Golden-cheeked Warblers in Dinosaur Valley State Park

Most of my recent birding has been pretty local. I had an excellent experience with a Barred Owl at White Rock, but other than that it was the usual suspects. I leave this weekend on a much anticipated trip to all 3 national parks in south Florida, and in my excitement I had to get out and chase something. I was able to convince some friends, Alex Curry and Luke Curran to join me for a morning of looking for Golden-cheeked Warblers. 

Dinosaur Valley is one of  my favorite state parks, and it is criminally underrated. The hiking is spectacular and I consider Limestone Ridge and Denio Creek to be a top 5 hike in the state. There are also dinosaur tracks in the Paluxy River, which is also great to swim in. To top it all off Golden-cheeked Warblers nest there. I've seen these stunning birds before, but every year I have an itch to see them. They're the only bird that exclusively nests in Texas, and they're endangered. They're the perfect birds to go after around this time of year when you're antsy waiting on warbler migration to pick up.

Golden-cheeked Warbler

We arrived around 8:30 and it was way colder than I was hoping it would be, but while we waited for it to warm up we looked at the main track site in the river. The water was surprisingly not cold and we got clear views at tracks that were over 100 million years old! One dinosaur was hunting another when they left this tracks. We didn't have time for the ballroom site, but that is another must see.

We crossed the Pauluxy again and started our ascent up Limestone Ridge. The elevation is not significant, but it's interesting to see how the vegetation changes in about 100 feet. The lower elevations reminded Luke and I of the Chisos mountains where there is a lot of oak and denser vegetation. Once we got to the higher elevations it opened up a lot more, with Ashe Juniper being the dominant tree. This was the habitat we wanted to be in, as this is perfect for breeding GCWA. 

Northern Cardinal

Once we got into the habitat we were immediately greeted by a singing Black-and-white Warbler, which was extremely interesting until a Golden-cheeked erupted in song. While not tall, the trees were dense which prevented us from seeing it. We continued on, occasionally hearing more calling. As we rounded a turn near a "peak" we heard a loud Black-and-white, which we all stopped to look for. The area around us exploded with various bird calls. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers became visible and a Golden-cheeked started calling right in front of us. All we could see was the branches moving, and another one sang over our heads. As we scrambled to look it darted out right in front of us. Only Alex saw it, but he definitely got eyes on it.

Bird calls can be really tough to locate because the calls seem to echo off of rocks and trees. As we approached the overlook we heard another one loudly call, it was right on top of us. Alex had a hunch to go up the trail and he was right. The call got louder and we were temporarily distracted by a Black-chinned Hummingbird. But we committed a cardinal sin of birding: we completely lost interest in a hummingbird. We had good reason to, because a Golden-cheeked was singing right above us. 

Lark Sparrow

We had a total of at least 3 on the ridge, and the view of each one was better than a last. They were extremely active in the one tree that gave us the perfect view. They jumped around the exposed branches of an Ashe Juniper with the light behind us for about 20 minutes. Slack-jawed awe is probably the most accurate description of the feeling, and it was one of those unforgettable birding moments.

We didn't have many other species as we completed the last half of the hike, but that's to be expected. What this park lacks in diversity it makes up for in species quality. It was also nice to just enjoy a hike with friends on a beautiful spring day. Even if you aren't birding, Limestone Ridge, Denio Creek, and Black-capped Vireo trails are stunning, and you have to stop and periodically and enjoy the clear water beneath you. We finished our day in the quaint downtown Glen Rose where we dined on excellent burgers and pie at the Green Pickle and Pie Peddlers. 

The park and Glen Rose are a perfect day trip. Luke and Alex should definitely keep joining me on birding trips if they can deliver more birding magic. To say I'm excited for Florida would be a massive understatement.