But I’m home now, writing about Saturday.
Loved the birding at Kickapoo Cavern. I added two birds I had missed at two other places.
There is a bird blind with a water feature. There are trails through good scrub and oak/juniper habitat. Spent five hours there. Found a bunch of good birds. Surprisingly, I got the bird there that I tried for and missed at Blue Creek Trail the morning before. Gray Vireo. It came to the water feature at Kickapoo instead of me trying to chase him down through a gravel streambed for a mile. Number 397.
The next bird, the Golden-cheeked Warbler, I missed the first day of this trip at South Llano River State Park. Most of my looks at year-birds this trip have been fleeting, or have been heard-only like the Band-tailed Pigeon. I got the pigeon very early in the morning on the first-light hike I made out of Chisos Basin in Big Bend. I was stopped by the sound of a distant Great Horned Owl, calling even though it was a little light for that. As I listen though, I realized the cadence was wrong. A couple more hoots and I recognized the sound of a pigeon; kind of a moaning sound they make. I played a tape of the Band-tailed Pigeon’s call and it matched exactly! That was my one and only contact with that bird this trip.
Anyway, the Golden-cheeked Warbler not only finally appeared for me but posed for as many photos I wanted to take.
Golden-cheeked Warbler. Bird Number 398 for the year! A very satisfying trip. I don’t know what the next two birds will be; there aren’t any new birds in my immediate vicinity. Wait. Wood Stork. That would be good. I haven’t seen one of them yet this year. I know where to find them up near Corpus in the middle of summer. Shouldn’t be hard to find one more after bird that. I’ve got six months to put together a plan…