All your Texas info required please!! (1 Viewer)

[birdboybowley]

Hey all,

Thought I'd post here aswell seeing as this is the Texas forum.....!

Am off to Texas from 11th - 25th April and need every bit of info you all have
Places to go - eg the gulf coast sites
Anything on where to find 'special' hummers (eg Lucifer's), owls (eg Elf etc), going to Aransas for the 'proper' Whooping Cranes....Golden-cheeked Warbler sites....(Lost Maples I assume?)
Anything on Big Bend - eg Colima Warbler, Painted Redstart sites.....
Aplomado Falcon sites....
Anything else you can think of too as basically feeling really lazy!!
Recent and reliable site location books to buy...?

Cheers in advance,

Ads

 

[Birdbox]

You can expect a deluge of responses to your lil' query pretty soon me ol' mucker ... but be warned, despite what they may say, Texas in spring is complete and utter rubbish ...

all those crappy wood warblers tumbling out the sky of an afternoon, buckets full of USless shore and sea birds on anything pretending to be a puddle, totally unawesome Mexican tartiness along the valley and deeply forgettable near endemics in the hill country.

Added to that do you really wanna feel the warmth of the sun on your back, quaff a six pack of Coors of an evening, pig out on fantastic BBQ food and not bother getting up till the middle of the day 'cos that's when the migrants arrive on the northern Gulf.

Stay home, mate.

 

[Birdbox]

Funnily enough though, I asked a similar question round about this time last year and got nothing but utterly helpful and grown-up advice all the way. You may want to check out that thread - you know how the web works, one suggestion leads to one thing then another then another and bang! before you know it you're an expert before you arrive (and believe me, the majority of US birders will love you all the more for it).

Off the top of my head, internet sites not to miss are Texbirds, ebird, Great Texas birding trail and Birding High Island. I've omitted others at this stage only because supper's nearly ready.

Most of the honey-pots are well documented and their advocates will soon be upon you. But as far as I'm concerned, apart from the famous (and rightly so) sites (and there are many) utter joy was to be had at two lesser known sites ...

Magic Ridge is site 32 of CTC (central Texas coast birding trail) - imagine having a microcosm of Spurn to yourself, in heat, perfect light, a positively Floridian backdrop and birds and more birds then another couple of million.
Wave upon wave of hirundines of 6 species, peeps and shore birds and oh yes migrants fresh off the gulf dropping in at your feet, first landing since the Yucatan at least. Both waterthrushes side by side, a bushful of buntings then empty again then full again on next inspection of Dickcissel. Weird pairings that only vis mig can give you - peckers and hummers in together, Purple Martin flying beneath Osprey for shade ... did I really see that happen? ... my notes say so!

Adams reservoir and Cannon road are site 50 of LTC (lower Texas coast birding trail) and are barely mentioned in dispatches anywhere. C'mon you're kidding me, right?

Indeed Adams res does not even get named and so it was pencilled in by me as a ten minute stop off before hitting Cannon road. Three and a half hours later I dragged myself away! Since the Texan drought had lingered for at least a thousand years the water levels here had dwindled somewhat exposing a tad or two of mud - GET YOUR PEEPS HERE FOR FREE!! only Baird's Sands of the trip here and what about 200 min of Wilson's Phals?
And the rest.

By the time I left here I could only afford about an hour on Cannon road and not the good two or three I'd promised myself. You WILL leave here knowing your Couch's King from your Tropical, that I promise. Both species more or less side by side and both calling and singing - no excuses after here mate for mixing up the two again. The site looks good for other scrub lovers but time and Pauraque down the valley wait for no man.

As stuff comes back to me I'll post here or PM.

Cuppa and a bun, cuppa and a bun.

 

[birdboybowley]

Great stuff BB - do you have a link to your older thread from last year? Grown-up and helpful advice?? - that'd be novel!
Maybe I should just stay home - sitting at Selsey crappy Bill waiting for a single skua to fly by, waiting for the 10s of warblers of maybe 5 whole species to drop in.....yeah can't imagine why I'd wanna leave really....

 

[Birdbox]

You know something, I'm struggling to find them myself now.
I think I hi-jacked someone else's thread to begin with but can't remember who's.

I booked Houston flights in autumn 2012 (and visited in April '13) then started asking questions. So if you go back to that period on the Texas thread and work back from there you'll get the same info that I did.

Input especially to look out for is that from Steve Gross, Andrew Whitehouse and Lulubelle. But there were others too.

We followed the traditional route ie coast, LRGV and hill country described best most recently by Tom McKinney in 'A trip report (of sorts)' which you will find on his blog.

Over the weekend I'll post our itinerary and flesh it out with some gen.

 

[HelenB]

Check out our Opus pages for Texas here: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Category:Texas

You'll find most of the Texas hotspots there. We got Golden-cheeked Warblers in Garner State Park but have yet to see the Black-capped Vireo really well.

Just to let you know, Steve Gross passed away in late 2013. It was apparently very sudden, but there was no mention of the cause in the obituary. He was a great resource for visiting birders and is sadly missed in the birding community here.

 

[birdboybowley]

Thanks Helen - v sad to hear about Steve

 

[Birdbox]

That's very sad news about Steve Gross. I was only re-reading his PMs to me yesterday in readiness to replying to Adam. We didn't meet in person (at least I don't think our paths crossed in Texas) but I felt quite a kinship to him.

 

[Garganey]

There is a stack of information regarding Texas birds, I think best to pick out your targets and concentrate on those. I too will be there in April, cant wait going to be great.

 

[Birdbox]

For what it's worth here is how our trip turned out chronologically. If you're just birding I probably wouldn't pre-book accommodation since you'd need to keep flexible in case you need to twitch something or connect with a fall-out somewhere.

For the early part of the LRGV I pre-booked 3 nights at the charming Casa Rama in Harlingen.This was so my girlfriend could chill by the pool after full on birding earlier up the coast. She still accompanied me to a couple of sites even so.

We didnt include Big Bend on this occasion but probably could have done since the Hill country birds fell into line pretty easily. We had pre-booked several stops in this area so were kind of obliged to stay but a couple of days would have been plenty.
The last three days up there though were my girlfriend's "hol" - horse-riding on a ranch. The place had some birdy interest and a state park next door.

 

[Birdbox]

April 11; arrive Houston, suss out entrances to Anahuac, Boy Scout Woods (High Island).

April 12; Hooks Woods, Smiths Oaks, Yacht Basin Rd, Rollover Pass, Smiths Oaks, Boy Scout Woods.

April 13; Anahuac NWR (inc' Rail walk), Smith Point, Anahuac East (or Skillern) Tract, SE Gast Woods.

April 14; Rollover Pass, Bolivar Flats, Fort Travis, Houston Space Center.

April 15; Brazos Bend SP, Magic Ridge.

April 16; Goose Island SP, Paradise Pond, Port Aransas Wetland Center.

April 17; Highway 77 area ie "Hawk Alley", Sarita rest stop, Sebastian fields, Harlingen Hugh Ramsay park.

April 18; Sabal Palms, Route 100 pylons, Laguna Atascosa.

April 19; South Padre Island.

April 20; La Feria sod farms, Adams Reservoir, Canon Rd, Estero Llano Grande.

April 21; Santa Ana, Salineno, Falcon SP.

April 22; Rio Frio at Leakey, Neal's Lodges, Concan bat cave.

April 23; Rio Frio at Leakey, Lost Maples SP.

April 24; Kerr WMA.

April 25; Roddy Tree Ranch, Hunt.

April 26; Roddy Tree Ranch, Hunt.

April 27; Silver Spur Ranch, Bandera.

April 28; Silver Spur Ranch, Bandera.

April 29; WG Jones SP (Houston).

 

[Birdbox]

High Island and the Bolivar peninsula need no introduction and I could quite happily return for a week or more every April. I tried to force things to happen at Smith point and it's environs but the site is probably best in autumn during raptor migration.

Brazos Bend is a good first stop after leaving the peninsula. The 'gators are cantankerous buggers though and don't leave much room on the water side paths. Halfway round we decided we were going to need a bigger stick.
The tower on the far side of the first lagoon gives good views and the lane from here to the next lagoon is good for migrants. The deeper woodland was pretty quiet though.

Magic Ridge is full of promise and I would spend significant time vis-migging here in future.

Goose Island was visited because Whooping Cranes had lingered here until the days prior to our arrival in Texas. We could n't find those last few. Maybe better to do the boat trip.

Paradise pond is one of those urban garden sites which are tiny, crowded, claustrophobic and UTTERLY BRILLIANT. Don't miss it.

Hawk alley does n't exactly brim with raptors and you'd probably get most if not all of them elsewhere in LRGV. We did get Harris's Hawk and White tailed plus AGPs and a few other bits.

Didn't find the Parula at Sarita or Mountain Plover at Sebastian but our first Cave Swallows were at the latter as were Lark Sparrow and White- tailed Hawk.

The feeding station at Hugh Ramsay provides ridiculously close views of valley specials such as the peckers, Kiskadee and Chacalaca. I traipsed around the trails here and got a handful of the parakeets, a few scrub dwellers and in the hide at the far end happened on a couple of blokes engaged in some weird behaviour which involved one of them standing up and the other one kneeling down and a few dollar bills being exchanged.

Anything worth seeing at Sabal Palms will be around the drip at some time during the morning.

Back in bit - gotta do tea.

 

[birdboybowley]

Cool stuff, cheers BB
Ah, so your girlf is a horse-nut too eh?
The only pre-booking we've done is for the Motogp in Austin on the 13th - seeing as BT scum have stolen it from normal TV we thought we'd go see one live!
Other than that, we've arranged to go for the Prairie-Chicken lek on Sat 12th and after that play it by ear and find somewhere good for horseys and birdies I spose!
Also not sure how easy it is to see Aplomado Falcons at Laguna Atascosa as they've closed the main public roadway. There's been mention of a pair near the Tower Gate but not sure if that's inside the loop and therefore only possible on an organised guided drive.....

 

[Birdbox]

From the outset of booking Houston flights to actually getting there I'd had high hopes for Laguna Atascosa.

Unfortunately the Texan drought which had, during it's course, dried out Mars, Sirius, Alpha Centauri and my garden pond had also visited Atascosa with Biblical vengeance. The lagoon was bone dry, the temperature 40+ and a howling gale force northerly made my one and only visit something of a challenge. Bird activity was pretty low understandably but Aplomado falcons are to be had about two thirds of the way round the (one-way) driving loop between markers 10-11. There is a nest-box/platform viewable from here. Roadrunner here too.

South Padre Island is covered entirely with concrete and tarmac. There are two patches of greenery both a foot wide at their broadest and half a yard long and they are brilliant for migrants. These are to be found at the rear of the Convention Center and on Sheepshead Rd. Plenty about these elsewhere on the 'net. I thought birding here was going to be awful - I was wrong.

Just off the island our first Tropical Kingbird was exactly where Dave Gosney tells us all it's gonna be in his Texas guide - on the corner of Garcia and Jefferson at Port Isabel. Though to be fair Texan birders are beginning to get blase out these now as they appear to be spreading all along the valley.

La Feria sod farms are worth a butcher's for Upland Sand and Buff-breasted and possible Mountain Plover but again, no joy for us here either.

Adams Res and Canon Rd I've already extolled the virtues of.

At Estero Llano Grande the Pauraque is more or less exactly where Gosney says it will be. The bugger had had the audacity to move from it's famous spot by about 3 yards and took some serious effort to locate. Birders, photographers, tourists and those two blokes from Hugh Ramsay park came and wept and went. But not this soldier, oh no. Every leaf was grilled and re-grilled 'til at last and from the reverse angle the T Rex-sized juggernaut of a 'jar was well and truly IN THE BAG. Goatsucker!

Anyway, moving on.
Santa Ana seems ok but I did most of my birding here standing for thirty hours under the nest of the wondrous Beardless Tyrannulet which repaid me with 5 seconds of it's rear end as it chased off something else I could n't identify.

Salineno didnt produce and Falcon isn't great but we rushed it having wasted too much time at Salineno.

Did I mention Green Kingfisher at Sabal Palms? No? Well there was one.

Plenty of stuff on the 'net about Neal's Lodges so you don't need me to drone on about them and after all, we didn't stay there. However, to say they're the most beautiful thing in God's creation, you'd expect Vermillion Fly' to be a bit of hard work to find. They're not. They just hang out at Neal's, bold as brass. Especially around the pond out front.

Do the bat cave or forever regret it. Be at the rendez-vous an hour early to sky watch. I can promise you Vermillion Fly' but I can't promise the Zone-tailed Hawk that we got but if we got one then there's gotta be hope for you, right?

Lost Maples as you rightly said is the place for Golden-cheeks. From the parking lot (yup, by now you too will be fluent) follow the east trail to the pond. Along here there'll be plenty of stuff as you pass through subtly differing habitats. Take it slowly and things will happen. However, along this stretch Golden-cheeks are hard work because their preferred habitat is too far back. All this changes at the pond at the end of the trail. From the toilets here a rough track goes steeply up the hill to a scrubby/wooded plateau over-looking the area. Make the effort to go up even if you've already clocked the warblers. As you climb the canopy closes in almost to your shoulders but isn't claustrophobic and, lo and behold, more Goldies than you can shake aforementioned Crocodile stick at appear at eye-level. Continue to the top because up here I had my only decent views of Black-capped Vireos.

Kerr had several singing Black-capped Vireos but it was distinctly cold here and they were n't giving themselves up. Still, it's a nice place.

The rest was a bit samey then and given over to horses, s'mores and tall tales. Then, on the evening of 28th, having excused myself from the ritual hayride I was reminded that despite having left it behind almost two weeks earlier, migration was still in full swing - as i lent against the corral fence, soaking up the ambience, a Common Nighthawk calling above me made me look up and there hawking an unseen cloud of insects ... 160 Mississippi Kites. Ten minutes later they were gone and everyone was back and I could n't show a single person a single one of them.

WG Jones is the place for Red-cockaded 'pecker and all the others plus Pine War and, if you're lucky, a flock or two of newly arrived wood warblers and this time including bird of the trip - Blackburnian Warbler- that bird CAN'T be real.

 

[Birdbox]

Hadn't read your post between my efforts - though funnily enough the second one reads as though I had.

Was n't aware that the loop at Atascosa was closed.

If you're after horses I can recommend Silver Spur - a real nice bunch. There's plenty of others but we made a comparison of them all and the Spur edged it. I birded the ranch daily and the state park that's adjacent to it. Our room, Wyatt Earp was really nice. Check it out online.

 

[birdboybowley]

Excellent stuff - although just been told we 'need' to go to Amarillo to look around the Western Horse museum.....oh joy, 8hrs each way for that. Fun fun fun - they could've built it anywhere else in Texas but there!
Re the Red-cock Woods at WG Jones SP - can't find the latest version of the relevant site guide online in the UK and can't seem to find any detailed info online....any tips?

 

[birdboybowley]

Seems like all of the accom at Chisos in Big Bend is booked up forever.....anyone got any good ideas of where else to stay nearby....?

 

[HelenB]

A few years ago we stayed at the Big Bend Resort Motor Inn's RV park at Terlingua, about 3 or 4 miles north of the BBNP west entrance. Didn't see inside the inn itself, but I think it has 88 rooms. Check out this website where there are some other places listed, too:

http://www.bigbend50.com/lodging/

 

[Garganey]

W G Jones

Sure you have seen this, apparently the staff are very helpful and dawn and dusk are best times to get them, some other good birds there too.

 

[Birdbox]

Sure you have seen this, apparently the staff are very helpful and dawn and dusk are best times to get them, some other good birds there too.

That plan initially is as confusing to me now as it was then ... and I've spent half a day there.

At the top of the diagram you have the northern boundary and just below here you have , just right (east) of the Sweetleaf trail, the RCW trail. This is an easy and short walk from the visitor centre. It was misty for a good part of the morning on our visit but the 'peckers gave themselves up around mid-morning fairly low down on tree trunks. Pileated here and Red-headed, dog walkers and other interested passers-by. Pine Warblers and Brown-hd Nuthatch too plus quite a few Cedar Waxwing.

There is an open area with picnic benches just behind the centre which will have stuff coming and going but watch where you sit or stand. Within seconds of sitting down, the missus leapt up shouting obscenities and unusually these were n't directed at me. In fact, my delightful companion had been attacked by fire ants and by the time I had had time to react they had already consumed the whole of her right leg and were a good way through her left foot. A nearby shovel was quickly commandeered and the blightors seen off. Those that had made it to the back and crown of her head proved the stubbornest and it took more than several frenzied blows to oust them.

My dearest, bless her courage, has fought back well and whilst not yet fully back on solids, can point with her right hand and form the odd deliberate sentence.