The Davis Mountains rise out of the Chihuahuan Desert, forming ecologically unique sky islands separated from their dry desert surroundings. Such sky islands make for spectacular scenery and the chance to find plants and animals found nowhere else in Texas.
From our Davis Mountains State Park base camp, we will span the area’s altitudinal gradient to observe low-lying desert specialists as well as unique mountain birds. We will also make a day trip to Christmas Mountains Oasis—one of the top hummingbird sites in the United States—during peak hummingbird season. While birding will be a big part of this trip, we’ll also make an unforgettable visit to the University of Texas McDonald Observatory for world-class star gazing.
We have two big targets for this experience. The first is the stunning Lucifer Hummingbird. This species is largely restricted to Mexico, but it creeps into the United States at a few locations in extreme SE Arizona, SW New Mexico, and SW Texas. To find this bird we will spend a day at Christmas Mountains Oasis—the best place in the United States to see Lucifer Hummingbirds. While there we should also find a number of other hummingbird species as well as some great desert birds.
The second major target is the enigmatic and poorly-known Montezuma Quail, which, at this time of year, should be on the move with chicks. This species is scattered in montane pine and oak woodlands through central Mexico north into south-east Arizona, southern New Mexico and west Texas. For such a boldly patterned bird, males and especially the more cryptic females can be tough to track down. They feed with an inching crawl in dense grasses, and when threatened crouch in thick vegetation, only flushing when nearly stepped on. Despite this bird’s secretive ways, our small group size gives us an excellent chance of coming across Montezuma Quail.
Logistics
- Group size limit of 6 to maximize chances of finding target birds
- Depart Trinity River Audubon Center at 9 AM Friday August 31
- Return to Trinity River Audubon Center Monday September 3 at about 6 PM
- Please bring a light jacket for evenings
- Long pants recommended for hiking
Price
- $540 per participant. Price includes transportation, camping gear, food, non-alcoholic drinks, and admission to the McDonald Observatory.
- Pre-registration required
- Members, before booking, please e-mail us today to receive your member discount code for 10% off trip cost.
- Upon booking you will receive a detailed bird checklist specific to the time of year and locations visited.
- Register now
Questions? Contact Nick Kanakis at [email protected] or (214) 505-5646.
Birding highlights may include:
- Montezuma Quail
- Lucifer Hummingbird
- Scaled Quail
- Common Black Hawk
- Zone-tailed Hawk
- Greater Roadrunner
- Elf Owl
- Rufous Hummingbird
- Broad-tailed Hummingbird
- Acorn Woodpecker
- Vermillion Flycatcher
- Cassin’s Kingbird
- Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay
- Black-crested Titmouse
- Verdin
- Bushtit
- Cactus Wren
- Canyon Wren
- Curve-billed Thrasher
- Phainopepla
- Black-throated Sparrow
- Rufous-crowned Sparrow
- Canyon Towhee
- Hepatic Tanager
- Western Tanager
- Pyrrhuloxia
- Scott’s Oriole