With the Boston Winter behind us and Spring finally upon us, in April we ventured to Western Texas with our friends Christopher and Pamela in spite of American Airlines and their maintenance problems. Here we hoped to take in the rugged beauty of Big Bend National Park, witness the profusion of wildflowers in the spring, and seek out some of the endangered species that breed in this area such as Colima Warbler, Black-capped Vireo, and Golden-cheeked Warbler. Now the fact that this just happens to be perfect mountain lion habitat in which we were hiking and staying (up to 24 are said to inhabit Big Bend) was just an added bonus - but on this trip we were not fortunate enough to be able to be at the right place at the right time.
We started our trip at historic Neal's Lodge which sits atop the Frio River in the Texas Hill Country. Much to our delight Green Jays were still on the grounds of Neal's upon our arrival and provided a great start to our first morning. Later that night just outside of Concan, Texas, we stood in amazement as we watched 10 - 12 million Mexican free-tailed bats emerge from the Frio Bat Cave into the evening sky at sunset while Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk, and Swainson Hawk awaited this nightly feat so they could pluck their evening meal - Click on the image to the left to see a wmv file of the bats as they fly off into the night. Neal's provided us the perfect locale to see the Golden-cheeked Warbler at Los Maples State Natural Area, the Black-capped Vireo at Kerr National Wildlife Management Area, and Green Kingfisher outside of Garner State Park. So maybe these aren't all right around the corner but hey this is Texas.
So now it was off to Big Bend National Park and a stay at Chisos Mountain Lodge. Big Bend lived up to it's billing of rugged beauty but with less than .03" of rain thus far in the year, wildflowers were a distant memory. A slow, hot 12 mile hike through Laguna Meadows and past Boot Springs got us the Colima Warbler and Blue-throated Hummingbird and some the Black-chinned Sparrow & Hermit Warbler. An early evening ride through the park allowed for Elf Owl, Poorwill and Lesser Nighthawk. But what stood out most was the abundance of confirmed breeding activity we witnessed - Black Hawk on nest, Gray Hawk at a nest site, Colima Warbler gathering nesting material and Crissal Thrasher copulating and nest building stood out among the many.
Our last stopover for the trip was at Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains and a search for Montezuma Quail. While we all glimpsed the quail - some better than others - no one was quite happy with the looks - so I guess our search will go on at a later time in another place - that's what half the fun is.....
A not so quick drive to San Antonio - about 6 hours with a quick stop at Lake Balmorhea for some waterfowl- brought our trip to an end as we spent the last night on the Riverwalk for dinner, people watching, a visit to the Alamo and a bit of ice cream.
In all we totaled 165 species on the trip with 17 being life birds for Paul and 20 for Diana.
