The photos and content on this site are copyrighted and may not be used without the creator's permission.
Rarities
Every birder is interested in seeing birds that are rare for the area. From time to time, we will post sightings of rare birds seen in the Texas Panhandle on this page so that club members can locate and see the rare bird.
In general, we will only post here those birds that are rare (very uncommon to ever be seen in our area) rather than those that are just being seen out of season. eBird does not distinguish those two categories, but we will for purposes of brevity.
Trumpeter Swans
Gray County hosted another rariety beginning around Christmas 2024. A pair of immature swans found a pleasant playa off a county road east of Pampa and floated around just out of good camera range (of course). The swans were Trumpeter Swans, based on the v-shaped foreheads and long, sloped heads straight into their black bills. But distinguishing Trumpeter Swans from Tundra Swans, both of which are rare in our area, is difficult. The swans were located at the intersection of County Road E and County Road 13 in Gray County for at least two weeks.
Whooping Cranes
For 18 days in the fall of 2024, two Whooping Cranes visited a playa lake in Gray County, just east of Pampa. They were last seen on October 29, 2024.
Whooping Cranes have never been reported before in Gray County and rarely show up in the Texas Panhandle. Whooping Cranes are the tallest bird in North America and one of the rarest. Only about 700 birds remain in the wild. These birds were probably migrating down to their wintering habitat along the Texas Gulf Coast, although they went about 200 miles west of their normal migration route.
