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| Black-tailed Prairie Dog with a Greater Roadrunner at Marathon Prairie Dog Town |
Day 1 began at 6 AM on Friday morning. My current roommate, Gordon, my former roommate, TJ, and I left Houston to drive to Big Bend where we spent the first night in the Chisos Mountains. The highlight of the drive was stunning views at Lake Amistad near Del Rio and the best Mexican food I have ever had at Live Oak Drive Thru in Uvalde. We also stopped at the Marathon Prairie Dog Town After 9 hours of driving you'd think we were dead and had no energy, right? WRONG. We arrived around 5:00 at the Chisos Mountains Lodge and ate a massive chicken fried steak with an appetizer of hot wings. We all ate the same thing, how adorable of us. After that we made the terrible decision to hike the Window Trail at sunset. While the idea was awful, it was completely worth it.
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| Female Pronghorn |
Before we get into it let's rewind a bit. In 2017 TJ and I went to Big Bend over July 4th and saw some amazing birds and amazing views. Highlights included Lucifer Hummingbird, Painted Redstart, Scott's Oriole, and Zone-tailed Hawk. But we missed my ultimate prize: Colima Warbler. Big Bend, specifically, Boot Canyon, is the only place this bird can be seen in the United States. One canyon in the entire country holds this bird. Due to a number of factors that boil down to inexperience I missed it, and it was heartbreaking. It bothered me for 2 years, and this trip was a chance to redeem myself.
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| Casa Grande |
Back to 2019. My birding experience has increased exponentially and I was ready to see some birds, although hiking the Window at 6:30 PM isn't going to pick up birds. But I have to say this trail is a must do in the park for both birders and non-birders. Going at sunset yields amazing views as you descend to the bottom of the Chisos Basin. Heading down we got Blue Grosbeak, Canyon Wren, Cactus Wren, and Say's Phoebe among other common birds. The 6 mile round trip was spectacular, and I especially loved it because I got my lifer Varied Bunting, a bird I'm sure I saw in 2017 but couldn't count out of now being 100% certain I saw it. But now there was no debating. This bunting looks like it was dipped in blue paint with a reddish purple splattered on it. I wish I got a picture in the fading light.
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| Winding through the canyons was a treat. Gordon took this one. |
What's crazy is that wasn't the highlight of the hike. I detected movement in my peripheral as we walked out of the canyon, 3 not so small dots on the mountainside. BEARS! A sow black bear and her 2 cubs were scampering up the mountain. The sow heard us a rose up on 2 feet to check us out and they continued on their way. Luckily we were a few thousand feet below them so we didn't have to worry, but that was a really cool encounter.
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| Sow with her 2 cubs. Park rangers told us these cubs in particular were born in January |
Bears, both black and brown, wolves, mountain lions, and even jaguars used to inhabit Big Bend before being killed off. For a while only mountain lions remained, and in Big Bend you are always within territory of one so the population is pretty stable. Jaguars lasted a while, with the last one being killed in the 1940s. Can you believe that? A jaguar was alive in Big Bend in my grandparents' lifetime. It's surreal how wild that place still is, and it wouldn't shock me if one was still out there, but that's for a different post that I've been working on.
Anyways, Black Bears were extirpated from the park a while ago before naturally reclaiming the Chisos again in the 1980s and now being regularly seen throughout the park, even in the low desert areas. This is extremely rare to have an animal recolonize it's former region and it's a blessing to have our NPS do the amazing work that they've done to make it possible for something like that to happen in Texas. Seeing those bears was an experience that I can't put into words, although spoiler alert, I have a few essays penned on bears, jaguars, and nature that will be dropping soon on here.
Little did I know that the best was still to come. We hiked back to the room, guided by Black-throated Sparrows and Northern Mockingbirds along the trail. TJ and Gordon slept like rocks, but I was too excited for the next day. Despite a great birding day with a few lifers I couldn't wait for the clock to strike 6 AM. As I laid down all I could think about was one hike that goes down in birding lore: the Colima Death March.
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| Gordon got an amazing shot of the Window at sunset. Perfect end to the night. |
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