Gage's Birds & Butterflies of the Big Bend - Event Highlights

Edit: links are in BOLD!

Alpine Avalanche story from June.

Edit: Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express story


What folks are saying... snippets of the event, via Facebook
Check out the bird list and butterfly list - each encompasses the full weekend.

***

Thursday, July 19 - Sneek peek at Swarovski's new scope at the Gage Gardens, Meet & Greet

Friday, July 20 - morning - Hummingbird banding with Kelly Bryan

Friday, July 20 - afternoon - Vendor session, Gage Gardens Butterfly Walk, Kathy Adams Clark Photography Workshop, dinner


Saturday, July 21 - morning - Maravillas Ranch tour; birds, butterflies, javelina and dung beetles

Saturday, July 21 - afternoon - Kaufman lecture, banquet dinner

Saturday, July 21 - evening - Blacklighting for moths

Day Three - Evening

Saturday, July 21st - Evening at Gage Gardens

The evening blacklighting was well attended by people and bugs alike. It was a new experience for many of the folks in attendance, including Ingrid, from Midland. She wasn't always sure where to look, though.

Ingrid's enthusiasm aside, this was a great opportunity to share the great diversity of nocturnal insect life - everything from Ashy Gray Lady Beetles to green lacewings were in attendance!

Here's a slideshow of the gems that turned up at the lights; it was a fairly quiet night, too!





Cameron Carver, President of the Llano Estacado Audubon Society even modeled Manduca quinquemaculata, the Five-spotted Hawkmoth. They eat plants of the nightshade family, but out here it's  silverleaf nightshade, not your tomatoes.

Day Three - Afternoon

Saturday, July 21st - Ritchie Brothers Building, Gage Hotel

Carol Peterson, General Manager of the Gage Hotel - one of the driving forces behind the event - welcoming everyone and introducing Steve Gross.

Steve Gross, President of the Texas Ornithological Society, discussing birding ties to Texas highlighted in Kingbird Highway. Not that the Freeport Jetty was immortalized in print, influencing generations of young birders to attend the Freeport Christmas Bird Count... ok, yes.

Kenn Kaufman, speaking on the topic of exploration and discovery.

Pre-dinner conversation and autographs at the Gage Hotel dance courtyard.

The intrepid crew, from left to right: Cameron Carver, Kelly Bryan, Matthew York, Heidi Trudell, Kimberly Kaufman, Kenn Kaufman, and Steve Gross. Mark Flippo does not appear in the photo; as a ninja, he does not show up in photographs.

After compiling a bird list for the event, Kenn was roped into compiling a butterfly list.

An intimate dinner - as seen from butterfly list compilation. 

Day Three - Morning

Saturday, 21 July - Maravillas Ranch

These photos don't do justice for the "flatlanders" (the group preferring stable ground over mountain-goat terrain), but it's a start - folks are welcome to send additional photos!

Let's start with a katydid sporting looong antennae -  Dichopetala castanea, Chestnut Short-wing Katydid if bugguide.net and I are on the same page.

Closer view of the bright greens and pinks.

Patt photographed a Javelina that followed us back down the trail:

A common sight throughout the day - dung beetles! These were not as fortunate as those that found lovely, pre-rolled deer pellets, but they seemed quite happy nonetheless.

After lunch - for the people, not the beetles - the last group of stragglers finally left the ranch with a stop to look at a Zone-tailed Hawk nest; two adults in attendance and one HUGE nestling that should fledge soon. If anyone from the early van managed to get photos of an adult bringing in a bunny - this would be a great time to send them in!

Day Two - Afternoon

Friday, July 20th - Gage Gardens, Ritchie Building, Gage Hotel

At 2 pm, a butterfly walk was held. Of all things, there are photos of butterflies from the butterfly walk, but no photos of the people taking the butterfly walk! Rest assured that there were people, butterflies, the Gage Gardens, and the 'meadow' back behind the gardens. Butterfly list for the full event - not just the Gardens / butterfly walk - can be found here. If anyone who attended has photos of people on the walk, please let us know!

At 4 pm, a photography workshop was held in the Gage main building, featuring Kathy Adams Clark - if anyone who attended would like to send in a few photos (of the workshop!) please drop us a line!

From noon until 5 pm at the Ritchie Building a gathering of intrepid vendors set up shop and talked to Swiss tourists and played Apples to Apples and Scrabble...

Museum of the Big Bend

Big Bend National Park

Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (above and below)

Below: celebrity spotting time again...

Texas Ornithological Society booth with President, Steve Gross (with Patt!)

And a lovely corner of some of the most iconic bird art that Texas has to offer: Gerald Sneed / Sneed Nature Art, of McAllen, TX. This is the first time that the West Texas mugs were offered!

Affectionately known as the Matt & Heidi corner - some prints from our blog were available; plenty still are!

Last, but certainly not least: Swarovski Optik. Right up front with the best view... and a delightful fellow is hiding in the corner, posting updates on the official unveiling of the scope just behind him! It's surreal to tip-toe around the grand announcement of a new scope - definitely an honor for the festival!

***

After things wrapped up for the day, dinner was pushed back to 7 pm in light of local events. Dinner itself was fairly quiet. It started with a bit of reflection / moment of silence.

After the dinner, vehicle assignments were made and an early bedtime was scheduled for the morning's 6:30 am departure for the Maravillas Ranch trip.

Day Two - Morning

Friday, July 20 - Gage Gardens

The morning started with our local Master Bander, Kelly Bryan, waiting patiently for hummingbirds at the Gage Gardens. Designated feeders were set up inside traps and Black-chinned Hummingbirds were summarily fished out for banding.

An interesting note about hummingbird migration: it seems to go in cycles. Kelly has been tracking the occasional dips in fall migration for years - his website, West Texas Hummingbirds is a wealth of information! Unfortunately for us, however, this year is turning out to be a slow fall migration so we'll be checking his site to see what next year may bring!

Kelly uses nothing but the finest cuttings of hosiery to restrain hummingbirds for weight measurements: under the wing of Black-chinned Hummingbird we see banding pliers, a magnifying glass to look for grooves on the bill, the aforementioned foot of pantyhose, and calipers for taking additional measurements.

First round of celebrity spotting: Kenn Kaufman on the left! Patt, closest to Kelly, is a local celebrity - she has been birding, bugging, botanizing and geo-geeking (is that a real label?) in this region for quite a while!



















Patt, pre-hummingbird takeoff. Celebrity spotting, round two: Kim Kaufman on the left!

Day One

Thursday, July 19th - Gage Gardens, Gage Hotel

The afternoon started with a sneak peek at the soon-to-be-released new Swarovski ATX/STX scope... it is quite an amazing gadget! Below, Clay Taylor explains the highlights of the angled scope option to Kelly Bryan and the Kaufmans while Cameron Carver holds the straight scope body.

Kim Kaufman wasted no time investigating the transforming scope.

So many options! The impressive zoom and close focus comes in three sizes.

Nope, definitely not stalking Kenn for PR purposes... wait, that's a "yes."
A few months ago, there'd be a Swainson's Warbler off to the left of Kim's elbow.

The registration meet-and-greet was a combination of new faces and old friends; the prickly pear margaritas were delicious and the conversation solved many of the world's problems. At least for the birding world. It was hosted on the patio of the White Buffalo Bar / 12 Gage Restaurant.

Festival butterfly list

 ...as composed primarily by Kenn Kaufman, Matt York, Clay Taylor and Kelly Walker during the dinner; further notes, names and photos to be added later!

Butterfly species list – Birds and Butterflies of the Big Bend, July 19-22, 2012

Pipevine Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Checkered White
Orange Sulphur
Southern Dogface
Sleepy Orange
Mexican Yellow
Dainty Sulphur
Lyside Sulphur
Large Orange Sulphur
Marine Blue
Reakirt’s Blue
Western Pygmy-Blue
Gray Hairstreak
Great Purple Hairstreak
Fatal Metalmark
Palmer’s Metalmark
Mexican Metalmark
Gulf Fritillary
Variegated Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Vesta Crescent
Phaon Crescent
Elada Checkerspot
Tiny Checkerspot
Bordered Patch
Question Mark
Red Admiral
West Coast Lady
Common Buckeye
Tropical Buckeye
Common Mestra
Hackberry Emperor
Empress Leilia
Tawny Emperor
American Snout
Queen
Acacia Skipper
Mournful Duskywing
Common/White Checkered-Skipper
Desert Checkered-Skipper
Small Checkered-Skipper
Common Streaky-Skipper
Common Sootywing
Fiery Skipper
Whirlabout
Orange Skipperling
Nysa Roadside-Skipper
Dotted Roadside-Skipper
Texas Roadside-Skipper

Festival bird list

73 species were recorded during the festival, incidental and intentional, for Maravillas Ranch, Post Park, the Gage Gardens and Gage Hotel grounds.

Not bad for a half day along one watershed!

Scaled Quail Callipepla squamata
Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo
Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni
Zone-tailed Hawk Buteo albonotatus
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
American Coot Fulica americana
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus
Spotted Sandpiper Actitis macularius
Rock Pigeon Columba livia
Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
Inca Dove Columbina inca
Common Ground-Dove Columbina passerina
Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus
Greater Roadrunner Geococcyx californianus
Lesser Nighthawk Chordeiles acutipennis
Common Nighthawk Chordeiles minor
Black-chinned Hummingbird Archilochus alexandri
Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
Ladder-backed Woodpecker Picoides scalaris
Say's Phoebe Sayornis saya
Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus
Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens
Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans
Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Bell's Vireo Vireo bellii
Common Raven Corvus corax
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Purple Martin Progne subis
Violet-green Swallow Tachycineta thalassina
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva
Verdin Auriparus flaviceps
Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
Canyon Wren Catherpes mexicanus
Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher Polioptila melanura
Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Green-tailed Towhee Pipilo chlorurus
Rufous-crowned Sparrow Aimophila ruficeps
Canyon Towhee Melozone fusca
Cassin's Sparrow Peucaea cassinii
Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus
Black-throated Sparrow Amphispiza bilineata
Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
Western Tanager Piranga ludoviciana
Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuatus
Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea
Varied Bunting Passerina versicolor
Painted Bunting Passerina ciris
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna
Yellow-headed Blackbird Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus
Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater
Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius
Bullock's Oriole Icterus bullockii
Scott's Oriole Icterus parisorum
House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria
House Sparrow Passer domesticus

Snippets of the festival

Among other things, there was an official unveiling of a brand new Swarovski scope - the ATX/STX beast(s)... here's a lovely writeup from Hugh over at Round Robin. Our perk was getting the demo from Clay Taylor and both Kaufmans!

Photos pending; we're en route to Santa Fe, NM at the moment...

These notes via the Gage Hotel's facebook page for the event:

Wednesday, July 18

Matthew York - Bee brush (Aloysia gratissima) is blooming all over the area. Maravillas Ranch was alive with pollinators this morning. Check for Bee brush around the entire area for butterflies and other pollinators. You can see it. You can hear it. You can smell it.
Several acacia and mesquite still have blooms as well.

Clayton Taylor - After the drive from Corpus Christi, we have arrived in Marathon. Now having dinner at the Gage Restaurant, and a Question Mark just landed on my shoulder. First butterfly of the -- Patty Waits Beasley - I adore the Gage Hotel!
-- Carolyn Ohl - Awesome. Hope everyone has a super time!


Thursday, July 19

Matthew York - male Western Tanager flew through GGardens, and ~ 7 Yellow-headed Blackbirds landed on the near SW corner f grassland, just on other side of bridge.
Matthew York - The Taylor's are out in the gardens. Gerald Sneed is looking for the vocaling Bell's Vireos..

Matthew York - Good start! And we have rain!


Friday, July 20
Matthew York - Large group for the butterfly walk this afternoon. Thanks for the extra help from other folks, the number of participants was quite manageable.
I never thought I would say "the scope helped quite a bit with butterflies."
This, a scope that Clay Taylor brought that has a 7-foot close focus! Incredibly helpful to manage a large group for a butterfly walk.
Some highlights included West Coast Lady, Empress Leilia, and Desert Checkered-Skipper.
-- Matthew York - I meant to add, "glad to see so much interest!"
Matthew York - Photography workshop currently going on..

Edit: On Sunday, July 20, Carolyn Ohl made a note about the festival over at her blog.


Saturday, July 21
Matthew York - Maravillas Ranch was great! Excellent birds and bugs. We need to compile lists..
KKaufman talk was fantastic. It was wonderful to see Tony Gallucci sidle in for the Keynote address.
Good people all over the place this weekend.
-- Carolyn Ohl - I'm so glad to hear that. You and Heidi can pat yourselves on the back for me. What -- Matthew York - Thank you, Carolyn. Very kind words. I thank all the excellent trip and activity leaders. Not a one of this great cast hesitated to help out. That was an excellent crew.
Just off the top of my tired head, butterflies might have been the continuing Palmer's Metalmark sighting. A single adult was at a kidneywood. Also 2-3 Texas Roadside-Skipper during the entire hike was excellent.
Varied Bunting singing on one side while a Painted Bunting sang on another was very nice. Peregrine Falcon is always great. The Zone-tailed Hawks, one of which carried food (rabbit) to a nestling. ..
-- Carolyn Ohl - Awesome I'm so happy for you. Next year the festival will fill up fast!
-- Tony Gallucci - Congrats to everyone on a great first run!!! Hope it only builds from here on out!

Heidi Trudell - I think I know what's on my schedule again for next year!
-- Carolyn Ohl - Great! I think I know too.
Sunday, July 22

Madeline Averett - Heidi and Matt are such incredible gifts. I am so happy to have spent time getting to know them and to have met new friends this weekend.
The highlight for me was seeing the Zone tailed hawk nest complete with nestling, adult flying over with bunny in it's talons. WOW!! Birding with Steve Gross and Mark Flippo, Alice and Mary was fantastic!! Then to top it off I got to hang out with Heidi and Patt at breakfast. I had a great drive down Hwy 90. The Cenizo is blooming everywhere and is gorgeous.
-- Carolyn Ohl - I always love a happy beginning!
-- Heidi Trudell - Madeline, we may have to coax you to leave that on our guestbook post ;-)
-- Jan Allen - I'm so glad you went to the Festival Madeline!!! I sure wish I could have been there as well, but I can picture the energy. Matt and Heidi are super-great!
-- Carolyn Ohl - Ditto!
-- Heidi Trudell - Pencil it in for next year!

Madge Lindsay - Congratulations to the organizers, speakers, guides, sponsors and participants on a successful birding and butterfly festival. The hard work and planning by the organizers has launched what could become one of the state's most popular nature festivals. Kudos to all and keep it going!!


Friday, July 28 - via National Moth Week -
Kenn Kaufman - I saw a lot of neat things in Marathon. But the neatest thing was to observe how Heidi Trudell and Matthew York were getting people turned on to birds, butterflies, moths, and more. They're two experts who really know how to share the excitement of nature.

Gage Birds & Butterfly Festival Reminder!

Registration deadline is JULY 5.
Spaces on field trips are limited; any registrants after July 5 are subject to being placed on a waiting list.

For questions, contact Michelle West at michelle@gagehotel.com or call 432-386-4205 ext. 263

For the full registration form and schedule, please click here, only core events are posted below!

Thursday, July 19:
5 pm - Registration & Social - White Buffalo Bar (next door to the Gage Hotel)
Registrants are welcome to join guest speaker Kenn Kaufman, artist Gerald Sneed, and tour leaders Cameron Carver, Kelly Bryan, Steve Gross, and Mark Flippo for an informal evening meet and greet.

Friday, July 20:
8:30 am - Hummingbird Banding - Gage Gardens ($20)
Registration is required, but plenty of spaces are still available! Join researcher Kelly Bryan for up close and personal encounters with the hummingbirds of West Texas.

Noon - 7 pm - Gerald Sneed art exhibit and vendor area - Ritchey Brothers Building (across from Gage Hotel)
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 
Join Gerald Sneed for a look at his iconic regional art and classic Texas offerings - Big Bend National Park, The Museum of the Big Bend, Swarovski Optik and others will be on hand as well!

2 pm - Butterfly Walk - Gage Gardens ($10)
Registration is required and spaces are limited- Matthew York will be leading a walk through the gardens and grasslands that are home to a dazzling array of butterflies.

Saturday, July 21:
6:30 am - Maravillas Ranch Tour - meet at Gage Hotel for transportation to Maravillas Ranch
Registration is required and spaces are limited for this private ranch south of Marathon but north of Big Bend National Park; it is home to a remarkable variety of birds as well as butterflies.

4 pm - Kenn Kaufman Lecture - Ritchey Brothers building (across from Gage Hotel) ($30)
Registration is required and spaces are still available! A field guide series barely scratches the surface of Kenn Kaufman's work; bring your books for signing!

7 pm - Dinner at the Gardens - Gage Gardens ($75)
Registration is required and spaces are still available! The final official event of the festival; a memorable evening in the gardens with food and drink... and trip leaders

For questions, contact Michelle West at michelle@gagehotel.com or call 432-386-4205 ext. 263

To see previous posts regarding the festival:
Announcement
Update

Gage Gardens butterfly walk, afternoon 15 July 2012

Desert Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus philetas)


Highlights included Thorybes drusius "Drusius Cloudywing",  and several Texola elada "Elada Checkerspot"

Pyrgus philetas "Desert Checkered-Skipper" finally showed itself to me this year, as well.

The list for the afternoon:

Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail
Papilio polyxenes, Black Swallowtail
Pontia protodice, Checkered White
Colia eurytheme, Orange Sulphur
Eurema nicippe, Sleepy Orange
Eurmema mexicana, Mexican Yellow
Strymon melinus, Gray Hairstreak
Brephidium exile, Western Pygmy-Blue
Hemiargus isola, Reakirt's Blue
Euptoieta claudia, Variegated Fritillary
Dymasia dymas, Tiny Checkerspot
Texola elada, Elada Checkerspot
Polygonia interrogationis, Question Mark
Vanessa atalanta, Red Admiral
Vanessa annabella, West Coast Lady
Junonie coenia, Common Buckeye
Asterocampa celtis, Hackberry Emporer
Libytheana carinenta, American Snout
Danaus gilippus, Queen
Thorybes drusius, Drusius Cloudywing
Pyrgus communis/albescens
P. philetas, Desert Checkered-Skipper
Hylephila phyleus, Fiery Skipper
Atalopedes campestris, Sachem
Copaeodes aurantiaca, Orange Skipperling
Lerodea eufala, Eufala Skipper




Elada Checkerspot (Texola elada)

Another Apodemia species of Metalmarks, far-West Texas

Palmer's Metalmark (Apodemia palmeri)

I really have an affinity towards this genus.

Heidi pointed out a pair of palmeri nectaring on a flowering mesquite, on Maravillas Ranch.  This property is ~ 15-20 miles south of Marathon, Brewster Co., TX, as the Brushfoot flies.



Remember, another Apodemia species was found earlier on this property, Apodemia duryi or Mexican Metalmark.  Click that sentence for a link to pics.
Also recall, Maravillas Ranch is the featured private ranch tour with excellent bird guides (maybe butterflies too...) during the Birds and Butterflies of the Big Bend festival.  It's coming up SOON.  Click here.

For diagnostic ID on A. palmeri, we are looking particularly for ORANGE MARGINS on the uppersides of all four wings.



Palmer's Metalmark generally flies at least 2 broods over spring to fall.  This is the first-of-the-year (FOY) for this observer.  Hopefully, then, we will continue to see them a while longer.

The species hostplant is known to be mesquites.



We have plenty of mesquites in certain areas.  Remember, there were two on this particular mesquite (one was fairly worn).  Maybe the female will ovi-posit, place eggs, on that very one.

Very cool bug.
As was the specific individual bird species we were following as it was singing...

Heidi pointed out this butterfly while we were following the bird.

We are looking forward to seeing folks in just about a week at the festival the Gage Hotel and Gage Gardens are hosting!  And whenever y'all are in the Marathon and Brewster Co. area, let us know!

Have a good evening.
It was a great day.

So long, Sundays

There was a lovely post composed here - it was eaten when Firefox crashed. There were bits of reminiscing interspersed with notes from today; the highlight being ~30 young Scaled Quail, which is ~30 more squail than we had last year. Are squail babies squabies?

Anyway, the main point was to notify readers that Sunday Post Park bird walks have been, as of today, indefinitely suspended. Something about working for a living, and being scheduled to work weekends. This is good news, really. And there's still hope for midweek birding, since Matt's schedule changes regularly, so feel free to drop a line regardless - we just won't have a designated day/time for it.

As always, we're blacklighting on a semi-regular basis and staying up too late in the process. But Clouded Crimson, Schinia gaurae is completely worth it!

Massive pink and white moth - except, as seen in the photo below, it's actually a fairly small moth. Perhaps a third of the size of the saltwater taffy that it mimics. Not sure how palatable it would be; gaura is a pretty plant in the yard, smells nice enough, but seems less than appetizing overall.

Maravillas Ranch, a little scouting around. 3 July 2012

...with Cameron Carver.  He is one of our excellent field trip leaders/bird guides that is a part of the Birds & Butterflies of the Big Bend festival.  This event is coming up quickly; it will begin on the 19th of July.

A question has been mumbled around the region (well, by a few of us) about where the Zone-tailed Hawks have gone.  After all, last year was the worst drought in the entire state, much less the Big Bend region.  Nevertheless, we are certainly used to seeing this Turkey Vulture psuedo-mimic around once in awhile.

A portion of that answer was revealed:
Maravillas Ranch.



Zone-tailed Hawk (Buteo albonotatus)

We were thrilled.  Also exciting was adding this species, with a couple of others, to the Maravillas Ranch possible species list for the festival.

Our day on this property south of Marathon was to scout a couple of locations I had yet to visit, while orienting Cameron to parts of the property.

Had this been an exercise in recording the most species we could, our total would have been higher.

During this scouting we came across the following species; this list generated by eBird:

43 species total

2	Scaled Quail Callipepla squamata still just paired up, from my obs.
10	Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura
2	Zone-tailed Hawk Buteo albonotatus FOY for MY. First of prop for MY, in location previously un-searched. This bird has been abnormally scarce for the region, this year,... generally.
1	Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
1	Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus FOY. First of property for MY.
8	Eurasian Collared-Dove Streptopelia decaocto
8	White-winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
12	Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
4	Yellow-billed Cuckoo Coccyzus americanus food carries.
9	Golden-fronted Woodpecker Melanerpes aurifrons
2	Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans conservatively. Did not search extensively. !st HY's may have dispersed. lakehouse.
12	Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus one female on nest, HY's from Lakehouse first nest seemed dispersed.
6	Ash-throated Flycatcher Myiarchus cinerascens
5	Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans
4	Western Kingbird Tyrannus verticalis
5	Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus Ad. male, female. 3 HY's. scraggly oak motte on w.side of road, heading to lakehouse.
12	Bell's Vireo Vireo bellii
2	Western Scrub-Jay Aphelocoma californica heard only. maybe 3. heat of the day. Good habitat patch was finally surveyed. Biggest find of the day probably, as there aren't too many (accessible??) scrub-jay locations in Brewster Co. First of property. Found in previously un-surveyed location. However, location was thought to be promising for this species.
3	Verdin Auriparus flaviceps heard only. Did not pursue this trip.
2	Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
2	Canyon Wren Catherpes mexicanus
1	Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii same general location across lakehouse
8	Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
1	Curve-billed Thrasher Toxostoma curvirostre
7	Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
3	Rufous-crowned Sparrow Aimophila ruficeps not as many singing this particular morning.
7	Canyon Towhee Melozone fusca
10	Cassin's Sparrow Peucaea cassinii
2	Lark Sparrow Chondestes grammacus
25	Black-throated Sparrow Amphispiza bilineata
7	Summer Tanager Piranga rubra
4	Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
1	Pyrrhuloxia Cardinalis sinuatus
5	Blue Grosbeak Passerina caerulea
1	Varied Bunting Passerina versicolor vocalizing male on territory. Same location.
10	Painted Bunting Passerina ciris numbers have increased in two weeks. Several singing males.
5	Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
8	Bronzed Cowbird Molothrus aeneus
12	Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater seemed more prevalent ..
10	Orchard Oriole Icterus spurius certainly more. Often vocalizing. Only observed adults.
4	Scott's Oriole Icterus parisorum
6	House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
5	Lesser Goldfinch Spinus psaltria

While I wasn't scouring the property for butterflies this time, we did happen across this guy:

Texas Powdered-Skipper (Systasea pulverulenta)

Definitely a favorite species, to go along with its Genus mate, (S. zampa) Arizona Powdered-Skipper.  Both of which are found in our area.  Both of which have been found at Maravillas Ranch.

We also encountered this guy once more, or an individual like it.