Colima Quest

May 12

I drove up to South Llano State Park in Junction, Texas, in search of Golden-cheeked Warbler for the year. I arrived to the campsite shortly before sunset, driving in to a chorus of Bell's Vireos and pitta-tuck Summer Tanagers all over the place. Despite walking around and looking for Golden-cheeks, I would have to wait until morning. I set up camp and waited for my friends Alex and Charlie to arrive - Charlie needed Black-capped Vireo for the year, and the three of us would caravan to West Texas to tackle the Colima Warbler hike in two days. After a few hours around the campfire, cooking my childhood favorite - pizza "pudgy pies" in the fire - we crawled into our tents on a perfect 60 degree night. The woods were silent, aside from the occasional rustling of the plentiful nine-banded armadillos in the park. 

May 13 

Walking for a few miles around the Agarita Trail produced a reasonably cooperative Golden-cheeked Warbler.

  

On the walk back to the cars, I was treated to a displaying Yellow-breasted Chat and OH MY GOSH IT MIGHT BE MY NEW FAVORITE BIRD BEHAVIOR EVER. I'm not sure how I've gone this long without ever witnessing it, but this bird acts like a giant butterfly in a Disney movie - I'm not sure how it manages to stay in the air while flapping so little! I headed to the nearby Junction water treatment plant to swing by for the White-rumped Sandpipers that had been seen several days previously. The birds were close and cooperative - giving the best looks I've ever gotten at this species. I then got on the road to caravan behind Charlie and Alex en route to the Christmas Mountains Oasis. 

A brief visit to Christmas Mountains Oasis provided great looks at (but awful digiscoped photos of) Lucifer Hummingbird. 

As the first stop in Big Bend, we tried with no luck at Blue Spring Trail for Gray Vireo - it was the middle of the day and not the best time to be looking, but we did find new-for-the-year Scott's Oriole and Dusky Flycatcher. 

Despite having researched it, the restaurant at the Chisos Mountain Lodge, unaligned with the web search results, was not open! After a full day of birding and driving, we would have to either go hungry (our car snacks were waning), or drive out to Terlingua (45 minutes each direction) for dinner. By none other than luck, we just so happened to be checking into the lodge when a restaurant worker was returning from some to-go orders. We asked him if he might possibly have anything leftover from the day that he might be able to sell us - and we were in luck! He scrounged up some dinner salads, hummus wraps, and even peach cobbler. Happy hikers we were! 

May 14 

Getting up before the sun, we started along on the Laguna Meadows Trail at 6:30 am. It was 30 minutes later than our intended departure time, but we were incredibly lucky in that the forecast called for the high of the day to be a temperate 85 degrees. Usually, the "traditional" spot for Colima Warbler was at Boot Springs Trail, but Big Bend National Park had a fairly sizable fire a few weeks previously, and they had not yet reopened their mountaintop trails to hikers. The Laguna Meadows Trail was nice in that it was a more gradual climb, but the flat areas continue for longer, so it takes longer to get into the higher elevation habitat where the Colimas are found. Armed with a few GPS pins from where my friend Ian had them the previous week, we speed hiked the 2.7 miles up the mountain to the first point, then slowed our pace as we looked for the three or more individuals that had been reported there recently. Despite hearing one or two birds very briefly on the way up, we still hadn't gotten a solid recording or any look at all by the time we got to the end of the trail at mile 3.5. Slowly down we would go; spending extra time at each of the locations we were given was our mode of attack. 

To our excitement, on the return trip, two of the birds were nearly in the exact trees they had been seen in a few days prior. The third bird was a bit off course but the most cooperative! It perched immediately above the trail right out in the open and gave us brief but great looks! Along the walk back, we also came across a displaying male Broad-tailed Hummingbird. 

Visiting Sam Nail Ranch on our way out of the park, a male and female Varied Bunting were visiting the wetland area where we were warned an adult black bear had been twenty minutes earlier. A couple visiting from the Dallas area were there, and I realized I'd forgotten the alarms in the car, so I left one on the dash of their vehicle when we left. 

Down off the mountain we went, leaving the Chisos and beelining it for El Paso, where a Yellow-billed Loon was found a few days later at a small fishing lake near downtown. It was a "drive-up" bird - I  parked my car, stepped out, and it was the first bird I looked at. Yellow-billed Loon was extra exciting for me, as I had accidentally passed an opportunity to see one north of San Francisco earlier in the year, and had passed it off as most likely a miss for the year. The locals were excited to be hosting a bird that so many people were coming to see - several fishermen had asked me if I was there to see the "Alaskan loon". While there, I ran into Nancy from Albuquerque. I gifted her an alarm, we chatted a bit about my big year project, and then headed off to Las Cruces for the evening. 

Year List: 581