The Hill Country

Different regions have different birds, and part of the treat of looking for unique bird species is seeing those unique regions they inhabit. On our recent trip to Texas, this pursuit took us to the hill country of central Texas for two endangered species that breed there: Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler.

We landed around midnight in Austin, Texas. Following the helpful directions of the friendly lady at the rental car counter -- God bless friendly Texans -- we soon were ensconced in our hotel just to the north-east of that city. A very few hours later to beat the dawn, we were on our way into the Hill Country and Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. The flat terrain began to wrinkle, and hills dotted with shrubby junipers rose up on either side of the road. It was the unique ecology of this scrub habitat that provided a home for the special birds we were there to see.

Golden-cheeked Warblers are the only endemic breeding species in the enormous state of Texas. They migrate south to Mexico every year, but they return every March to feverishly provide for the increase of their species. They do this in the scrubby mixed juniper-oak forests found in the hill country, making nests almost exclusively out of Ashe Juniper bark.

Black-capped Vireos have broader habitat preferences, and also breed sparingly in Oklahoma and Mexico, but while their nesting ecology may be less picky as to species, they still require rare successional habitat such as is provided by suppressed wildfires, and is regularly cleared for grazing cattle.

We pulled into the parking lot at Warbler Vista in the refuge early enough to hear a chuck-will's-widow wrapping up its dawn performance, but when we headed off onto the trail we found a steady 20 mph wind flowing up the south-facing slopes of the limestone escarpment we were contouring along. It was quickly obvious that, despite hopeful little trail signs painted with Golden-cheeked Warblers at regular intervals, detecting singing birds was going to be hopeless.

We were both breathing silent prayers, and as we topped out on top of the hill to loop back to the car, a beautiful male dropped onto a branch over the trail. It continued there, giving good looks, as another warbler sang from the trees somewhere nearby. The wind died down, or we were sheltered from it, and we were soon hearing many Golden-cheeked Warblers singing. We only saw a couple more, but we had been able to really enjoy the one we had seen!

Afterward, we worked our way through the refuge toward the Black-capped Vireo spot advertised on-line. Along the way we enjoyed the beautiful geology and more fun birds like Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Lark Sparrows, and Eastern Bluebirds.

Cow Creek carves steps into a limestone hill.

Soon we were standing on the Shin Oak observation deck, and listening to Black-capped Vireos singing in the unobtainable distance. That activity would end up being our entertainment for most of the rest of the day, interrupted only briefly by a bathroom break to Doeskin Ranch. Sometimes the vireos would come in close to the deck, but they always sang from deep within the scrubby oaks. We would have undoubtedly had a better chance if the wind had been less strong, but even then it was probably not a safe bet.

While we sat and listened and strained our eyes in vain for four and a half hours, we made our acquaintance with a Houston-area couple making a weekend trip to the hill country for the warblers and the vireo among other natural pursuits. When they left, we exchanged e-mail addresses and talked about meeting up with him later in the week. There's nothing like local knowledge, so it was a very fortuitous meeting!

We called it a day after seeing one of the vireos fly from one bush to another. It was nothing we'll count, but it seemed the culmination of a long and tiring effort. Running on three hours of sleep, we wanted nothing more than a nap! So, we went back to the hotel and grabbed one before dinner.

A few pictures are up on Flickr.