West Texas: Cibolo Creek Lodge Sep 08—14, 2009
Posted by Barry Zimmer
Barry Zimmer
Barry Zimmer has been birding since the age of eight. His main areas of expertise lie in North and Central America, but his travels have taken him throughout much of the wo...Related Trips
Our third Cibolo Creek Lodge tour was a smashing success. This trip is designed to hit the peak of fall migration in West Texas, while enjoying the comforts of a very luxurious lodge with superb food. During our six days we saw many southwestern resident species and numerous migrants, and also tallied a ridiculous number of rarities. All this while enjoying wonderful fall weather, with highs in the low 80s and nighttime lows in the upper 50s.
Our trip started with an afternoon excursion to McKelligon Canyon where we enjoyed great views of residents such as Scaled Quail, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Rock Wren, and Black-throated and Rufous-crowned sparrows, as well as a migrant Lazuli Bunting and Brewer's Sparrow. We visited my yard to view the hummingbird feeders, seed feeders, and water features. Hummingbirds were plentiful with up close views of Calliope, Broad-tailed, Rufous, and Black-chinned, all present in numbers and zooming about literally within feet of us. Other highlights included Inca Dove, close scope studies of Curve-billed Thrasher, a migrant MacGillivray's Warbler, a bathing Lincoln's Sparrow, and a Hooded Oriole. All this in the first two hours of our trip!
The next morning we went to a nearby sewage pond before heading southeast toward the ranch. Harris's and Swainson's hawks; Gambel's Quail; Baird's, Western, and Least sandpipers; Black-necked Stilt; many Greater Roadrunners (24 for the trip); Green-tailed Towhee; Lark, Clay-colored, and Vesper sparrows; Lark Bunting; Black-headed and Blue grosbeaks; and Yellow-headed Blackbirds were among the more notable species seen. Quick checks of some irrigation impoundments and agricultural lands southeast of town yielded Western and Clark's grebes, American White Pelican, Neotropic Cormorant, more Harris's Hawks, Black Tern, and a wonderful pair of Burrowing Owls. A very rare White-tailed Kite spotted near Valentine en route was the first of our many trip rarities.
We arrived at the ranch late in the afternoon and settled into our luxurious surroundings. While tallying the day's list before dinner, we were interrupted by an Osprey, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a Black Phoebe, a Wilson's Warbler (in-hand inspection), and a Summer Tanager. It was hard to get anything done!
Over the next three full days we birded the 25,000-acre ranch property (which includes many springs and oases) and the nearby Davis Mountains, where higher elevation species can be found. Our first day was spent entirely on the western side of the ranch (never venturing more than two miles from the lodge). Highlights included Golden Eagle, three Zone-tailed Hawks (one of which was perched on the ground about 30 feet from our van for over five minutes—the best views of my life!), Common Poorwill, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Gray Flycatcher, abundant Vermilion Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird (also very common), great studies of Bell's Vireos, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, numerous Summer and Western (56 total for the trip) tanagers, Cassin's Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, Dickcissel, and many more Blue Grosbeaks. Our rarity for the day was a stunning male Prothonotary Warbler far from the swamps of the southeastern United States.
Day two started off with a bang as we found a Broad-billed Hummingbird at the lodge feeders in with the Rufous, Broad-tailed, and Black-chinneds. This species is rare anywhere in Texas and was a real treat. We tore ourselves away and headed to the Davis Mountains which yielded more excitement, including a prolonged study of an immature Common Black-Hawk, comical Acorn Woodpeckers, Cassin's and Hutton's vireos, Western Scrub-Jay, Black-crested Titmouse, Bushtit, Canyon and Bewick's wrens, gorgeous Western Bluebirds, Townsend's Warbler, Hepatic Tanager (seven seen), Grasshopper Sparrow, and Scott's Oriole. That afternoon, upon returning to the lodge, we discovered yet another rare hummingbird; a male Ruby-throated had joined the other four species. Though common in the east, this species is a super rarity in west Texas.
The next day we birded the eastern portions of the ranch, venturing all of about fifteen miles from our lodge. Scope views of a Western Screech-Owl in its roost hole, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush, scope views of the always elusive Crissal Thrasher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Varied and Painted buntings (females only), and Orchard Oriole topped the list.
On our last full day we headed back toward El Paso to recheck the local reservoirs and hit migrant traps. En route we enjoyed wonderful studies of Cave Swallows in Marfa and Valentine. At McNary Reservoir we added Eared Grebe and Virginia's Warbler, and discovered a very rare immature Sabine's Gull. This Arctic species was far from its normal haunts, yet another great bonus bird! At Tornillo we found one of my local birding friends watching another Sabine's Gull, this one an adult in full breeding plumage! We were stunned to see two of these birds in one day in Texas. My friend told us that he had also found a Royal Tern at nearby Fort Hancock Reservoir. We quickly loaded up and headed there. This coastal species had never been seen in this region of the state before. We found the bird quickly and had distant scope views of arguably the rarest of all our rarities. One final stop back at the sewage ponds revealed quite a few migrant passerines with many Olive-sided Flycatchers and Western Wood-Pewees present, along with a Willow Flycatcher, Warbling and Plumbeous vireos, three Townsend's Warblers, lots of Wilson's Warblers, another MacGillivray's Warbler, and another Dickcissel. An early Red-naped Sapsucker was unfortunately seen only by me.
We ended our tour with a record-setting 162 species which included six super rarities. We had many tour firsts, which brought the trip cumulative total over the three years to 202 species. We also had nice mammals (including many pronghorns, javelina, and coyote), and nearly 30 species of butterflies. A wild success on all fronts!