The Big Year in Numbers

My thoughts on doing a Texas big birding year started in 2011 when I won a Beaumont Foundation, Excellance in Education Award. This recognition included a $10,000 cash award for the recipient. I decided to use the award money for a Texas big birding year once I retired from teaching. The money went into savings. I retired at the end of the school year in 2017 and I used the Beaumont award money to fund my “birding” travels across the state in 2018.

To keep track of my expenditures, I first started saving receipts for everything I purchased during my birding trips. What a disaster–receipts built up in a box that I did not want to go through. Then I remembered that all my credit card purchases were itemized in the monthly bill (yes, I still receive a paper bill!), so I started saving the bill statements. I charged all gas, oil changes, dinners, and motel rooms on my charge card. This made my record keeping much easier. I still paid cash for entry fees into parks, refuges, and anywhere else that required an entry fee, and for these purchases I did keep receipts, though I am sure some of those receipts were misplaced. Breakfasts and lunches I paid cash, I did not keep those receipts and estimated the money expended.

My credit card purchases for the year totaled $10,177.97. (Oops, that put me over my $10,000 cash award). Plus, I spent at least $436.00 on entry fees, and I estimated that I spent $500.00 (a conservative estimate) for breakfasts and lunches. In addition, I bought tickets for Mary and myself for the pelagic trip to the deep Gulf waters from Corpus Christi for $360.00. So, the grand total for my big year was $11,473.97. That total does not include the payment for the birding cruise to Gulf waters near Aransas National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) that my sister-in-law Nancy, and her husband John, gave to me for a present. Nor does it include the lodging in the Houstonian Hotel, as Mary would not stay in the budget motels I stay in when I am out birding, so she agreed to pick up the tab for those nights. What a great wife!

I crisscrossed the state multiple times and put 38,000 miles on my car. The 2009 Subaru did splendly with no breakdowns! Below is a picture of a Texas Highway Map. I highlighted in blue, where possible, all of the roads I drove. The bright pink map pins point to sites where at least one new bird for my big year list was identified.

Of the 254 counties of Texas, I birded in 80 counties. Below is a map from my Ebird profile which shows which counties I have Ebird reports.

The darker red the county, the more birds I saw in that county. As you can see I birded the far corners of the state.

On December 31st at Muleshoe NWR I saw my last new bird sighting for the year. It was the Chestnut-collared Longspur which put me at 457 birds for the year. My original goal was 425 birds, so I achieved 32 more birds than my goal. Seeing 457 birds placed me at seventh of Texas Ebird reporters for the 2018 year. The number one person was Kendra Kocab with 491 birds. I was only eight birds away from second place, during December, I was really trying to get a few more birds to break into the top five.

Where did I see the most birds? The number one spot was Boy Scout Woods with 24 species of birds. Boy Scout Woods is in the community High Island on the Gulf Coast. The number two spot was Santa Ana NWR with 22 bird species. This refuge is located in the Lower Rio Grande River Valley. The third highest spot was Smith Oaks Woods with 17 species of birds. It is only about a mile from Boy Scout Woods in High Island.

I also grouped birding hotspots together based on proximity. High Island was grouped with Anahuac NWR, Bolivar Peninsula, and Sabine Woods, which are all close together, had the highest number of bird sightings with 82 birds. Surprisingly, the second highest area was Lubbock County with 77 bird species. I started the year birding in Lubbock, so the common birds found almost everywhere in Texas, such as House Sparrows, House Finches, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, Pigeons, Great-tailed Grackles and so on, were seen first here in Lubbock. The third highest area was the Lower Rio Grande River Valley with 66 species.

A “life bird” is a bird a birder has not seen before. When the 2018 year started I had seen 396 life birds for North America. My first new life bird was the Golden-crowned Sparrow at Warbler Woods near New Braunfels. During the year I added another 110 life birds, finishing with the Northern Shrike for a total of 111 new life birds. When 2018 ended I was at 508 life birds.

The coldest spot I birded was on January 1 in Lubbock with a 4° F temperature at sunrise, the wind chill was much lower! The highest temperature was near San Antonio at Lake Calaveras on May 18 with a temperature of 102° F. The most mosquito bites I had was from Sabine Woods on the coast near Sabine Pass. I counted at least 29 bites on the palm of my left hand. The mosquitoes did not bite my right hand as it was the palm I used to apply the insect repellant lotion on my face, neck, and ears. I estimated about 200 bites on my back and stomach where the binocular harness pulled my shirt close to my skin-it looked like I had the measles. I only swallowed five mosquitoes during the two and a half hours I was birding at Sabine Woods. The mosquitoes were very bad that day.

I am often asked which was the most rare bird I saw during the year. That would be the Northern Shrike on December 29, I was the only Ebirder to record seeing this shrike species in Texas during 2018.

I had a grand time birding across Texas. I was able to go to places I had only heard of before. High Island was especially fun, it is a must for anyone with even a mild interest in birding.

I want to thank my wife, Mary. She was extremely supportive and encouraging during my big birding year. Before the big year started, Mary made sure I had the best equipment, giving me as presents, Swarovski binoculars (10X50) and a Swarovski spotting scope! Both are top of the line optical equipment. Mary is the best!

What am I going to do now? I will keep birding just not as intensely as during my big year. Mary is retiring and we will be traveling together, she has already scheduled a trip for us to Iceland and Norway (I might be able to get some new “life” birds there). Now that I have done a Texas Big Year, I now know how to do one, so maybe, another big year is in the future.

Thanks for reading and following this blog!

Oh, remember the Short-eared Owl I could not find? On March 28, 2019, at McAlister Park here in Lubbock, I flushed one from tall grass as I was walking back to the car after birding the park. Too bad it did not count for the big year!

the last day of jim’s texas big birding year

December 31, 2018

The big birding year ends at midnight. I had mixed feelings about the year ending. On one hand I am looking forward to no longer having the stress of trying to find new birds for the big year list. Also, the long road trips-driving eight to ten hours at a time- were getting monotonous. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed visiting birding hotspots around the state. I had the joy of seeing many new life birds, met and enjoyed the company of many fellow birders, and in general had a great time walking around in natural areas searching for birds.

On this last day my goal was to get two species of birds at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. Two Short-eared Owls were seen on the refuge during the Christmas Day Bird Count. Both owls were seen in an area that is usually off limits to visitors. Participants of Christmas Day Bird Counts had permission to bird the entire refuge. Unfortunately, when I was at Muleshoe the government shut-down forced the refuge personnel to close the office so there was no one to ask permission to go into the off-limits areas and look for the owls. So my best course of action was to try to see the owls while they were hunting at dawn, or at dusk, in the public area along the refuge road. The other species I was targeting were Chestnut-collared Longspurs. They are known to winter in the refuge and were also seen during the Christmas Day Count.

I arrived well before sunrise at the refuge and positioned myself near Goose Lake where the Short-eared Owls had been seen. There is a large valley between two escarpments. The valley has native grasses and has never been plowed, very rare for the South Plains. I had hoped to see the owls hunting over this grassland. As the sky lightened, Sandhill Cranes started taking off from their roost site in the shallow lake. A falcon zoomed through the cranes, it was dark, but I believed it was a Prairie Falcon. As the sun rose hundreds of Sandhill Cranes were taking to the air and bugling their calls. It was an amazing sunrise, even though the owls failed to show. I did see one Red-tailed Hawk and one Northern Harrier.

The refuge is divided by a state highway. I drove slowly along the highway with hopes of seeing the owls on the east side of Goose Lake. No owls were seen. At Paul’s Lake, east of the highway, I observed 45 Red-winged Blackbirds, 8 Ravens, 4 Meadowlarks, and this beautful Loggerhead Shrike.

I drove back over to Goose Lake and walked to an overlook to see the lake. The Short-eared Owls were flushed from their daytime roost sites in a brushy draw on the far side of the lake during the Christmas Count, now off limits to visitors. The refuge rangers were off-duty due to the shut-down, but I followed the rules and stayed in the allowed viewing area. I did not see the owls, but there were at least 100 Green-winged Teal on the lake.

Next, I staked-out a small playa lake next to the refuge road. This playa is almost always dry, but this winter it has water from plentiful fall rains. It had a few Mallards, Pintails, and Green-winged Teals, sitting and standing on the ice as most of this small lake is frozen. I saw seven Horned Larks on the far side of the lake foraging on the muddy shoreline. Soon, flocks of longspurs land on the shoreline and the nearby grass. The longspurs were coming for the melt water near the shore.

Longspurs are small, sparrow-sized birds, and in winter plumage are difficult to differentiate into the three separate species which can be found in west Texas during the winter. I saw Lapland and McCown’s Longspurs in Lubbock County, I still needed to see Chestnut-collared Longspurs.

The longspurs were coming in flocks and then would suddenly fly off. By the bird’s behavior I was sure they were longspurs, but which species? I was able to take pictures of the birds on the ground. Here is the best photograph which shows field marks.

The bird on the right looks to have a faded chestnut color on the back of its neck, which would be much brighter during breeding season. I was not convinced they were my targeted birds. I was able to get several shots of the birds coming in to land.

If you look carefully at the tail feathers, the feathers are white with a black triangle shape. A conclusive field mark, Chestnut-collared Longspurs (#457)! I was able to positively identify 18 of these birds, but I believed there were at least 50 coming into this watering hole. Here is another one flying by and in addition the the black triangle you can also see a small white wingbar, another field mark for Chestnut-collared Longspur.

Next, I went to the nature trail at the campground. My fingers were crossed that I might flush the Short-eared Owl. The nature trail was very birdy and I did find an owl-a Great Horned Owl.

My nemesis owl, the Short-horned Owl was not to be seen. On the dam, a male Ladderback Woodpecker was making a real show of himself with his red crown.

In all I was able to see 15 species of birds and two mule deer on this short hike. On the drive out of the refuge I stopped at White Lake and located five Wigeons (ducks) swimming on this shallow body of water. It was time to drive home, I did not have any other sites to bird, so this was the end of my big year, though I did keep my eyes open for any additional birds while I was driving.

Below are the Ebird addresses for checklist of birds seen at Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge. My next post will detail how many miles I drove, how much money I spent, and other such facts of interest.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51129194

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51129578

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51129432

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51129503

next to last day

December 30, 2018

Time is running out. Birds that I have yet to see have popped up down state but the drive time of at least eight hours seemed daunting to me. I decided I would rather pursue birds locally than to drive hours in pursuit of birds that may not be there when I arrive.

Before sunrise I drove to northwest Lubbock county hoping to see Short-eared Owls flying above grassy fields. I drove slowly on county roads and find Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, and Meadowlarks, but no Short-eared Owls.

The dreaded “Check Engine” light comes on the dashboard of my Subaru. I now have over 150,000 miles on my car and I am dreading the worst news, a major mechanical breakdown. I stop the engine and read the owner’s manual. It suggests checking the gas cap to make sure it is firmly screwed on. The cap was loose, I must not have snugged it down the last time I bought gas. The light does not go off when I restart the engine. I played it safe and drove back to Lubbock.

I stopped at McAlister Park and checked the lake for waterfowl. The lake had Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Canvasbacks, Hooded Mergansers, Pintails, Double-crested Cormorants, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, Redheads, Ring-billed Gulls, and a single American Coot. A nice selection of waterfowl. A Northern Harrier flew by as it was hunting. As I drive home, the “Check Engine” light turned off, it was the loose gas cap.

After lunch I went to Canyon Lake #Six. I saw many of the same ducks as I had seen at McAlister Park earlier that morning. In addition, I saw Cackling Geese, Canada Geese, Black-crowned Night-herons, Great Blue Herons, Great-tailed Grackles, Gadwalls, Buffleheads, Green-winged Teal, and a Belted Kingfisher.

I hiked to the stream oxbow below the dam, the oxbow is almost to Loop 289, about a mile of hiking. This stream is called the “North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River”, that is a mouthful for the name of a river. Anyways, the oxbow is reportedly a roost site for the Short-eared Owl. I have been there before in my futile attempts at seeing this owl. On the way to the oxbow I saw this small Marsh Wren.

Nearby, there was a Red-tailed Hawk sitting in a tree, keeping an eye on me.

The oxbow contains Salt Cedars, which grow close together forming dense thickets of shrubs and small trees. While I was thrashing around in this vegetation I did see a number of raptors, including two Red-tailed Hawks, one Ferruginous Hawk, one Sharp-shinned Hawk, and one owl-a Barn Owl. No Short-eared Owls were present.

There was still light available when I returned to the car so I drove to the cattle feedlot that is not far away. I am looking for Rusty Blackbirds, I have been told they are sometimes found mixed in with other blackbirds feeding on the dropped grain. I see many Starlings, Great-tailed Grackles, and Red-winged Blackbirds, but no Rusty Blackbirds. I am an avid beef eater, but hanging around feedlots does not encourage me to continue that part of my diet. If only I did not crave juicy hamburgers and smoked brisket.

To see the bird checklists for this day’s activities go to the Ebird addresses listed below.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51103026

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51103302

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51104436

birding plans change due to snow

December 26, 2018

Time is running out. The big year will end at midnight December 31st! I took Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off from birding to enjoy being with my family.

My nemesis bird, the Short-eared Owl, and Chestnut-collared Longspurs, had been reported at Thompson Grove in the Rita Blanca National Grasslands northwest of Dalhart. Thompson Grove is a small campground in the grassland, it has large trees, and is surrounded by grasslands. Locating the Short-eared Owl is a real possibility. Mary decided to go with me. We made plans to drive to the Texas panhandle the next morning though there was a slight chance of snow in that area. Before I went to bed I checked the weather radar and it was snowing in the western part of the panhandle.

December 27, 2018

The next morning it was still snowing in the western panhandle and the snow had become wide spread with forecasts of up to six inches of snow. I did not want Mary and myself to get stranded in a snowstorm so plans changed. An immature Iceland Gull (Thayer’s subspecies) had been seen at Lake Wichita in Wichita Falls. Also, on State Highway 222, Chestnut-collared Longspurs and Rusty Blackbirds, had been observed recently. Highway 222 would require a detour as it is not on the shortest route to Wichita Falls from Lubbock.

We got an early start and stopped at Silver Falls Roadside Park for a restroom break. While there, a mature Bald Eagle flew overhead. Highway 222 was a bust as very few birds were seen. I did stop at a cattle feeding area to check the hundreds of blackbirds feeding with the cows. I was looking for the Rusty Blackbird, no Rusty Blackbirds were seen, just hundreds of Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Starlings. As we got closer to Wichita Falls it became apparent the area had received heavy rains overnight. Water was standing in the fields and two of the highways had significant water flowing over the road. Highway workers were posted to close the road if necessary, one of these workers told me it had rained four inches during the night.

We arrived at Lake Wichita at 2:30 in the afternoon. At the spillway we located several gulls including Ring-billed Gulls and Herring Gulls, but no Iceland Gull. Here is an immature Herring Gull, which looks very much like the Iceland Gull I was pursuing.

We could see a flock of gulls further out in the lake. We moved to a park on the north side of the lake and were able to see about 75 Ring-billed Gulls resting in a large flock. In addition to the gulls we saw American White Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Double-crested Cormorants, Pied-bill Grebes, American Coots, and one each of Northern Mockingbird and Greater Yellowlegs.

We did not see the Iceland Gull and decided to try again the next morning. We located a hotel down the road from the lake. After a delightful dinner at a French Bistro we called it a day and went to sleep. Below is the Ebird address for the checklist for birds seen on this day.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51008082

December 28, 2018

I got up quietly so Mary could sleep while I went back to Lake Wichita and checked for the Iceland Gull. I arrived at sunrise and there were hundreds of gulls on and flying over the lake. I was able to identify 65 Ring-billed Gulls and four Herring Gulls, but there were many more gulls too far away for positive identification. Here ia an adult Herring Gull.

No candidates for the Iceland Gull were spotted so I went back and had breakfast with Mary. We checked the weather maps and it was still snowing in the western panhandle so we decided to chance the eastern panhandle, hopefully the snow would stay in the west.

We stopped in Canadian for lunch. While we were eating it started snowing, fortunately it was a light snow. Next stop was Marvin Lake. Trumpeter Swans are sometimes found here during the winter and there is always the possibility of a Northern Shrike anywhere in the panhandle during the winter.

We arrived at the lake at 1:30, it was 28° F with light snow. No swans were on the lake, only Gadwalls (ducks) and Mallards were present. We drove around the lake and hiked a portion of the nature trail. We saw a few birds, mostly American Robins.

Lipscomb County is in the far northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle. I wanted to bird in this county as it is the last corner of Texas for me to visit in my big birding year. We arrived in the city of Lipscomb, the county seat, at 3:15 PM. To call Lipscomb a city is an exaggeration. In this county of 3300 people, only 44 live in the county seat. The courthouse is surrounded by a few houses and empty lots.

There are literally more Wild Turkeys than there are people in this town, as I saw 96 turkeys in the lot across from the courthouse.

Birding was actually good in this small village. In addition to the turkeys, we saw Eastern Bluebirds, Dark-eyed Juncos, Red-winged Blackbirds, Cedar Waxwings, Northern Flickers, White-crowned Sparrows, Western Meadowlarks, American Kestrels, a Downy Woodpecker and a Red-tailed Hawk.

It was getting late in the evening and except for a few snow flurries the snow was staying to the west. We decided to spend the night in Perryton so we could bird Lake Palo Duro the next morning. Below are the Ebird addresses for the checklists of birds seen on this day.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51035290

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51035061

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51035163

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51034910

December 29, 2018

It snowed overnight in Perryton, fortunately it was only about an inch and the roads were clear. Lake Palo Duro has nothing to do with Palo Duro Canyon. Lake Palo Duro is over a hundred miles further north and is almost in Oklahoma. There was a light snow covering the ground when we arrived. The sky was mostly clear and it was 21°F. We birded Dedication Park first. It is a picnic area on the north side of the dam. Large Cottonwood trees are found here. The picnic grounds had large numbers of meadowlarks and a few other birds. As we were leaving to go to the lake side of the dam, I saw a shrike at the top of one of the Cottonwoods. I was able to get photographs of the bird and confirmed it was a Northern Shrike (#456)!

The hooked bill, light banding across the chest, and the eye bordered on the mask not in the mask separates this from the more common Loggerhead Shrike. More exciting, this was the only Northern Shrike reported in Texas on Ebird for the 2018 year! What a find!

As we were crossing the dam we saw a Bald Eagle sitting on one of the dead trees in the lake. It stayed on that tree the entire time we were there and I was able to get a good picture.

We drove around the lake and saw a fair number of birds. The lake was mostly frozen, but a small section was ice free because of the swimming action of 500 Green-winged Teal. We saw Mountain Bluebirds, Horned Larks, and American Tree Sparrows among the species present. Responsibility was calling us back to Lubbock so it was time to go. Below is the Ebird address for the complete checklist of birds seen at Lake Palo Duro.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51060583

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S51060999

east lubbock county birding

December 22, 2018

I drove out to east Lubbock County and birded along Boles Road, this stretch of road can sometimes have birds rare to west Texas. I was able to spot four Red-tailed Hawks, including this one on a power line pole with a flock of female Red-winged Blackbirds.

Surprisingly, the blackbirds do not seem to be scared of the hawk. A few light poles away was a Prairie Falcon finishing its lunch of a bird, if you look closely at its talons, you can see the remains of the bird’s leg.

I drove the backroads in the area and did not see any birds that were unusual, so I drove over to Buffalo Springs Lake. I did not go into the lake preserve as the entry fee has been raised to an unreasonable price of $12.00. I did bird the county road just to the west of the lake. This stretch of road travels through Yellowhouse Canyon so the topography and habitats are different from the plains above the canyon. The most interesting bird I found was a Black-crested Titmouse. I have seen these birds elsewhere, this was my first Lubbock County Black-crested Titmouse.

Below are the Ebird addresses for the checklists of birds seen this day.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50872047

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50872174

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50872249

December 23, 2018

The Short-eared Owl has become my nemesis bird. Nemesis birds are birds that people doing a big year just cannot seem to find. These birds are usually considered to be uncommon, or even rare, but other birders have seen the bird in question, its just not showing for the big year birder.

I researched Lubbock County sightings of Short-eared Owls on Ebird and was able to locate a Lubbock roost site in an oxbow of Yellowhouse Canyon, below Canyon Lake #6. To reach the roost requires hiking about a mile below the dam along mountain bike trails. The oxbow is filled with a thicket of invasive Salt Cedars and tall annual weeds. Salt Cedars are shrubs to small trees and are difficult to walk through.

I started this owl chasing endeavor shortly after sunrise. White-crowned Sparrows were abundant and are only here in the winter. For raptors, I saw three Northern Harriers, two Red-tailed Hawks, an American Kestrel, and this Sharp-shinned Hawk, seen sitting in Salt Cedar branches.

I spent time thrashing around the vegetation of the oxbow and was able to flush three Barn Owls, but no Short-eared Owls.

Later that evening I drove out to the Becton area north of Idalou. Short-eared Owls and Chestnut-collared Longspurs have been seen here in the past. I was able find McCown’s Longspurs, but none of my targeted birds. Here is a picture of one of the longspurs foraging among sorghum stalks.

I watched for owls until it got too dark to see. The sunset was spectacular!

Below is the Ebird address for the checklist of birds seen at the area below Canyon Lake #6.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50896597

looking for short-eared owls and tundra swans

December 20, 2018

Short-eared Owls winter in grasslands of Texas. I have yet to see one this year so several evenings I was out in Lubbock County driving areas which are predominantly grassy. The owls usually start hunting two hours before sunset and can be found in the same areas where Northern Harriers are seen. I was in northern Lubbock County, looking for Short-eared Owls, when I came upon a playa lake full of Canada, Cackling, Snow, and Ross’s Geese.

During the winter we have thousands of Canada and Cackling Geese roosting on Lubbock playa lakes in the city parks, but few Snow and Ross’s Geese are found in town. Canada and Cackling Geese are the darker geese with white chins and black heads. Snow and Ross’s Geese are overall white. I was amazed to find so many white geese just out of town. At the edge of the playa two hawks were feasting on dead geese. The first is a Ferruginous Hawk and the second is a Northern Harrier.

Further east, just over the county line into Hale County, I found another playa which had thousands of geese coming in to roost for the night. It was a wildlife spectacle.

No Short-eared Owls were observed. Below are the Ebird addresses for complete checklists of birds seen this evening.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50832503

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50832290

December 21, 2018

Tundra Swans were found east of Seymour! I got up before sunrise to drive the two and a half hours to the wheat field where the swans were seen. I watched for Short-eared Owls as I was driving to Seymour, no owls were seen. Ten Tundra Swans (#455) were in the very green wheat field with 18 Canada Geese.

The geese were next to the county road and were easy to observe and photograph. On the way back I stopped at the Becton Cemetery and birded that area, mainly looking for Chestnut-collared Longspurs. I did not see those longspurs, but I did see McCown’s Longspurs. A beautiful Rough-legged Hawk flew over, this is a hawk birders from downstate come to northwest Texas to see during the winter.

Here are the Ebird addresses for checklists for birds seen on this day.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50847866

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50848419

balmorhea lake and dog canyon

December 17, 2018

During the summer Ebird ruled that Mexican Ducks would no longer be considered a subspecies of Mallards, but would be considered a separate species. This allows me to add one more species to my big year list, but I had not been recording where I had seen Mexican Ducks. Balmorhea Lake has Mexican Ducks and rare birds are also often found at this lake in the desert, so a trip seemed prudent since I was already in Van Horn and Balmorhea Lake is 75 miles due east on Interstate 10.

When I arrived at the lake the first birds I saw were Mallards, the males with their brilliant green heads and the females lacking the green coloration but having a “saddle” of dark color on their bills. The male Mexican Ducks do not have green heads, nor do the females have the “saddle” color on their bills. Soon after crossing the dam I found a small flock of Mexican Ducks (#453). The Mexican Duck pictured below is darker than a female Mallard.

I enjoyed seeing 33 species of birds, though there were no new ones to add to my big year list, other than the Mexican Duck. Surprisingly, I saw 35 Eared Grebes. Until this day, I had only seen a few Eared Grebes. These grebes were all in their winter plumage, here is one looking at me.

Here is a profile shot of the same grebe.

While watching a group of 17 Eared Grebes, a car pulled up and Deb and Lee Wallace got out. I had met these birders on the pelagic trip earlier in the year. They were looking for the Common Mergansers that had been observed here and reported on Ebird. We found six Common Mergansers across an arm of the lake from where we were visiting. I relayed my misadventure of not seeing the Pygmy Nuthatches at the Guadalupes on the previous day. They encouraged me to go back, but to Dog Canyon, on the north side of the park. The Wallaces had seen Pygmy Nutchatches just a mile in on the Tejas Trail just two weeks earlier, the same area I had seen the female Williamson’s Sapsucker. So back to the Guadalupes I went!

Below is the Ebird address for birds seen at Balmorhea Lake.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50758746

December 18, 2018

The only way, by car, to reach Dog Canyon is to drive through New Mexico. I spent the night in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The weather forecast had a low chance of precipitation. When I left Carlsbad it was clear, though it was cloudy in the southwest direction of Dog Canyon, 70 miles away. As I got closer to the park it became cloudier and rain shafts were visible under distant clouds. I took the shortcut through Dark Canyon on a twisting New Mexico county road to State Highway 137, also called Queens Highway. The state highway starts climbing in elevation as you are climbing into the Guadalupe Mountains, leaving the desert scrub behind and entering the pygmy forest of Lincoln National Forest. It is called a “pygmy” forest due to the abundance of the short trees of Alligator Juniper and Pinyon Pine, though there are tall Ponderosa Pine in some areas. New Mexico 137 dead ends at the entrance to Dog Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which is back in Texas.

As the highway climbed to the village of Queen, the cloud base dropped until I was immersed in a heavy fog with light rain. The temperature was at 37 °F and I drove cautiously in case the road became icy. West of Queen, I had to stop for a herd of elk to clear the road before I could continue.

On the west side of the mountains you lose elevation and drop into Dog Canyon. This is how the clouds looked at El Paso Gap.

El Paso Gap is where an intersection of roads meet in a pass through foot hills of the Guadalupes. One gravel road will take you on 60 miles of bumpy, bouncing road to Dell City and then to El Paso, or you can take the paved highway to Dog Canyon, or you can go back to Queen, New Mexico. At the “gap”, there is rock lettering on the hillside identifying this place as El Paso Gap.

Driving up Dog Canyon, towards Texas and the national park, I drove back into the cloud bank which is now fog as I was once again gaining elevation. When I reached the national park I was back in Texas and it was 8 o’clock AM. Visibility had dropped to about 50 feet and it was raining, the temperature hovering around 38°F, not ideal bird watching weather.

After paying the entrance fee, I visited with the park ranger and he thought the weather would stay cloudy and rainy for the rest of the day. I was not to be deterred. I layered on warm clothing with rain pants, raincoat, and rain boots. I was ready.

The trail was muddy and wet, but I was warm and dry. My camera bag had its own raincoat to keep the camera dry. My binoculars were waterproof and I used eyepiece guards to keep the eyepieces dry. The fog was dense. I could only see about 50 feet away. The first birds I saw were White-breasted Nuthatches (not the targeted Pygmy Nuthatches). Then through the fog I saw a Rufous-crowned Sparrow, 14 Western Bluebirds, and 3 Townsend’s Solitaires.

As I was hiking I was going uphill, and I hiked out of the fog, it was a sudden transformation. It was still very dark and cloudy with constant rain, but I could now see much further. About a mile up the trail, surprisingly the rain turned to snow. The snow was not sticking to the ground where I was, but the higher mountain sides were covered with snow. I tried to take pictures of the snow coming down but it did not show up. Though, you can see how dark and gloomy it was in the canyon. The mountains are obscured by the clouds.

Where I took this picture the trail starts switchbacking out of the wooded canyon and starts climbing in a treeless area for several miles, I had not seen a Pygmy Nuthatch. I started back down as nuthatches are only found in forest habitats. After a few minutes of hiking, I stopped to admire a tall Ponderosa tree while it was snowing, when a small bird flew into the top canopy of the tree. I got closer to the tree and could not relocate this small bird. It had flown on or was hiding very well. What did I see? A very small bird, overall blue back and wings, faint wing bars, and some white on the tail feathers. These characteristics are all in keeping with the Pygmy Nuthatch and does not fit any other birds expected here in the Guadalupe Mountains. So, Pygmy Nuthatch (#454) it is! Finally!

I continued on down the trail and saw Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Acorn Woodpeckers, Scrub Jays, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northerm Harrier, and a Williamson’s Sapsucker. It was nice to get back to the car, but it had been an exhilarating hike in the high country snow, fog, and rain, especially since I saw my targeted bird, the Pygmy Nuthatch! Now to start the long drive back to Lubbock. Below is the Ebird address for all birds seen at Dog Canyon.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50790269

return to the guadalupe mountains

Pygmy Nuthatches have been observed at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, along Juniper Trail on the north side of the Bowl area. I still need to see this species of bird, the problem is the climb to the Bowl. The Bowl is in the high country of the Guadalupes, heavily forested and quite different from the high desert grasslands at the base of the mountains. It is beautiful country, but the hike is a killer, you climb 3000 feet elevation in 2.5 miles before topping out at the Bowl, then it is about two more miles of walking along Juniper Trail searching for the Pygmy Nuthatches, of course, if you find the nuthatches early you can shorten your hike. Also, another bird I need to see, Sage Sparrows, have been observed on the west side of the mountains near the gypsum dunes. There are other rare birds that have been spotted at Frijole Ranger Station this fall, such as Lawrence’s Goldfinch and Evening Grosbeak. You never know what might show up at the Guadalupe Mountains.

December 15, 2018

I arrive at Frijole Ranger Station mid morning and as I am getting out of the car I spot the rare Juniper Titmouse. The Guadalupe Mountains are the only spot in Texas to see this titmouse. This one got away from me before I could get a picture, but a few minutes later another Juniper Titmouse appeared near the ranch house and I got a picture of this small little gray bird.

The grounds of the ranch house has been closed due to falling branches from the large oak and pecan trees. I birded the orchard nearby instead and found this Fox Sparrow.

Just a short walk away is Manzanita Springs. The springs were dammed by the early settlers forming a small pond. Here, I was able to locate two Townsend’s Solitaires, two more Juniper Titmouse, and 20 Mountain Bluebirds, five of these bluebirds are pictured below.

Climbing the Bowl via Bear Canyon Trail is an all day venture so this afternoon, after setting up my camp at Pine Springs Campground, I drove to the west side of the park to the gypsum dunes. West of the Guadalupes is a large geological basin in which rainwater runoff from the mountains and surrounding desert flow into, but not out of the basin, forming a fairly flat area called the Salt Flats. Southwesterly winds have blown gypsum grains towards the mountains from the Salt Flats, forming extensive gypsum dunes. Recently, the Nature Conservancy has worked with the National Park Service to add these dune fields to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

There are some irrigated farmland near the dunes, but mostly the land is used for cattle grazing and is severely overgrazed. Easy to overgraze grass in this desert. Grazing is not allowed near the Gypsum Dunes and the difference is quite noticeable. Here is a picture of the restored desert grasslands up to the escarpment of the mountains.

Looking towards the parking area you can see the Guadalupe Mountains. El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak are on the right hand side of the photograph.

It is still a mile hike to the gypsum dunes from the parking area, but that hike is unnecessary as I am only birding the grassy area around the parking lot. The first bird I see is my target bird, a Sage Sparrow (#452)! I am able to locate seven of these sparrows. Easy to identify with a gray head and back, central breast spot, and a white area between the eye and beak. Here, a Sage Sparrow is posing on sagebrush.

In addition to the Sage Sparrows, I was able to see Chipping Sparrows, Black-chinned Sparrows, Brewer’s Sparrows, House Finches, Lark Buntings, and Sage Thrashers. Here is a Sage Thrasher.

Time for the long drive back to Pine Springs Campground, I need a good night’s sleep for the tomorrow’s climb up to the Bowl. Today’s complete bird checklists can be found at the following Ebird addresses.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50735612

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50735848

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50758949

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50736169

December 16, 2018

Sunrise was occurring when I started hiking the Frijole Trail from the Frijole Ranger Station trailhead. I needed an early start to hike the ten strenous miles (round trip). The hiking became much more difficult when I turned onto the Bear Canyon Trail, which will take me up to the Bowl. I was worried, last summer when I hiked to the Bowl along the Tejas Trail, my left knee almost gave out on the way down. It was very painful. Also, I have been traveling so much chasing birds across Texas, I have not been exercising as I should.

Well, there was a lot of huffing and puffing and water breaks. I was on the last set of trail switchbacks when I realized I was done, I was just out of gas. I could see the ridge where the trail tops out and I was sure I could reach that ridge. It was just a half mile, or less, to the ridge, but then I have to hike at least another mile or two to find the Pygmy Nuthatches and then hike back down to the car. Down hill hiking can be tough on knees and mine were already feeling sore. With a heavy heart, I decided to turn back-I did not want to be one of those hikers that have to be rescued.

I had no problems on the descent, my knees held up well. When I got back to my campsite, I packed up and headed south to Van Horn. I needed a good dinner and a soft bed, the El Capitan Hotel was where I spent the night. I did not post on Ebird the few birds I saw on this hike. The next day I went to Lake Balmorhea to look for Mexican Mallards.

birding locally-with time running out

December 8, 2018

I only have a few weeks left in my big year so I need to be in the field as much as possible. Roads are still icy and snowpacked after snowing this morning so I decided to bird the nearby Clapp Park in central Lubbock. I bundled up and used my Baffin rainboots to keep my feet warm and dry as I tromped around in 11 inches of snow.

Clapp Park was very birdy with 26 species of birds, including this juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk, respectively.

It was fun birding in the snow and a good workout walking in deep snow. Below is the Ebird address for the bird checklist of birds seen at Clapp Park.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50528490

December 10, 2018

I still need two longspurs found in the Lubbock area, Lapland Longspur and Chestnut-collared Longspur. I have heard from fellow birders a good time to look for these elusive birds is when the ground is covered with snow, and the pavement is snow free. The dry roadbeds attracts flocks of these small sparrow-like birds. Many roads still have patches of ice and snow but the roads are safe to drive.

My first stop was a paved county road just north of Lubbock. No longspurs were observed on the road but there were about 80 Brewer’s Blackbirds. Here are pictures of a male and then of a female sitting on a powerline, with a beautiful deep blue sky as a backdrop.

Next stop was the Becton area north of Idalou. There is a small paved county road with little traffic which makes it safe to bird from the car. Raptors were making an appearance, raptors seen were: Prairie Falcon, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, and American Kestrel. Horned Larks were easy to find, here is one perched on a tumbleweed.

Additional birds were seen but the longspurs were not making their presence known.

Here are the Ebird addresses for the checklist of birds seen today.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50577941

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50578025

December 11, 2018

A Pacific Loon was reported on Ebird at Lake Meredith, about 60 miles north of Amarillo. I arrived the next day at mid morning, it was overcast, very windy, and 45° F. This large reservoir was built to supply water for many west Texas cities, including Lubbock. There are picnic areas and campgrounds scattered along the shore of the lake which are places used to observe waterfowl on the lake. I went first to Harbor Bay where the loon had been seen the previous day. I could not locate it but did see four Common Goldeneyes, here are three of those ducks, two males and a female.

Afterwards I continued birding the different public areas where I could get views of the lake. I was able to spot this young mule deer, all prepared for winter with its thick coat.

At Fritch Fortress, a picnic area, I was able to watch a mixed flock of Ringed-bill Gulls, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Common Mergansers, Red-breasted Mergansers, and either a Herring Gull or an immature Iceland Gull (a bird I still needed) feeding on a school of fish. Here they are after a feeding frenzy.

In the distance I could make out a Common Loon, I had already seen this species on the Gulf Coast. I found another loon that looked different from the Common Loon. I was able to take pictures of it. After the pictures were enlarged I decided it was a Pacific Loon (#450).

Before I left Lake Meredith to return home in Lubbock, I went back to Harbor Bay in hopes I could get a better photograph of the Pacific Loon, it was not observable from this location, but I did see two Western Grebes.

While at Lake Meredith I had a sweep of all three mergansers found in North America, I saw Hooded, Common, and Red-breasted Mergansers. Below is the Ebird address for the checklist of birds seen at Lake Meredith.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50607908

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50607942

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50607982

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50608163

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50608245

December 14, 2018

I still needed the longspurs so I drove to the Becton area. Historically, longspurs have been seen in this area. Horned Larks were plentiful. I estimated that there were 125 present. Some sparrow-like birds were flying up and down and hiding in crop stubble and in nearby short prairie grasses. I was able to get a picture of one of them and after examining the picture I decided it was a Lapland Longspur (#451)!

As you can see it is a nondescript bird in its winter plumage, not too much different from its breeding plumage. Here is picture of a Lapland Longspur in flight.

Now I just need to find the Chestnut-collared Longspur. Below is the Ebird adddress for the bird checklist at Becton.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50661361

birding east texas-day three

December 6, 2018

After birding Tyler State Park I drove down to Port Arthur and spent the night. My goal was to look for Nelson’s Sparrow in the marshes just south of Sabine Pass. Last spring Chris Bergman showed me a spot he has seen these sparrow repeatedly, we did not see them that day because they had already migrated north. Nelson’s sparrows nest mostly in Canada and winter along the Gulf coast.

I have to drive to Sabine Pass on Texas Highway 87. Interesting, you have to drive through the Valero Oil Refinery. The first time I drove this route I thought I had inadvertently turned into oil refinery grounds. Pipelines run over the highway as seen in the picture.

After the refinery I drove to Sabine Pass, the site of the famous civil war battle where just a handful of Confederate soldiers prevented hundreds of Union soldiers from invading Texas by way of Sabine River. I continued on thru Sabine Pass and stopped on South 8th Street. North of the street are extensive salt marshes. I played Nelson’s bird calls with my Iphone to entice the sparrows to come out of the marsh grasses so I could see them. The recording did not attract these sparrows. I then started making sounds with my lips that sounds like scolding birds (pishing). Several Nelson’s Sparrows (#449) popped up!

In each of my photographs I focused on the only sparrow I could see, I was surprised to find an additional sparrow in each picture. These birds were well camouflaged.

Next stop was Sabine Woods further down the coast from Sabine Pass. This property is owned by the Texas Ornithological Society. The last time I was here I was surrounded by clouds of mosquitoes, but with the cool temperatures this morning, mosquitoes were not a problem. During spring and fall migration these woods can be full of migrating birds. A Chuck-will’s-widow has been seen overwintering here, I looked carefully but was unable to locate this bird, though I did see 13 bird species.

Back at Sabine Pass I took the highway to Sabine Lake to drive along Pleasure Island, which is a long linear island. Recently Black Scoters have been seen along the island. I did not see the scoters, though I did see a flock of Red-breasted Mergansers pursuing a school of fish.

Nearby, was a Horned Grebe.

Time to head for Lubbock, the forecast is still calling for heavy rain in east Texas and snow for west Texas. On the way home I drove to Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, west of Houston. I was still in search of Prairie Chickens and LeConte’s Sparrow. The refuge was birdy, but I did not see any new birds for my big year list.

That evening I drove to Bastrop through the rain, the wet weather had finally caught up to me. Lucky for me, Mary, was scheduled to be in Bastrop, at a leadership retreat at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort. I picked Mary up at the Austin airport and we had dinner with her brother Jack and sister-in-law Anita. Then back to Bastrop for the night.

The next day it rained off and on during the trip to Lubbock. Now my worry were icy roads. As I drove into Lubbock, a light rain was falling and it was 33°, but the roads were still not slick from ice. The next morning when I got up it had snowed six inches overnight and we received four more inches during the morning. This is what my backyard looked like with the snow.

I was able to stay ahead of the inclement weather, watching the snow fall at home was delightful. Below are the Ebird addresses for the bird checklist for the birding activity for this blog.

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50484362

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50484449

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50484560

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50484660