Have been at Falcon State Park for a week. This is where you start seeing pyrrhuloxia (above). They are one of the calmer birds who don’t fly away the minute they see you. An online article said they should have been named desert cardinals rather than pyrrhuloxia.

My first sighting of a northern bobwhite (above). Grackles imitate bobwhite sounds and search through the brush for nests with eggs.

Orange-crowned warblers are very common here.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Ladder-backed woodpecker with peanut butter.

Swamp sparrow

A hispid cotton rat. Looks like a hamster. There is lots of brush for them to hide in. Bobcats have been seen in the area and these rats are something they’d hunt for.

Birds seen in the area, but not pictured: one white-tailed kite, a pair of caracaras, cactus wrens, roadrunners, and several loggerhead shrikes. The shrikes were always perched on barbed wire surrounding private property. They are known for impaling their prey on barbed wire.

Below, a Harris’ hawk and a great kiskadee. I’ll miss seeing the kiskadees as I head north.

Spent two days at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, 25 miles east of El Paso, Texas. I have been so happy with Texas State Parks in general, was curious about this one. Was surprised at how crowded it was in the middle of the week, as I was not aware it is a world renown rock climbing site. They have had problems from its being so popular and now limit the number of people that can enter the park. Only one-third of the park can be explored on your own, as the lone rock climber shown above is doing. For the other two-thirds, you need to have a guide go with you. There were people waiting to go climbing both mornings I was there. The campsites are beautiful, but they are in the restricted area. Bet people with kids have a hard time keeping them off the rocks.

Came across this article in the Los Angeles Times about the park: Ready to rock at Hueco Tanks State Park.

The park is a good birding site. Above, a verdin (top) and a pyrrhuloxia (bottom) flying under a water faucet just to catch a drip of water from it.

The way here: After leaving Big Bend stopped at Marfa, Texas. This is a great small town with a lot of artists and art galleries that blend in with the small ranching town. It has a movie history, with the James Dean film Giant filmed here, as well as No Country for Old Men.

On leaving Marfa, saw the below object. Have since learned it’s an aerostat used in anti-drug surveillance. There are 11 aerostat sites, mainly along the Mexican border, that are being used as an electronic fence. This has to be a lot better than trying to build a fence along the border that would cause a lot of environmental problems.

View from Sotol Vista along Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. Santa Elena canyon is in the upper right of the picture, around 14 miles as a crow flies. That is the end of the scenic drive.

The sotol plant, as seen in the above foreground, is part of what makes the desert so green. It is mostly seen between 4,000 and 6,000 feet.

Top picture, Santa Elena canyon; second one, inside the entrance; third one, looking out from it.

Spotted towhee

Hermit thrush (I think, by its’ red tail)

Along the drive, there is a stop at the Sam Nail Ranch. Settlers lived here in the early 1900′s. They dug a well and planted some non-native trees. The windmill and well still spit out water every time the wind blows. There is enough water to keep the trees alive, along with some birds. I just stood still at the small puddle where the water comes out and watched birds come to it.

The Salineño Bird Refuge (aka USFWS Kepler Tract) is some land next to the Rio Grande River a few miles from Falcon Dam and Falcon State Park. It belonged to some birders and was left to the government to be kept as a birding refuge that birders could visit. It is a place you can go to see three different orioles in one place.

Above, a great kiskadee and green jay enjoy some peanut butter.

Altamira oriole

Male hooded oriole (top) and female hooded oriole (lower).

Audubon’s oriole

Ladderbacked woodpecker

Thrasher

Ladderbacked woodpecker

Unfortunately inner Falcon State Park, away from the water, is overrun with mockingbirds that chase away a lot of the other birds. There are flocks of pyrrhuloxia. Have seen some roadrunners and quail, but they are pretty elusive.

Below, view towards Mexico at sunset.

I have moved 50 miles northwest to Falcon State Park. Was surprised to find the rv section about 80% full. When I was here last March it was already really warm, in the 90′s and 100′s, and was not nearly so full. Winter is the prime season here. A lot of the rv people still have their Christmas decorations out, so many have been here a while. The water & electric sites are pull-through and you have a lot of privacy. The full hookup area seems more dense with a lot of motor homes.

The way here: Highway 83 changes from an expressway to a regular highway with two lanes on each side, right after the turn off for the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. At the town of Roma, it becomes a two-lane highway. The end of the expressway is also the end of all the newly constructed national chain stores and fast food outlets. It is hard to even find a grocery store.

The bird above is a pyrrhuloxia, a member of the cardinal family. The main difference from a Northern cardinal is the yellow bill and the long pointed crest.

The water level in the reservoir is high and encroaching on some of the parks’ picnic and camping sites. The egret above is hunting near a picnic table with water lapping underneath it.

Update: Found out the high water level is from hurricane Dolly. There was a drought here for 10 years until Dolly brought a huge amount of rain within a short time.

Vermilion flycatcher above, cormorants below.