Missy s and Paula s Excellent West Texas Adventure By Paula Channell

Transcription

1 Missy s and Paula s Excellent West Texas Adventure By Paula Channell June 7 th 5:15pm zipped us off to Midland (yawn) until the morning of the 8 th when we turtled down the service road to find the Burrowing Owls in the Prairie Dog Town, which is at I-20 E and the What-A-Burger exit. These guys are the cutest things on 2 legs and a great start to our trip. Next stop (besides the countless, and one day we did count how many times we stopped-that is we came to an expertly screeching halt to check out a sighting) was Monahans State Park, which has a great viewing platform, walking path and paved drive through the park back to the sand dunes. Cactus Wren, Pyrrhuloxia, our only Yellowheaded Blackbird, Say s Phoebe, Black-throated Sparrow, Canyon Towhee, Loggerhead Shrike, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeak and 4 juvenile Say s Phoebes perching on the front porch bench of a ranger s house were the winners of the Cute Contest of the Day. We saw many other birds, but I m only naming the ones we don t usually see here or are excited to here! On to Balmorhea State Park. At 80mph, which is perfectly legal out there (Ann). We though we were headed to the state park but found the lake and were glad we didn t miss it. We found 20 Clark s Grebes, Horned Larks foraging on the shoreline, a juvenile Black-throated Sparrow, a long Cinnamon Teal, an American Wigeon (which I mention because it came up on texbirds as a rare find for the area) Scaled Quail and a lone coyote trotting below the dam as we left for the state park. It was neat to see so many juvenile birds just to see what they look like in nature instead of in a book. The state park was O.K. Maybe we just got there at a not-so-great time. The big find there was the Lesser Goldfinch. Well worth the stop. At 6:15PM on TX 17 S through the Barilla Mountains, a beautiful drive, we saw a Gray Hawk and a Common Raven with two Western Kingbirds RIDING it to chase it our of their territory! Well, we finally found life we could relate to... Also seen in these mountains were Aoudad Mountain sheep and muledeer. Aoudad s are just plain weird looking, life

2 we could not relate to.:) I think we got to our hotel in Alpine around 8:15PM which gave us not enough time to shower, grab a Subway and head to the McDonald Observatory west of Ft. Davis for a Star Party. It started at 9:45pm and lasted until 11:45. The speaker had a green laser pointer that he used to circle the star he wanted us to look at OUTSIDE! This was cool. An Excellent Adventure Must Do! Bedtime was at 1AM. In fact, as we squeezed every minute of daylight out of each day our earliest bedtime was 11:00 the first night in Midland. Sunday June 9 th we birded Kokernot Park in Alpine. Our first finds were Cassin s Kingbirds and Vermilion Flycatchers. WOW on the Vermilion s color! Lots of Blackchinned hummingbirds and 2 juvenile Great Horned Owls being tormented by very persistent dickie birds! More Lesser Goldfinch, Summer Tanagers, Lark Sparrows, Common Nighthawk and some kind of spotted ground squirrel, just one, that kept a close eye on us. On to Marathon via 90E about 10:30 and though we stopped numerous times there was nothing worth writing about. Now Marathon was something else. Arrived there about 11:30 and birded around town, which took awhile even though the town is small. Bronzed Cowbirds, and a leucistic Eurasian Collared Dove were the finds there. The Gage Hotel was a neat look through as was an addition to it in the form of another building. At first we thought we had found that addition, but it turned out to be a private home. Nothing like snooping through someone s yard and peeking through their windows. Oops! I think that was one of those what happens in Marathon STAYS in Marathon things. Big deal. We ate lunch at the Marathon Café and struck off for Gage Gardens just a few blocks away. Broad Tailed Hummingbird feeding a juvenile, a Curved-billed Thrasher and juvenile gave us quite the leap-frog show atop a fence, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Bell s Vireo. This is where we napped on the grass under wonderful trees. There is a pond and fountain there and a large fountain on the outside wall of a building with a pair of large hands cupped to hold water where the birds would come for a drink and to splash around. On Parsimony Lane we birded the

3 cemetery. (Oh yes we di-id!) Very old markers there and a section for children. At 5:30pm we started the 4 mile drive on Post Rd. to bird our way to Post Park, which was at the dead end. Well! I was working on my 500 th bird here, you see, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird being 499. We finally saw a Scissortail here, a tarantula, a smashed wild pig AND SCOTT S ORIOLE! NUMBER 500!! Whew! Thought I d never make it, but we made a 500 sign and took the picture to mark the spot and the occasion. A first summer Blue Grosbeak, Painted Buntings, more Bell s Vireos, Pyrrhuloxia, Summer Tanagers and many others kept us from reaching the park. But FINALLY at 8PM we made it to the Post Park for a Yellow-breasted Chat. The park was originally Ft. Pena Outpost from At 8:40 we headed back on Post Rd. to get more new birds on our list. Wild turkeys had gone to roost in a rather tall tree, several Common Nighthawks flew by, a pair of Summer Tanagers, a Common Poorwill and a Desert Rabbit which was a little smaller version of the jackalope... Monday the 10 th we drove TX 188 N to Fort Davis. The Davis Mountains have their own beauty, and we appreciated them for it. We had seen this cone-shaped mountain standing alone and came on the sign for Miter Peak. Missy did a most excellent halt, and we made the turn to bird FM 1837 W and see the peak up close and personal. We kept hearing this Amazonian sound and looked a long time to find a Cactus Wren taunting us. YES taunting us! Another Scaled Quail, a pair of Southwestern Redtail Hawks and a picnic at the end of the road which had taken us through Miter Peak Ranch and ended in a Girl Scout Camp. At 10:25 we were back on TX 118 N to Ft. Davis State Park, and Missy had the find of the day - A Zone-tailed Hawk, which we got to watch soaring for quite awhile. A rest stop gave us Black-crested Titmice. 10:55 brought us to FWTX MT Trails Lodge, which had a covered picnic area with several hummingbird feeders hanging all around, but only a few Black Chins. At the Interpretive Center at Fort Davis Park there s a great wood blind wall with different size/height holes for viewing very up close the birds at the feeders. An Acorn Woodpecker made an appearance and an orange House

4 Finch, which was very striking. That evening we returned to hunt the Montezuma Quail and Missy spotted a titmouse struggling at a feeder. Its head was stuck, so out we went around the wall as it was late and no one else was around to the rescue it. We spread the wall and floor of the feeder and there is still a little greedy Black-crested Titmouse living on. So we renamed the trail The Mountezuma Quailess Trail, but did find a mounted one in the gallery upstairs in the Fort Davis Drugstore, which is a restaurant, where we celebrated my 500th with a steak dinner. In between all the drama, at 1:00 we headed to Lawrence E. Woods on 118 N, past the McDonald Observatory. This place is a scoop off to the side of the road with free camping, picnic tables and lots of birds! Common Raven, Western Bluebird, Western Tanager, Mountain Bluebird, another Acorn Woodpecker, Bushtit, a Canyon Trail hike up the mountain and saw Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Western Scrub Jay and juvenile Western Wood Peewee. That trail took an hour and 15 minutes and is well worth the climb. Great views at the top. Down in the camping area we spotted a Plumbeous Vireo! Just one and we were there when it was. You just never know. A White-breasted Nuthatch and a Hepatic Tanager were also good finds. Our last day, Tues. the 11 th, we left Alpine at 8:50am and headed for San Angelo. On the way we found a rest stop to bird and WOW! Another just happened to be there at the right time/place - Hooded Orioles, our first Northern Cardinal of the trip, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, more Bell s Vireos and a host of others all through the trip but too common to mention. This rest area was The Horseshoe Crossing on 67. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Hummer House in Cristoval, 20 miles south of San Angelo. Christie, the owner s daughter, opened the viewing room for us and in an hour we saw 13 beautiful species including Painted and Blue Buntings, Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Lesser Goldfinches, Blue Grosbeaks, Blue-gray Gnatchatcher, Chipping Sparrows, Black-crested Titmouse, Summer Tanagers, and Eastern Wood Peewee. The pond arrangement was wonderful and included a mesh bridge across it with a

5 mister so the hummingbirds could perch and bathe, which was so cute to watch. Check out their website for banding dates and lodging info. In Talpa Missy spotted a Bullock s Oriole, and we also saw Purple Martins near there. Then at 8:50pm the party ended in my driveway. Not bad stretching a 7½ hour drive into a glorious 12 hour BIRDING DAY! We had 92 total species, 35 lifers for me and 10 for Missy. It was a grand tour of West Texas. We would be glad to share more information with you about locations and directions.