Greetings All:
With a couple of lessons learned from my efforts along the Canyon Lakes of
Lubbock this past year, I have decided to chase and photograph critters in
Hockley County (the county just west of Lubbock County) this year. Again,
I am setting ambitious goals: 50 species of butterfly, 5 species of
amphibian, 10 species of reptile, 200 species of bird, and 10 species of
mammal with 90% of the species identifiably photographed.
Hockley County is roughly 100% agriculture or oilfield but there are some
very interesting hotspots, generally near the few towns and one city in the
county. Sundown has a park/golf course/water treatment facility complex
and an incredibly well-planted school/cemetery complex - both warrant eBird
hotspot status, in my opinion. Smyer has a well publicized feedlot playa
just west of town. Levelland has a tree-rich city park, a tree-rich
college campus with decent butterfly gardens, and at least two good
playa-centered parks. Road birding can also be surprisingly good in the
county with abandoned homesteads, woodlots, and a plethora of playas
readily viewed and photographed from roadside. There is a particularly
good stretch of brushland and woodlots available along FM 597 in the
northwest corner of the county - with any luck and any weather this should
be a real hotspot.
Though rainfall amounts continued to be disappointing during the month and
I am still fearing a return to drought, April was pretty good for me,
especially with regards to shorebirds (making up for the somewhat poor
showing from migrant songbirds).
I made six fairly lengthy visits to the county - and one rarity chase when
Justin Bosler found a HUDSONIAN GODWIT - and racked up 21 species of
butterfly, 1 species of amphibian, 7 species of reptile, 128 species of
bird, and 9 species of mammal, bringing me up to 23 species of butterfly, 1
species of amphibian, 7 species of reptile, 140 species of bird, and 12
species of mammal in the county for 2016. This brings me 46%, 20%, 70%,
70%, and 120% of the way towards my goals with regards to taxa. Of the 183
species seen so far, I have identifiable photographs of 176, putting me at
96% for species photographed - closer than I ever got to the 90% goal
during my 2015 game. Taking shots, however long range, of every critter
seen, however common, seems to be a good strategy - and my efforts to date
have given me a pad for the difficult to photograph swallows and migrant
songbirds.
Without further ado, the list with *s for species that are new for the year
and (y)s for species photographed.
Common Checkered Skipper*(y)
Common Sootywings*(y)
Sachem*(y)
Black Swallowtail
Cabbage White*(y)
Checkered White
Orange Sulphur
Lyside Sulphur*(y)
Sleepy Orange*
Dainty Sulphur
Reakirt's Blue
Lupine Blue*(y)
Monarch*(y)
Variegated Fritillary
Gorgone Checkerspot*(y)
Phaon Crescent*(y)
Pearl Cresent*(y)
Mourning Cloak*
Red Admiral*
American Lady
Goatweed Leafwing*(y)
Red-eared Slider
Northern Earless Lizard*(y)
Six-lined Racerunner*(y)
Great Plains Skink*(y)
Coachwhip*
Gopher Snake*(y)
Common Kingsnake*(y)
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Scaled Quail
Northern Bobwhite(y)
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe*(y)
Brown Pelican*(y)
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret*(y)
Black-crowned Night Heron
White-faced Ibis*(y)
Mississippi Kite*(y)
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Swainson's Hawk*(y)
Broad-winged Hawk*(y)
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
American Golden Plover*(y)
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover*(y)
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper*(y)
Solitary Sandpiper*(y)
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Upland Sandpiper*(y)
Whimbrel*(y)
Long-billed Curlew*(y)
Hudsonian Godwit*(y)
Stilt Sandpiper*(y)
Baird's Sandpiper*(y)
Least Sandpiper*(y)
White-rumped Sandpiper*(y)
Semipalmated Sandpiper*(y)
Western Sandpiper*(y)
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope*(y)
Franklin's Gull*(y)
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Greater Roadrunner
Barn Owl
Great Horned Owl*(y)
Burrowing Owl
Red-naped Sapsucker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon*(y)
Say's Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher*(y)
Western Kingbird*(y)
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher*(y)
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Chihuahuan Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow*(y)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow*(y)
Cliff Swallow*
Barn Swallow*(y)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush*(y)
Hermit Thrush*(y)
American Robin
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Nashville Warbler*(y)
American Redstart*(y)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Wilson's Warbler*(y)
Green-tailed Towhee(y)
Cassin's Sparrow*(y)
Chipping Sparrow*(y)
Clay-colored Sparrow*(y)
Brewer's Sparrow*(y)
Vesper Sparrow
Lark Sparrow*(y)
Lark Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow*(y)
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal*
Blue Grosbeak*(y)
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird*(y)
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird*(y)
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bullock's Oriole*(y)
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Black-tailed Jackrabbit*(y)
Desert Cottontail
Black-tailed Prairie Dog
Spotted Ground Squirrel*(y)
Southern Plains Woodrat
Hispid Cotton Rat
White-footed Deermouse (prairie form)
House Mouse*(y)
Coyote
Anthony 'Fat Tony' Hewetson; Lubbock
