Texas Times: Birds From The Hills

One of the most interesting things in life is seeing defining borders where different worlds collide.  The collisions that show key differences are intriguing, and this aspect may be seen while we bird in many different places.  Some epic examples that are found sit right in my home state of Arizona.  Taking a drive up to impressive mountain ranges known as "Sky Islands" show quick changes in habitat.  With Mt. Lemmon and Mt. Graham as my favorite examples, the explorer will drive a paved highway and start off in desert to see as many life zones as possible through different habitats until mixed coniferous and spruce-fir forests are encountered at tall summits.  Another mind-blowing sight is the long running escarpment of the Mogollon Rim.  People gather in numbers annually near the edge of the Mogollon to take in it's sights, sounds, and location.  What might not always stand out to everyone is that this is a defining line of different regions.  Above the edge of the Rim is the southern border of the extensive and flat Colorado Plateau, and below the Rim is the region of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Madrean Sky Islands (Mt. Lemmon, Mt. Graham, yes yes) that tower over lowland southwestern deserts.  As we were birding in Texas, we would be birding in a location similar to these such locations, where multiple biological regions collide.  People call this region the Texas Hill Country, and it is a land filled with "many springs, stony hills, and steep canyons".  Sounds like somewhere anyone would love to go, huh?  I've heard birders reminisce about this region for a long time, and recently I got to experience it for myself and see what was engaging about it.  The Texas Hill Country lies within the eastern part of the Edwards Plateau, and at this part of the Edwards within the Hill Country it is said that it falls within the crossroads of West Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas.  Another luring aspect about the Hill Country is that it is the border of the American Southwest and Southeast as it has habitat variety of both regions, as well as a variety of birds from both regions.  I didn't think about the geography about the Hill Country much at all until we would experience it for ourselves.  It was a stop on the map for a half day, but it would leave a memorable impact.

After finishing our quest at Big Bend National Park on April 30th, we would have a long drive ahead of us where we had originally planned to camp near a place called Lost Maples State Natural Area.  It would be close to a six hour drive, and we would make very few stops along the way.  Josh rocked out the eBird app to give us dozens and dozens more of incidental checklists for the several counties that we would be passing through on the long drive.  Not far out of Big Bend, we stopped at a location called Marathon Prairie Dog Town.  True to it's name, it had prairie dogs, many of them.  But most importantly for us birders, it also had five Burrowing Owls.

For the rest of the day we drove through Brewster, Pecos, and Crockett Counties before closing the birding out at Sutton County with a decent roadside stop that produced Common Nighthawk, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Cassin's, Grasshopper, and Field Sparrows; and Painted Bunting.  Swainson's Hawks and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were a common sight while driving along the way.  At this point we were in the Hill Country with rolling slopes and green oaks, and it was about dark.  We opted for motel rooms rather than camping, where a better rest would be needed for the following day.  Our staying place was a town called Junction in Kimble County, which wound up being about a five hour, 320 mile drive from Big Bend National Park.

May 1st would be a huge day for us in our birding "careers".  We woke up early, and the plan would be to bird within the Texas Hill Country for the first half of the day, and then it would be that time to head further south to step into and start birding the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  The latter is a destination that is in a category of it's own, this post will sit entirely inside of the Hill Country.

We left Junction at dawn, and as we started going, we could see that rain and overcast conditions were present.  Driving along and looking out at the scenery I could see plenty of green Texas oak trees, rolling stony hills, and some springs.  There were many good birds that we had in mind that we were hoping to see, but the two that were the most important were by far the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and the recently de-listed but-once-endangered Black-capped Vireo.  Both of these species have limited ranges in the United States, and both species have summer breeding ranges that are found mainly in Texas.  Birders travel to this part of the country in hopes of seeing these two species.  This half day of birding in the Hill Country was very important to me, especially in regards to the Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo.  Josh told me that this day was our one chance to see both species on the trip.

Our primary destination for birding was at the well-known Lost Maples State Natural Area.  We had about an hour's worth of a drive there while traveling through the Texas counties of Kimble, Kerr, Edwards and Real Counties, and the Lost Maples home Bandera County.  Once in Bandera County, we decided to stop at a random roadside picnic area to spend about 15 minutes to see what quick birding result we could get.  It was noted immediately that the habitat looked good for Black-capped Vireos.  This vireo is uncommon in it's range of central Texas and some of Oklahoma, and it is highly sought after because of it's limited range.  It is also a striking bird and is much sharper than any other North American vireo.  As we drove through the hills, I studied the vireo's song a few times to prepare myself for it.  Not long into our stop at the picnic area, we heard the song of a Black-capped Vireo.

The habitat near the picnic area consisted of some open areas on dry hillsides that had dense oaks and junipers in the habitat mix, which is what the vireo prefers.  Caleb said, "Yeah, Black-capped Vireo is easy to hear and you'll catch quick glimpses of it, but good luck getting a photo".  We stood in front of a fence and a mixed flock of birds flew in as Caleb pished them in.  It wasn't long before Caleb spied the vireo come over, and I eventually got a quick look of the bird for about a second before it continued foraging in thick habitat.  In that second the solid black head with contrasting white lores and eyering stood out from the rest of the birds green and light color-remainder to it's body.  The sight of the bird had me talking as well as have a solid tunnel vision on it among the 22 species that ended up on my shared eBird checklist.  Caleb was right about the bird being tough to get clear visuals on yet alone photographs, and after I followed the active vireo around for the whole time, I didn't manage to get much of it before we headed to Lost Maples.  But I knew our main birding destination for the morning would hold more chances for it too....as well as our shot for Golden-cheeked Warbler.

My "shot" of the Black-capped Vireo. 

When we pulled into Lost Maples State Natural Area, the rain started up again but glimpsing the terrain revealed tall deciduous woodlands along steep lush slopes as well as some riparian woodlands, an awesome-looking spot.  Getting out of the vehicle at the visitor center where we would pay for a fee had birds everywhere, and we could hear birds singing close by and distant.  Truth be told, it was a bit overwhelming and it was hard to decide which bird song to walk towards: A possible Worm-eating Warbler singing, who turned into a Chipping Sparrow.  A male Blackpoll Warbler in song, I've had never seen an adult Blackpoll Warbler singing.  A lifer White-eyed Vireo sang on one of the slopes.  A Yellow-throated Warbler sang from the cottonwood and riparian trees.  I thought I heard an Olive Sparrow sing too, one I knew I would see plenty of later in the trip, but hey, that first one is that first one.  I decided to go into the Visitor Center to get the fee payment out of the way, and I payed for that by buying a Texas State Parks pass as we would hit plenty of state parks and state natural areas (I guess the pass honored both) during the course of our trip.  With the abundance of birds outside, I wanted to get back out in the field as soon as I could, but the lady who worked at the park and sold me the pass had other ideas..

She slowly asked me a bunch of questions.  Question after question.  I was short with my answers hoping she wouldn't slowly ask me anymore questions.  But that seemed to make things even worse.  She went on and on about different things, and when it was finally time for me head out the door after my payment went through, she said, "With you guys birding, I'm sure your looking to enjoy our two most special birds at Lost Maples, the Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler".  I then started asking her questions, and it didn't matter how slow she talked about it that time.  She told a specific trail that the two birds were on the most, and I kept that trail in mind as I went out to join my buddies again as we'd start to work our way through Lost Maples.

We worked a slope filled with oaks and maples during the beginning stages of our birding adventure.  The rain was light, and the overcast conditions made it challenging to see birds who worked their ways higher in trees.  Songs of Carolina Wrens rolled loudly through the forests around us, and panning our ears to listen for birds much higher beyond our standing level revealed Canyon Wrens singing from rock slopes.  These two wrens were near the very western and eastern boundaries of their ranges, and at Lost Maples they've found reason to both be plentiful.  A few Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who were present became Caleb and Josh's life birds.  Present alongside Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were plenty of Black-chinned Hummingbirds, as Black-chinned was near the eastern end of it's range while Ruby-throated was near the western end of it's range.  Hutton's Vireo is a bird of the west, and finding it much further east of where we were in Texas it would probably be pretty rare.  Five Hutton's found our Lost Maples checklist, and they were joined by common numbers of Yellow-throated, Red-eyed, and White-eyed Vireos who were near the usual western boundary of their range within the Texas Hill Country.  The bird diversity that unfolded as we went was unexpected for me, and I was thrilled as life birds were in midst of it all.  I didn't recognize the song of the White-eyed Vireo immediately, and Josh was standing beside me to quickly point it out.  White-eyed Vireo was a life bird for me who moved quickly through the trees and was a challenge to photograph.  As Josh and I enjoyed the vireo, my first ever Carolina Chickadee appeared out of nowhere.

Carolina Chickadee is a species of eastern North America, where it is common in a variety of wooded habitats that include the deciduous forest we were birding in as well as the classic pine forests that are found in the southeastern United States.  While it looks similar to other chickadees (almost identical to Black-capped Chickadee), it doesn't overlap with the others in it's range and it's identification is readily supported with it's voice.  And of course, the Texas Hill Country is a western limit for this chickadee.

Josh and I enjoyed these birds from a slope, but we made our way down to Caleb when he found a few migrant Blue-headed Vireos.  This vireo became my second vireo lifer at Lost Maples in a matter of a few minutes, and my third early into the day.  It was Caleb and Josh's lifer too, and the Yellow-throated Vireos who were singing from many places were also Josh's first ever.  Blue-headed Vireos are closely related to Plumbeous and Cassin's Vireos, and giving the location, bright plumage, and time of year, this photo could go down as diagnostic, right?  Don't shake your head too much, the lighting was really bad...

A tendency of mine is to photograph life birds of mine as best as I can.  I love to get something, and it makes for more fun on this ol' blog of mine.  As we birded along oak and juniper trees near a campground within the area, several White-eyed Vireos sang loudly.  The song is an uplifting one, almost as if the bird finds ways to laugh at everything.  Perhaps it was laughing at me trying so hard to get it's photograph.  After awhile, I did get something.  Don't shake your head too much, it's better than nothing...

While walking off to myself for awhile, I was listening for anything to pop up and anything that could possibly be new for me or a notable bird for our trip.  Yellow-throated Warblers were singing throughout the area in numbers, and one of them came down to me for an eye level visit.

Despite the bird life that was all around us, Golden-cheeked Warbler and better visuals of Black-capped Vireo were constantly on my mind.  When I talked to the lady at the visitor center, she told me of a trail that went through the middle of the longer West Trail and East Trail and intersected the two.  This trail she told me about was appropriately named, as was called the East-West Trail.  She said the Golden-cheeked Warblers were everywhere along the trail as it would climb up through good habitat, and once the trail would top out and overlook the area within flat, more open terrain with scattered oak and juniper, the Black-capped Vireos could be found.  As we had spent a good amount of time at the entrance to Lost Maples, Caleb would drive the vehicle to park at the day use area, where an assortment of trails were found and could be hiked on.  Right before Caleb would drive up there and the rest of us would make our way up to that point, David pointed out a Golden-cheeked Warbler singing way up on a slope above.  I listened and heard it for myself too, and I couldn't have wanted to get on that East-West Trail any faster.

For the half-day that we had to bird in the Texas Hill Country, the Lost Maples Area was a perfect place to visit for such an experience.  It was true to Texas Hill County, a place of "many springs, stony hills, and steep canyons".  Walking towards the day use area to access the hiking trails was a good time to take more note of the surrounding habitat.  I crossed a river that ran through the area and one that we would bird along for a good stretch of the time once crossing it.  This river was a scenic one, and it is called the Sabinal River.  It is a popular swimming hole in summer months, and it is also known for fishing.  I caught eventually caught up to Caleb, and Josh and David weren't far behind.  Minutes before, Caleb had his first views of a Golden-cheeked Warbler up close.  Besides the Golden-cheeked Warbler, Caleb had an assortment of other birds, including another awesome one, his lifer Magnolia Warbler.  Caleb had been wanting to see a Magnolia Warbler for quite some time!  Once Josh and David would catch up, we were considering to all hike up on the East-West Trail.

Black Vulture over Lost Maples

The bird diversity was awesome and we found about 70 different species, and it kept on getting more diverse.  Birds that I am so used to seeing in Arizona and the West included Inca Dove, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Canyon and Bewick's Wrens, Lesser Goldfinch, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Scott's Oriole.  Typical birds of the East were everywhere and included Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, White-eyed, Red-eyed, and Yellow-throated Vireos; Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Clay-colored Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Indigo Bunting.  Birds more typical of Texas who were present and added to the fun were Cave Swallow, Black-crested Titmouse and Painted Bunting.

Clay-colored Sparrow

We all got a lifer when a few Olive Sparrows would sing but would also remain hidden.  This bird really made the bird variation interesting, as it is one that is really common in the Rio Grande Valley but extends it's northern range into the Hill Country in much smaller numbers.  A weird sound Caleb pointed out was another bird I thought we'd only get in the Rio Grande Valley, and that was the song of the White-tipped Dove.  I didn't get to follow it's sound to closely at first.  When we all got to the parking lot at the day use area, we made our way towards the hiking trails.  A bird feeding station distracted our attention, and it turned out to be a good stop, because we all got our first ever looks at White-tipped Dove.

White-tipped Doves are a secretive species that most often forage by walking on the forest floors in search of seeds and fruit.  They seemingly creep around and don't come into view much other than when visiting feeders and flying across openings.  Their sounds were ones that I still wasn't familiar with and I didn't catch it when Caleb called it out.

White-tipped Dove

Carolina Chickadees

Yes, Lost Maples had it all.  A combination of birds from eastern and western North America, and even some from south Texas.  That time then came when I didn't care about anything else other than Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo.  While we were near the trailhead for the East-West Trail, the others were taking their time and birding slowly.  I couldn't blame them, but at the same time, I couldn't blame myself for ditching them and making my way up into the trails as I couldn't put off the Golden-cheeked Warbler search any further.  I saw a sign saying West Trail knowing the East-West was nearby and I didn't take too much time to read it.  I was making my way up the maple covered slopes of the area, and I could hear a Golden-cheeked Warbler singing in the distance.  Continuing up the trail, I was hoping to find a bird singing much closer.

Rain started to drizzle down from above as I made my way up the trail.  "I'm on the East-West Trail", I told myself, "I should start hearing loads and loads of Golden-cheeked Warblers singing and giving call notes anytime now".  What I was getting was an overall quite state of nature.  An Acadian Flycatcher called a few times below me with it's abrupt squeaky-toy-duck call.  A Louisiana Waterthrush sang once and didn't sing again.  Activity over my head turned out to be a Black-and-white Warbler, and their songs could be heard a few times.  The large maples around me and the sycamore lined Sabinal River below me added to a scenic view when I would stop.  I encountered springs along the hike.  At one point a Carolina Wren briefly sang it's loud, rolling song.  I caught the sight of movement and it was the Carolina Wren seemingly running up and crawling among tree branches as if it were a nuthatch on an energy drink.  The silent times reminded me I was alone, and an eerie sound went right along with it.  I didn't know what the sound was, but it sounded like someone was standing in the woods nearby, and was making low-pitched whistling sounds as if they were blowing into a glass soda bottle.  As the sound would continue, I didn't know what it was.  It was creepy, and if it had an annotation, it would read, "Hi, I'm just reminding you that your all alone and by yourself".  I asked myself if it was something nearby, some sort of animal, a weird bird?  It was then I remembered when Caleb talked about hearing a White-tipped Dove and I didn't really catch on to what he was talking about.  I pulled White-tipped Dove up on my Sibley mobile and played it's song, and it was the creepy sound I was hearing.  Just a dove Tommy, just a dove.  After hiking for about 0.7 miles on the trail, I came to a point where more oaks and junipers came into play once the trail opened up more from the maple stands.  It was then I heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler song much closer than the others I was hearing.

I stood and waited, and just like that, my first visuals of Golden-cheeked Warbler came into play.  The rain continued to drizzle, and when I pished, the warbler came in close.  At times, it sang while it foraged around me.  Although the lighting wasn't the best for photographs, my binocular views of the warbler were great.  Even though the lighting was bad, I'm pleased with the photographs I was able to get.

Birders travel from many places to see their Golden-cheeked Warbler in the Hill Country, and there are many places within the region the warbler can be enjoyed at.  I liked enjoying it by myself on an overcast, light rainy day.  The song of warbler didn't go along with the gloomy-colored overcast, and seemed as if the warbler was celebrating my search efforts with me.

The Golden-cheeked Warbler's breeding range is strictly limited to Texas, and is the one and only bird with that bounded breeding range.  As I mentioned earlier in the post, this warbler is an endangered species.  They rely on mature stands of Ashe juniper trees as their main habitat selection, and they can also be found in oak trees.  At Lost Maples, slopes filled with Ashe juniper are prevalent.  Interestingly, Golden-cheeked Warblers use Ashe juniper bark and spider webs for nest building.  The cause for the endangerment of the warbler is habitat loss, as much of the habitat was cleared for reasons such as urban expansion and livestock grazing.  Conservation efforts have put forth efforts to restore the Ashe juniper woodlands, the main grounds the Golden-cheeked Warbler needs to thrive.

I stood in a drainage while my Golden-cheeked Warbler observation took place.  The hiking trail was hard to find once it ended and the drainage was what I was supposed to follow.  While looking at my map, the terrain the was described to me didn't quite line up and the Black-capped Vireo habitat seemed to be a long way off.  I wondered if I had taken the wrong trail, and I remembered the sign saying "West Trail" when I ran off.  Hmmmm.  A conversation I heard coming up the trail turned out to be Caleb, David, and Josh.  They were birding along the same trail I ran up.  When they caught up to me we enjoyed a few warblers, and another Golden-cheeked Warbler emerged and foraged in a tree above, giving Josh and David their life looks.  Here is a video clip of the area:

As we had about an hour left before noon when we would have to head out, I did confirm that I was off on the trail judgement and did take the West Trail rather than the East-West Trail.  I told them I was gonna make a quick jaunt and run up for the Black-capped Vireo and meet them back at the parking lot before noon.  Walking down the West Trail I took a few minutes to enjoy a singing Louisiana Waterthrush.  It was hard to see in the thick habitat along the sycamore-lined river, but eventually it perched out in the open atop a high snag to proclaim it's music track.

Once I got to the East-West Trail I felt pretty stupid.  The overall habitat was way better for Golden-cheeked Warbler, and like the lady said, they were everywhere.  I hiked through some beautiful stretches and scenes along the river before I would rapidly climb up through juniper and oak habitat.  Acadian Flycatcher and a Broad-winged Hawk were highlights along the river.  Once climbing rapidly towards the top of the area, the trail got very steep.  I probably heard a total of 8-10 different Golden-cheeked Warblers along this stretch, but at this time my focus had shifted.  A British birder I ran into on his way down, who was out of breath from the climb, told me he got photos of two Black-capped Vireos.   After a steep climb of going as fast as I could, I would only have about five minutes of looking for the Vireo after hiking for over a mile.  I reached the highest elevation of Lost Maples, and I had gotten above the slopes and was now on flat terrain that was a lot more open and had scattered oak and thick, shrubby habitat that the vireo prefers.  The views of the area below me were outstanding, and I was a little disappointed I spent my time majority on the West Trail rather than this East-West Trail.  Within Lost Maples, the trail system is impressive, and if we had more time, it would have been have been fun to hike the East and West Trails, as well being able to take out more time for the East-West connector trail.

A Black-capped Vireo sang within a minute or two when I got into the habitat.  I ran in it's direction, as I only had a few minutes of trying to get a longer visual of the bird.  Hearing it that quickly once I got into it's habitat spoke volumes about how reliable it can be on the flat terrain.  But true to the vireo's nature, it slunk off into it's thick habitat and didn't talk again before I was out of time.  I had just enough time to run back down the trail and make it back to the parking lot before noon.  In the process of hiking back, I was exhausted and without water and was starting to get dehydrated.  I wasn't able to run back like I wanted to, but had to walk instead.  Luckily, Caleb was driving around and ended up being closer than the parking lot, and I didn't have to walk as far.  From there we were on the road again, and this time our next birding stop would be in the renowned Rio Grande Valley.

Black-capped Vireo habitat

The Black-capped Vireo left it's mark of me wanting to go back to their range and get better views.  With as many awesome birds that we would have waiting for us for the remainder of our trip, I didn't let the vireo get to me too much.  It alone gave me reason to come back and bird the Texas Hill Country again someday.  Speaking of the Hill Country, it was an incredible place to bird.  Lost Maples gave us a good sample of what it is like to bird in the Hill Country, where the birds collide.