I think I yawned out loud. Caleb followed that up with saying he'd bust out a lot of energy drinks. Another suggestion that we thought up was driving for half of the distance of about six hours, camping out at a birding location to bird some the next morning, and then driving another six hours to get to the Guads in the afternoon. The second suggestion seemed to be the better choice of the two, and we all knew that that would be best. After all, we would be backpacking and camping up in the Guadalupe Mountains and it would be our second major hiking and backpacking camping outing of the trip. After grabbing something to eat somewhere (I can't remember where), Caleb put fourth a great effort with the help of an energy drink to drive from Holly Beach for 6.5 hours of 430 miles to South Llano River State Park. The state park is located in Kimble County, and from what we read on eBird, it appeared to be a solid birding location. When we arrived at South Llano River State Park, it was probably close to 2 A.M. All I can remember was falling asleep in the car seat and not wanting to get up once we got to the park. And I didn't get up until it got light out after 6:30 A.M. to start May 7th.
When I looked at the surroundings of South Llano River State Park, I could tell that we were in a section of the Texas Hill Country. I was excited to bird at the park a little bit. In two hours we had a decent bird list by sitting around the parking lot. Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Vireo, Black-crested Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Orchard Oriole, and Painted Bunting were a few highlights in two hours that we spent at the park before we would head out for the Guads. As we left, I realized that the habitat looked good for a bird that had eluded my views with the exception of a second earlier in the trip. It was a bird I really wanted to see better on the trip, and a bird I really wanted to document. This bird was just too cool to not see that well, even though it can be very elusive. I asked if we could stop along the road in a few locations to look for it. The guys were cool with it and we stopped at a spot. Birds were vocal in the spot we stopped at, and after waiting for about a minute, we heard that epic bird. This time, despite it's fierce-faced cryptic nature, it gave me the chance at a lively redemption.
"Here comes the Black-capped Vireo guys, here it comes". It popped up in front of me for a good enough amount of time without hesitation, and I was a pumped up birder, both mentally and outwardly when I raised my fist up to celebrate.
Caleb and I pished the bird in after we heard it singing nearby, and I snapped photos as it sat out in the open for a few seconds. Black-capped Vireos were recently considered an endangered species, but the population now is in a better place than it was. In the United States they are found in central Texas as well as southwestern Oklahoma, where they prefer dense scrubby oak and brushy hill habitats in midst of open clearings.
The Black-capped Vireo is one of the smallest vireos, as well as one of the most active. It's foraging activities and constant movement make it as hard to see as it is. These birds arrive in Texas in early April and depart in September when they go to the west coast of Mexico to spend the winter.
Clearly, the Black-capped Vireo's appearance puts the other North American vireos to shame in their appearance. It is one of the coolest-looking birds that can be found in the United States. My camera wasn't focused to it's perfection when I shot these pictures, but I'm thankful for them. While Caleb and I watched the bird, Josh and David sat back in the car. I gave them a big thumbs up after I snapped the photographs that I did, and they were pumped for me.
After missing the chance for a good observation from much earlier in the trip with Black-capped Vireos, this one made up for it. As it left it continued to sing and it went back to foraging into the thick habitat that it came from. This was one of the best stories on the trip for me, that Black-capped Vireo redemption...
From the Llano River and Black-capped Vireo, we drove for 5.5 hours and about 350 miles to get to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We pulled into the park at about 3:45 P.M., and we had a lot to do as we would take a big hike up into the highest elevations of the mountains to get our final cast of Texas birds that we would get for our trip.
The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located east of the city of El Paso, Texas and is just south of New Mexico. These mountains hold the highest elevations in Texas, and Guadalupe Peak is the state's highest point at 8,749 feet. Habitat diversity is extreme within the park. The lower elevations are filled with Chihuahuan desert. Grassland, pinyon-pine, and juniper are found as elevation gains further. Deciduous woodlands are found in medium elevations. The areas that exceed 7,000' have mountain forests that contain ponderosa and several other species of pine, Douglas fir, alligator juniper, and even some aspen. Perhaps the Guadalupe Mountains are most famous for having the world's largest Permian fossil reef. It brings people in for study from all over the world to study fossils, as well as an array of wildlife and plants.
Our first stop within the Park was at a place called Frijole Ranch. It was surrounded by juniper and shruby-oak habitat. Among the birds that we found there included our Texas first Juniper Titmouse.
We then went to the visitor center at the park where we would pay for our admission and get backcountry permits for camping overnight. The young lady who helped us is Josh's future wife. We all four sat in a room like school students and Josh's wife went over rules, regulations, and safety guidelines with us. She told us that a lot of wind was going to be in the forecast. We raised our hands and asked questions. I hoped the wind was only the forecast and not truly true to life. Luckily, we passed the test and got our back country camping permits. After getting all of our camping and food supplies ready, we embarked on a long and steep hike to the highest elevations of Texas.
The trails that we would take started with the long Tejas Trail, and that would be followed by the Pine Top Trail to the Juniper Trail, and then the Juniper Trail to the Tejas Backcountry Campground. This was about a six mile hike one way, most of which was climbing upward. What was on our mind were the possibilities of high elevation birds typical of the Rocky Mountains that aren't found elsewhere in Texas or are limited in Texas. Some of those species include Northern Saw-whet and Flammulated Owls, Hairy Woodpecker, Violet-green Swallow, Steller's Jay, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Grace's Warbler, and Hepatic Tanager. Most excitingly, the Guadalupe Mountains have breeding Spotted Owls, and that of course was the bird that we were all wanting to see or hear the most out of the possibilities.
We started hiking at about 4:30 P.M., and we had roughly 3.5 hours to hike until it would get dark out. Backpacks made things heavy for climbing. I got exhausted pretty quick. Maybe it was from being on our eleventh straight day of hardcore birding, or maybe I'm losing it. The Tejas trail had it's challenging times as we increased in elevation. Switchback after switchback after switchback. It seemed like it was three times harder than the Colima "Death March". I knew the hike down the next morning would be easier...
Caleb and David had their trailblazing times. Luckily for Josh and me, they remained in one piece. Caleb wanted to go above the photographed rock arch below, but said that he'd for sure die if he fell off of one side of the cliff or the other from going up the arch.
One thing is for sure, the Guadalupe Mountains are an interesting place. The scenery was great and it was a fun place to hike. As we climbed in elevation, we all got a new state bird in the Violet-green Swallow.
By the time we got to the highest elevations with pine and fir filled ridges and canyons, the day was starting to fade. An Olive-sided Flycatcher greeted us at the start of the habitat.
As we continued towards the campground we would stay at, we took the Pine Top Trail to hike the Juniper Trail. We were walking through coniferous forest at this point, and it was awesome. As Spotted Owl was our most wanted bird, we were thrilled to see all of the habitat that looked perfect for it. But the fact was, there was a lot of habitat, and Caleb said, "Gosh, there's so many drainages". Spotted Owls wouldn't be in every single drainage, and getting them probably means spending a considerable time in the park (unless very lucky). Along the way we did have Wild Turkey, White-throated Swift, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Bushtit, White-breasted Nuthatch, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Grace's Warbler, Western Tanager, and Black-headed Grosbeak.
We descended into a canyon with thick timber in it towards our backcountry campground. After seeing so much of Texas, it was hard to believe that this location was still Texas. As the final minutes of daylight were passing, the Mexican Whip-poor-wills were the first birds to announce that it was nighttime. Two Flammulated Owls followed right after the Whip-poor-will's broadcasts. This owl was one that we were really hoping to get on this adventure, and it was awesome to get it for Texas. One of the Flams was very close to us, and at times I felt like we had a chance to get a view of it. Although it was close, the Flam was still far away. At such a small size and with super skills of camouflage, Flammulated Owls are never easy to see wherever they may be. Right past the owl was our camp. It didn't take us long, but we set up camp and went to sleep. The Spotted Owls were silent, but the Flams and Whips kept us company at times.
Josh's future wife was right and the wind kicked in late into the night and it was hard to sleep and stay warm. When the final morning of the trip, May 8th hit, the songs of birds found a way to be louder than the wind was once it got light out. We added Hairy Woodpecker, Steller's Jay, Mountain Chickadee, and Brown Creeper to our Texas lists, which was now over 350 for the trip.
This is how Josh tried to stay warm in the wind.
Deer within the high elevations of the Guads probably don't see people very often. This deer was curious, and at times I wondered if it was going to stick it's head into Caleb's hammock to give him a shocking wake up. I was rooting for the deer to do just that...
By the time we had gotten up, packed up our stuff, and started to head back on the trail early, the winds got really bad. It was chilly and hard to hear anything, due to the wind. Aside from our state bird additions, in the Guadalupe Mountain high elevations for the morning we also detected Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Plumbeous Vireo, Bewick's Wren, Pine Siskin, red-backed Dark-eyed Junco, Yellow-rumped and Grace's Warblers, Hepatic and Western Tanagers, and Black-headed Grosbeak. The opportunity for photographing birds was very poor.
After getting out of the tall forest habitat, we had to hike rather quickly back down the switchback dominated Tejas Trail so we could make sure that David and Josh would be able to get back to the Phoenix airport on time. The switchbacks were still the switchbacks on the way down.
In gusty winds, we were able to walk 4.5 miles in under two hours on the Tejas Trail to return to the parking lot and conclude our trip. A few bird highlights included White-throated Swift, Canyon Wren, Black-chinned Sparrow, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow.
The trek and haul up into the Guadalupe Mountains was a great way to close out our Texas adventure and it was interesting to see a cast of birds unique to Texas in the mountain range. In our long trip of many great memories, it was fitting to end it by doing such a thing as backpacking into the wilderness. After loading everything into Caleb's car, we headed back west to Phoenix to conclude the twelfth and final day of our trip. Yeah, the actual birding of the trip may have reached it's ending point on that day, but the impact of the trip is it's own conversation and is still being talked about. Maybe some of that conversation can be translated for one more post on Texas Times.
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