McCown's Longspurs in Eastern Ellis Co

[Ted]

Hi all,
I found 27 McCown's Longspurs in far eastern Ellis County this morning. The birds were on a sod farm on Cutoff Road, about 10 miles NE of the city of Ennis. Taking Hwy 34 NE out of Ennis, Cutoff road is the last road you can turn right onto before crossing over the Trinity River and into Kaufman County. (It is a gravel road but there is a street sign.) After making the right turn onto Cutoff road you'll go over an old bridge and you'll see a house on your right. The birds were a couple of hundred feet past the house on the right hand side. (Cutoff Road is a wide road that gets very little traffic.) The birds were only 100 feet or so away from the road but a scope is still essential. I watched and studied the birds for about 30 minutes in which they made several short flights but were mostly feeding. There are also Horned Larks and lots of Am. Pipits. I am pretty sure all 27 birds were McCown's.
Cutoff road has some nice thickets and I had some flyover Snow Geese and a Dickcissel. Also on FM 85 just barely inside the Ellis County line I had more flyover Snow Geese and a Caracara. Horned Grebes were in at Lake Bardwell and Padera Lake outside Midlothian. Padera Lake also had an adult Bald Eagle in the big tree. The tree is between Hwy 287 and the lake, just NW of Midlothian and is easily visible from the highway or better yet the shoulder of the road.
On a personal note, McCown's Longspur was #200 for the year for me in Ellis County. Horned Grebe was #201. Good to be over the hump before the holidays.

Ted Drozdowski
Midlothian

[pchannell]

Congratulations, Ted! Way to fly!

[myandell]

My brother, Ben, his wife, Mary, Glynda, my wife, and I followed the directions and saw several McCown's Longspurs, and three Lapland Longspurs, and three White Ibis. Snipe, Dowitchers, Merlin, Yellowlegs, Horned Larks, and a few species of ducks were in the same area. We had great looks at all of the birds, except the Dowitchers. We took several pictures of the longspurs.

[Ted]

After dipping on the Short-eared Owl, Common Mergs, and Western Grebe at Joe Pool, I went back to the cut-off road sod farm in extreme eastern Ellis County to look for longspurs. I found about 12 Laplands and 9 McCown's Longspurs. (Lapland was Ellis County #202 for the year.) A few of the birds were nicely marked and not too drab looking. There is alot of standing water and so also had Wilson's Snipe, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Greater Yellowlegs, along with lots of Savannah Sparrows, Horned Larks, Pipits, and tons of Killdeer. As in my last visit the birds were relatively close to the road. A scope is still essential but the birds on both trips were never too far away. This location is not exactly close to the Metroplex, but may be worth the trip if you want to see longspurs. From there I headed to Lake Bardwell which has received some water and has changed dramatically. Lake Bardwell is still very low and the mud is horrendous on the Waxahachie Creek Park side. Best birding and much less mud is from the Cooke Road entrance. The light is bad in the afternoon but you can walk east and west and change the light. Lots of ducks but not alot of variety. Still, lots of birds here. Shorebirds included Least Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, Killdeer and two lingering American Avocets. Also a Snowy Egret and as I was leaving 78 Greater White-fronted Geese circling overhead but not landing. The geese were Ellis County #203 for the year and probably my last new species for the year.