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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Texas targets (1 Viewer)

Steve Arlow

Well-known member
United Kingdom
Next April I have a planned trip to Texas that will be taking in the Hill Country, Big Bend and High Island, not the Lower Grande Valley though.

Whilst this is my 3rd trip to Texas, following a winter trip and High Island only trip my birding companions will need many more species than I will as lifers so wanting to increase chances of several target species on the trip.

I have got a number of sites so far for some key species, ie Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-capped Vireo etc however there are a few other species that I want to increase our chances on so looking for some reliable sites for the following:
Yellow-throated Warbler (my personal favorite American Wood-warbler)
Louisiana Waterthrush (I understand these may be breeding in the Edwards Plateau?)
Montazuma Quail (Davis State Park seems less reliable these days)
Prairie Warbler
Western and Clarkes Grebes (I have a site north of Davis but others would be helpful)
Mississippi Kite
Common Black Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
White-tailed Hawk (any near Houston?)
American Woodcock
Any Owl species (I have a couple for Barred Owl, Elf Owl etc but back ups always worth having)
Whip-poor-wills, Chuck-wills and nighthawks in the south (again I have a number of sites but other or more reliables worth having)
White-throated Swift
Any Hummers other than Ruby-throated
Gray Vireo
Violet-green Swallows
Long-billed Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
Swainsons Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Hepatic Tanager
Western Tanager (if any)
Any key or difficult sparrows
Lesser Goldfich


Also any good birding sites, ie wetlands for shorebirds or San Antonio (or even Big Bend) and Houston so we can break up the very long long drive?

many thanks in advance
 
Funnily enough I'm planning a not dissimilar trip. The main answer is to check EBird. That'll basically give you the most detailed and most up-to-date information for all of those species.

I've commented on a few of these below.

Yellow-throated Warbler (my personal favorite American Wood-warbler)
I think this species is fairly common in the Edwards Plateau, east Texas woods and on migration through areas like High Island.

Louisiana Waterthrush (I understand these may be breeding in the Edwards Plateau?)
Seem to be fairly common there e.g. at Lost Maples and around Austin.

Montezuma Quail (Davis State Park seems less reliable these days)
A covery of 12 seen at Davis SP last month (Skyline Drive) so they're obviously still there. I think that's still likely to be your best bet.

Prairie Warbler
Fairly likely as a migrant. Seems to be found in good numbers at Big Thicket and Angelina State Forest in southeast Texas.

Western and Clarkes Grebes (I have a site north of Davis but others would be helpful)
I guess you mean Lake Balmorhea. According to Ebird it's the only regular site in that part of Texas. I think you'd have to go further west to find them in any numbers.

Mississippi Kite
I think this is pretty common in southeast Texas, and is quite likely as a migrant in April.

Common Black Hawk
Should be likely in Big Bend e.g. in Rio Grande Village. Also in Davis Mountains.

Zone-tailed Hawk
In similar areas to the Black Hawk, but also in the Edwards Plateau, particularly around Vanderpool. Suspect Big Bend is your best bet.

White-tailed Hawk (any near Houston?)
Seems to be fairly regular at Katy Prairie and the Attwater Prairie Chicken Reserve. Also seen sometimes around the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston. Attwater seems the best spot though.

American Woodcock
Seems to be extremely scarce in south Texas at that time of the year. Unless you get lucky you won't see it.

Any Owl species (I have a couple for Barred Owl, Elf Owl etc but back ups always worth having)
Not too sure of any specific spots, apart from Eastern Screech in the LRGV. Check Ebird sightings to see if anyone gives enough detail to find roosting birds.

Whip-poor-wills, Chuck-wills and nighthawks in the south (again I have a number of sites but other or more reliables worth having)
As for owls.

White-throated Swift
Pinnacles Trail/ Chisos Mountains in Big Bend seems good. Think it's fairly scarce elsewhere.

Any Hummers other than Ruby-throated
Christmas Mountain Oasis near Big Bend seems to be a good spot for hummers. Lucifer is quite regular there. Black-chinned should be possible.
http://cmoasis.blogspot.co.uk/
Blue-throated Hummingbird seems to be moderately common in the Chisos Basin area of Big Bend. Magnificent is also sometimes seen but seems to be rarer. Broad-tailed also occurs in that area. Rufous can occur on migration. Buff-bellied might be tricky if you don't go to the LRGV, although it is reasonably common in the Corpus Christi/ Rockport area.

Gray Vireo
Blue Creek Canyon in Big Bend seems to be the most regular site.

Violet-green Swallows
Seems to be moderately common in both Big Bend and Davis Mtns. Pinnacles Trail seems the best bet.

Long-billed Thrasher
Seems to be fairly common in the southern Edwards Plateau area and around San Antonio. Chalk Bluff Park has regular sightings. San Antonio Botanic Park is also a good bet.

Curve-billed Thrasher
Rio Grande Village or Christmas Mountain Oasis. Seems pretty common in Big Bend.

Swainsons Warbler
Big Thicket seems to be a good place e.g. Gore Store Road, Turkey Creek. Nearby, Martin Dies State Park seems very good. Could turn up at High Island I guess.

Kentucky Warbler
Some of the same places as for Swainson's Warbler. Seems to be a commoner migrant though.

Hepatic Tanager
Seems to be possible in the Chisos Basin and the Davis Mtns but not all that common. Can't find any really regular sites, so it's perhaps just a case of looking in the right habitat.

Western Tanager (if any)
Seems to occur in the same sort of areas as Hepatic (though maybe as a migrant). Not all that common but possible.

Any key or difficult sparrows
Not too sure which ones you might have in mind, but the following may be of interest:
Black-chinned Sparrow - Chisos Basin area seems fairly good for this species. Also at the Davis Mtns SP.
Olive Sparrow - Should be possible in the southern Edwards Plateau e.g. Lost Maples.
Bachman's Sparrow - Boykin Springs in Angelina Forest seems to be the most regular site in SE Texas. Also in Big Thicket.
Seaside, Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows are all possible in the Anahuac/ Bolivar Peninsula area. The crake walks they do at Anahuac in April are perhaps a good bet.

Lesser Goldfich
Fairly common in the Edwards Plateau. Davis SP seems to be good too.
 
A few of your target species were birds my wife and I saw on our early May, 2011, trip west from San Antonio to Big Bend and back. In that particular season, songbird migration was ongoing and there was an awful drought in west Texas.

We found the Golden-cheeked Warbler, Black-Vireo and Yellow-throated Warbler at Lost Maples State Natural Area as well as a migrating Mourning warbler. They had feeders at the entrance that attracted numerous hummingbirds (Black-chinned mostly) and seed feeders at the ranger station where we saw Painted and Lazuli Buntings and Lesser Goldifinches. Our list for that location also includes Common Nighthawk and heard only Chuck-wills-widow though I did not record exactly where we encountered them.
At Kickapoo Caverns, we saw the Vireo again, a Common Poorwill and a Gray Vireo, which was part luck in hearing it and part hard work in locating the bird.
We camped for five days at Chisos CG in Big Bend. Elf Owls called over our tent every night thought we had seen our first in a cottonwood at Rio Grande CG. It was at that area where we saw both Common Black Hawk (they have a sign pointing out the nest!) and a flyover Zone-tailed hawk.
Black-chinned Sparrow was seen only in our campsite. We found the Colima Warbler by hiking in the hills above the Chisos basin. As I mentioned above, wildfires and an extreme drought were taking place. There were dying trees and shrubs everywhere. Few plants were producing flowers, just a cactus or two, some desert willows and a few red flowering Ocotillo. On our hike, we staked out one of these plants and in no time, a Lucifer Hummingbird made an appearance.
At Sotol Vista, on the way to Cottonwood CG in Big Bend, we saw White-throated Swifts. An excellent place to visit on that same road is Sam Nail Ranch, where a shaded watering hole with a bench, is perfect for birding in the heat of the afternoon. Varied Buntings, Scaled Quail, Western Tanagers, grosbeaks, sparrows, warblers were some of the birds we saw in just a short period there.

For breaking up the drive to Big Bend, we stopped at Lake Amistad to check out what waterbirds might be there. On the outskirts of Corpus Christi, Hazel Bazemore Park on the Nueces River has a platform (shaded, I think) for viewing a feeding area for Long-billed Thrashers and others. We saw a White-tailed Hawk here also.

That's about all I have. In December, we're heading to the LRGV for our first winter trip, hoping for some wintering grassland birds and of course, Mexican rarities.

Steve
 

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Many thanks to you both, similar detail to what I have pulled together but there are some good additional bits and peices in there that will come in handy. As I have done Texas before my targets are far less than my birding friends but even so it will be great to back amongst the warblers, tanagers, cuckoos, shorebirds and raptors again.

Only 5 months to go

kind regards
 
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