I finally made the trip out to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. The main reason was to find Colima Warbler in the Chisos mountains. This is the only location in the lower 48 where you can see the species. The Chisos mountains are at its extreme northern range. I also spent the better part of three days looking for butterflies from the lower desert valleys at 2,700 ft to the Chisos Basin, elevation 5,400 ft. Temperatures ranged from 90 in the lower valleys to the 70’s and lower 80’s at the basin. Temps were even cooler higher up at around 6,5,00 to 7,400 ft during the hike for the warbler. This year has been an exceptional rainy winter/early spring for the region (exceptional being relative to the desert). Wildflowers / cactus were in bloom everywhere in a stunning array of colors. The views from the Chisos mountains were also spectacular:
I stayed in a Ghost Town called Terlingua. This is about 30 miles west of the park. It has been partly renovated with a cafe, store, bar & grill and a few lodging options.
Big Bend provides many habitats for leps ranging from desert scrub to Pinyon Pine/Douglas Fir highlands. It hosts a few specialties like Chisos Banded-Skipper which is only found in the immediate area. Big Bend also hosts other species that are more common there due to the proimity to Mexico. In all I saw 49 species of which 20 where lifers. Two of the lifers (Desert Checked Skipper, Green Skipper) were seen in the Edwards Plateau region which is located NW of San Antonio. Here, the bedrock consists primarily of limestone, with elevations ranging between 100 and 3000 ft. Caves are numerous. I visited Kerr Wildlife Management Area which hosts breeding Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler, the later being the second rarest warbler in the U.S.
It will get hot you’ll drink gallons of water in the dry climate. But all worth it in the end.
Species List * = lifer *Chisos Banded Skipper Sleepy Orange Acacia Skipper Dainty Sulphur *Golden-headed Scallopwing Gray Hairstreak *Arizona Powdered Skipper Mallow-scrub Hairstreak Sleepy Duskywing *Acmon Blue *Rocky Mountain Duskywing Marine Blue *Mournful Duskywing Western Pygmy-Blue Common/White Checkered-Skipper Reakirt's Blue *Desert Checkered-Skipper *Rawson's Metalmark *Common Streaky-Skipper Queen Common Sootywing Variegated Fritillary *Orange Skipperling Red-spotted Purple *Green Skipper Arizona Sister Dun Skipper Empress Leilia *Sheep Skipper Bordered Patch *Bronze Roadside-Skipper *Elada Checkerspot *Oslar's Roadside-Skipper Vesta Crescent *Nysa Roadside-Skipper *Texan Crescent Black Swallowtail Common Buckeye *Two-tailed Swallowtail *Tropical Buckeye Checkered White Question Mark Orange Sulphur Red Admiral Southern Dogface *Tropical Leafwing *Mexican Yellow
Click on any image below to enlarge
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OUTSTANDING IMAGES MATT!!!
I am now green with envy. =D
Thanks Bob!