Boomerang

On February 2 my friend John O'Brien text me an asked if I was up for a chase for a bird I had already seen. John wanted to chase the Snowy Owl in Odessa, then look for Sagebrush Sparrow. I know the best spot for Sagebrush Sparrow in the state I told John. After getting the go ahead from my ever indulgent wife Donna we set 3 am as the time to leave.

John picked me up at 3 am and we trekked across Texas for the second time less than 10 days for me. We made Odessa before noon and we logged the Snowy Owl at 11:51 into eBird. We jumped on the road setting a course to Dell City and Williams Road, the best place I know for Sagebrush Sparrow.

We passed through Winkler County a new one for me, county 208. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to go through Wink, the boyhood home of Roy Orbison.

By 4 pm CST we were on the Dell City loop, Along the east west portion of the road (FM1576) you can find Sagebrush Sparrow without much trouble and we found at least 7, getting John a technical lifer. He had seen Sage Sparrow before the split and certainly both Bell's and Sagebrush, but had never noted on a list the subspecies so has never counter Sagebrush Sparrow until now. It took us 13 hours and 723 miles but we got both target species. We spent the night in Fort Stockton making our total day 923 miles.

The next morning we birded Imperial Reservoir (from the gate) where there was an impressive amount of waterfowl. We also hit the Fort Stockton Waste Water Treatment Ponds and headed east towards home. John was willing to indulge me in passing through Schleicher County to make 209 counties for me but just 9 species on our drive through.

Elegant Trogon
New Braunfels, TX

Stopping in Junction for a bite to eat on the way home I find the report of the Elegant Trogon in New Braunfels. It came through the Facebook Group "What's this Bird" and was a week old sighting. I told John we could make that diversion and it wouldn't actually cost that much time. We decided though not to press our luck with arrival times we had promised since the bird had not been confirmed recently. It turns out the bird was relocated that evening and we could have likely seen it.

I grew up in New Braunfels and started birding right in Panther Canyon where the Trogon was found. I was in town the day it was found for my dad's birthday. I woke up that day less than a quarter mile from that bird!

Lots of good reports on Monday so I headed for New Braunfels. I called my mom and said "surprise! my next rare bird chase is in New Braunfels and I would be visiting again. I left for New Braunfels Tuesday morning at about 7 am and pulled into Landa Park at 10:30 am.

Lots of folks I know on vigil at the chase site. I find Dennis Cooke and Dan Jones, the two birders I spied across the freeway to locate the Snowy Owl in Odessa. The nature of the birds I will be chasing this Anti-Big Year make me think this won't be the last time I run into these guys at a stakeout.

We spread out on the trail. At 12:21 Dennis calls me that he has the bird and I relay it to Dan and we all converge down the tail on the bird. I get to spend close to 40 minutes watching it feed and getting many photos Elegant Trogon is Anti-Big Year Bird #2 and Texas Bird 548.

I bid everyone good-bye and head to my parents house. Using GPS coordinates from my photos I measure the distance as 1024 feet from my boyhood bed room!

I end my adventures that day with watching the Falcon Heavy test launch of the Tesla Roadster and Starman into space. Its been a pretty darn good day!