Headed out in the black, deciding to park at the walk-in camping lot to see in the dawn. And what a morning! It was freezing cold (around 37 degrees; Heppy – my Subaru – even warned me that the roads could be icy), but not a speck of wind, and the night sky was glorious! (There was a sign in the campground saying this was a Dark Sky Park or something like that…) Got to see a couple of meteors, and even a satellite (or the Space Station)! 😊 Once again, the Cardinals had to voice their dominance as the first birds up (even before it was lightening in the east), but nothing in the way of night birds vocalized. I did hear this weird barking that I suspected was one of the Axis Deer, so I thought I’d have some fun and see what Merlin said! Interestingly, he thought it was an Inca Dove (no way), but he also said he picked up a Poorwill! I did briefly hear something that sounded like one poor-will phrase, but since it didn’t keep going (as they usually do), I didn’t count it. Walked around the lot trying to keep warm, and in the twilight a Great Horned Owl glided low over my head (and it was light enough to see the details of his face without the bins 😊)! Also heard Turkeys gobbling in the distance, and as it got lighter a singing Yellow-breasted Chat (that Merlin didn’t recognize, interestingly) was new for the trip, and that weird whistling that I heard yesterday that sounded like a funky Black-capped Chickadee and wrote it off as an oddball Field Sparrow or something suddenly clicked: it was the reported White-throated Sparrow! He gave great recording ops but never came out for a view, either there or in the blind.

I went to the Juniper Blind with the Powershot and decided to hang out there until 8:00; can’t recall anything new that came in, so after heading to headquarters and checking in (and filming their Purple Martins 😊) I swung over to the parking lot for the Agarita Blind and hiked the whole of the Agarita Trail (found out I had been mis-labeling it all this time: I thought it was the Fawn Trail, but the Fawn Trail is on the other side of the park). [Update: Upon looking at old photo albums, they did call that the Fawn Trail at some point!] As per usual I hiked to the paved road, and the big miracle during that stretch was a White-eyed Vireo that sat up for a wonderful video! Blackcaps were singing at trail’s end, but uncooperative, although hearing the bright, bouncing ball of the Olive Sparrow was a surprise! On the way back, however, some territorial Bell’s Vireos also gave great video ops! An elderly couple had the blind occupied, but thankfully you can stand outside and still shoot, so I did so for 15 minutes, logging a Ruby-crowned Kinglet coming in to the water along with the regulars.

         “How about a kiss??”                                                 “I don’t think so!!”                               “Aw, shucks…”

Birds along the Agarita Trail...

White-crowned Sparrow

White-eyed Vireo

Bell's Vireo

Where the trail dumps off at the service road

“You got a problem with that??”  (Black-crested Titmouse drinking from the ant trap...)

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

      Next try was the Overlook Trail, as people had said they’d seen the Blackcap there, so I set my beeper for ten and headed out. While most of the trail was paved, it was very steep (the “No Bicycles” sign should have been the first clue), but I made it to a semi-level spot at the ten-minute mark, and the view looking behind me was stupendous (almost made me dizzy)! A pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers called here but only allowed brief views.

View at the 10-minute mark

      Since my friend Barbara had recommended the Easter Pageant Hill as a good Blackcap spot, I got the skinny from her (right in front of the stage) and headed over. Only I was shocked when I saw it: I was expecting a multi-use park with restrooms (as I desperately needed one), but it was a bare open area across the street from a rural golf course, with three crosses, a shelter, and “the stage” up on the hillside! There was a trail up to the “stage”, and I did indeed hear Blackcaps up there, but the trail was too dicey and the birds too far away (and facing the sun to boot), plus a couple of trucks crawled by a couple of times as though checking me out, so I gave up on that place and headed back to the state park (got a Canyon Wren, anyway). 



           Back at the park, even though my main focus was that silly vireo, I did want to hike some of the other trails as I had time, so I parked in the lot by the river crossing and took the woodland connector trail to the day use area. Scared a cute little Ladder-backed Woodpecker at the start while two Goldenfronts called unseen, and a bona fide Carolina Chickadee sang but wasn’t very friendly... Once at the day use area (my ten minutes weren’t up yet) I just worked the fenceline to see what I could kick up; unfortunately I couldn’t get on the “butterflying” Vermilion Flycatcher (got distracted by both a Bank and Rough-winged Swallow), and a Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka Butterbutt) called down by the river. Taking the River Trail back I heard the reported Belted Kingfisher, but also the ticking of a Green! Couldn’t spot the latter, but did spot the former, and tried to get a video of her with her fish! The Butterbutt also came in close (turned out to be a Myrtle) but I just couldn’t get on him, nor could I get on the Orange-crowned that also came in to pishing. 

South Llano River (usually filled with revelers at this spot) looking back towards the entrance road

View from Day Use Area

      Even though I really wanted to try those other trails, I needed to at least try to pin down that Blackcap, so back to the Agarita Trail I went, which was deadly quiet this time. I tried using Seek to identify some of the plants, and the namesake Agarita was one of them! (It would only go as far as “oak” on the trees that hadn’t budded yet, however…) Ran into a gal I had run into previously (I thought she was a ranger as it looked like she was wearing a uniform, but it sounded like she was camping) who reported that she had the “Golden-cheeked Vireo” down the road! 😊 She meant the warbler (said she had both, actually), and cottoned me onto the fact that the paved road looped back to the headquarters building! 

That would make a nice loop, but I wanted to hit the blind again, which I did, and this time it had three birder friends (all from Canada, but one was a US citizen so she got to drive down while her hubby had to fly). I stood outside until the heat (!) was too much to bear and begged for a seat inside the blind! They gladly obliged (the lady even had me sit on the stool next to her so I could shoot out the window – after I assured her I was vaccinated 😊) and immediately were treated to two Armadillos scrounging around! They (the friends, not the armadillos) apparently spent time in the Valley before heading back up (said it was slow, but I said they were too early 😊), and when I explained that my main reason for wanting to sit in this blind for a while was because the other lady I had just run into said she had the vireo here the day before, that prompted a story from one of them about how she spent all day in this blind one year waiting for the vireo to come in (which it never did), after which a friend told her (with much glee, probably), “Oh, he was just at the other blind!” 😊 But while I was with them they pointed out a Ruby-throated Hummingbird coming in to the feeder (everything until then had been Black-chinned), and I pointed out a Clay-colored Sparrow that was coming in!

Clay-colored Sparrow

The red of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird changes shade depending on the position of the bird!

A rare daytime visit from a couple of Armadillos! (And yes, it is possible to contract leprosy from handling them, but the risk is very low…)

After that decided to try the walk-in camping area one last time, and was surprised to discover the real Overlook Trail, which was a nice flat trail right through the middle of vireo habitat (no wonder they got them there)! And what was probably the same Blackcap I had been chasing around the corner area was song-battling a rival; I got a glimpse of movement, but no good looks. I hiked the trail as far as the creek crossing (which was dry, but still looked dicey); I must have been getting tired as two non-birding hiker guys passed me and asked if I had seen anything new, and I just blanked out and couldn’t play along! ☹

The real overlook trail!

I was really shot after that, so decided just to sit in the Juniper Blind until it was time to go, enjoying sunning towhees and fighting Cardinals, a Hermit Thrush coming in for a drink, and a Bell’s Vireo that acted like he wanted to come in to the water feature but never made it… On the way back to the car, what should be singing right next to the pavement but that beastie of a Blackcap! He was still arguing with his rival, so I positioned myself on a foot path and waited, and bingo – he gave me a very brief head shot (I told my boss Keith that I might be able to stretch that into 15 seconds 😊)!

Wild-eyed female Spotted Towhee (left) and what she was actually doing (right)...

Hermit Thrush

Black-capped Vireo

Headed “home” after that, stopping at the Conoco where they had plenty of ice this time 😊 and some Cocoa Krispies to try for breakfast tomorrow (since I have to use up the milk). The Common Grackles were still rusty-hinging next door as well!