Road Trip Reports

Lifer Pursuit in Texas
by Max Fuller

Nealand and I left here on Monday, May 2nd, and by suppertime we were looking at a pair of Montezuma Quail near the top of the Mt. Locke Road , that goes to the McDonald Observatory near Ft. Davis Texas . Nealand spotted them right next to the road as we drove by. I stopped the car, blocking the road of course, and we had them at less than 20 feet away, just piddling along like chickens. This has been my most wanted bird for a long time, and I did all the appropriate dancing in the road!  

I had four target birds and Nealand had only one, the Colima warbler.  

The next morning we found target bird # 2, the Common Black Hawk sitting on a nest next to the road about a mile outside of Ft. Davis . We waited and watched for an hour or more till she stood up and we could see the white on her tail. She flew off for a while and we waited till she came back for another good look.  

So that evening, we drove all the way to Rio Grande Village and back (300 miles) for a failed attempt at the Elf Owl #@$%&^*!!  

Next morning we made an aborted attempt for the Colima. The kid I was with (only 62 yrs. Old)  wimped out about a mile and a half into the climb, so we returned to base camp (the Lodge) and plotted another assault. We went back to Rio Grande Village and found two more Black Hawks and a Zone Tailed Hawk. The campground there was teeming with birds. Roadrunners were everywhere. We finally got good looks at the Elf Owl at Dugout Wells about dark thirty.  

Next morning we attacked the Colima Trail at 6:55 am . We took our time, and after about two miles up the Laguna " Sissy" Trail, we were rewarded with a singing Colima out in the open right over the trail.  

Other good sightings were a beautiful male Varied Bunting in the sun in the Basin campground, and close up looks at Black-chinned Sparrows near the Basin campground.  

On the way home we stopped at Davis State Park and saw another pair of Montezuma Quail in the campground and then just south of Balmorhea in Balmorhea State Recreation Area, where we found nesting Cave Swallows. Not bad for the old guys huh?