Walburg BBS 2019-06-08

On Saturday morning, June 8 2019, I officially ran the USGS Walburg BBS route that I scouted on June 1. The route is made up of 50 survey points on 25 miles on back roads south of Granger Lake in eastern Williamson County. Weather was just about perfect for a survey, clear skies and almost no wind. The temperature was 67º when I started at 5:57 AM and 86º when I finished at 11:15 AM. This was the third time I've run this BBS and this might've been the best so far for some of the targeted grassland species. Of the 50 stops, Eastern Meadowlarks were heard singing at 8 stops, Lark Sparrows at 6 stops, and Dickcissel at 14 stops. A nice surprise were singing Horned Larks at 2 stops. (See the attached audio observations.) Northern Bobwhite was only recorded at 2 stops.

I recorded a species new to this survey route (which started in 1980). At stop 5 I heard a Wild Turkey. And it sure was fun hearing Great Horned Owls at the first 5 stops.

This was the first time I've run the survey on a Saturday morning instead of Sunday. Car traffic was not too different. 6 or 7 stops are difficult (and a little scary) because of the amount of highway-speed traffic, but all in all this route is on quiet roads and is pretty fun to do. The orange reflective vest that USGS sent me seems to be performing its intended dual purpose to improve safety and lend an air of authority to my presence. No one stopped to ask what I was doing!

Photos from this survey are on Flickr here.

Here are two photos, from the first stop and the last:

Posted on Ιούνιος 23, 2019 0311 ΜΜ by mikaelb