Camp Tejano Jul 08—20, 2011
Posted by Barry Lyon
Barry Lyon
Barry Lyon's passion for the outdoors and birding has its roots in his childhood where he grew up in southern California. He attended several VENT/ABA youth birding cam...Related Trips
Our fifth-ever Camp Tejano was an event that will be remembered for its remarkable natural history successes despite a fearsome heat-amplified drought that gripped the state of Texas in 2011. Indeed, even as the camp was starting, intense heat was breaking records across the state daily, continuing a pattern that would last well into September. This, in combination with the effects of a drought in its second year, made it apparent that conditions for this year's camp would present a challenge both for us and the birds.
In some ways we shouldn't have been surprised by our predicament. Texas owns a reputation as a tough place, and some of the factors that feed this mystique are the extreme weather events that occur here from one year to the next. To demonstrate, the last time Camp Tejano operated was 2007, and that summer, paradoxically, was one of the wettest on record! But despite such "downer" conditions as extreme heat, drying rivers and ponds, and parched desert and grasslands, our camp was magical for its birding and natural history adventures, and also rewarding because we worked hard for what we saw. A total of 159 species of birds was tallied, which put us within ONE of the all-time high mark for this camp (160 in 2000), and the 20 species of mammals we recorded eclipsed the old record by two (18 in 2007). Add to the roster an outstanding lineup of reptiles and amphibians, plus a range of butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies, and the picture that emerges is that of a superb all-around natural history expedition.
As with all VENT youth camps, building a big bird list and keeping close track of our sightings are inescapable and fun facets of our time together; however, underscoring our actual natural history observations is our desire to provide the intangible "quality of experience." To that end, Camp Tejano was designed with quality of experience in mind, in which three vastly different regions—the famous Hill Country, incomparable Big Bend National Park, and the lofty Davis Mountains—were selected for their collective efficacy to convey the Lone Star State's tremendous natural history and landscape attributes.
Each major area we visited provided glorious settings in which to explore, observe, and discuss. The Hill Country, with its undulating limestone hills and riparian corridors, yielded the highest percentage of birds we would see on the trip. Noble Big Bend, with sprawling deserts and the citadel-like Chisos Mountains, boasted terrific panoramic scenery and bird-filled riverside oases. And finally, the Davis Mountains, although partially burned from spring forest fires, were still a haven for quail, hummingbirds, and a bounty of higher elevation species.
The highlights from twelve days in the field were many, and included 12 species of hawks, 7 doves and pigeons, 4 owls, 5 nightjars, 6 hummingbirds, 18 flycatchers, 7 vireos, 6 crows and jays, 7 swallows, 3 tanagers, 10 sparrows, 3 buntings, 10 blackbirds and orioles, and much more! Among these, standout sightings included Zone-tailed and Harris's hawks, Cave Swallow, Black-capped Vireo, Golden-cheeked Warbler, and Audubon's Orioles in the Hill Country; Common Black-Hawks, Western Screech-Owl, Lucifer Hummingbird, Painted Redstarts, and dozens of Painted Buntings in Big Bend; and scores of Montezuma Quail, hummingbirds, Gray and Dusky-capped flycatchers, and Grace's Warblers in the Davis Mountains.
Enhancing our observations further, the trip included a range of activities meant to generate greater interest and excitement in each of the special ecosystems we visited. A full slate of events included hiking the West Loop Trail in Lost Maples State Park and hiking to Boot Canyon in Big Bend and Tobe Canyon in the Davis Mountains; our first-ever visit to Cook's Slough south of Uvalde; witnessing the incredible emergence of Mexican free-tailed bats from the Frio bat cave south of Concan; and banding hummingbirds with Kelly Bryan in the Davis Mountains.
Our double grand finale included first-time visits to the renowned McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains on our final day there, and to the Caverns of Sonora on our last afternoon while en route to San Antonio—activities which put an exclamation point on an outstanding trip.