May 3 Big Day Bird Count

Busy day, Big Day means we start early and bird all day, chalking up as many species around the county as we can. We've been away for the last 3 years and we've been looking forward to participating again. Our team included Carol B.

We met at Whataburger for breakfast and team assignments before heading out to find all the birds possible. Five teams this year scattered to out lying areas in the county. We drew Golden-eye Pond and Rose Acres, both city properties that Midnats have special permission to enter.

Golden-eye is located on Midland Draw and is part of the storm drainage system for the city. The entire draw is lined with trees from CR 90 that runs through the Tank Farm to the Fire Training Facility on Cloverdale Road.

When rain does come to this corner of the desert, Midland Draw becomes a raging river. Several persons have lost their lives through the years by not respecting the power of the flood waters.

Golden-eye is an abandoned caliche pit that benefits from the drainage pattern.

On previous Big Days and Christmas Counts, we have seen Common Golden-eye, hence the name, Pied-billed, Eared, and Horned Grebe, Cormorant - I've seen the surface completely covered with rafts of duck.

The lasting drought has the water level the lowest I have ever seen it in more than 25 years of birding here.
It may not survive the summer without an infusion soon.

The road into the property is a feral forest with the canopy sometimes filled with passerines, alas, this dry year fails to deliver the hoped for congregation.

The Midland Fire Department Training facility is next door, and the caliche roads have been added for running and fitness training. The City wanted to prevent Midnats from having access to the property, "liability concerns", but luckily we have a long time member and occasional board member with clout.


Golden-eye has a colorful history, too. One of our members still refers to the property as "Dead Dwarf Pond" due to the discovery of a homicide victim on the property back in the 1980s. Midnats have discovered some amazing birds here, too, like Black-billed Cuckoo.

Our next stop was Rose Acres, another city property and the former sewage ponds. Since construction of Timber Lakes farther to the southeast, these ponds are mostly dry, but 2 remain with some water. Our access is limited to just one walk-in area now, where we had been able to drive into the center of the property. The gate is chained and padlocked, but with permission card in pockets, we boldly scaled the fence and scoped out the first pond.

A rough estimate of 750 Wilson's Phalarope were busily engaged an a feeding frenzy, packing on the weight for an amazing migration of thousands of miles to the far north breeding grounds near the Arctic Circle. They were joined by 25 Black-necked Stilts. The Stilts will nest here, some on the islands formed by the black plastic pond liner that has created numerous bumps throughout the pond. Shoveler and Ruddy Duck were the only ones I could ID. Scanning the irrigated alfalfa fields failed to locate any curlew or upland sandpipers. A flock of 35 White-faced Ibis in full breeding plumage dropped out of the sky.

A survey of surrounding county roads produced additional species.

Actually, this picture was taken a day earlier on a scouting trip. I did hear the Scaled Quail calling, but they were probably resting in the shade on this day.

 This raptor presented a quandary, the light colors didn't seem to fit any of the usual suspects.

The only expected species this time of year are Red-tail and Swainson's

When he flew, I was unable to snag a photo, but we made several observations...

White at the base of the tail, some dark color on the sides of the neck, dark tips on the wings,

The overall whiteness of the bird led us to decide on Krider's, a ale morph of Red-tailed Hawk.

 This Horned Lark appeared to be teaching the youngster to forage and feed. The young one pursued the adult, which would relent and offer a small morsel.

The quizzical looks seemed to embody the frustration every parent has felt when faced with a difficult situation.














After a lunch break at Rosa's, (man, that iced tea was good!) we re-grouped and teams were assigned in town locations to cover. We opted for the cemeteries, knowing that Resthaven would have sprinkles going and the trees would provided essential shade for a 90 degree afternoon.

A funeral was in progress in the northern section, so we opted for the area near the old mausoleum where the sprinklers were going. The first bird to grab our attention was in the hedge just above the ground. First looks yielded a greened hue to the tail and back, but he stayed in the shadows. I finally caught a decent look to catch broken eye arcs, dark grey head and chest with yellow belly - MacGillivary's, my first of the year and the first on a long time. I turned away to mouth my ID and when I looked again the bird had disappeared form sight and was never located again. Chasing warblers high in the pecan trees, we ID'd both Mrytle and Audubon's Yellow-rumps. I caught a glimpse of a yellow warbler with a black cheek patch, but lost him when a Butter-butt chased him away.

An empid flycatcher appeared, we studied him carefully. Very short  primary projection, white chin, slightly dirty breast, faint eye-ring with slight bridge across bill. Looking at range maps, we decided to call this one a Willow Flycatcher.

Alvin discovered a family of Killdeer with 3 fuzzy babies.

A ground squirrel approached and the parent immediately took a defensive stance, head down rushing the intruder. The killdeer repeated the behavior two more times when the squirrel started in the direction of the family group.
Ground squirrels are known to be quite vicious and carnivorous. I'm sure the fluffy killdeer chicks would be a tasty morsel.







We also birded the north Resthaven location. It is not as well irrigated but it produced Scaled Quail and Canyon Towhee.

Fairview Cemetery is not irrigated at all, the grass is all brown and most of the trees and shrubs are dead or dying. The only inhabitants were grackles, starlings, pigeons, and dove.

We ended the day with 60 species, 1717 individuals, and 3 very hot and tired Midnats. All in all, a very satisfying day.