Joann Merritt's Essays

Remembering The Pits And Mulberry Lakes
February, 2005

Long-time Midnats will remember the regularly scheduled field trips of past years when we met at the Merritts to go to The Pits where we could reasonably expect to find 35 or so species. From October 1976 when the Osprey caught a big goldfish in a rain-filled caliche pit until December 1993 when the Clark’s Grebe chased small fish in Gallinule Pond 226 species of birds have been sighted in, on the edge of, or flying over The Pits. This total includes many rare or unusual species for Midland.

Some special remembrances of bird life in The Pits are of Rock Wrens in 1977 feeding their young which was a first breeding record for Midland, as was the Warbling Vireo’s nest and fledglings in 1992. Gene Grimes photographed a Green Heron nest containing large bluish-green eggs, striped young Pied-billed Grebes rode on their parent’s back and young Coots would swim and dive. I missed seeing the fuzzy red heads of the newly hatched chicks.

A Palm Warbler bobbed along the water’s edge for our 1981 Christmas Count, in 1983 the Purple Gallinule paraded on rocks in the bright sunshine of it’s now namesake Pond and the fall of 1985 produced Prairie and Prothonotary Warblers. Birding was still good in 1995 when Frances Williams wrote “The Pits and the Merritts were the hot spots of spring migration” and again in 1996 “The Warbler Willows yielded 7 species of warblers plus Warbling and Bell’s Vireos.” Two and a half years passed before another trip was made: “Meet at the Merritts and we may go to The Pits, Mulberry Lakes or just sit and watch Jesse’s Pond.” Since that time no field trips have been scheduled, the prolonged drought has destroyed this once marvelous birding place.

In 1993 when birding was still good in The Pits, Midnats gained access to I-20 Pond and we “migrated” there to establish trails and explore this new and exciting habitat. When it rains in northwest Midland the water first drains into I-20 Pond, thence to Mulberry Lakes and finally into The Pits which explains why it takes mighty big sustained rains to furnish this volume of water, and that hasn’t happened in many years. However, Rains of August 2003 caused I-20 Pond to overflow enough to put water in the deep pit at Mulberry Lakes, but without more rains that pit will soon be dry again. I-20 Pond continues to be the best birding spot as it gets the drainage water first.

P.S. A December 2004 update: This year’s fall rains have filled I-20, Mulberry Lakes and The Pits - could great birding again be the norm?