Marfa Breeding Bird Survey
Got the Breeding Bird Survey near Marfa done for 2023 yesterday with my buddy Allan. It was a good year!! Many of the species that were down during drought seemed to have come back!!

Got the Breeding Bird Survey near Marfa done for 2023 yesterday with my buddy Allan. It was a good year!! Many of the species that were down during drought seemed to have come back!!

Birds in snow….. do I need to say more?
Here’s a few from the Davis mountains last week.
You gotta love a woman who responds with a huge enthusiastic grin, gets her shoes on, and follows you outside when you say “We have dung beetles!!!!”!! We were delighted to see 3 of these little dudes rolling their business at our place near Fort Davis!!!
I was delighted to add this heard only bird to the yard list at our Davis Mountains Resort (DMR) place. Also heard them most of the morning at LE Woods picnic area and saw one briefly. (This iPhone video is from a later sighting in the DMR). Current name is Montezuma Quail, but I learned…
Had 13 shorebird species at Lake Balmorhea this morning. American Avocet, Less Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper, Black-necked stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Western Sandpiper. Other birds of interest were: an early Ring-billed gull, Tricolored Heron, Black terns, Forster’s Tern, Neotropic cormorant and Black and…
Here’s a couple of pix I thought a little unusual. 2 male Vermillions on territory but amicably sitting close together — Maybe family? And 11 Blue Grosbeaks in a flock (not all pictured) – maybe migrating? I’ve never seen more than 2 together that I recall.