371. Townsend's Warbler

Date         April 29, 2025

Location    Window Trail, Big Bend National Park, TX

We were heading back up the trail and almost back at the campground. We decided to take a long-ish break because it was getting pretty hot. We found a shaded area.

Across the trail from us were some trees, and we soon spotted a Wilson's Warbler, which were very common in the park. Then we found this one in the same tree.

Cornell: Townsend's Warbler

370. Colima Warbler

Date         April 29, 2025

Location    Window Trail, Big Bend National Park, TX

The Chisos Mountain range in Big Bend NP is the only place to see this bird in North America.

There were plenty of great birds that we hoped to get on this trip -- and we did get many of them -- but this was the target bird for me, and this was the one opportunity to get it. Not only would I probably never be back to Big Bend, but I probably would never get back to the Chisos Mountains on this trip.

We got it.

We actually ended up seeing and hearing at least two. The first one gifted us with a very good view on an exposed branch, singing. The white eye ring and yellow-orange undertail were visible, and the song fit perfectly.

Cornell: Colima Warbler

369. Black-crested Titmouse

Date         April 29, 2025

Location    Window Trail, Big Bend National Park, TX

We heard a titmouse song that was reasonably close to what we were used to hearing (Tufted Titmouse). We found one at about eye level in some trees. He was not giving us very good views, but we caught the black crest.

Cornell: Black-crested Titmouse

368. Brewer's Sparrow

Date         April 29, 2025

Location    Window Trail, Big Bend National Park, TX

The Window Trail is in the Chisos Mountain area of the park and is one of the possible places to find a Colima Warbler, so we chose this one to hike, starting out early in the morning.

To reach the trail proper, we had to snake our way through the campground. At the very beginning of the trail, we saw a couple of sparrows on the ground. We had been seeing Rufous-crowned Sparrows frequently so far on the trip, but this one was obviously different. After evaluating the "field marks" (which on this plain bird, is almost an absence of field marks), we determined that they were Brewer's. They were also pretty commonly seen at other times in the park.

Cornell: Brewer's Sparrow

367. Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Date         April 28, 2025

Location    Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend National Park, TX

The final bird was found in the large pine tree that was directly opposite our table. Since it was a pine tree, it was difficult to get a really good look at it, but certainly enough to ID it.

Cornell: Ladder-backed Woodpecker

366. Canyon Towhee

Date         April 28, 2025

Location    Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend National Park, TX

Soon after the Jay we saw a couple of birds hopping along the walkway. At first we were confused, thinking they were something from the cardinal/bunting family. (This was the same thing that happened to me with Abert's Towhee many years before -- I thought it was a strange-looking Cardinal). We eventually saw the rusty vent and messy throat and chest stripeys and figured it out.

Cornell: Canyon Towhee

365. Mexican Jay

Date         April 28, 2025

Location    Chisos Mountain Lodge, Big Bend National Park, TX

This and the following two birds were all seen in quick succession after we sat down to lunch in the Chisos Mountain Lodge restaurant. A propped-open door led outside to a balcony walkway surrounded by trees. We saw all three before we even had a chance to order. The waiter saw what was happening and just decided to wait. Perhaps he had seen such behavior before and knew that it was better to not interrupt!

The first bird was a Mexican Jay, who flew in from the right, probably rummaging in the dumpsters that we saw nearby later as we walked to our rented Jeep.

Cornell: Mexican Jay

364. Pyrrhuloxia

Date         April 27, 2025

Location    Shipman Park, Alpine, TX

Toward the end of the evening, as light was starting to fail and the wind was really starting to pick up, we were walking back to the car through an open area, basically the "backyard" of a little warehouse of sorts. We spotted two on the ground.

In general this hour-long visit to a community park turned out to be very fruitful. We also saw some mule deer -- here in the park and a few more in the hotel parking lot when we drove back.

Cornell: Pyrrhuloxia

363. Vermillion Flycatcher

Date         April 27, 2025

Location    Shipman Park, Alpine, TX

Very soon after examining the thrasher in a tree, we saw an obvious Vermillion Flycatcher on a short perch behind us. It was on something man-made, I can't recall exactly, but only about six feet up or so. This was to be a fairly common site throughout the trip. They would often perch in the open and not very far up.

Cornell: Vermilion Flycatcher

362. Curve-billed Thrasher

Date         April 27, 2025

Location    Shipman Park, Alpine, TX

After spending the day visiting a couple of historical parks, we settled in in Alpine, TX the evening before proceeding to Big Bend. I checked the map of Alpine, and a community park called Shipman Park seemed to be our best bet to find birds. It was sort of a mixed-use park with softball fields, playgrounds, and plenty of large trees. A creek ran through the park as well. There were plenty of "wild" areas. At one point we heard a Great Horned Owl and later saw it flying away from us. There were lots of birds here.

It was very breezy since a storm was (sort of) coming in -- we never got rained on, but the wind became fierce enough toward the end of the walk that we were getting blasted by dust from the ball fields. The high winds made birding a bit more difficult since birds perched on branches were moving with the wind.

The first lifer bird in the park for me was this bird. We found it perched high in a tree on an exposed branch, singing.

Cornell: Curve-billed Thrasher

361. Scaled Quail

Date         April 27, 2025

Location    Fort Davis National Historic Park, TX

Next to the parking lot of the park was a substantial hill. We found a quail perched in a tree a little ways up the hill. I was fortunate to see a couple more walking in the common area of our lodge near Big Bend called Far Flung.

Cornell: Scaled Quail

360. Cassin's Kingbird

Date         April 27, 2025

Location    near Fort Davis National Historic Park, TX

This was on the second day of our big west Texas trip featuring Big Bend National Park and other locations. While driving south on highway 17 near Fort Davis, Logan and I saw something to the right in small open area with a few trees. We pulled over to investigate.

We spotted a kingbird that was one of the western kingbird "complex" and saw it perched and fly across to another tree. Fortunately, it called and matched the Cassin's sound. Everything else checked out (range, habitat, looks).

Cornell: Cassin's Kingbird