Packed up after the morning routine (funny how I’ve consistently woken up before the alarm goes off) and made it to Junction without clobbering any deer! 😊 (The wind was horrendous, though; I was concerned about all those big rigs zipping along at 70 MPH!) Siri sent me the back way, which I think was new, and was shocked to discover major road work going on in the park – I couldn’t even pull over on my favorite perch at the top of the hill! ☹ (Come to find out they were building a new Visitor’s Center…)  So I pulled over as soon as I felt it was safe, and like the first morning at Kerr, I think the wind kept me from hearing much of anything (although, as normal, the Cardinals were the first ones to wake up). I did pick up a Black-capped Vireo at the first hard left, and heard a Golden-cheeked Warbler near Lora’s Blind (but I think that might have been after sunrise – it all blends together…). Crawled around the campground picking up several Bell’s Vireos and spooked three Axis Deer, and by the time I arrived at the big parking lot outside the campground my Sunrise Alarm went off, so decided to head back to Lora’s Blind first before the construction crew got going!

     That was a good plan, and my concerns about the blinds being packed with people were unfounded, as, out of all four blinds, only two other couples showed up the whole time (and I spent an hour in each one)! One couple remembered me from San Diego (and that’s always embarrassing when you don’t remember them ☹) and were now RVing all over the country, and the other couple were new birders from San Benito (another Lower Rio Grande Valley town)! (I put in a plug for Arroyo Colorado Audubon… 😊)



         Anyway, even before the food was put out, Lora’s Blind was hopping with activity: the main players were White-crowned Sparrows of all ages and in various degrees of molt (it was funny to see beat up birds next to immaculately fresh ones), and both species of towhees came in as well (although the Spotted was consistently shy). Titmice were very cooperative, and I was thrilled to see a Hermit Thrush come in to the water feature! Cardinals were all over the place, Lincoln’s Sparrows were plentiful, and one Lark Sparrow came in.

On the other hand, many of the immatures were immaculate!

Lark (left) and Lincoln's Sparrows

Field (left) and Chipping Sparrows

Canyon Towhee

Spotted Towhee

Hermit Thrush

A volunteer had put seeds on the inside of this stump, and this titmouse kept going in and out to retrieve them!

      Next was the Agarita Blind (after checking in), where more of the same players came in, and in addition Field Sparrows, a single Black-throated that was in the wrong spot for filming, and a quick Bewick’s Wren. A Black-chinned Hummingbird performed his display flight in front of a female (with the glass between me and him, sadly), and every once in a while one would actually come in the blind! A Yellow-throated Vireo was singing enticingly in the tree right over the feeder area, but he never came out for a look…

Black-throated Sparrow (left) and Mockingbird with stunted bill (seemed to be getting along fine, though…)

Black-chinned Hummingbirds (leucistic female on right)

At the Acorn Blind there was more variety: a Ladder-backed Woodpecker kept coming in to the peanut butter (PB) feeder “the back way”, and a brilliant Summer Tanager performed famously, with drinking, bathing, and indulging in the PB all filmed! White-winged Doves were all over as well, along with House Finches and a single Clay-colored Sparrow sitting on the other side of the glass. A Chipping Sparrow sang outside the door and then came in to the feeding area, and a female Vermilion Flycatcher also paid a visit! But what I thought was another Bewick’s Wren at first turned out to be a Carolina! A pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds came in, which I really did want to film as they play the part of the “villain” in the vireo saga. On the way out saw a bird fly up into a tree that I thought was the Chippie at first, but it turned out to be a Bell’s Vireo on (or at least making) a nest! I set up and gave her five minutes to come back, but she never did (I meant to try and re-find it the next day, but never got over there).

Summer Tanager

Brown-headed Cowbirds (female left)

Carolina Wren

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Female Vermilion Flycatcher

      Last was the Juniper Blind, where I ran into a couple of guys from Canada in the parking lot who were looking for Black-capped Vireos; I recommended Kerr, and that’s where they headed! Bird-wise at the blind, new visitors included a pair of Woodhouse’s Scrub Jays, a Mockingbird, a female Ladderback, and the biggest surprise – a Long-billed Thrasher! And eBird liked it! (It also likes Brown Thrasher, so I can see where the local birders really have to be on their toes…) I even dragged out the Texas Ornithological Society’s Handbook when I got “home”, and sure enough, they’re not supposed to reach Kimble County, but apparently they’re frequent enough that it’s accepted by the local eBird reviewers as an “expected” species!

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

A Field Sparrow is minding his own business when a Scrub Jay literally yanks him off the feeder!

Long-billed Thrasher, a rare visitor from the Valley!

Cutzie head-on Black-crested Titmice

Intimidating head-on Northern Cardinals!

      Left when my beeper went off, just in time for another lady loaded down with gear to take my place! 😊 I was just getting ready to put The Monster away when guess who started singing right next to the pavement! But unlike his great-great-great etc. grandfather from several years ago that I encountered here, this Black-capped Vireo did not want to sit on top of the tree for all to see! Maybe tomorrow…



           My back was really starting to bother me, so I packed The Monster away and crawled along the roads with the Powershot by my side. Once in the Day Use area, I set up the Powershot on the tripod and headed down to Buck Lake. That’s a beautiful little trail, but I can see how negatively the drought has affected everything: so many of the big oaks actually look dead, not just dormant, and I was actually concerned that one of those big branches might come tumbling down in the wind! 

Buck Lake Trail

Buck Lake was pretty, but empty bird-wise; I thought I heard a Black-and-white Warbler singing, but then remembered that the Yellow-throated Warblers here have that funky song, and sure enough, that’s what it was! I was pondering the fact that on previous trips I’d encounter Acadian Flycatchers and Red-eyed Vireos in here; that’s what happens when you come in early April instead of mid-to-late April! (And that’s also probably why the blinds were devoid of people: the buntings hadn’t arrived yet! 😊)

Buck Lake

Yellow-throated Warbler

      Had to head to the hotel after that, so used the compost toilet and wheeled out, slamming on the brakes along the entrance road when I spotted an Armadillo kicking up dirt all over (good thing no one was behind me)! Got a Cinnabon for breakfast at the Pilot shop (and could barely get a bag of ice because what was left was frozen to the bottom of the thing), and added Common Grackle for the trip outside my room!

Armadillo, the unofficial state mammal!