Richland Creek CBC Results

The flooded Trinity River tried to wash away our Christmas Bird Count this year. But, thanks to the resilience of the 16 people who participated, we managed to hardly miss a thing. With the North Unit of Richland Creek WMA completely shut down, we lost Region I-the Freestone Co section and Region II-the Navarro Co section. And most of the South Unit was underwater, which cut off almost half of Region III. We scrambled and asked birders to switch locations. Then a last minute illness caused a little more scramble at 4:30-6:00 am count morning. Thanks guys for helping with the quick fixes. We had folks from Athens, Cedar Creek Lake, Athens, Tyler, Palestine, Blooming Grove, Arlington, Austin, and Abilene help out this New Years Eve.

Richland Creek WMA closed til further notice

That’s the words we received from Matt Symmank, WMA’s biologist yesterday (Monday December 28th) morning. The CBC Thursday will continue, but parties that were in the North Unit are being reassigned to the “mainland”. All others planning on visiting the area, may want to rethink it. This one could take awhile. Take care. stay dry.

Dell.

More rain only means one thing

Richland Creek WMA was surprisingly opened Sunday when we drove by. This was after 5 inches of rain fell in the area the night before. But floodwaters are on their way. We were told by the “regional higher up” that by Tuesday Dec. 15th the Trinity River waters should be over the entrance to the North Unit. Currently the Main Gut between Cells 12 and 11 is flooded. Here’s a pic from the north side of Cell 12.

So this means that the Navarro Co. side is completely off limits. The Christmas Bird Count will still be on for the scheduled December 31st. Hopefully the waters will recede by then. Otherwise we’ll be having to figure out how to attack the circle differently.

Photo’s from the CBC

Richland Creek WMA Christmas Bird Count had some specialties. Darlene Moore got a few pics. The Black Scoter was originally found by Michael Stewart on December 25th. more pics below from Ed Wetzel. if you have more different pics from the CBC, let me know.

Black Scoter in cell 15

Richland Creek WMA (TXRC) CBC Results

Here are the results for the 2014. 13 participants.  131 species total.   27320 individual birds.
Thanks to all of you for your help and being flexible with our dealing with injuries, illnesses, locked gates and the weather. What a fine crew we had. Thanks again.

New Richland Creek WMA Christmas Bird Count pages

I set up new pages with detailed maps and tally sheets for the Christmas Bird Count coming up Sunday December 28th. The worksheets and tally page, and a page for each region. I, II, III, IV, V, and VI.

If anyone is interest in joining us, let me know.

Dell Little

dellel@sbcglobal.net

CBC Trial Run Last January

Bird list from trial run on Jan. 26, 2014

species                                                  totals

Gr. White-fronted Goose – 5
Snow Goose   – 520
Ross’s Goose  – 2
Canada Goose – 9
Wood Duck – 10
Gadwall – 3361
American Wigeon – 167
Mallard – 208
Blue-winged Teal – 9
Northern Shoveler – 2530
Northern Pintail – 4393
Green-winged Teal – 1843
Canvasback – 3

Richland Creek WMA Christmas Bird Count

The inaugural Richland Creek WMA Christmas Bird Count, will be held on Sunday, December 28th, 2014. The count straddles Freestone, Navarro, Anderson and Henderson Counties. We ran a preliminary count in late January 2014 with 17 participants, and had 114 sp. If you’re interested, email Dell Little at dellel@sbcglobal.net or D.D. Currie at ddbirder@sbcglobal.net. We can’t promise that you’ll be on the actual Richland Creek WMA all day. But there wiil likely be opportunities to get on the wetlands at some point during the day. Thanks.