playa birds

ifteen million birds annually migrate through these playas in the fall and spring on their way to and from wintering habitat on the Gulf Coast and farther south.* Ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes also use these playas as stop-overs.

Lubbock is at the southeastern edge of the Bird Conservation Region No.18--the Shortgrass Prairie

North American Bird Conservation Initiative NABCI is dedicated to promoting and advancing
integrated bird conservation in North America.Integrated bird conservation is about conserving birds:
Across geopolitical boundaries, Across taxonomic groupsAcross landscapes. It's about people working together
to secure the future for North America's wild birds. In addition to information about NABCI and its programs this site also offers conservation plans, stories from the field, bird info and data.

The Shortgrass Prairie lies in the rainshadow of the Rocky Mountains, where arid conditions greatly limit the stature and diversity of vegetation. Some of the continent’s highest priority birds breed in this area, including the Mountain Plover, McCown’s Longspur, Long-billed Curlew, Ferruginous Hawk, Burrowing Owl, and Lesser Prairie-Chicken. Reasons for the precarious status of these birds are poorly understood but could involve a reduction in the diversity of grazing pressure as bison and prairie dogs have largely been replaced by cattle. For migrants, it is possible that conditions on wintering grounds could also be having a negative impact. Numerous rivers, such as the Platte, drain out of the Rocky Mountains through this region toward the Mississippi Valley. These rivers created broad, braided, and treeless wetlands that are heavily used by migrating waterfowl, shorebirds, and cranes. Hydrological simplification has resulted in the invasion of trees and shrubs that support breeding eastern riparian birds, but otherwise greatly reduce the value of the areas as wetlands. The Playa Lakes area in the southern portion of this region consists of numerous shallow wetlands that support many wintering ducks, migrant shorebirds, and some important breeding species, such as the Snowy Plover. (From the North American Brid Conservation Initiative web site: www.nabci-us.org)