Note: this trip report is a combination of contributions by Penny Mudgett and Jacque Austin.
Ten of us ventured to west Texas to attend the Davis Mountains Hummingbird Festival (BarbaraD, ClaireJ, DianaS, JacqueA, JudieT, MarthaC, NancyP, PennyM, SharonB – Taos NM, and VickiG). We all stayed at Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park which is a beautiful place and the bird blinds in the park were a great places to see hummers and many other birds. http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/davis-mountains The Hummingbird Festival was sponsored by the Fort Davis Chamber of Commerce. The festival organizers set up ten stations throughout the Ft. Davis area to view hummers and other birds. There were also informative lectures we attended on setting up feeding stations for hummingbirds, the many species of hummingbirds and their history, etc. There were also bird banding demonstrations at several locations. Early registration was $79 which included the presentations, two meals, banding displays, and a t-shirt. The Fort Davis CoC has already committed to holding the festival in 2016.
Thursday morning we visited the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (CDRI) located four miles out of Fort Davis. We walked the Botanical Gardens which features well labeled examples of: cacti, yuccas, agave, ocotillo, and trees. The succulent trails had inspiring views and included a bird & butterfly garden with a spring. We identified the following birds: canyon towhee, western kingbird, road runner, and rock wren. Following our tour of the garden, we were! amazed by the contents of the cacti greenhouse – such a variety of needles, colors, hairy growths, and shapes. (Plants there will be for sale in March.) Then we enjoyed our lunch sitting in rocking chairs on CDRI center porch while watching hummers: black-chinned, rufous, buff bellied, and Anna’s. It was definitely fun! Two members of our group donated bags of sugar which pleased the staff immensely. http://www.cdri.org/
Thursday afternoon we completed registration for the festival and attended the opening reception which was at CDRI. So we enjoyed the rocking chairs again that looked out over the hummingbird feeding stations while sipping wine and tasting hors d’oeuvres. Life is such a struggle!
Friday morning we were up early (4:30 am!) for the trip to Christmas Mountains Oasis. We met other birders in Fort Davis and caravanned for 1.5 hours to the Oasis, located between Alpine and Big Bend. After the bathroom stop (!) we made the trek to the Oasis site over unpaved roads. Passage is possible in high clearance vehicles and the road is rough, rutted, and quite rugged. The Oasis has manmade ponds to collect rainwater, plantings and various feeders to attract all kinds of birds. Penny viewed her first Lucifer Hummingbirds at this site! Carolyn Ohl-Johnson (she has a great blog at www.cmoasis.blogspot.com) built and has maintained this site for 30 years so many species pass through on migration. She has added covered seating and chairs to make the viewing more enjoyable and out of the sun. She also maintains her home, a guest house and “potty shed”. We identified the following: hummingbird (Lucifer, black-! chinned, rufous), house finch, Scott’s oriole, blue grosbeak, varied bunting, and dickcessel. After birding and burning calories and returning in the ruts, we were naturally hungry. Several of us enjoyed lunch at the soda shop on Main Street.
Friday afternoon NancyP, JudieT, and SharonB toured Fort Davis and enjoyed seeing the sights of the fort. Others of us attended lectures on Fort Davis Sky Islands and Hummingbird Feeder – Care and Feeding. Later in the afternoon we actually saw rain and hail. We also visited the Caboose, which sells Henry’s ice cream. Not Blue Bell, but pretty smooth with 15% butter fat. Folks in Fort Davis are just as eager for Blue Bell to return as we are. At the soda shop they are actually making sodas with Blue Bunny – so very sad.
Friday night, PennyM, ClaireJ, NancyP, VickiG, and DianaS attended a Star Party at the McDonald Observatory. There had been thunderstorms each afternoon in the area, but they got lucky that night as the sky cleared up and we were able to see the Moon, Saturn and various star clusters through their high powered telescopes. They also visited Marfa (we were too early to view the lights) and Alpine where we went to the Museum of the Big Bend which was very well done.
Saturday morning we were off to the Nature Conservancy site, Davis Mountains Preserve to view hummingbird banding. http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/texas/placesweprotect/davis-mountains-preserve.xml . It was amazing and impressive to study all the feeders, cages, and equipment there to accomplish the banding. Three clusters of feeders (3-4/cluster) were established to attract the hummers. Then one feeder in each cluster had a cage dropped on it. One to two feeders in a cluster than had a cover over the holes which would direct the hummers to the caged feeder. Experienced banders would then capture a hummer, place it in a mesh bag and another bander would process the bird. The bander would measure the wing length, weigh the bird, check for fat levels on the chest, and apply a metal band (5.4, 5.6, 5.8 or 6.0 mm); then the bird was transferred to the release team. We all enjoyed the experience of having the bird placed in our hands and then the bird lifting off and flying immediately.
Saturday afternoon we ate again as TOWNies are prone to do and had ice cream. We visited both bird blinds in DMSP where we identified: lesser goldfinches, house finches, white wing doves, ladderback woodpecker, black headed grosbeak, acorn woodpecker, Cassin’s kingbird, rufous hummingbird, and canyon towhee. After a short break, we attended a presentation on the Hummingbirds of TX.
Saturday evening we attended the closing dinner which was followed by a presentation on Hummingbirds of the US.
Sunday morning we headed east to Austin via Balmorhea State Park. The scaled quail could not escape us. We checked out the spring fed pool which already had quite a crowd. We did learn that summer weekends attract about 3500 visitors.
We all had a wonderful trip and did a great job of supporting the West Texas economy. It was fun meeting Penny’s comrades (Claire, Diana, and Vicki), Barbara’s sister Martha, as well as Sharon from NM. If you enjoy seeing and learning about birds (especially hummingbirds) and viewing beautiful vistas, we recommend you try this festival next year. Penny and Jacque