Difficulty: Easy (Birding from vehicles and the road but very hot by mid-morning. Drive time to flats area approximately one hour. Will include driving on gravel roads.)
This flat area of agricultural fields, mesquite bosques, pecan groves and desert scrub is rarely birded in the summer, but it can hold many surprises. Tropical Kingbirds should be fledging their young at this time, and we can expect to see them in the rows of pecan trees along the road. Raptors such as Black Vultures, Swainson’s Hawks, and Burrowing Owls and if we are lucky, an early Crested Caracara, are possible. Sludge ponds and flooded fields at this time of year have yielded a variety of shorebirds, waders and blackbirds, while swallows and flycatchers catch our attention in the air. It will be very hot by 10 am so put on sunblock, bring a water bottle and wear a hat. Limited to 8 participants.