West Texas southward

We spent 4 cold days in the Davis Mountains in West Texas.  Looking down into the valley you can see the campground and to the top left, the lodge built in the 1930's.

At the Interpretive Center is a feeding station where many birds congregated to eat and drink.

Morning temperature- 19 degrees and  snow squalls most of the day.

White-winged Dove

White-winged Dove shows why he got his name

Spotted Towhee

Pine Siskins

Mule Deer

Black-crested Titmouse

Rock Wren faces strong wind

Northern (Red-shafted) Flicker

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Rare visitor to West Texas - Brown Thrasher

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker

There's five here - can you find them?

One of the mammals of the area are the Aoudads.  Once imported from North Africa for ranches for hunting, they escaped and are faring well in the Davis Mounntains.  This exotic is competing with native sheep.

Aoudad's can have lambs twice a year

As we left Davis Mountains, we were greeted by this beautiful sunrise

We drove south to Laredo and stayed at Lake Casa Blanca State International Park  for two nights.  We had some very "hot" weather in the 90's and our first tropical birds.

Cactus Wren, nest building in Prickly Pear Cactus

Long-billed Thrasher

Morelet's Seedeater (formerly called White-collared Seedeater)

Snowy Egrets - at odds

The never ending fight.

White-tailed Hawk, an early surprise at Falcon State Park

We then drove south to Falcon State Park and spent two days in the desert.  We also went to Salineno Bird feeding station along the Rio Grande.

Northern Bobwhite came to a camper's feeders

Rio Grande, flowing hard as water is released to the lower valley for irrigation

Osprey catches a large Catfish

Several Zone-tailed Hawks soaring above the river

Audubon's Oriole at dawn

Green Jay 

Great Kiskadee displays crest

Altamira Oriole enjoying the Peanut Butter

Golden-fronted Woodpecker also comes in for a treat

Olive Sparrow prefers to be hidden, but sneaks out for seed.

Now it is to the Rio Grande Valley and even more great birding areas and a chance to see friends that we have met here through the years.

Love & Prayers,
Ty & Ida Baumann

Patagonia Lake to Cave Creek Canyon, Arizona

Lake Patagonia 

We headed south to Nogales, stopping at Pena Blanca Lake on our way to Patagonia Lake State Park where we stayed for three days.  An oasis in the desert of Southeast Arizona.  We had fun hiking the trails and finding what wintering birds we could.

Canyon Towhee

Mexican Duck, hopefully to be a separate species soon

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Wilson's Warbler

Phainopepla

Lazuli Bunting

We spent 6 hours at Paton's Hummingbird Sanctuary in the little town of Patagonia where we found many interesting birds.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

We spent four nights at Quail Ridge RV Resort and even there we had birds, like Roadrunners, Vermilion Flycatcher, and more.


We spent a day exploring San Pedro House Wildlife Area, fields, trails and feeding stations.

Western Screech-Owl in huge Cottonwood at San Pedro House

Cactus Wren calling on shiny truck

Vermilion Flycatcher

Loggerhead Shrike

Sharp-shinned Hawk

We joined a group of birders for their Sunday walk around the dikes of the EPO wetlands, led by the Sierra Vista Bird Club.

Lark Bunting in winter plumage

Lillian race from Mexico of the Eastern Meadowlark

Bendire's Thrasher

We then drove to Whitewater Draw near Double Adobe, AZ.  We spent the night at the primitive campcircle and watched thousands of Sandhill Cranes flying from agricultural fields to the refuge lake.

What a cacophony of sound as thousands of Sandhill Cranes descend 

Last one in!

Northern Pintail, one of 11 species of ducks in the refuge.

Northern Shovelers

Black Phoebe

Special find - Ferruginous Hawk

Another great find - Prairie Falcon

We then drove to the Chiricahua Mountains where you can see the snow on Rustler's Peak.

Mexican Jay

Pyrrhuloxia male

Gambel's Quail at feeding staion near Portal

Red-naped Sapsucker by our campsite in Cave Creek Canyon

Canyon Wren

Acorn Woodpecker tries some peanut butter

Javelina vacuuming up bird seed

Coue's White-tailed Deer likes birdseed too.

Only a small portion of the beautiful rock formations 

Green-tailed Towhee, very secretive and hard to photograph

Verdin likes the Peanut Butter too.

After spending one night in the Canyon we decided to go to Rusty's RV in Rodeo, NM for one night.  We couldn't resist taking a photo of this Mandarin Duck (uncountable year bird, but beautiful none the less).

Looking at the Chiricahua Mountains from Rusty's with some rain clouds moving our way.

We went across half of New Mexico and into Texas at El Paso and down to the Davis Mountains.

Love & Prayer's,
Ty & Ida Baumann