Total Species seen by Month's end: 494
Number of species added during month: 6
Miles Driven: 3115
Review Species Added: 2
Summary & Highlights:
1 August (489
species)
With the recent reports of White-eared Hummingbirds in Boot Canyon, Big
Bend National Park,
I decided to
take off from work on Friday, August 1st and see if I could find those birds. I got
an early start
hiking up the Pinnacles Trail and made it to the general area where the
hummingbirds had
been seen - the drainage area around Boot Canyon campsites #3 and #4. Right away, I
had a Painted
Redstart singing as well as 1 or 2 Dusky-capped Flycatchers calling. I
worked my way
over to where the hummingbirds had last been seen and quickly heard them,
followed later by a couple of
looks at both the male and female White-eared Hummingbird. I hung around for about
45 minutes at
that spot, watching the pair, and then continued with the rest of the canyon, where I had
(at one time, in
one tree) 4 Painted Redstarts. The canyon was fairly birdy with lots of
species feeding young birds recently out of the nest.
2 August (491
species)
Saturday morning August 2nd, I started out in Guadalupe Mountains
National Park. My plan was to hike
up to the upper
elevations where I would hopefully get Pygmy Nuthatch as well as
Flammulated Owl that evening as I
planned to camp up at Tejas Camp, which is a great location for the
owls. . I reached Tejas Camp by mid-afternoon
and after taking
a bit of a break, got at least 5 Pygmy Nuthatches very close to camp, in
an approximate
area where David Poteet had told me he and Kelly Bryan had seen a group
of these birds a couple weeks
earlier. I worked the drainage and trail just north of the camp for the
rest of the
afternoon. Twice during that time (at 4.30pm and again at 7.20pm), I
heard an owl
calling very briefly which I believe may have been a Northern Pygmy-Owl. Northern
Saw-whet Owl is more expected in that area and I will also allow for
that possibility.
Either way, the bird never called for very long on either occasion and I
was never able
to locate it.
After dark, I was sitting around camp when I heard some wing beats and
bill-snapping sounds
from a nearby tree. I got my spotlight out and when I turned it on the tree,
I was
delightfully surprised to have 4 Flammulated Owls, all moth-catching. I
ended up hearing chattering all night (but no calls) and at least 2 of the birds were
still present the
following morning.
9-10 August (492
species)
The weekend of 9-10 August, I once again headed back out west, to Big Bend National
Park. Friday
morning I hiked up to Boot Canyon, where I met up with Laura and Randy
Packer. We spent
some time looking for (and finding) the White-eared Hummingbirds that
are still present
by Boot Canyon campsite #4 and then spent the rest of the afternoon birding around the main
drainage, though
it wasn't very birdy. The Packers went down to the Basin in the late
afternoon and I was
later joined up in the canyon by Tim Fennell. Tim and I camped
that evening at campsite #4 and
we started out
Saturday morning waiting on the White-eared Hummingbirds. I had wandered
down the
drainage a bit and it was there that we can upon a mixed flock that
included 4 Painted Redstarts and a very active
Red-faced Warbler
(year-bird #492). We kept up with Red-faced Warbler for a little over an hour until it disappeared. Later in the
morning, we were
joined by Mark & Cindy Lockwood. The four of us were able to find a Cassin's
Vireo and a
Louisiana Waterthrush along the main Boot Canyon trail above the
springs. Mark informed
me that Brush Freeman had discovered a Ruff the day before in Calhoun County, so I
started my way back
down to the Basin around noon. A quick call to Brush and I learned
that he had re-found the
Ruff first thing
that morning but subsequent attempts to relocate it had failed as the
surrounding water where it had been seen had already dried up. I stayed
the evening in the Basin, enjoying dinner with the Packers as well as
Charles & Chris Easley, who would
end up making the
trip back up to Boot Canyon the follow morning. Instead of
returning to Boot Canyon with them the following morning, I opted to
bird nearby Pine Canyon, but it was rather quiet, save for an immature Lucifer's
Hummingbird at the very
upper end of the canyon.
17 August (493
species)
After a few weekday mornings
of searching around Austin for an Alder Flycatcher (a bird I still
lacked for the year), I decided to head down to the upper Texas coast on
Sunday, 17 August. I
started the
morning at San Bernard NWR, where I finally got the rare and elusive
King Rail that had been avoiding me all year. I birded
the woods there, as well as the migrant traps at Quintana and also both sanctuaries on
High Island
searching for empids but came up short (only 1 empid all day - a
Yellow-bellied). I did
have a good variety of fall warblers though - 12 species, including
early Blackburnian &
Blackpoll, as well as a very cooperative Swainson's Warbler.
21 August (494
species)
After several mornings of hunting around Austin, I finally (!)
encountered an
ever-so-briefly-calling Alder Flycatcher Thursday morning (21 August) at McKinney
Falls State Park.
This was perhaps the last of the "easy" remaining birds for my year
list and finding new birds the remaining four+ months would require a
lot of time in the field and a little bit of luck.