Birding in Southwest Texas - March 15 & 16

big bend tunnel
Originally uploaded by J Semenza

This morning we packed our bags and headed back towards Big Bend. And this time we saw lots of birds including the beautiful little Vermillion flycatcher. We got up into the Chisos Mountain Basin where the oak grows wild. After a very long day of birding we headed for Italy. It was a very long way off so once we found a phone signal I called Nick to see if he could find us a hotel. Eventually I had to pull over and wait for his return call. Signal strength isn't exactly reliable in those parts.

A hotel was found in Monahans. The lady at the desk recommended a terrific restaurant, so we brought her back a piece of cheesecake. She had been having a pretty bad day. The look on her face was priceless.

The next morning we loaded up and headed out for Italy again. As we approached Fort Worth we saw the traffic backing up and many Texans heading across the side median to a frontage road. We just followed them. Unfortunately for them they did not have Melinda the super-navigator with them and they ended up back in line on the stalled freeway. We took back roads and saw more birds. It may have been the long scenic route, but I'll take that any day over stop and go freeway traffic.

It was great to arrive in Italy

Pictures from day 3: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157604161092758/

1. white tailed deer (not birds)
   
2. Chihuahua ravens
3. mourning doves
4. western meadowlarks
5. red tailed hawks
6. mule deer (also not birds)
   
7. pyrrholuxias
8. common ravens
9. roadrunners (my trip favorites)
   
10. loggerhead shrike
11. black throated sparrows
12. mockingbirds
13. turkey vultures
14. black tailed gnatcatcher
15. verdin
16. golden fronted woodpecker
17. white crowned sparrows
18. yellow rumped warbler
19. cardinals
20. vermillion flycatchers
21. spotted towhee
22. white winged doves
23. ruby crowned kinglet
24. golden crowned kinglet
25. lark buntings
26. chipping sparrows
27. ladder backed woodpecker
28. purple martin
29. black phoebe
30. mountain chickadee
31. purple finches
32. cassins finches
33. house finches
34. northern (red shafted race) flicker
35. western meadowlarks
36. cactus wren
37. cottontail bunnies (not birds either)
    
38. western wood peewee
39. starlings (Stockton)
40. common grackles
41. house sparrows
42. harris hawks (mf pair plus juvenile near grand falls)