Prospecting for Gull Gold

Lewis's Woodpecker
Guadalupe Mountains NP

Bob Friedrichs invited me to go along with him to West Texas while he chased some birds he needed for his Texas list. At the time we were leaving I had no year bird targets in West Texas that were known but we planned to prospect for rare gulls on the West Texas lakes we could access, and maybe something rare would show up we could chase.

Due to problems I had with a failing phone, the essential tool of a compulsive lister like myself I did not get to Bob's house in Palacios until almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon. We quickly loaded and hit the road for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. While en route we got a return call we had made about some access and learned that a Costa's Hummingbird had been reported in El Paso. I quickly shot off an email to the homeowner and crossed my fingers for a positive reply.

While driving we speculated where to look for gulls after we finished at the national park and Bob mentioned he had never been to Red Bluff Reservoir. I never had been either and knew only a little about access. Red Bluff had been a hotspot a decade ago for rarities but things had been quit for some time and not many checklists had been turned into eBird from there recently. That sounded prime for finding something unreported and we decided to prospect there after we finished at the park when we realized it was only about an hours drive away.

It was getting late and we heard nothing more on the way. We pulled into Pine Springs at Guadalupe Mountains National Park about 11 pm Mountain Time 642 miles later and about 730 miles from when I left the house. The campground was totally full it appeared. We moved to the overflow parking areas and decided to stay there next to a picnic table. I decided to follow Bob's lead and opted to sleep al fresco on my pad in my sleeping bag without a tent also. I was in my bag and dozing off in less than five minutes I bet. Through the night I could see the stars and hear a nearby Great Horned Owl hooting.

We woke at about 7 am and first light in the sky and 42 degrees and were ready to hit the road in less than 10 minutes. Easiest breaking camp ever! I munched a bagel as we headed to Frijole Ranch.

Mean while back at the ranch we right away found Stellar's Jay for a rare drive up sighting of this montane species in Texas. A Juniper Titmouse taunted us from deep in a juniper letting use only see flashes if it.

Cassin's Finch
Guadalupe Mountains NP

We headed down the trail to Smith Springs. In the trees down slope from Manzanita Springs Bob quickly found one of his targets, Lewis's Woodpecker. We worked the area and also turned up several Cassin's Finches for another target of Bob's. There were crazy numbers of Dark-eyed Juncos everywhere. A Sharp-shinned Hawk starting chasing around birds ruining the party. We pressed on to Smith Springs.

At the springs proper we found it crawling with Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Hermit Thrushes. I heard and we later located Golden-crowned Kinglet there. As we turned back another Juniper Titmouse called next to the trail.

Almost back to Manzanita Springs we found two Townsend Solitaires and a Sage Thrasher. A quick check around the ranch house showed nothing new in the pecan trees, but plenty of activity from Acorn Woodpeckers, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays, and a couple of Stellar's Jays.

We spent three hours at McKittrick Canyon. Stellar's Jay and Red-breasted Nuthatch being the two unusual birds we found. We headed off to Red Bluff Reservoir.

As we neared the reservoir we found signs that said "private property permit required, purchase at the office" Cool we thought, its going to be access like Lake Balmorhea. We got to the office and a sign on the door said "Office Closed, No Permit Required at this time". We headed down to the lake in a old park. At first we though there weren't many birds here but coots. We started scanning and we realized there were a lot of ducks, thousands really mostly Ruddy Ducks. We explored along the shore and found not much other access to the lake to view more distant birds. There was a floodway on CR 448 we figured we weren't trespassing if we walked down to the shore to get another view of the lake. We tallied 7 species of waterfowl. A group of maybe twenty gulls teased us on the point of an island too distant to make positive ID's on. Some where much smaller than those we assumed were Ring-billed Gulls. We did ID both Ring-billed Gulls and Franklin's Gulls in flight.

Red Bluff Reservoir
Trust me, there is a Sabine's Gull out there

We moved back to the park and scanned hoping some of the the distant gulls we could see in flight would move closer. Bob was staring through the scope and I heard "oh oh oh, I might having something, wait wait, Yes! Sabine's Gull!" I'm sure it was just seconds before for he gave me a turn at the scope, but it seemed an eternity. I followed a small gull skimming the water, all the way across the lake. Was this it? it circled, it banked, Yes! I could clearly see the black and white pattern on the wings even at this distance. Sabine for Year Bird 489! I watched it while Bob readied the camera for a shot if it got closer. Back and forth it flew, another bird approached, it banked. In the same view I had two Sabine's Gulls! We watched until all the gulls roosted in the lake for the night but never got a picture opportunity. This bird is one of the sweetest of the year for me, going prosecuting for it and striking gold like this.

We headed for El Paso, our GPS overloads telling us it was going to take three hours. On the way we secured permission to try for the Costa's Hummingbird. A late dinner at Whataburger and we made it to bed at a decent hour, ready for hummers the next day.