   On to dinner that evening and the La Kiva Bar and Grill.... I can't
adequately describe the quirky eclectic-ness of this place. Look at pictures
online and by all means visit it if you are down Terlingua way. It is an
earthen covered dark cave like place that you have to go down a dozen or so
steps to get to surrounded by a large caliche parking lot. It looked like
mostly locals there and most were at the bar. The menu was Burgers and personal
Pizzas. The buns and pizza crust are handmade in house and the food was very
good.   Struck up a conversation with the waitress about how long this
place had been there. She told us it had been around for years but that it was
closed for a while. She said it had gotten pretty run down and they did a lot
of refurbishing to get it reopened a few months back. Once we got home I
discovered the rest of the story. The bar was closed and sold after the former
owner had been beaten to death in the parking lot late one night. The owner was
an icon of the town and his buddy was accused of the crime.... the whole trial
and such was featured in the Nat Geo channel series Badlands, Texas. I think
the series was originally just going to focus on the quirky people of the area,
They even interviewed the bar owner before the murder happened and use those
interviews in the show. The murder took over the series focus but it still
covers the areas characters pretty well. I have been watching it on youtube.Â
  We left La Kiva after dark with the plan of heading back into the park to
cruise for herps and listen for Elf Owls.I checked the gas gauge and had half a
tank which I figured would be plenty for us... Always keep an eye on that gas
level down there! Beth declared she really wanted to go back down to Rio Grande
village...a fifty mile drive! so I turned back for fill up. After calculating
the hour drive there and back and a couple hours of searching I came up with an
answer of 2am. My lack of a siesta because of the tire rotation fiasco forced
me to opt out and go back to our room to sleep as the girls went on their
adventure back to Rio Grande (of course I got little sleep from worrying until
they got back a little after 2.)Â Â Â I awoke before 5am to discover Beth
wasn't in the room. I figured she was out searching for snakes or headed for
the border to avoid the new President. I found her on a bench outside the
office because it had better wifi and she needed to put in her I-naturalist
list from the day before! she is committed or should be committed?  Knowing
the girls would need some sleep I headed toward the park and Sam Nail Ranch.
The next hour was one of the most tranquil of my life. The sun rising in the
desert and watching the day come to life was calming and almost spiritual. And
the birds were everywhere so I was tranquilly excited! Yellow Breasted Chat are
a bird I get about once a year in Wilco and one or two a day on my coastal
migration trips. Here they were abundant, at least a dozen were chatting and
popping up to welcome the day. Cactus wren, Blue Grosbeaks, Painted Buntings
were all vocal and actively coming to check me out. The tree in the back of the
property was full of roosting Turkey Vultures. A couple came out and perched on
the old windmill under the trail and I walked right under them and they could
hardly care any less. I plan to make the sunrise visit at a desert oasis a
ritual for my future visits.  I went back and got the girls and set out for
the Cottonwoods campground. I was gushing so much about Sam Nail that we
decided to make a quick stop. The birds were not as active but we were still
getting things to pop out. At one point we thought another Blue Grosbeak landed
in a tree below the active windmill, but it wasn't a Grosbeak but a gorgeous
male Varied Bunting! Lifer, high five! Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Cottonwood
campground was flooded! They divert a small canal of water into the grass area
I guess to keep the trees alive so you had to watch your step! A Pheobe was
working the flooded area and by default my brain went to Eastern Pheobe as that
is what we see continually back home. A closer look said Black Pheobe. Lifer
number two of the day! We found out when we got home that hte tour group had
gotten a Clay Colored Thrush at the campground the day before but we missed it.
It was re-found the next day so I am sure it was there. (can I count it? lol).Â
  We headed back to the basin and the lodge for lunch as we knew the time
for us to start heading home was coming upon us... back to work and life! I
vowed to take one last stab at the "common" Mexican Jays. I figured we had
about an hour if we wanted to get home before midnight so we headed to the Lost
Mine Trail... This is the trail you should go on if you are short on time and
not really a hiker. We went about a quarter mile up the easy trail before
turning back. (I read the trail get much harder once it starts to attack the
mountain). No Jays. A hundred yards from the car there was a flurry in a pine
of a couple Bushtits chasing each other. I stepped up the bank for a better
look when a much large bird moved from in close by the trunk. The right size
and shape.. a flash of blue, an flash of gray, it had to be... as I tried to
piece the puzzle together a beautiful unmistakable Mexican Jay flew out and
down the trail! Sadly I couldn't relocate it for the girls who were lagging
behind me on the trail. (I bird too fast).    The trip home was
thankfully uneventful and we made good time except for stopping to take some
pictures of praire dogs, but who can't stop for that? I guess the highest
recommendation for Big Bend is the fact that I can't wait to get back there! I
study maps and think not of what we saw but what we haven't yet seen. To me it
was almost like visiting a different planet and I can't wait to explore it
more. Alas it like Padre Island and the Rio Grande Valley are just too far away
and not practical to do unless you have at least three days from here. Beth is
off Thanksgiving week and I wondered aloud if the Lodge serves Turkey Dinner
that day, both girls just kind of gave a small grin.
Thanks all, I hope to see you down the road somewhere so I can put more faces
to the names of us crazy Texbirders.
Randy DuncanLeander TX
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