Finally made it to Davis Mountains State Park in Texas. A lot of people I’d seen in Big Bend also stopped here. At a mile above sea level, the landscape is made up of a oak trees, junipers, and grasses. They are in the midst of a drought and many oak trees have died in the Davis Mountains. Water is a precious commodity. Also, the two recent cold fronts that brought freezing temps to west Texas killed a lot of plants. While in a hardware store in the nearby town of Alpine, heard people say they lost most of their plants, including cactus and palm trees. During my visit, a red-flag condition was in place, with temps in the 70′s-90′s and the humidity around 4%.

The picture above was taken from a scenic viewpoint looking down at the Chihuahuan Desert near Fort Davis.

Spent a lot of time at a bird watching station hoping to see some Montezuma quail. It never happened, although some people were lucky enough to see them.

Again with the peanut butter! Although I didn’t see any Montezuma quail, was pleased with the birds I did see.  Shown above are a cactus wren, a black-crested titmouse, a ladder-backed woodpecker, a Bewick’s wren, and an acorn woodpecker.

An overabundance of white-winged doves were present. Their call sounds like “Give us this day” to me. I will definitely recognize a white-winged dove by it’s call from now on.

Above: a dark-eyed junco and a canyon towhee.

In Big Bend you were warned not to leave food out at night because of the javelina. Didn’t see any while I was there, but they did come around at night here. The javelina and the deer both visit the bird feeding stations for water (drinking all the water meant for the birds). The javelina trump the deer—the deer gave them wide berth when I saw them both there at the same time.

The deer above has it’s head in an oak tree.

Seen below, the campground at Davis Mountains State Park. The park was established in 1933/1935. The white structure is Indian Lodge, originally constructed in 1935 by the CCC. It’s a beautiful building. There’s a trail up the mountain nearby where you may see mountain goats.

Stayed at Rio Grande Village Campground in Big Bend National Park for a few days. Had the first hot, dry weather I’ve had this year (in the 90′s). Had decided to just stay in the campground this visit, before the price of gas went up ($4 a gallon in the park). I drove all over the park on my first visit here and there was enough to do around the campground.

On driving from the town of Marathon to the campground, I was struck by the complete lack of roadside trash (not one plastic bag blowing in the wind)! Trash in the Rio Grande Valley area is omnipresent.

There are spring fed ponds (in the foreground in the picture above) along a nature trail in the campground. Water from the Rio Grande River enters the one seen above when the river floods.

Saw a number of roadrunners. Was surprised to see one “wag it’s tail”, hold it’s tail up and wag it right and left. Also intermittently heard roadrunners in trees making deep cooing sounds.

Cardinals and pyrrhuloxia were present in the campground area. Near the pond there were two young herons, along with common yellowthroats, a bittern, and a pied-billed grebe.

Coyotes were often seen walking through the campground.

There are mosquitofish in the pond. An endangered species, Big Bend Gambusia, or Big Bend Mosquitofish, are in a protected isolated pond.

My third and last week at Falcon State Park. One picnic area at the park has half of its sites closed off because of water damage (top picture). There were strong winds here one day that brought the water in close to the remaining sites. The park has definitely lost land to the water this past year.

There is a 3-mile trail around the park (lower picture) that shows the brush that is so easy for wildlife to disappear into. The brushland appears so desolate when driving through it, but a lot of wildlife depend on it to survive.

There are javelina here. Saw a group with one baby walk through my campsite one night.

The large flocks of kiskadees are gone, but you see individual ones around. Just this week started hearing and seeing cactus wrens (above). They are year-round residents, so they were probably here, I just didn’t cross paths with them.

On the park road, before you enter the park past the headquarters, I saw a group of chachalaca’s. Don’t recall seeing them here before. Know the bobcats would love the park to have a large population of them.

Meadowlarks are seen in groups and individually.

Have seen three pairs of roadrunners that come out to sun themselves in the morning.

Below, a blue-gray gnatcatcher and a pyrrhloxia.

Visited the Salineño birding site near Falcon State Park that I always make a point to visit while I’m here. All kinds of bird food is put out for the birds, including peanut butter (mixed with lard to make it easier to swallow). There were so many blackbirds at the site this year, however, other birds often had to fight to get some of the peanut butter.

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Black-crested titmouse

Curved-billed thrasher

Male and female northern cardinals

The altamira oriole, above, was chasing a lot of birds away from the peanut butter.

Below, one bird not with peanut butter, an Audubon’s oriole.

A three-day cold spell just swept through here, as it did a lot of the country. Went from the low 80′s during the day and 60′s at night to the 30′s and 20′s, with one day of light snow and sleet. It’s starting to warm back up now.

I often find good picture opportunities in inclement weather. Got the picture of the blue-gray gnatcatcher above, and the caracara below in the cold weather, as well as the roadrunner further down the page.

Came upon a large gathering of caracara’s. One adult had found something to eat, and caracara’s from all over landed nearby to see if there was anything for them (there wasn’t). There were a number of juvenile caracara’s (seen above).

Inca doves on a cold morning.

Vermilion flycatcher. Also saw juvenile vermilion flycatchers.

There are lots of young ones in the flocks of pyrrhuloxia’s (adult seen above).

Roadrunner. Initially saw it sunning itself after a night of freezing temps.

Falcon State Park is located near Falcon Dam at the southern end of a 60-mile lake created by a dam on the Rio Grande River. The park sustained damage from flooding secondary to Hurricane Alex, but some brushland areas seem to have benefited from the flooding. There are more birds here than I have ever seen before.

The murder of a man on a jet ski here last October has not affected visitation, at least by winter Texans. The park is nearly full and there are lots of boaters.

Berry war: There is a large flock of great kiskadees enjoying the berries on some bushes (top picture). They are continually being attacked by territorial mockingbirds. Usually one mockingbird will chase one shrieking kiskadee. Kiskadees are a little larger than mockingbirds, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference. While I was taking pictures a hawk tried to chase down a kiskadee, but was unsuccessful. Maybe the practice of running from the mockingbirds helps keep them in shape to run from predators.

Berry update: Went back to the bush with the berries where I took the above pictures. All but a few of the berries are gone!

I’ve had three bobcat sightings, but just one picture. The above guy came to the edge of the brush near my rv, but quickly escaped back into the brush when it saw me.

A male (foreground) and female bobwhite.

A pyrrhuloxia. Falcon State Park is the main place I see them.

I put out grapefruit for the birds. Orange-crowned warblers are the main takers as well as being one of the more numerous birds here.

A deer surprised me by eating one half-grapefruit whole. When she returned later in the evening she didn’t want another one, but the young one ate part of one.

Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park is the best known of the birding sites in the Rio Grande Valley. It is on the western edge of the developed valley, with it’s expressway and all it’s well known stores. If you continue westward on US 83 you quickly loose the expressway and the stores. I stayed in the central part of the valley, close to all the birding sites. Have not had to refill the gas tank of my truck during my 3 weeks here. There are a lot of nice rv parks near the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. Most look to be full now, as this is their prime season. The rv parks here must have a good association, as they all charge about the same price. It is hard to find a nice, low cost rv park.

In the late afternoon at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park the chachalacas go into hiding, giving access to the feeding sites to more of the smaller birds. The chachalacas are not aggressive, but their size gives them priority at the feeding sites. In the picture above, some green jays take advantage of this non-chachalaca time period.

At the entrance to the park, there is a large feeding section with lots of benches to sit and watch the birds. The chachalacas retreat at around 5 p.m. when the volunteers leave for the day. Bobcats come through the area hunting them, which is probably a prime reason for their retreat.

Above, a great kiskadee and a clay-colored thrush go after some peanut butter at the feeding site near the entrance to the park.

Below, a ruby crowned kinglet.

Hurricane Alex, in July 2010, damaged most, if not all, birding sites along the Rio Grande. The river went from being 300 feet wide to 2 miles wide in places. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge’s tram and bicycle road is largely under water, along with a lot of their land. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park has only recently reopened. It’s tram road is open, but many trails are closed. No javelina’s have been seen in the park since the hurricane and subsequent flooding, but javelina footprints have recently been spotted.

The Santa Ana Refuge will let nature take it’s course and let any water evaporate naturally. I like it with more water. There are newly created swamps that are at times full of birds. The cacophony of bird sounds in these areas must at times be like what is heard in Louisiana and Florida swamps.

Was thrilled to be able to get pictures of a green kingfisher in a new swamp area at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. Think the background noise of all the other birds made it possible for me to get the pictures of it fishing.

On a sad note, I had planned to visit La Sal del Rey, part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge system, but saw there was an advisory not to go there alone. A volunteer at the Santa Ana Refuge told me she went there with a group and heard gun shots. The Wildlife Refuge feels it’s not safe for individuals to go there alone. The Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge has a Border Patrol station connected to it. You sometimes see armed agents walking the grounds.

Saw the above large snake in the same swamp the kingfisher was in.

Have seen clay-colored thrushes at both the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.

Curved-billed thrasher

See the bird in the above picture and how well it blends into the background? Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas, is the only place I’ve seen a common poorwill. One was pointed out to me when I was here a few years ago. On this visit I looked in the same area I had seen it before…and there it was. It is right next to a walking path. It doesn’t move or open it’s eyes when you walk near it. With my eyes, I will probably never see another one, unless it’s pointed out to me.

Common yellowthroat

Curved-billed thrasher

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Chachalaca

The rv park I’m staying at doesn’t do much to attract birds, but to my surprise, there are some black-bellied whistling ducks there and a loggerhead shrike perches right next to my rv. The ducks are often having disputes. Someone is putting out some birdseed and I think they are fighting over it.

Always enjoy visiting the Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco, Texas. It is on 15 acres that used to be a grapefruit ranch. There are still many grapefruit trees that provide fruit for the birds. The curved pathways through the thicket provide a meditative walk. It is a small area, but you can feel like you are lost on your first visit there. There are several feeding stations, with grapefruit, birdseed, and hummingbird feeders put out for the birds and chairs for people to sit and watch them. You hear the sounds of plain chachalaca’s running through the bushes.

The two warblers above are two I’ve never seen before. They both took advantage of a small stream to bathe. The top picture is a black-throated green warbler and the bottom one is a Wilson’s warbler.

Plain chachalaca.

First picture this year that I’ve gotten of a black-crested titmouse.

Orange-crowned warbler

Curved-billed thrasher

Lots of butterflies. Didn’t see any eaten by flycatcher’s.