This report is a bit belated, but I have been busy. I spent the afternoon of 25 May through the morning of 2 June at The Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve in Jeff Davis County. The primary purpose of my visit was to assess the effects of the Rockhouse and Tejano Canyon fires in 2011 and the Livermore Complex fires of this spring (27,500 acres of our 33,000 acre preserve has burned over the last year), as well as the effects of the on-going drought, on the birds. If I get my act together, I hope to put something together about this for the next Texas Birds Annual, so I won't go into a lot of details here. Suffice it to say that the fires definitely had a significant impact on the habitat, but by far not all was lost. The mountains persist and there are still some green pines on the slopes. Fire effects were varied (everything from very light to severe burn intensities) and while there were some negative fire effects there has also been a lot of positive fire effects in terms of thinning out the forest and reducing fuels. Some signs of recovery (grass, forb, and shrub growth) are already visible, thanks in part to the limited rain the area received last fall and some decent spring rain this year. With a good monsoon season, recovery may really take off. However, I think it will take a bit longer to fully assess the impacts of the fires and drought on the pines and there may also be a time lag in bird response to changes in the habitat. So, assessing the effects of the fire will be an on-going process. Again, there is limited access to much of the Davis Mountains Preserve for the general public. However, we do have several open days/weekends on the calendar (July 13-15, August 17-19, October 20, December 1 and 8) when the public can hike our trails and access some of the canyons and higher elevelation habitats. The Madera Canyon hiking trail accessible from the Lawrence E. Wood Picnic area is open year-round during daylight hours, though. My list for the week I was on the preserve: 'Mexican' Mallard 2,a pair, off and on at various tanks (mere puddles really) from 5/28 through 6/2 Montezuma Quail 2, a pair, in lower Wolf Den Canyon (a heavily burned area) on 5/29 Wild Turkey 5-39/day Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1 on 5/29 Cooper's Hawk 1 on 6/1 Common Black-hawk 0-1/day (based on plumage characteristics, at least 3 individuals present including a juvenile) Zone-tailed Hawk 0-3/day (including a pair at a historical nest site) Red-tailed Hawk 1-3/day Golden Eagle 1 on 5/26 American Kestrel 0-2/day (seen most days; pair nesting in a cavity in a telephone pole near the cabins) Peregrine Falcon 2, a pair, on 5/27 (at potential nest site) Band-tailed Pigeon 2 heard on 5/28, 1 heard on 5/29; both in the high country White-winged Dove 0-11/day Mourning Dove 3-21/day Western Screech-owl 1 heard on 5/27; 6 seen/heard on 6/1 (lots in Madera Canyon if you take the time to owl) Common Nighthawk 0-6/day (sporadic) Common Poorwill 0-3/day (heard most nights/mornings) Mexican Whip-poor-will 1 seen/heard/photographed above Tobe Spring on 5/28, 6 heard on 6/1 in upper Madera Canyon White-throated Swift 0-28/day (mostly seen heard in upper elevations) Magnificent Hummingbird 1 male Pine Peak Spring on 5/27 Black-chinned Hummingbird 0-1/day (a few females seen here and there) Broad-tailed Hummingbird 0-6/day (only a few males seen; several females on nests) Acorn Woodpecker 2-11/day Ladder-backed Woodpecker 0-7/day Northern Flicker 0-4/day Olive-sided Flycatcher 0-2 day (including 1 as late as 6/1) Western Wood-pewee 0-25/day (only day I didn't have this species was on the afternoon of the 25th when I first arrived) Gray Flycatcher 0-10/day (seen most days) Dusky Flycatcher 1 on 5/29 (below Mount Livermore in potential breeding habitat; a few others, migrants and potential breeders) reported by other surveyrs Cordilleran Flycatcher 0-4/day BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER 1 on 6/1 on territory at a traditional site in lower Wolf Den Canyon (present since 5/11), a 2nd individual was reported 400 m further up canyon (a very hot backing fire went through Wolf Den Canyon so it is hard to imagine these birds having much success there, but I guess we'll see) Empidonax sp. 0-2/day Say's Phoebe 1-3/day Dusky-capped Flycatcher 2 Pine Peak Spring on 5/27, 1 possibly heard on the upper slopes of Right Hand Canyon on 5/27, 1 Tobe Canyon on 5/28 (reports of several others heard in higher elevation habitat) Ash-throated Flycatcher 2-39/day Cassin's Kingbird 2-12/day Plumbeous Vireo 0-11/day (including a pair with nestling on Pine Peak) Hutton's Vireo 0-6/day Warbling Vireo 0-3/day (migrants and locally breeding birds) Stellar's Jay 0-/day (higher elevations) Western Scrub-jay 2-11/day Common Raven 2-34/day (several big groups playing in the thermals created by the ridges and mountains) Violet-green Swallow 0-9/day Barn Swallow 0-3/day Mountain Chickadee 0-8/day Black-crested Titmouse 0-25/day (only day I didn't have this species was when I first arrived on the afternoon of the 25th) Bushtit 0-9/day (seen all but one day) White-breasted Nuthatch 0-11/day (seen all but one day) Rock Wren 2 on 5/29, 1 on 6/1 Canyon Wren 0-3/day Bewick's Wren 1-33/day House Wren 1 singing on territory above Tobe Spring on 5/28 Western Bluebird 0-6/day Swainson's Thrush 1 on 5/29 Hermit Thrush 1 on 5/28 and 1 on 5/31 (low density breeder in higher elevations) American Robin 1 on 5/29 Northern Mockingbird 0-1/day (sporadic) Phainopepla 1 male on 5/31 COLIMA WARBLER 1 on 5/26 on Pine Peak (yes, I am aware of the hybrid Colima-Virginia's in the Davis Mountains and a few were seen by others during the period, but the Colima and Virginia's I saw and report here looked fairly pure) Virginia's Warbler 1 on 5/26 on Pine Peak MacGillivray's Warbler 1 above Tobe Spring on 5/28, likely breeding 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler 0-4/day; breeding likely below Mount Livermore and Pine Peak Grace's Warbler 0-16/day RED-FACED WARBLER 1 female above Tobe Spring foraging in Gambel Oak on 5/28 Spotted Towhee 0-25/day Rufous-crowned Sparrow 2-24/day Canyon Towhee 0-2/day Chipping Sparrow 3-30/day Black-chinned Sparrow 0-3/day Lark Sparrow 0-3/day Hepatic Tanager 1-42/day Western Tanager 0-5/day (observed most days) Black-headed Grosbeak 0-16/day (observed most days) Blue Grosbeak 1-11/day 'Lilian's' Eastern Meadowlark 0-2/day Bronzed Cowbird 1 male on 6/2 Brown-headed Cowbird 0-5/day Scott's Oriole 0-2/day House Finch 0-5/day Lesser Goldfinch 0-4/day Richard Kostecke, Ph.D. The Nature Conservancy 318 Congress Ave., Austin, Texas 78701 Email: rkost73@xxxxxxxxx or rkostecke@xxxxxxx