Big Bend National park - Day 2 and 3

The second day of the trip was supposed to start early. The plan was to trek the Boot Canyon Trail to find the Colima Warbler which can be found only in the mountains along this trail in the entire US. It was high on my wishlist. Along with this we could find the White-throated Swifts in the trail. The plan was to try our luck with both the birds. I was also hoping to see some of the other Big Bend specialties along the way.

Started at around the 6:00 AM in the morning. The trail was long hence decided to start early. Also wanted to cover some distance before the heat started kicking in. On the trail the first interesting bird I sighted was a pair of Acorn Woodpeckers. It was interesting to see them busy in the morning trying to cleanup their storage space. The next bird I saw was a Crissal Thrasher. Again Big Bend specialty which I was very fortunate to find. The light was very bad but it was good enough to see the bird for the first time. Along the way saw some Rufous-crowned and Chipping sparrows. Here I got to see my first Mexican Jay as well.

Acorn Woodpecker

Crissal Thrasher

Mexican Jay

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

The trek was difficult with the heat but sighting of all these birds kept me up in good spirit. There was always some activity every few yards. Here I got to see my first Black-tailed Gnatcher and the Black-chinned Sparrow as well. I saw quite a few flycatchers which I could not ID confidently. The other local specialty which I got to see was a Canyon Towhee. Just before I reached the peak I saw some swifts flying over. It was difficult to ID them from long distance but thankfully a fellow birder helped with his scope to ID the bird. We also got to see the Colima Warbler for a brief period. Without the fellow birder I would never have been able to find and ID the bird. Could not thank him enough. On the way back got to see some Orioles and Towhees again. 

Black-tailed Gnatcher

Hermit Thrush

Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-chinned Sparrow

Bewick's Wren

Spotted Towhee

Canyon Towhee

Say's Pheobe

In the evening visited the Waste Water treatment plant. I was told it was another good spot to see some birds. I was not disappointed. Here I saw some Acorn Woodpeckers again along with some Tanagers.  A Greater roadrunner gave a quick visit before going back into the bushes. I could see some Clay-colored sparrows, Goldfinches and Warblers. I was told a Varied Bunting visits this treatment plant and would be a good place to spot this bird. I tried to spend some time here but could not find the bird anywhere. It was getting late hence decided to head back. On the way back found the Scott's Oriole. Another lifer for the trip. The second day of birding again ended on a very high note with the sighting of this bird.

Acorn Woodpecker

Summer Tanager

Greater Roadrunner

House Finch

Chipping Sparrow

Scott's Oriole

White-winged Dove

The next day we were supposed to head back home. But I decided to make a quick dash to the Rio Grande Village before heading back home. I was told we could see the Common Black Hawk here. It was about an hour's detour from our return drive. But it was worth trying our luck to see the bird. The place was good and it was busy with different kind of birds everywhere. Most of the Big Bend specialties could be found here. After a while drove towards the RV parking area where we were told to look for the Black hawks. We spent about an hour here to find the bird but nothing was in sight. We were able to find its nest area and decided wait for another hour before heading back. After waiting for about 30 minutes the hawk returned to the nest. I was glad that we decided to wait here. Got good looks of the bird. It was time to head back home. Long drive awaited us. 

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Vermilion Flycatcher

Collared Dove

Common Ground Dove

Verdin

Common Black Hawk

We spent 2.5 days on the whole at the national park. It was not much. If we plan the trip again, next time we would need a minimum of 4 days to enjoy the complete national park and also probably visit during cooler months rather than in May. It was hot :-) This national park is one of its kind. You have to be there to enjoy the Majesty of this park. It is so vast and these small pockets of green attracts all these birds.

ebird : 

Boot Canyon Trail : https://ebird.org/checklist/S45743141

Rio Grande Village : https://ebird.org/checklist/S45927406

Birds seen during the day :

1. Acorn Woodpecker
2. Ash-throated Flycatcher
3. Bell's Vireo
4. Bewick's Wren
5. Black Phoebe
6. Black Vulture
7. Black-chinned Sparrow
8. Black-crested Titmouse
9. Black-headed Grosbeak
10. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
11. Blue Grosbeak
12. Brown-crested Flycatcher
13. Bushtit
14. Canyon Towhee
15. Canyon Wren
16. Chipping Sparrow
17. Clay-colored Sparrow
18. Colima Warbler
19. Common Black Hawk
20. Common Ground Dove
21. Couch's Kingbird
22. Crissal Thrasher
23. Dusky Flycatcher
24. Eurasian Collared-Dove
25. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
26. Greater Roadrunner
27. Hermit Thrush
28. House Finch
29. Hutton's Vireo
30. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
31. Loggerhead Shrike
32. Mexican Jay
33. Mourning Dove
34. Northern Mockingbird
35. Painted Bunting
36. Pyrrhuloxia
37. Rufous-crowned Sparrow
38. Say's Phoebe
39. Scott's Oriole
40. Spotted Towhee
41. Summer Tanager
42. Turkey Vulture
43. Verdin
44. Vermilion Flycatcher
45. Warbling Vireo
46. Western Kingbird
47. Western Tanager
48. Western Wood-Pewee
49. White-throated Swift
50. White-winged Dove
51. Wilson's Warbler
52. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)

Birding trip to Big Bend National Park

There were some places that I wanted to cover in Texas for birding. One was High Island which is close enough for me to visit every spring season. The other was to do the birding trip to Rio Grande Valley and the last one being Big Bend National Park. I was lucky to cover both Rio Grande Valley and Big Bend National park in the same year of 2018. 

Atlast planned a camping trip to Big Bend National Park. This was our first camping trip in US. I took my family there just to experience the vastness of the National park. I don't think there is any other park like this one. The national park itself is almost 120,000 acres. It's unbelievably big. A must visit place for anyone in Texas. 

We made all the preparations and drove almost 550 miles. The drive was excellent. We made sure we reached the park by 5AM to make sure we get the camp site. The plan was to camp at Chisos Basin Mountain campground. The recommendation was to reach early to get a campsite. Thankfully we got a very campsite.  We setup the tent, prepared some breakfast and finished all our morning rituals. Right at the campsite I was able to get some lifers. There were Cactus Wrens, Black-crested titmouse and Say's Pheobe. There were lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers around and House Finches too along with a Lone Summer Tanager. Also got to see my first Lark Bunting here. 

Campsite

Black-crested Titmouse

Pine Siskin

Western Tanager

House Finch

Lark Bunting

Black-headed Grosbeak

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Inca Dove

Cactus Wren

By 8PM we were ready and headed towards the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. We first stopped at the Sam Neil Ranch. I was told that if the windmill works and water is pumping then we will be lucky to see some birds here. I was not disappointed. I saw my first Pyrrhuloxia and Varied Bunting here. The later being the unexpected one. I was planning to see that on the second day but got lucky here. 

Clay-colored Sparrow

Varied Bunting

Pyrrhuloxia

After this we headed towards the Blue Creek Canyon. The heat was too much and we could not walk the trail here since it was very hot and not much cover to walk the Canyon. Here I got to see my first Northern rough-winged Swallow. There were some Black Pheobe on the river bank. The Rio-Grande river had carved out a nice big canyon here. Now the river was more of trickle but looking at the canyon one can wonder how big the river would have been once upon a time. After this we decided to take a break for our lunch. We stopped at one of the viewpoints for the lunch break. 

Inca Dove

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

After this we went to Cottonwood campground. We were told this campground had very good birds around. Initially I wanted to camp here but there were some reports about the bear sightings here. Hence decided to camp at Chisos. The Chisos is busier than Cottonwood campground. This campground was big and there were not many people at the campground. But there was good variety of birds here. I could see lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Vermilion Flycatchers and Flycatchers. I got to see my first Gold-fronted Woodpecker here. There was a Ladder-backed Woodpecker here too which was busy catching the bugs. Saw a big group of Black-throated Sparrows. Also saw my first Lucy's Warbler. There were quite a few Clay-colored Sparrows around. There were some Blue Grosbeaks and Painted Buntings too. Saw my first Black-tailed Gnatcher too here. We had a surprise visit from Wild Hogs which was followed by Greater Roadrunner. 

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher(Female)

Black-throated Sparrow

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Blue-grey Gnatcher

Brown Crested Flycatcher

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Chipping Sparrow

Painted Bunting

Summer Tanager

Blue Grosbeak

Lucy's Warbler

Ladder-backed Woodpecker(Male)

After a while I heard some commotion and when I checked out I saw there were some birds trying to harass another bird. Immediately I thought about owl. But this bird which was being harassed was very small. I just took couple of pictures before it flew away. It turned out to be Elf Owl which was on my trip wishlist. I was told to keep an eye out for this bird in this campground and I did get lucky with this bird. It was amazing to see the bird.  After this headed back to the campsite before it got dark. It was an amazing start to the trip. 

Elf Owl

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Greater Roadrunner

In the night wanted to take some star trail pictures but because of the weather conditions could not take any. This is the best place to get some star trail pictures since there is no Light pollution here. I have seen some of the best star trail pictures from this National park.

It was an excellent way to wrap up our first day of the trip. Couldn't wait for the next day.

ebird : 

Chisos Basin Campground : https://ebird.org/checklist/S45709078

Cottonwood Campground : https://ebird.org/checklist/S45708112

Sam Neil Ranch : https://ebird.org/checklist/S45709638

Birds seen during the day:

1. American Redstart
2. Ash-throated Flycatcher
3. Black Phoebe
4. Black Vulture
5. Black-crested Titmouse
6. Black-headed Grosbeak
7. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
8. Black-throated Sparrow
9. Blue Grosbeak
10. Brown-crested Flycatcher
11. Cactus Wren
12. Canyon Towhee
13. Chipping Sparrow
14. Clay-colored Sparrow
15. Collared Dove
16. Common Yellowthroat
17. Couch's Kingbird
18. Elf Owl
19. Golden-fronted Woodpecker
20. Greater Roadrunner
21. House Finch
22. Inca Dove
23. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
24. Lark Bunting
25. Lucy's Warbler
26. Mourning Dove
27. Northern Mockingbird
28. Olive-sided Flycatcher
29. Orchard Oriole
30. Painted Bunting
31. Pyrrhuloxia
32. Red-tailed Hawk
33. Savannah Sparrow
34. Summer Tanager
35. Swainson's Hawk
36. Turkey Vulture
37. Varied Bunting
38. Vermilion Flycatcher
39. Western Wood-Pewee
40. White-winged Dove
41. Wilson's Warbler
42. Yellow Warbler
43. Yellow-breasted Chat
44. Yellow-headed Blackbird
45. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
46. Zone-tailed Hawk