13 | May | 2013 | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

I believe that I was telling you about our Wednesday adventures at the end of Part I of our Big Bend adventure. Well, Wednesday evening after another fun day, we decided to go to Long Draw Pizza. A hearty meal and cold beer was a great way to end the day.

Ann at the Sotol Vista overlook high in the Chisos Mountains.

On Thursday morning after breakfast at Big Bend Cafe in Study Butte, we headed to the old Sam Nail Ranch. There are only a few ruins of some adobe walls there, and a windmill that the National Park Service has kept working to pump a bit of water. It provides moisture to this oasis-like setting among large cottonwood and mesquite trees, and other brush. Many birds frequent this area. Here I was able to photograph a Yellow-breasted Chat. Click on it, and all other photos to see enlargements.

Yellow-breasted Chat

After spending a couple of hours there, we left and headed farther south down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to the Cottonwood Campground, another hot birding spot. There we saw several Painted Buntings, Yellow-rumped Warblers. and several species of flycatchers.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Western Wood-Pewee

We also saw a Swainson’s Thrush, one more for my life list.

Swainson’s Thrush

Here is another shot of that Scaled Quail that I showed you in the previous post. In this pose he is calling for his mate.

Scaled Quail

After a really fun four days we finally left for home, but not resisting one final shot of this Swainson’s Hawk, sitting on a fence post as we left the park.

Swainson’s Hawk

For the week, we saw an astounding 66 species of birds. For animal life, we saw 11 Pronghorn Antelope, 2 jackrabbits, 8 cottontail rabbits, 1 muledeer, 2 javelinas and a partridge in a pear tree.

Here is a complete list of our 66 species seen from the time we left home until we arrived back in San Angelo.