[texbirds] Belated west Texas trip report (from May 19 - 25, 2014)
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- Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 18:31:25 -0400 (EDT)
Hi Texbirders,
I did a swing out to the transPecos last week for 4 mornings of Breeding Bird
Surveys and a couple of days and several afternoons of recreational birding. I
spent most of my birding time in the Davis Mountains (Jeff Davis County) and
the Marathon Grasslands in Brewster County, but I did stop a couple of places
along the way and was able to spend an afternoon and a morning with my friend
Carolyn Ohl Johnson at her habitat in the Christmas Mountains. In general, most
of the trans-Pecos continues to suffer from ongoing drought. On my way out of
Austin, I drove through Lampasas and San Saba Counties, which seem to be in
pretty good shape, but everything west of there is pretty darned dry. The good
news is that on Sunday May 25, I drove back to Austin through some heavy rains
which started in eastern Pecos County (see
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14302764555/> for an image of some
of the flooding in Alley Oop Park in Iraan, Tx), and continued intermittently
through parts of Crockett, Menard, Mason and even Llano Counties. Numbers of
Cassin's Sparrows in the grasslands on either side of Marathon, Tx seem to be
way down below usual levels for this time of year, and this recent round of
rain did not drop much if any precip on those areas. The areas burned by the
Davis Mtns fire of 2 (3?) years ago are still recovering, and everybody needs
more rain. Forested areas in the Nature Conservancy's Davis Mtns Preserve still
seem to be losing more trees, i.e. some trees that appeared a year ago to have
possibly survived the fire and drought have since succumbed. As a result, the
Buff-breasted Flycatchers no longer appear to be breeding in several areas
where they were regular in the summer in years past.
There were, however, some birding highlights. I will review some of them.
Monday morning May 19, I drove from Austin to San Saba where Jimma Byrd and I
were able to relocate a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers which David Sarkozi had
reported from Riesen Park a few days earlier. Golden-fronted Woodpecker is the
predominant Melanerpes woodpecker throughout most of San Saba County, but
Red-bellies do occasionally appear in small numbers, primarily along the major
river corridors. This park is along the San Saba River. I was able to obtain a
couple of decent photos of the male RBWO, showing his white central tail
feathers with broad, black horizontal bars. One of the photos
(<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14122759138/>) shows the bird with
a huge caterpillar of some kind. If any of you bug people can identify this
caterpillar, I'd be interested to know what it is. I hope this bird harvested
that caterpillar for himself, because I can't imagine that a young woodpecker
would do anything but choke and expire if that thing got stuffed into its
throat.
I was also pleased to photograph in San Saba an adult Red-tailed Hawk that
appears to be a good candidate for pure borealis ("Eastern" Red-tailed Hawk).
See <https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14100179678/in/photostream/>.
Most of the RTHA's I see in central Texas now are Fuertes' or some combination
of Eastern x Fuertes.
Jimma and I also found an adult Couch's Kingbird at Mill Pond Park in the town
of San Saba (see
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14100179678/in/photostream/>).
These birds were first found nesting in the county at this location 5 summers
ago, and appear to be regular here in summer since then.
I then spent two days doing bird surveys in the Davis Mountains with my buddy
Randy Pinkston and several Texas Nature Conservancy staff. Despite the
lingering effects of the devastation of the big fire 3 years ago, we did have a
number of highlights, including a late Townsend's Solitaire
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14311723771/>. There were lots of
Gray Flycatchers on territory, and many White-breasted Nuthatches, House Wrens
and Spotted Towhees. A real treat for me, though, was the opportunity to hike
up to the highest accessible ridge on Mt Livermore, the highest peak in the
Davis Mountains. I had forged ahead of Randy, Rick and Jacqui in hopes of
reaching the highest ridge with plenty of good late-afternoon light left for
possible raptor photos. I stopped to look through and small flock of migrant
warblers working the scrubby oak trees there, and just about the time that
Randy caught up with me, I found a female Hermit Warbler, which was a new state
bird for me. Randy was also able to get the bird, and I was able to get a
couple of identifiable photos, e.g.
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14295408253/>.
Just a few minutes after Randy and I were high-fiving over the Hermit Warbler,
an adult Zone-tailed Hawk that we'd been keeping an eye on passed just 30
meters or so to one side of us, offering a splendid photo op. I was very
pleased with a couple of the pix that I got of that bird, and it made the whole
hike seem worthwhile
(<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14239777694/>). But we weren't
done!
Before it got dark, we found several singing Green-tailed Towhees. This is one
of my favorite sparrow songs, and I'm sorry I didn't think to get a recording
on my iPhone. I took a few photos, but none are worth writing home about. Then
we heard and briefly saw a singing Dusky Flycatcher. This is one of the few,
perhaps the only place, where they breed in Texas, although suitable habitat
may exist for them at high elevations in the Guadalupe Mtns, where Green-tailed
Towhees also breed in high-elevation scrub. Jacqui found and photographed a
singing Black-chinned Sparrow just a few meters from where Randy and I had been
watching the GTTO's. It's probably just as well that I missed that particular
BCSP, as I don't know if I could have handled any more joy than was
experiencing at the moment.
On Wednesday evening, May 21, I left the Davis Mtns and drove west toward El
Paso. I stopped briefly at Sierra Blanca, and picked up some lingering American
Goldfinches, at least one of which I photographed. Unclear to me how unusual it
is to have them at this relatively low elevation in late May. I made it to
McNary Reservoir before dark. The reservoir is still pretty full from all the
rain they had last fall, so there is very little shorebird habitat present.
There were a good number of ducks still present, and quite a few Bank Swallows.
It was also a great place to study Lesser Nighthawks, which were out in force
as the sun set, and would fly up the side of the reservoir. I got a few photos,
e.g. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14313440342/>.
Thursday May 22, after spending a night in a motel near Fort Bliss that I
cannot recommend, I did a loop tour starting at El Paso Memorial Park, then
heading north and then west to Franklin Mountain State Park, then south on the
west side of the Franklin Mountains to Crossroads Pond and Keystone Heritage
Park, then east to Arroyo Park and then Ascarate Park. I finished up at Ascarte
Park, which has a lake with lots of water, about 4:30, so I was able to avoid
some of the rush hour traffic as I headed east from there back to Brewster
County. I really enjoyed Memorial Park, which is on a hillside away from the
interstate, nestled in a neighborhood of nice homes. I found several late
migrants there including a singing male Black-throated Gray Warbler (no photos,
unfortunately). There were also several pairs of American Robins here, and at
least one spot-breasted young. Then over to Franklin Mountains SP, which is
huge and somewhat daunting to the uninitiated. I hiked up to West Cottonwood
Spring, which is quite steep, and is the longest 0.8 miles that I have ever
hiked. Fortunately, there was a bit of high cloud cover from the advancing
Pacific front which dropped rain east of the Davis Mountains 2 days later, and
the temp did not get much above the high 80's while I was there. I did get both
Scaled and Gambel's Quail in the state park, and a couple of Scott's Orioles,
and a ton of White-winged Dove, and a singing Rufous-crowned Sparrow and a
fly-by White-throated Swift. Both of the latter were hoped for species in this
quasi-montaine location. The best bird, though, was an adult Steller's Jay that
came in briefly to the water at the spring. I got a couple of hopelessly dark
photos of the bird that may be identifiable, but I'm not gonna waste space with
them on my Flickr page.
I left FMSP late morning and headed down toward Crossroads Pond, which I did
find, but it was almost dry. It had a few BN Stilt and at least one American
Avocet, and I did see an adult Mississippi Kite soaring briefly over the big
trees in the neighborhood south (west?) of there, but I decided to check out
Keystone Heritage Park, which is just a bit further east on Doniphan Rd, and
I'm very glad I did. They have water there, so they also have a few birds. The
big treat for me was nesting American Avocets. I was able to get some very nice
photos of adult Avocets.
See e.g. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14278449425/>.
I spoke with an engaging young man at Keystone Heritage, Michael Gaglio, who is
the biologist in charge of managing the park in concert with High Desert Native
Plants. He seems interested in birders, and said to contact him if a field trip
is planned. This site would make a good field trip location except that there
is not much to screen approaching birders from view of the birds, so a large
group might scare birds off before they could be observed well. There is a tiny
observation blind (a Boy Scout project I was told), but it was barely large
enough for just me, so it wouldn't work for a group of any size.
From Keystone Heritage Park I headed east, and stopped briefly by Arroyo Park,
which is mostly desert scrub habitat, and was not of that much interest to me
at the time. My final destination on the El Paso Loop was Ascarate Park, which
features a golf course and a large lake with lots of water. Not much shorebird
habitat there, but it would clearly be great for ducks and grebes in the
winter. Ascarate Park is on the east side of El Paso, about 20 minutes east of
Keystone Heritage Park. I did not stop in at Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, because
despite the "wetlands" in the name, I think they still do not have any water
there. I'm told that may change soon, but that's what I heard last summer.
After doing the first of two Brewster County surveys on Friday morning, I
headed down to the Christmas Mountains in southern Brewster. Highlights there
were numerous, but included of course male and female Lucifer Hummingbirds (see
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14264596406/>) and a fantastic
array of Passerina buntings, of which I was able to get a few nice photos (see
e.g. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14308074573/>). Many thanks to
Carolyn for her hospitality toward both birds and birders.
I returned to Alpine to find a huge fire-breathing chicken at La Loma Inn
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14279619706/>.
The rains mostly missed Alpine and Marathon, regrettably. On my final BBS route
Sunday morning, I got a nice photo of a singing Lilian's (Eastern) Meadowlark
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/42374055@N06/14295497225/> and saw more
Loggerhead Shrikes in one morning than I can ever recall in that area in spring
or summer.
I then met up with Randy Pinkston on Hwy 385 north of Marathon and we
caravanned home through Fort Stockton, the flood in Iraan, dared not risk a
flooded caliche road into the ponds in Eldorado. But we did find a silent
(probably Eastern) Wood-Pewee, the aforementioned bedraggled GH Owl, and an
agitated female American Kestrel at the courthouse. Randy had seen a male
kestrel a few minutes earlier, so there must be a pair there. If so, this would
probably be at the south / eastern edge of their "normal" breeding range. Randy
and I then stopped in at Menard to try for late, storm-tossed migrants, but
found only regular breeding birds. I headed on home, hoping for more rain (and
got some the next day or so).
I hope the rest of west Texas gets rain soon.
It was a good trip. An annotated bird list is appended below.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
Birdlist for May 19 - 25, 2014
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck - 2 - San Saba
Canada Goose - 2 - Ascarate Park, El Paso, probably domestiques
Wood Duck - 2 - El Paso
Gadwall - 2 - 1 Eldorado, 1 Tornillo Res (El Paso Co.)
Mallard - McNary, Tornillo
Blue-winged Teal - McNary, Tornillo
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal - McNary, Tornillo
Ring-necked Duck - 1 - drake on pond in Davis Mtns
Ruddy Duck - multiple locations
Wild Turkey - 5 - or more, Davis Mtns
Scaled Quail - 25 - 1 on Hwy 118, Jeff Davis Co., then a bunch of them at CMO
and other locations in Brewster
Gambel's Quail - 5 - 3 counties (Culberson, Hudspeth & EP)
Pied-billed Grebe - multiple loc's
Eared Grebe - McNary (Hudspeth Co)
Western Grebe - 5 - Tornillo only
Clark's Grebe - 5 - MacNary & Tornillo
Neotropic Cormorant - 15 - McNary
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
White-faced Ibis - 1 - Adult, Eldorado.
Black Vulture - 9 - None west of Menard, although they do occur sometimes in
Eldorado.
Turkey Vulture - 50 - probably in every county I drove through during daylight
hours
Mississippi Kite - 1 - El Paso
Cooper's Hawk - 1 - Davis Mtns
Swainson's Hawk - a few
Zone-tailed Hawk - 2 - Davis Mtns
Red-tailed Hawk
Golden Eagle - 1 - Davis Mtns
Crested Caracara - 1 - Hwy 183, Lampasas Co.
American Kestrel - 6 - 2 adults and 2 young, CMO, then an adult male and female
at courthouse in Eldorado.
American Coot - McNary and EP Co.
Killdeer - a few
Black-necked Stilt - Hudspeth & EP Counties
American Avocet - on nests, Hudspeth Co. and Keystone Heritage Park, EP Co.
Spotted Sandpiper - a few
Long-billed Curlew - 1 - Flooded field near McNary
Wilson's Phalarope - Eldorado, McNary
Rock Pigeon - in most towns / cities
Eurasian Collared-Dove - a few
White-winged Dove - 250 - probably more, multiple locations
Mourning Dove - 200 - perhaps more, multiple locations
Inca Dove - at least one pair
Western Screech-Owl - 2 - Davis Mtns
Great Horned Owl - 1 - Bedraggled adult seeking shelter from rain in pecan
trees at Schleicher County courthouse
Burrowing Owl - 1 - Marathon Grasslands
Long-eared Owl
Lesser Nighthawk - 50 - or more, Hudspeth & EP Co's, and a few in Valentine in
Jeff Davis Co.
Common Nighthawk - 20 - Jeff Davis and Brewster Co's
Common Poorwill - 2 - JD and Brewster
Whip-poor-will - 1 - Mexican, Davis Mtns
White-collared Swift - 20 - Davis Mtns
Lucifer Hummingbird - 4 - At least two males and at least two femals. Photos.
Black-chinned Hummingbird - 10 - At least one male
Acorn Woodpecker - 1 - Davis Mtns
Golden-fronted Woodpecker - 1 - in Iraan, Tx, one of the few places west of the
Pecos River where this species occurs regularly. And saw / heard at parks in
San Saba and Menard along the way.
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2 - Pair photographed in Riesen Park, San Saba.
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - several
Northern Flicker - 2 - At least two heard in Davis Mtns
Olive-sided Flycatcher - 8 - Davis Mtns
Western Wood-Pewee - lots
Gray Flycatcher - 12 - or more; the default summer Empid at mid elevations in
the Davis Mtns.
Dusky Flycatcher - 3 - Two seen and heard singing on territory at high
elevation near peak of Mt Livermore in Davis Mtns. Another bird heard singing
in El Paso Memorial Park (would be a migrant in that location).
Black Phoebe - 1 - McNary.
Say's Phoebe - a few
Vermilion Flycatcher - several
Ash-throated Flycatcher - 20 - seen and heard in multiple locations
Brown-crested Flycatcher - 1 - heard, Christmas Mtn Oasis
Couch's Kingbird - 1 - Adult seen and heard giving diagnostic "breer" call at
Mill Pond Park in San Saba. Photographed.
Cassin's Kingbird - multiple locations
Western Kingbird - many
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - a few in Marathon grasslands, where they breed
regularly. This species is not common in most other locations in the
trans-Pecos.
Loggerhead Shrike - 6 - More shrikes in Marathon Grasslands than I have ever
witnessed there in late spring or early summer.
White-eyed Vireo - a few - San Saba and Menard.
Bell's Vireo - 1 - at least one singing, CMO
Yellow-throated Vireo - 1 - Menard
Plumbeous Vireo - 12
Hutton's Vireo - 1 - Davis Mtns
Warbling Vireo - several
Red-eyed Vireo - 2 - Menard
Steller's Jay - 2 - Adult came to Cottonwood Spring in Franklin Mtns; also had
2 birds in Davis Mtns.
Western Scrub-Jay - 3 - a few at lower elevations in Davis Mtns.
Common Raven - Many. All the ravens I heard or saw well on this trip appeared
to be CORA, but I can't rule out the possibility of some of the more distant
birds being CHRA.
Horned Lark - 1 - Marathon Grasslands
Purple Martin - 1 - Eldorado
Violet-green Swallow - 12 - Higher elevations in Davis Mtns
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 8 - 1 in Menard, then several in El Paso.
Bank Swallow - 25 - McNary
Cliff Swallow - a few
Cave Swallow - lots
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee - San Saba
Mountain Chickadee - 1 - Davis Mtns
Black-crested Titmouse - quite a few
Verdin - a few, mostly at low elevation in Brewster Co.
Bushtit - a few in Davis Mtns
White-breasted Nuthatch - 9 - Good numbers in Davis Mtns
Cactus Wren - a few
Canyon Wren - several
Bewick's Wren - quite a few
House Wren - several singing birds, Davis Mtns (they nest at high elevation
here)
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 5 - San Saba, Menard
Western Bluebird - 8 - Davis Mtns
Townsend's Solitaire - 1 - Surprise - a late migrant in the Davis Mtns.
Hermit Thrush - 1 - Davis Mtns
American Robin - 8 - El Paso Memorial Park
Northern Mockingbird - 100 - or more
Curve-billed Thrasher - a few
European Starling
Virginia's Warbler - 2 - Davis Mtns
Yellow Warbler - 1 - Davis Mtns
Yellow-rumped Warbler - quite a few still moving through
Black-throated Gray Warbler - 1 - Adult male singing while foraging in trees at
El Paso Memorial Park.
Townsend's Warbler - 1 - Davis
Hermit Warbler - 1 - Female, photographed near peak of Mt Livermore, foraging
in oaks with other warblers.
Grace's Warbler - a few
MacGillivray's Warbler - 2 - 1 in Davis Mtns, 1 at EP Memorial Park
Common Yellowthroat - McNary
Wilson's Warbler - several
Yellow-breasted Chat - 3 - In brushy draws in Marathon Grasslands
Hepatic Tanager - 15 - or more, Davis Mtns
Summer Tanager - 2 - San Saba, Menard
Western Tanager
Green-tailed Towhee - 2 - At least two males singing on territory near peak of
Mt Livermore, Davis Mtns.
Spotted Towhee - 15 - or more, on territory in Davis Mtns.
Canyon Towhee - 6 - or more
Cassin's Sparrow - Numbers down this year, probably from drought and fire
Rufous-crowned Sparrow - a few
Chipping Sparrow - 12 - or more, on territory in Davis Mtns
Black-chinned Sparrow - 2 - Davis Mtns
Lark Sparrow - 20 - Multiple locations, Brewster and Jeff Davis Co
Black-throated Sparrow - 12 - scattered locations
Grasshopper Sparrow - 1
White-crowned Sparrow - 4 - Sierra Blanca and McNary
Northern Cardinal - San Saba and Menard
Pyrrhuloxia - 2 - at least one of each gender
Black-headed Grosbeak - 22 - Many in Davis Mtns
Blue Grosbeak - 30 - probably more
Varied Bunting - 2 - at least one of each gender
Painted Bunting - 2 - at least one of each gender
Red-winged Blackbird - a few
Eastern Meadowlark - Lilian's, many singing in Marathon Grasslands.
Common Grackle - 2 - Menard
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird - 1 - Iraan (Pecos Co.)
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Orchard Oriole - a few near Marathon
Bullock's Oriole - a few
Scott's Oriole - 1 - heard singing
House Finch - 8 - or more
Lesser Goldfinch - several locations
American Goldfinch - 6 - Several photographed in Sierra Blanca (Hudspeth Co.)
One seen and photo'd at CMO. White undertail coverts, pale bill and legs, first
detected by its "perchicory" call.
House Sparrow
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