West Texas Road Trip

The main target of this road trip was the Colima Warbler which extends its nesting range over the border from Mexico only at Big Bend National Park. On the return I planned to stray to the east several hours in order to visit the western edge of the Edward’s Plateau where I could add Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo. Two days before the trip three people sent me a copy of Todd Easterla’s checklist from Big Bend. While he was watching Colima Warbler, he discovered a stray from Mexico: Crescent-chested Warbler! This would be just the second record for Texas.

I thought this trip would be more popular but only one person registered for it, my buddy Phil Cafaro. Phil is a tenured professor of Philosophy and a specialist on environmental ethics. He is fascinated by the big issues that face the world such as overpopulation and immigration problems. When I ask him “why?” he always has a profound answer no matter what the topic. In contrast, if you ask me “why?”, I reply “why not?”  Now ask me about a bird identification, I will have an answer for you.  Ask the same question to Phil and he will reply “ask Nick”. I had contracted David Wade to drive for the six day round trip venture expecting more people would register. Oh well. 

We got started at 10 AM on Sunday, May 14, 2023. After a brief stop at Kechter Pit to look for shorebirds we got on Interstate 25 heading south and didn’t get off until the Hanover Rd exit south of Colorado Springs in El Paso County. I hoped to pick up two new year birds in the Chihuahuan Desert habitat east of the interstate: Cassin’s Sparrow and Grasshopper Sparrow. We did not find these sparrows but at the Hanover Rd Firehouse, we found a small group of migrant passerines, including a female Blackpoll Warbler which posed nicely for photographs. We made a couple other leg-stretching stops south of Trinidad, Colorado and at Maxwell National Wildlife Refuge south of Raton, New Mexico. We quit for the night about 11 PM at Tucumcari, NM. 

May 15 

Our route southbound took us on small but fast roads. We turned into a side road at Ragland, NM, following a report in eBird for Cassin’s Sparrow. The landscape was recently planted wheat fields on one side of the flat road and tall wild grass with scattered cholla cactus on the other. Here we found numerous Chihuahuan Meadowlark (flagged rare in eBird), Western Meadowlark, Cassin’s Sparrow (647), Grasshopper Sparrow (648) and Lark Sparrow. We began to encounter Mississippi Kite in each town we passed through. We rolled into Alpine, TX, at dusk. After a pleasant dinner at the Three Hearts Steakhouse, we crashed early at the Value Lodge on the outskirts of town. We had arranged to meet another birder, Brandon Nooner, at the Pinnacles trailhead in Big Bend National Park at 5 AM, and our Apple Maps estimated a 2 hr drive from

Alpine. 

May 16

We started rolling south at 3:15 AM and soon realized that we didn’t have enough gasoline to reach our destination. There is one town between Alpine and the Chisos Basin Visitor Center where we were headed. We hoped that the one gas station in Terlingua would be open. Fortunately it was but the stop further delayed us and we rolled into the Apple Maps locale for the trailhead at 5:30 AM. We drove around a bit and discovered two other spots to park for the Pinnacles trail, one at the visitor center and one at the adjacent campground. Very confusing. Not finding Brandon, we began hiking around 6:15 AM. 

The dawn chorus was fabulous. The landscape was a transition between healthy Chihuahuan desert vegetation and pinyon-juniper forest. Songs surrounded us from Scott’s Oriole, Blue Grosbeak, Black-headed Grosbeak (649), Ash-throated Flycatcher and Rufous-crowned Sparrow. A distant Mexican Whip-poor-will sang (650). Shortly after 7 AM, my cell phone received a message from Brandon. He was viewing the Crescent-chested Warbler. Brandon must have ran the 4 miles up the hill!

We were moving at a slower pace with a couple hrs yet of stop and go hiking ahead of us.  At 9:15, we heard a song we didn’t recognize. We did not believe Merlin’s assessment of the song: top suggestions were Dark-eyed Junco and Orange-crowned Warbler. We would determine later that this was Colima Warbler (651), one of about 7 we would hear along the trail. Then up the trail at 9:30 we heard the unique screechy song of the Crescent-chested Warbler (652), also misidentified by Merlin as Orange-crowned Warbler. We would eventually confirm the identification with brief glimpses of this beautiful Mexican parulid. But where was Brandon? We continued up the Pinnacle Trail switchbacks to the turnoff for Boot Canyon and followed this trail to Boot Spring. As we approached the spring, Brandon was coming towards us on the trail. “There you are,” he said. “I was afraid you weren’t coming.”

We birded together for a while, getting excellent views of Grace’s Warbler (653), Colima Warbler, Painted Redstart (a warbler), Blue-throated Mountain-Gem (a hummingbird) and Cordilleran Flycatcher (654).  We headed back down the Pinnacles Trail together around 2:30 PM and found the Crescent-chested Warbler in the same area, singing frequently and giving us better views. It never posed for photos unfortunately as it was frequently chased away from its perch by another warbler, presumably a Colima Warbler.  As we ended our hike we were surprised to find a singing Crissal Thrasher. We recorded many bird songs from this hike which can be heard at our eBird trip report here. https://ebird.org/tripreport/133787.

En route to our base camp 110 miles away in Alpine, we paused for an early dinner in Terlingua, and a dusk visit to the Christmas Mountains Oasis, an eBird hotspot in the desert that is owned and created by Carolyn Ohl. A combination of ponds, botanic garden and bird feeders, this special place attracts some special birds. Here we added Lucifer Hummingbird (655), Varied Bunting (656) and Elf Owl. 

May 17

Phil slept in while Dave and I explored the Davis Mountains. Just outside the quaint town of Fort Davis we hooted up a pair of Western Screech-owl. At  Madera Canyon Picnic Area, highlights were Summer and Hepatic Tanagers, Plumbeous Vireo, Cassin’s Kingbird, Western Bluebird. I was very pleased to get audio documentation of Montezuma Quail and Black-chinned Sparrow, two species I had observed without documentation in Arizona in March. On the way to fetch Phil, Dave spotted his lifer Zone-tailed Hawk. Heading east from Alpine, we stopped for birding around Marathon, TX, about an hour away. The Marathon Cemetery and Fort Peña Colorado Park were both worthwhile stops. After lunch we bee-lined 3 hours east to Junction, TX. As the sun waned we explored South Llano River State Park. Thanks to advice from Jesse Huth we quickly ticked our two targets here: Black-capped Vireo (657) and Golden-cheeked Warbler (658), both heard singing. After sunset, Chuck-wills-widow songs were everywhere. 

May 18

We returned to the state park in the morning to better appreciate our target species (we were able to get photos of both target species and watch Golden-cheeked warbler feed fledglings) and then other fabulous birds of this park, such as Painted Bunting, Red-headed Woodpecker, Black-throated Sparrow, Yellow-throated Vireo and Yellow-throated Warbler. At lunch we plotted out our route home hoping for a couple more targets in northwest Oklahoma. Based on eBird reports filtered through the Birdseye lens, we targeted a recent sighting of Hudsonian Godwit and an old sighting of Louisiana Waterthrush from a potential breeding location. We drove 7.5 hrs stopping for dinner in Vernon, TX, and at a motel in Alva, OK. 

May 19

We drove 30 min east of Alva to the salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge and hiked the Eagle Roost Nature Trail. Birds were everywhere. Most notable was Blackburnian Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Alder Flycatcher (659, ID by unique call note that was audio-recorded), Least Tern, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Hudsonian Godwit (660). Heavy rain ended our productive hike. An hour later (around noon) we pulled up to Alabaster Caverns State Park. It was a steep, slippery climb down into the canyon—the wet red clay dirt was slick. At the creek, it’s steep banks caused me to slip a few times. Fortunately I grabbed on to a branch of a red cedar sapling which prevented me from sliding into the creek. After playing a tape of Louisiana Waterthrush, a bird flew by us that may have been one. A minute later it sang a few times and Merlin confirmed the identity! EBird considers Louisiana Waterthrush (661) as rare in Oklahoma.   We departed the park around 3 PM and pulled into Fort Collins close to midnight.