Planning my epic summer road trip – the Texas leg

/ Bret Newton

Road trips for me are always a work in progress – until I return home.Last year, I did a two week trip from my home in Fort Worth to Southern California and back.  I loved almost every minute of it and have been itching to do it again.  This year, I plan on doing a few things differently.

Day 1 (Thursday June 11) – Leave home

  • Drive to Pedernales Falls State Park
  • Target Birds
    • Golden-Cheeked Warbler
      • Might be late in the year for this one, but it’ll be worth a shot.  I know the birds will be there, but oddly the records on eBird disappear after the first week of June.  Are people just not birding the park then or have the birds stopped singing or a combination of both?
  • Camp at Pedernales

Day 2 (Friday June 12)

  • Drive to the Rio Grande Valley
    • My guess is that I’ll spend most of this day at Estero Llano Grande
  • Target Birds (at Estero)
    • Northern Bobwhite
    • Anhinga
    • Common Ground Dove
    • Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
    • Groove-billed Ani
    • Eastern Screech Owl
    • Ringed Kingfisher
    • Red-Crowned Parrot
    • Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
    • Brown-Crested Flycatcher
    • Tropical Kingbird
    • Bank Swallow
    • Bronzed Cowbird
  • If I get everything I need here, there are plenty of local spots to hit like the parrot roosts (I haven’t visited Olivera Park in a few years).
  • Head out to South Padre Island.  In the afternoon, I’ll probably spend a lot of time at the SPIBC.
  • Camp north of town on the public beach.

Day 3 (Saturday June 13) – Pelagic

  • This is something I’m looking forward to (except for the seasickness).  12 hours of deep water birding with some of the best birders in Texas.  (Reminds me, I still need to sign up for that trip!)
  • I won’t put an expected species list up because that is an effort in futility.  I’ll just show up and be excited with what I get.

Day 4 (Sunday June 14)

  • Final day in the Valley.  I’ll probably head to Salineno.  From what I hear, it’s under birded in the summer due to temperature, but there’s the possibility of Brown Jays and Red-Billed Pigeons.
  • I also plan on hitting Laredo after this to try and find the White-Collared Seedeaters.  I think I got these at the end of last year, but I have my doubts about my identification.  Best to make sure this time.
  • Drive to Big Bend

Day 5 (Monday June 15) – Big Bend

  • The death march.  By day five, let’s see how insane I really am.  I got the Colima Warbler last year, but it is the single hardest bird I’ve ever logged.  Nine hours of hiking in 100 degree heat with dehydration and altitude sickness.  I swore I’d never do it again.  I lied.  This time, with experience, I will do things differently.
  • Target Birds
    • Scaled Quail*
    • Zone-Tailed Hawk
    • Band-Tailed Pigeon
    • Elf Owl
    • Mexican Whip-poor-will*
    • White-Throated Swift
    • Blue-Throated Hummingbird*
    • Broad-Tailed Hummingbird*
    • Western Wood-Pewee
    • Cordilleran Flycatcher
    • Gray Vireo
    • Hutton’s Vireo
    • Violet-green Swallow
    • Bushtit
    • Crissal Thrasher*
    • Colima Warbler
    • Painted Redstart
    • Hepatic Tanager
    • Western Tanager
    • Black-headed Grosbeak
    • Varied Bunting
    • Scott’s Oriole
  • If anyone has suggestions on how best to do this trip, I’m all ears.  I know that the second half of the day will be sleeping/napping/resting and cursing the birding gods.

Day 6 (Tuesday June 16)

  • I can already tell this trip will be longer.  I left Big Bend on day 2 last year.
  • I plan to pick up any straggler birds in the morning and then head to the Davis Mountains.  There’s a new bird blind there that is supposed to be one of the best places in the US for the Montezuma Quail.
  • Target Birds
    1. Scaled Quail*
    2. Montezuma Quail*
    3. Broad-Tailed Hummingbird*
    4. Western Wood-Pewee
    5. Cassin’s Kingbird
    6. Bushtit
    7. Hepatic Tanager
    8. Black-Headed Grosbeak
    9. Blue Grosbeak
    10. Bronzed Cowbird
    11. Scott’s Oriole
  • From the Davis Mountains, I will head north to Balmorhea, the only reliable spot in Texas for Western and Clark’s Grebes.
  • Target Birds
    1. Eared Grebe
    2. Western Grebe
    3. Clark’s Grebe
    4. Cassin’s Kingbird
  • I’ve had a grebe deprived year it seems.

From here, I will drive straight to Chiricahua in Arizona.  I think 6 days in Texas will be enough by this point.

*Lifer bird

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