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The marvelous Chisos Mountains as seen from just outside of the basin. (Photo by guide Chris Benesh)

This year's "Texas's Big Bend & Hill Country" tour was successful despite an ongoing drought that has brought little rain to the area in the past few years. Particularly hard hit were the Davis Mountains, where things are still slowly recovering from the 2011 fire. We started off in San Antonio and headed west to Del Rio. Our first morning birding there was fantastic, with lots of migrants and breeders. Among the many highlights was a male White-collared Seedeater and several Olive Sparrows and Long-billed Thrashers. We then headed west to Big Bend National Park, where we spent the next few nights at the Chisos Mountain Lodge.

The drought was evident here too, and Blue Creek Canyon was as quiet as I've ever seen. Still, we saw some good birds and the scenery was fantastic. Our visit to Rio Grande Village was fruitful, though it took most of the day to get a good view of the nesting black-hawks there. The hike up the Pinnacles Trail to Boot Spring was scenic as well, and we saw some nice things on the way up. Again, activity was a bit subdued due to the drought. Colima Warblers were somewhat elusive, though we did eventually track one down that we could see tucked high in the canopy over the trail behind Boot Spring. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Still more relief came when two Black-capped Vireos showed up in the basin that we were able to spot teed up in a bush.

Driving north, we paid a visit to the Christmas Mountains Oasis which was great for birds and a thirsty Coachwhip Snake. Highlights were Lucifer Hummingbird and a Western Screech-Owl. Thanks to Carolyn for her hospitality. Then we were off to the Davis Mountains, where quail searching proved fruitless, though we had a fantastic Common Poorwill and a flyover of the International Space Station as an added bonus.

Lake Balmorhea was pleasant with grebes and shorebirds to keep us entertained for a while. Then we headed to the Hill Country. As the miles rolled by, we could see the landscape changing, becoming more hilly and green. From our comfortable digs in Utopia we explored some of the best that the region has to offer. Lost Maples SNA was great, and the views of Golden-cheeked Warbler there were fantastic. There were lots of other goodies too. The following day, we headed to Chalk Bluff Park to track down a Rufous-capped Warbler. We got more than we bargained for there, for not only was there the elusive Rufous-capped, but there was a crazy hybrid bird that gave us some great opportunities for study. This apparent hybrid Rufous-capped X Common Yellowthroat is an otherwise unknown combination. We also had good looks at Green and Ringed kingfishers while at the park, making for a great day! But…the best was yet to come with an evening visit to the Frio Bat Cave, where we saw the spectacle of thousands (millions) of bats leaving the mouth of the cave, and then had great looks at a Chuck-will's-widow that flew past us. And icing on the cake came in the way of a hooting Barred Owl as we returned to our rooms in Utopia. Perfection!

Thanks to all of you for coming along and making this such a great trip. It was a real treat birding with you and I look forward to the next opportunity!

-- Chris

KEYS FOR THIS LIST
One of the following keys may be shown in brackets for individual species as appropriate: * = heard only, I = introduced, E = endemic, N = nesting, a = austral migrant, b = boreal migrant

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Totals for the tour: 214 bird taxa and 14 mammal taxa