Laurie Foss and I teach the Travis Audubon Introduction to Birds and Birding class. We split our class of 24 students into two field trip groups, one group that goes out on Saturdays and one that goes out on Sundays. This weekend's field trip was to Pedernales Falls State Park. One of our target birds for this time of year at Pedernales is, of course, the Golden-cheeked Warbler. We start the morning off by walking about a mile along the Wolf Mountain Trail. Yesterday's group heard several Golden-cheeks and finally got a very good look at two males and one female, all in a group in an oak tree along the canyon. The birds seemed to be focused on eating and didn't pay too much attention to us. For today's group, we were worried about the windy conditions, but we had to try. We went to the same area where we saw the birds yesterday, heard a male singing, and saw him fly across the field in the general direction of the oak tree. After a while, some of the group got a fleeting glance at the bird in the tree. Some of us also got a quick look at a male Black-and-white Warbler. We finally left and walked further down the trail to a side trail that leads to the edge of the canyon. We heard one bird across the canyon singing and then all of a sudden, we had three Golden-cheeks right in front of us, two males and one female. The birds came within ten feet of us and were nearly at eye level some of the time! At one point, the males flew at each other and then ascended together within about three or four inches of each other. At another time, they descended together in the same manner. At no time did they actually contact each other but it seemed like they were about to. Then another male showed up. The female didn't seem to pay any of them much attention. She just kept eating. The birds stayed in the area around us for approximately ten minutes and everyone got great looks. It was the most amazing interaction Laurie and I have witnessed with Golden-cheeked Warblers. Needless to say, we were thrilled as were our students! We always breathe a sigh of relief after we're able to get our students on the Golden-cheeks. The rest of the day is a piece of cake. ( : Shelia Hargis Austin Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission from the List Owner