South and West Texas Trip ~ April 27, 1991

Babe and George Webster and I left the A.B.E. Airport at 8:00 AM, headed for San Antonio with a layover in Pittsburgh. While waiting in Pittsburgh for our next flight, I noticed two men sitting near us that looked familiar. When one guy pulled a "Lane Guide" out of his briefcase, I walked over and found out that it was Steve Santner and his friend Morris Cox. They were also headed to Texas, but they would be doing a loop of the state in the opposite direction of our plans. After passing some information back and forth, we all got on the plane to San Antonio.

Our flight to Texas was by way of Louisiana airspace in order to avoid a huge line of severe thunderstorms that had caused hail damage, and even tornadoes, in Kansas and Oklahoma. At Allentown, we had watched file footage of a TV crew that tried to outrace a tornado in the Plains and finally had to take shelter under a bridge. We landed in San Antonio under sunny skies and piled our gear into the rental car.

We headed northwest on I-10 to the Camp Bullis Road exit where we saw at least a hundred Cliff Swallows gathering mud for nest-building under the bridge. After getting an ice chest and some 'goodies', we headed over to Friedrich Wilderness Park. We met the park ranger on his horse as he was leaving the headquarters. We told him that we were from Pennsylvania and were interested in seeing the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler. He asked Babe to hold on to his horse while he went into the headquarters, got us maps, and showed us the best place to look for the bird. We thanked him and headed up the Main Loop Trail to where the Upland Range Trail split off on the left. While on the Upland Range Trail, we ran into Steve Santner and Morris Cox. They were also looking for the bird and hadn't heard it so far. We left them and headed back to the Main Loop Trail. We searched the area of oaks and mature Ashe Junipers for about a half-hour until we finally heard one calling. There, on top of one of the junipers was a male Golden-cheeked Warbler singing away in the late afternoon.

Golden-cheeked Warbler at Friedrich Wilderness Park near San Antonio, Texas.

While at the park, we saw Sharp-shinned, Broad-winged, and Swainson's Hawk, a Scrub Jay sitting on its nest, the "Black-crested" form of Tufted Titmouse, Solitary Vireo, and Black-and-white Warbler.

Returning to San Antonio, we took Route 87 east towards Victoria. At one stop along the road, we saw Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Meadowlarks, a treetop full of Dickcissels and good numbers of Mississippi Kites streaming overhead. Just east of the town of Smiley, we saw two Crested Caracaras sitting on a corral fence right next to the road. Other birds seen on the way to Victoria included Black Vulture, Common Nighthawk, White-winged Dove, Purple Martin, Tree, Cliff, and Barn Swallow, Loggerhead Shrike, countless numbers of Great-tailed Grackles, Northern Mockingbird (on every other telephone pole), and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (on every third telephone pole). At dusk, we saw endless lines of Cattle Egrets crossing the road with a few Little Blue Herons among them. We spent the night at the Motel 6 in Victoria.

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