Undercover Birding
My good birding friend Bob Friedrichs invited me at the last minute to go to Lubbock with him to find the elusive Lesser Prairie Chicken. Many birders have struck out looking for this bird and some have almost just written it off thinking they may never see one. Bob, however, found a way. But first we had to drive to Lubbock and on the way we stopped off at South Llano River State Park to look for Black-capped Vireo and Cassin's Finch. We found them both immediately with little effort for Texas Life Birds 422 and 423. And we ran into some great birding friends while we were there then it was off to Lubbock for a few hours of sleep.
The next morning we met in a parking lot in Lubbock to meet our Lesser Prairie Chicken source. In that parking lot I ran into another good birding friend Dennis Cooke who was there with another birder from the area and we all piled into our unnamed source's truck at 5:30 sharp to head out to a secret destination before daylight. These Chickens are a very sensitive species and to see them you kinda gotta know somebody, or know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. So basically when I post a bird on ebird it will show a point where the bird was seen. Not so with the Lesser Prairie Chicken. All you see is a 400 sq. km. grid with names of observers hidden. So location is crucial to keep hidden so these birds are not harassed or hunted or whatever. We all had to make sure our GPS tags were turned off on our cameras and our cell phones were turned off and given to the driver and waivers signed. By first light we were parked at the lek with windows down and 28 degree air blowing in. The Lesser Prairie Chickens graced us with a great show and we were gone in an hour satisfied and freezing cold for my Texas Life Bird 424.
On to the next adventure. Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We swung through New Mexico along the way and were there well after noon and at the visitor center we found Juniper Titmouse for Texas Life Bird 425. We hiked the rest of the day until well after dark and got one more new Texas bird that I have seen in Colorado before; Townsend's Solitaire for Texas Life Bird 426. We then set off to find a hotel and made it to bed by midnight for another few hours of sleep.
Our final adventure was on the west side of the Guads around the ag town of Dell City where we would look for a couple more lifers. We managed to find Sage Thrashers for Texas Life Bird 427.
The next morning we met in a parking lot in Lubbock to meet our Lesser Prairie Chicken source. In that parking lot I ran into another good birding friend Dennis Cooke who was there with another birder from the area and we all piled into our unnamed source's truck at 5:30 sharp to head out to a secret destination before daylight. These Chickens are a very sensitive species and to see them you kinda gotta know somebody, or know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. So basically when I post a bird on ebird it will show a point where the bird was seen. Not so with the Lesser Prairie Chicken. All you see is a 400 sq. km. grid with names of observers hidden. So location is crucial to keep hidden so these birds are not harassed or hunted or whatever. We all had to make sure our GPS tags were turned off on our cameras and our cell phones were turned off and given to the driver and waivers signed. By first light we were parked at the lek with windows down and 28 degree air blowing in. The Lesser Prairie Chickens graced us with a great show and we were gone in an hour satisfied and freezing cold for my Texas Life Bird 424.
On to the next adventure. Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We swung through New Mexico along the way and were there well after noon and at the visitor center we found Juniper Titmouse for Texas Life Bird 425. We hiked the rest of the day until well after dark and got one more new Texas bird that I have seen in Colorado before; Townsend's Solitaire for Texas Life Bird 426. We then set off to find a hotel and made it to bed by midnight for another few hours of sleep.
Our final adventure was on the west side of the Guads around the ag town of Dell City where we would look for a couple more lifers. We managed to find Sage Thrashers for Texas Life Bird 427.
Great trip. Thanks for taking it with me. And congratulations on the lifers!!!
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