[texbirds] West Texas weekend review
- From: "Sanchez, Isaac C" <sanchez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2013 16:09:27 +0000
As we have done in the last 3 years, my wife and I celebrated her birthday by
going to Big Bend NP for a long weekend. On our way we stopped at Balmorhea
Lake and were surprised not to find a single Western or Clarks Grebe and just
one lonely Snow Goose. But Balmorhea didnt disappoint as it produced great
looks at Sedge Wren, Swamp Sparrow, American Pipit, and Vermillion Flycatcher
among others. We then proceeded to Fort Davis and took CR 118 past the
MacDonald Observatory to Madera Canyon (20 miles pass Davis Mt. SP). Our
target bird was a Williamsons Sapsucker, but we dipped. On our way back on
118, we were rewarded with a Golden Eagle between the Observatory and the SP.
At the SP we found out that Montezuma Quail have been irregular visitors, so we
also dipped on the MONQ. From there we proceeded to BBNP and parked our bins
at the Chisos Lodge. On our first day in the Park, we focused primarily on the
RG Village Campground. We saw nothing out of the ordinary, but before we left
in the morning, we picked up a nice Crissal Thrasher (singing vigorously at
dawn) and a Phainopepla at the Chisos Campground. We started the second day
again at the Chisos Campground and witnessed a Cactus Wren in courtship display
(a very cool sight).
On our first stop at Sams Nail Ranch, we were shocked to find it bone dry!
The windmill was turning, but there was nary a drop of water at the surface.
Our highlight bird on this day was a pair of Canyon Wrens at Santa Elena Canyon
who put on a great show at close range. Yesterday, on our return to Austin, we
stopped by Carolyn Ohls Christmas Mountain Oasis (put it on your bucket list)
to see if could catch the Varied Thrush. Although we got a glimpse of it, we
missed getting a photo. We also stopped at the Prairie Dog Town near Marathon
(Rt. 385) to look for longspurs. We saw 4 or 5 groups of vocalizing
Chestnut-collareds fly over us and was able to get some poor photos. All in
all, it was a great weekend with fantastic weather.
I added 40 new birds to my photo big year, which after 5 weeks now stands at
207. Some favorite photos from the weekend:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isaaccsanchez/sets/72157632692766100/
Isaac Sanchez
Austin
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