Day 5 (Wednesday, 20th April)

After a night in Kerrville, we made the 50 miles trip through surprisingly hilly roads, with the drizzly rain falling, to Lost Maples State Park. We bypassed the office, which was closed at this time, and found the car park a little further along. Once out of the car, we were surrounded by tree clad hills, with a stream running through the centre. This immediately proved to be a good spot for sparrows. 3 small birds which flew into a tree proved to be Clay-coloured Sparrows, only occasionally showing the distinctive grey neck collar, a single Lincoln’s Sparrow was in a separate bush moments later, and Chipping Sparrow in front of us. A small passerine singing on the wires in the early light threw us initially, but was a poorly marked Indigo Bunting. A more brash looking Blue Grosbeak 50m away put it to shame. First job of the morning was to look for Golden-cheeked Warblers, one of the specialities of the Edwards Plateau. This is supposedly a prime spot to find them, so we took the East Trail towards the ponds. We had studied their call, so listened carefully, but it took almost half of the walk to pick up the first bird. It also took around half an hour to obtain 3 half decent views of it. About another 100m along, we were looking up at Gnatcatchers, when another Golden-cheeked Warbler appeared. Although at the top of the canopy, it provided a better look at the species, especially when it started to sing. A little further down, just short of the ponds, we were almost thrown by a singing Louisiana Waterthrush, about 40 feet up at the apex of a dead tree. We hadn’t expected them to sing so high up, but it did give good views, including distinctive features from Northern Waterthrush.

We eventually reached the pond, which was a good birding spot, kicked off by a Green Kingfisher almost as soon as we looked down on to the pond itself. The less dense spacing of the trees here was better for flycatchers and other small passerines. Only 1 of the flycatchers was seen well enough for identification – an Eastern Phoebe. This was the site for another Golden-cheeked Warbler, right above our heads in much smaller trees. We were even treated with an even better look at a group of up to 3 Carolina Wrens. White-eyed & Red-eyed Vireos sang well here. We headed a little way beyond the pond, and before turning back, found the 4^th Golden-cheeked Warbler of the morning, and Yellow-throated Vireo. Within the pond itself, in the water vegetation near to the shore, was an impassive Diamond-backed Water Snake. Just as we left the pond, we found another group of Clay-coloured Sparrows, which were proving to be quite common, and added to an earlier Grasshopper Sparrow along the trail. About half way back, we passed under a rocky cut in the trail, which had loudly singing Canyon Wren, which flew across the trail. This led to the first Eastern Wood-pewees of the day, along with more Orange-crowned & Nashville Warblers. Finally, at the end of this trail were 2 male Summer Tanagers. These were almost overlooked – after so many cardinals, a flash of red was becoming commonplace.