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PAST TOUR REPORTS LINKS: | Gay Birding Tours With a start before sunrise on our first day, we anticipated a long drive through boring desert before arriving at Big Bend National Park. But this ended up not being the case at all—we traveled smaller roads and found an abundance of birds along the roadsides, forcing us to make many stops: Swainson's Hawks, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Scaled Quail, Greater Roadrunners, Lark Buntings, Cassin's Sparrows, and Loggerhead Shrikes. As we climbed a bit in elevation, limestone hillsides and wetter draws begged us to stop several more times to see what sort of birds could be found, and Bell's Vireo, Western Scrub-Jay, Eastern Meadowlark, and migrating Common Nighthawks were the prizes. We made a stop in the flatlands by a large Black-tailed Prairie Dog town where several Burrowing Owls and a very surprising Black-bellied Plover in nearly full breeding plumage were. We puzzled about the fabulous geologic vistas before arriving at the Basin Lodge motel in the middle of Big Bend National Park in the afternoon. After a little time off we took the short drive to the bottom of the campground to try a trail none of us had been on before, the Window Trail. Recent Internet reports had mentioned this as having some of our target birds, and we proved them correct. The very first bird Doug saw was a Gray Vireo, in the bushes across from the van. It eventually came right out to my imitation of Western Screech-Owl and showed almost no fear of us. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were also common here. We made it a total of about 1.75 miles down the canyon to were it narrows into a box and Narrowleaf Desert-honeysuckle grew densely on the hillsides. We had seen plenty of putative Black-chinned Hummingbirds on the way down (some of them could have been Ruby-throated, but we were never able to confirm one), but it was finally here that a male Lucifer Hummingbird appeared and did its typical twig-tip perch. We had stunning views in the scope and then turned back up the trail. We stopped here and there to pish and mimic owls, and the birds really responded. A total of 5 Gray Vireos, two male Black-capped Vireos (it's little-known that a few pairs breed in the Chisos Mountains), and quite a few Varied Buntings. Down in the canyon-bottom oaks even a couple of Western Screech-Owls found it in themselves to vocalize a response. It was a very successful hike for a late afternoon on a sunny, hot day. Given that our top priority in Big Bend National Park was the Colima Warbler, it made sense to use the first of our two full days here for the big hike to Boot Springs. It was a beautiful hike, completed by everyone without problem. On the way up, after brief pauses for Black-chinned and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Mexican Jays, and a Rock Wren in the trail, I heard the calls of a Colima Warbler about 3 miles up the Laguna Meadows trail right where I saw one this past May. At first, we only heard and then glimpsed the Colima which then seemed to disappear as Bushtits, Bewick's Wrens, Spotted Towhees, and a Grace's Warbler (rare for the park) diverted us. Suddenly Paul P. looked over his shoulder and calmly announced that the Colima Warbler was right here--at eye level and only a few feet away! We got excellent views of this bird, which was to be only the first of 10 for the day. We continued on, where many mixed flocks along the trails slowed our progress. They all had Black-crested Titmouse, Bewick's Wren, Spotted Towhee, Townsend's Warbler, Hutton's Vireo and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but one had a Black-throated Gray Warbler, one had a Wilson's Warbler, one had a Dusky Flycatcher. At Boot Spring, where flowing water and the tall forest growing in the sheltered canyon attract many birds, we added Blue-throated Hummingbird, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Painted Redstart, and White-breasted Nuthatch, and a raptor whistling down the canyon got us to look, where some saw a young Zone-tailed Hawk disappear behind some cliffs and others got on a soaring Broad-winged Hawk, rare this far west. Then after our packed lunch it was time to make the hike back down to the Basin, along which we made only a few stops to rest, always a good excuse to pish and do owl whistles. The only new bird of interest here was an immature female warbler that at first appeared to be a Hermit Warbler, but with such an well-pronounced cheek patch must have had some Townsend's Warbler heritage. Other events to mark the trudge back (which required enormous braking power of our underutilized calf muscles) was a rather unpleasant rain shower that lasted the better part of an hour. Also, when we passed some other hikers sheltering in a cliff overhang, we seemed to have lost Doug--he knew them as herpetologists through his professional contacts and stopped to chat! An Umber Skipper and two Texas Alligator Lizards were the cool non-bird finds. Never minding the throbbing in our legs that persisted into the evening hours back at the lodge, four of us (Doug, Paul P., Sam, and I) departed after dinner to drive the roads at night for mammals and herps (reptiles and amphibians), using some tips from the herpers Doug had talked to on the trail. We retraced the miles along the entrance road we had arrived on the day before, logging a total of 65 miles in 3 1/2 hours of stop-and-go—periods of concentrated boredom interrupted by sudden moments of excited pandemonium when we discovered something on the road. Our tally included one snake (a Mojave Rattlesnake), several Red-spotted Toads, one Couch's Spadefoot, one Rio Grande Leopard Frog, a Merriam's Kangaroo Rat that had left her helpless baby in the middle of the road (we rescued it by placing it on the shoulder), many mice, a woodrat, lots of Desert Cottontails, and a Striped Skunk. We also heard several Great Plains Narrow-mouthed Toads and Green Toads at a muddy desert flat with ponded rainwater. A great success! On our third day, with virtually all of our target birds behind us already, we headed down to the lower elevations of the park at Rio Grande Village, where it was reported that the breeding pair of Common Black-Hawks had fledged two young. We first had a picnic breakfast at the desert oasis of Dugout Wells where there was an abundance of bird activity, including a family of Scott's Orioles, vocally responsive Western Screech-Owls (it was amazing how many of these we heard in broad daylight on this trip), Bell's Vireos, Yellow-breasted Chat, and a surprise encounter of what appeared to be a family of Elf Owls, rarely seen in the daylight. It almost appeared they they had flown in in response to pishing, but it's possible that we flushed them from a roosting spot. In the open desert we saw Black-throated Sparrows, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers and Verdin before we headed down to the riparian thickets at Rio Grande Village. It didn't take us long to find a screaming juvenile Common Black-Hawk on a distant snag, and we got as close as we dared (seeing a Crissal Thrasher in the process). OK, it was really dumb to leave my scope in my room, but I was regretting it more than anyone when some pishing and owl tooting brought in a rather obvious Great Crested Flycatcher (after having just seen a few Ash-throateds), which is by far the rarest bird we saw this trip—there are only a few records for this far west in Texas. With a scope, I could have nailed it with my digital camera. In getting closer, I flushed a Yellow-billed Cuckoo off its nest. Without the previous day's cloud cover it heated up rapidly and the humidity by the river was quite oppressive. But we continued down the road anyway, getting views of Vermilion Flycatcher, Greater Roadrunners, Summer Tanagers, Common Ground-Doves, glimpsing dull immature Painted Buntings and finding one Dickcissel. We walked the board walk, where there were two Yellow-crowned Night-Herons. It totally surprised me that this species is rare but regular this time of year here, so far inland. After our picnic lunch in the shade (and donating the leftovers to a very tame Turkey Vulture), rather than doing everything in our powers to avoid the heat, we instead made a stop of about 15 minutes in the unrelenting, beating sun to do a bit of botanizing and exploring in a richly vegetated desert canyon along the main road. The resurrection plants, ferns, very diverse cacti, and Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica) were the main attractions, but the Marbled Whiptails (our third species of Cnemidophorus) certainly added interest. With plenty of time to catch up on rest, the whole group elected for an evening birding/herping outing, this time towards Cottonwood Campground. We ended up starting to late to do any daylight birding and made it only as far as the Mule's Ears viewpoint as it was getting dusky, very aggressive Western Diamondback Rattlesnake on the road making for some excitement along the way. The light was perfect for Common Poorwill...if only the wind hadn't been howling like a hurricane. We wandered around the parking area hoping for a break in the wind while Doug spotted a very small, nondescript snake in the ditch, which we eventually figured out was a Ground Snake. We departed with no break in the wind and headed toward an impressive lightning show to the north, grateful not to have been in the middle of what must be a powerful mass of storms. But the whole drive back was hopelessly windy, destroying our chances for hearing any night birds at all. But consolation prizes were Red-spotted Toad and a lovely Night Snake. On our last morning at Big Bend we awoke to predawn lightning and torrential rain, which by sunrise had abated to a constant, persistent drizzle. Not knowing if this rain was happening all the way down to the lowlands, we had breakfast in the Basin Lodge restaurant, then departed for Cottonwood Campground. Fog pouring over desert bluffs had to be a once-in-a-lifetime sighting as we made our way to the muddy Rio Grande. We heard then saw Tropical Kingbirds almost immediately upon arrival, our main target bird here. We missed the usually reliable Lucy's Warblers but we hit the jackpot of Painted Buntings, even though every last one was a green female or dull olive-mud juvenile. We also added Plumbeous Vireo (obviously a migrant), Carolina Wren (at the utter edge of its range here), and Gray Hawk before we began heading north to our next destination, Davis Mountains State Park. We did make one more short stop in the national park, at Sam Nail Ranch, which in the spring sticks out as a lush oasis with it's permanent trickle of water. This time of year, though, the desert is so lush from the summer rains, no migrants see any need to make a special stop here. Our picnic lunch near Elephant Butte was highlighted by a male Painted Bunting, seen briefly before he dropped down into dense grass and sunflowers beyond a fence and what was probably a chigger-infested lawn (so we didn't try to get too close). Making good time, we utilized the afternoon for the interesting drive to Fort Davis via Marfa. We stopped at the rest area and learned that the mysterious Marfa Lights may be cause by a "miracle"—you know, those apparitions scientifically explained by the atmosphere bending the light. (Ahem...d'you suppose they meant to say "mirage"?) Cyna Blues in the weeds by the parking area were exciting, as was a blue-faced male Trans Pecos Striped Whiptail (a subspecies of the Little). All along the drive we saw many Pronghorn (not an antelope), a few Cassin's Kingbirds, and fleeting Lark Buntings. After dinner at the lodge restaurant (which unfortunately didn't match the quality of the posh rooms) we drove higher into the Davis Mountains hoping for our final main target bird, Montezuma Quail. The development of Limipa Crossing looked promising, but we got only a large flock of Violet-green Swallows, a few Eastern Meadowlarks, Lark Sparrows, and loads of Mourning and White-winged Doves. We also drove by the MacDonald Observatory, where we saw a pair of Western Bluebirds. Then after dark few of us continued up the hill in the state park where we ended up hearing Great Horned Owl and Common Poorwill. On our final morning, we tried the same routine for the now unspeakable bird, tensely passing through the same areas of Limipa Crossing and MacDonald Observatory empty handed, and with near resign heading for the higher picnic area for our belated breakfast. Only 1.3 miles before our destination, Paul P. astonished us once again with his overabundance of rods and cones by calling out "Quail!" I quickly maneuvered the van into a less unsafe position while Paul tried to direct us to the brown blobs nearly hidden in the roadside grass. Once we saw them, they were obvious: a female and male Montezuma Quail on either side of two half-grown chicks! We enjoyed the views for a couple minutes before heading on in triumph. At the picnic area we cleaned up with Hepatic Tanager and Gray Flycatcher before heading back to the the hotel to prepare for our long drive back to Midland. We missed Virginia's Warbler in the state park below our hotel, but at our picnic lunch site north of Fort Davis a pair fortuitously began calling across the street, and everyone eventually got great views. After a quick roadside stop for the Mexican subspecies of Mallard, we arrived at our final birding destination, the large reservoir of Balmorhea Lake. In just two hours we added 22 species to the already burgeoning trip list here. Highlights were good comparisons of Western and Clark's Grebes, a Snowy Plover, Black and Forster's Terns, a single Glossy Ibis (unless photos show it to be a hybrid), and lots of Long-billed Curlews. After our delicious meal in what must be Midland's finest restaurant, my gut feeling and Doug's gumption resulted in our waitress replying immediately to his question, "Yeah, sure, the gay bar is called Oz, and it's right on the main drag in Odessa." Wow, good news, there's a bar and the probably straight waitress knows about it (so it must be a pretty hip place). But it's a Monday night, it's 20 miles away, and were all bushed (no pun intended). So for my next Gay Birding Tour, I'll give some thought to ending the final day a bit earlier and on a Friday or Saturday. Sound like a plan? | |||
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Bird List | ||
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Brief Itinerary August 18 - Arrivals. August 19 - 7:00 a.m. departure from Midland to Big Bend National Park via Imperial, Fort Stockton, Marathon. Hike down Window Trail to box from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. Mostly sunny, 70-90šF August 20 - 6:55 departure to Boot Springs via Laguna Meadows Trail and back via Pinnacles Trail, returning at 5:15 p.m. Road driving north from Panther Jct. to mile 23, 8:00-11:30 p.m. Mostly cloudy with rain from about 2:00-3:00, 60-80šF. August 21 - 7:00 departure to Dugout Wells (picnic breakfast), then Rio Grande Village (picnic lunch), desert canyon botanizing on way back. Afternoon off, night road driving 7:30-10:15 p.m. to Mules Ears. Mostly sunny with building storms and heavy wind at night, 70-99šF. August 22 - 7:30 departure to Cottonwood Campground, Sam Nail Ranch and drive to Davis Mountains State Park, with picnic lunch near Elephant Butte and scenic drive via Marfa Lights rest area. Evening drive to Limpia Crossing and MacDonald Observatory. Overcast and heavy drizzle after predawn thunderstorms, then overcast and foggy in desert, becoming mostly sunny by noon, 58-82šF August 23 - 7:00 departure to Limpia Crossing, MacDonald Observatory parking lot, and Lawrence E. Wood picnic area; Davis Mountains SP; drive to Midland with stops at Limpia Creek, picnic north of Fort Davis, and Balmorhea Lake (1:30-3:30), arr. Midland 5:40 p.m. Sunny with few clouds, 58-97šF. August 24 - Departures. | ||
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