglets - Clapp Park
1 Common Yellowthroat - Clapp Park
Team Eight (William Wenthe, Lena Zappia) had West Lubbock to the edge
of the circle. The highlights:
4 Snow Geese - Higginbotham Park
4 Snow Geese - over Lubbock
5 Greater White-fronted Geese - Higginbotham Park
22 Wood Ducks - Leroy Elmore Park
25 Wood Ducks - Whisperwood Pond
1 Greater Scaup - Whisperwood Pond
1 Common Goldeneye - Whisperwood Pond
1 Western Grebe - Leroy Elmore Park
1 Great Egret - Maxey Park
1 Snowy Egret - Dupree Park
1 Osprey - Adventure Park
1 Peregrine Falcon - TTU Campus
1 Winter Wren - Tech Terrace Neighborhood
For what it is worth, species requiring write-ups were Western Grebe,
Common Loon, Green Heron, Bald Eagle, Black Phoebe, Gray Catbird,
Mountain Bluebird.
Regards; Anthony Hewetson
CBC Compiler,
Llano Estacado Audubon Society