Yesterday morning (22 Aug) I spent the early morning hours at Spot Road
Farm (some 11 miles east of Dateland). This was my first really good
migration day of the season, and in three hours I rounded up 58 species.
Shorebirds, which can be hit-or-miss in the small irrigation
impoundments/ponds there, put on a good show with 32 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, 4
BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS, 3 SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, 17 BLACK-NECKED STILTS, and both
WILSON'S and RED-NECKED PHALAROPES. Unfortunately two of the ponds have had
their sides "groomed," which has filled in a number of the BURROWING OWL
nests. Fortunately they've all fledged, but my usual count was cut to less
than half of these birds--I only spotted 49 of these charismatic owls. A
BELTED KINGFISHER was a nice surprise, as was a GRAY FLYCATCHER among the 8
species of flycatchers. Lots of BULLOCK'S ORIOLES, WESTERN TANAGERS,
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, and LAZULI BUNTINGS provided lots of eye candy. A
month ago I crossed paths with a badger; yesterday morning I was fortunate
to see a kit fox.
If you visit this area, please note that there are two restrictions: do not
drive around the small ponds (the foreman is afraid we'll fall in) and do
not bird in the housing area at the northeast corner of the property.
