Birding with Laurel: South Llano River State Park

January 2- 4, 2020

Laurel and I made our last camp at South Llano River State Park. This is another favorite park, both for birding and paddling on the South Llano River. Friends and I usually spent the first weekend in May there where we caught the lingering sparrows, year round specialities, and the peak of spring migration. I remember it for the hoards of singing Bell's vireos, painted buntings, sparrows and many other species. But it is also a fun winter camping place because it used to be the winter roost of 800+ turkeys.

But alas, it too is suffering bird decline. We saw only seven turkeys, when I was used to seeing them everywhere and having a trio of Toms strut down the trail toward us in full display. When I asked, I was told that the staff only knew of the seven Tom turkeys.

But there are four blinds where birds are fed,  and where there is usually moving water, so even in times of few birds, they are concentrated at the blinds, making for lots of entertainment.

One of the seven Tom turkeys - taken near our camping area

A blackbuck antelope, an exotic species, at the neighboring ranch

View of a put-in the park on South Llano

A bathing field sparrow

House finch

A black crested titmouse

Black throated sparrow

Bather

Another cute field sparrow

House finch

Female and male house finches getting a drink

We had lots of these fast moving guys - black crested titmouse and I finally started getting better pictures of them

View along river trail

I think this is Old Man's Beard, (Clematis drummondii)

One of my favorite views of South Llano River from the river trail

We found several donkeys in the land adjacent to the park at the end of the River Trail

Cardinal and house finch sharing a feeder

A very snappily dressed black-throated sparrow

Carolina wren - we had Bewick's also but I didn't get to capture him

Love these guys

Chipping Sparrow

I was lucky to get this very distant view of a tiny verdin while coming back to camp from a blind

I only saw this one fox sparrow - but I took maybe fifty pictures of him in very dim light

A field sparrow deciding to try some peanut butter mix

Our water faucet was stripped and wouldn't turn off to the delight of birds and this armadillo

Our last night at South Llano State Park was the coldest night we encountered. I got up the next morning and dressed in my long John bottoms and a heavy fleece shirt plus jacket and hat. I took my tent fly to the bathroom and ran the hand drier to melt the ice on it and start it drying. We had to stop several times to go warm our hands while taking down the tents. I had the foresight to pack everything else up with plans to get coffee and breakfast in a warm cafe. When we stopped to eat mid morning, I had to change to a short sleeved shirt and remove my long Johns. It was 70° when we reached Natalie's house in Houston.

Camping is over but the fun isn't done. We have three days of birding and one day of canoeing to go before Laurel has to leave. We just get to sleep in Natalie's beds at night.

Campout at South Llano River State Park

South Llano River State Park is one of my favorite places to camp,  paddle, hike and birdwatch.  A group of friends to share all these activities with makes it all the more fun.

I'll paddle on Sunday, so watch for a blog about that in the future. But I've been birdwatching hard, at the four blinds, around the campground and on the trails. Wildflowers are in bloom and butterflies abound.  Birds are gobbling up caterpillars and bugs and coming to bath in the waterfalls.  Everything is greening up, even the pokey pecan trees.

Friday,  I logged over nine miles on my stepmeter, about seven of that from actual hiking, with frequent stops to admire the wildflowers, listen and look for birds, chase down chats, and to sneak up on butterflies. I also stopped at two blinds. The day before, I got to see the black-capped vireo without my camera. Saturday, Linda and I were the only ones who didn't paddle - I don't want to have to do any heavy steering and there are a few patches of whitewater to navigate - so we went birding all morning. She first took me to the blind where she had photographed the Hutton's vireo but I haven't gotten to see it.  We spent several hours walking the trails and enjoying the indigo buntings, six vermillion flycatchers, some in pairs, three swamp sparrows, a pretty rare sparrow here, and a black-tailed gnatcatcher.  We finally got to Agarita Blind to look for the black-capped vireo and  found people in the path watching for him. We stayed with them for a while and learned it's song, then started to walk to the blind.  Linda went back to pick up her camera and I watched a little bird fly into an oak just outside the blind area.  He landed on a bare limb and I quickly got my binoculars on him. He was a black-capped vireo singing. But he flew before I could get my camera on him and then flew further away, still calling, as Linda got back to me. We watched for him until we got too hot and hungry but plan to go back again this (Saturday) afternoon.

Oh yes, when I first saw the black-capped vireo, I was in the company of Greg Miller, the poor birder in the book, the Big Year. He was a guest speaker and tour guide at  Wings over the Hills, a birding festival happening this weekend in Fredericksburg, Texas. He came with a tour from the festival about 5 minutes after I saw the vireo. He's a super, laid-back, friendly and helpful person.

Evenings are devoted to group suppers within our cooking group with neighboring camping friends stopping by. Saturday night is a full group meal. Four of us are supplying pulled pork.  I'm the official cook and it is cooking in a crock pot. After I get this blog ready to post - I have to go to the Junction Library to get wi-fi - I'll go back and remove it from all the grease, then shred it and put in back in the pot with Pat's homemade BBQ sauce.  Should be delicious.

We usually come here the first week in May and the most abundant and in-your-face bird is the Bell's vireo which nests here. They are already here, singing incessantly.

The Bell's vireo who owns my camping site. I think the wing thing is part of his display. 

My friend, Pat and I went on a short hike yesterday before I did several more hours of hiking/birding and he went mountain biking. 

One of at least fifty summer tanagers - they are almost always within sight or hearing

Early morning view up the South Llano River

A black-crested titmouse is using up all the bathwater, according to the screaming pine siskin.

This area has lots of mesquite trees and they are blooming - great for bugs and the birds that eat them

A white-crowned sparrow - one of only a few still here

One of the sulphur butterflies on the abundant verbena

A bathing painted bunting looks more like a submarine

I found only this one group of these beautiful flowers - the cloudy day was perfect to
photograph white 

Another weedy flower I love

Linda watching for the return of the black-capped vireo by the Agrita Blind

Axis deer, imported from India, have escaped and live in the park

There are only a few chipping sparrows left

Lark sparrows are very common here 

Great crested flycatcher

Black-tailed gnatcatcher 

Just another bather - this a Nashville Warbler

Saying Goodbye at South Llano River State Park

I need to be at Bison Range National Wildlife Refuge by Thursday, May 11, so I can have a day of training before helping with the Migration Day on Saturday.

But I HAD to spend four days with friends at South Llano River State Park, one of our best Texas birding sites and on one of my favorite rivers before I left.  This is another traditional trip that happens the first weekend in May to take advantage of the peak of migration and the river in new spring garb.

Bill and Bob getting organized Friday morning

I've had a wonderful time with old friends and friends I've recently met, including Bill and Carol, who I spent a week with at Yellowstone National Park last fall.  She was doing here last hurrah also and left for Rocky Mountain National Wildlife Refuge where she volunteers each summer.

Bell's Vireo sing their chattering song only around the campground area

I managed to bird all four of  the blinds and several of the areas that hold large concentrations of birds, hike seven miles with Bill, enjoy a couple of evening fires and a group supper and finally, get in a short paddle. Natalie had two dogs and we couldn't take them on the river, so I babysat them Saturday while she paddled and she babysat them Sunday, while I paddled.

A female painted bunting getting her morning drink

A black throated sparrow

Even though I've been coming to this park at least once a year for many years, I still had never hiked up to the overlook.  And I hadn't hike the trails in several years.  So it was fun to discover new parts of the park. Bill and I hikeed the perimeter of the park for about seven miles.  But, since we had also wandered around for about two hours birding, and I had visited back and forth, and done lots of miscellaneous walking, I managed to walk over twelve miles on Friday, according to my step meter. And, on the hike,  we saw a porcupine and the biggest armadillo we'd ever seen, both firsts for me at this park.

An old porcupine 

A view of the old  wildlife management area, now park where most of the trails are

A mimosa species in bloom

Big armadillo

Baby sitting dogs - It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it 

Sunday I got up at 5:00 A.M. so I could get all my packing done before daylight. I almost made it.  The last two stars blinked out as I was stuffing my tent into it's bag. I grabbed a quick breakfast of leftover tabbouleh from our group meal, threw my paddling stuff in Bob's car since Bill decided to not stress his ailing shoulder any more, and told Bob and Natalie I would meet them at the put-in which was the low water bridge in the park. I gathered up my tea, camera, and binoculars and set off.

There are hundreds of black-chinned hummingbirds in the park

There were still a few lark sparrows coming to the feeders

After a few minutes of solo birding, I  met up with several other friends also birding.  The birds were especially hot and we were finding lots of new species. We had orchard orioles, ladderback woodpeckers, blue grosbeaks, chipping sparrows, wood peewee, red-eyed vireo, yellow-billed cuckoo, a vermilion flycatcher, and other birds, including the ever present pine siskins and painted buntings. I had to tear myself away and rush the last half mile to get to the put-in in time.

We had lots of painted buntings around all the bird blinds

We had a beautiful short paddle.  More on that next blog. By the time we finally tore ourselves away from the last of the group, it was 2;00.  Then we had a seven hour drive back to Seabrook an , after several minutes of transferring my stuff, I had another half hour drive to Houston.  After getting my dirty clothes washing, I had to write this blog.

Now it's Monday and I am just getting all the pictures in this blog and will leave for Montana in a few hours.  I'll not blog again until sometime next week.  But I'll get you pictures of  our paddle then and will have lots to tell you about my 2000 mile trip, provided I survive doing it in four days, and the new refuge.

I'll be in Texas until sometime tomorrow when I cross the line into Oklahoma   A few minutes after that, I'll be in Colorado. I hope to get to explore a little of LBJ Grasslands this evening, provided I can get moving.