Big Bend Summer Jul 09—16, 2010
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
Once again, this year's Big Bend Summer tour was a smashing success. We tallied all the regional targets and had superb views of virtually all the birds we saw. There are five species that I would consider "must-see" birds when visiting this part of the Trans-Pecos: Colima Warbler, Gray Vireo, Lucifer Hummingbird, Common Black-Hawk, and Montezuma Quail. We nailed all of these birds in spectacular fashion.
The Colima Warbler is, of course, THE most important bird of the tour. It is found nowhere else in the United States except for Big Bend National Park and requires a good deal of effort to see. We saw our first about 2 and 3/4 miles up the Pinnacles Trail, and it provided excellent views for all as it sang almost right over our heads. We would go on to tally 12 of these special birds for the day, with repeated fantastic views and, somewhat surprisingly, great photographic opportunities as well.
Gray Vireo was seen the previous day down the Window Trail from as close as 15 feet away as it sang from the top of a small shrub. Lucifer Hummingbirds were perhaps the least cooperative of the "Big Five." It seemed to be a down year for this species, but we still tallied 2 males along the Window Trail, one of which repeatedly buzzed around over our heads from 10–12 feet away. A pair of Common Black-Hawks nested once again at Rio Grande Village this year and we had prolonged scope studies of both adult and immature birds. Finally, the absolute highlight of the tour for me was the show put on by a male Montezuma Quail in the Davis Mountains. This stunning bird actually walked up to within five feet of me as the group watched and photographed from a short distance away. Certainly this is one of the most spectacular birds anywhere in the world!
Of course a trip to Big Bend is about much more than these special five birds. In El Paso we had wonderful views of Mississippi Kites (perched and in flight), Harris's Hawk, colonies of Cave Swallows, 19 Burrowing Owls in one day (including fledged young), and courtship dancing by both species of big grebes (Clark's and Western). At luxurious Cibolo Creek Ranch we enjoyed a pair of Zone-tailed Hawks screaming overhead, a pair of tiny Elf Owls, Common Poorwill, Crissal Thrasher, and gorgeous plum-colored Varied Buntings among others. Big Bend itself yielded a parade of highlights with Gray Hawk, Golden Eagle, Blue-throated Hummingbird, Western Screech-Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Vermilion Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Mexican Jay, Yellow-breasted Chat, glorious Painted Redstarts, Hepatic Tanager, Black-chinned Sparrow, gaudy Painted Buntings, and Hepatic Tanager among the more noteworthy. Finally, the cool Davis Mountains to the north produced a new set of birds with Gray Flycatcher, Western Scrub-Jay (the soon-to-be split woodhouseii subspecies), Mountain Chickadee, Violet-green Swallow, and Grace's Warbler providing the icing on the cake to the Montezuma Quail.
In all we tallied about 150 species of birds, 17 species of mammals, numerous reptiles and amphibians, and nearly 30 species of butterflies. Our weather was for the most part very good, and at times surprisingly pleasant and cool. All in all, a fantastic week in West Texas!