April 17. We decided to try to find the rare Colima Warbler, which is only found in this small part of Texas – nowhere else in the US or Canada. We also wanted to hike in the mountains, so we combined the two. We took the harder tail up to the Pinnacles, partly to have an easier trip back, and partly because Colima Warblers had been seen on the trail up. As it turned out, we picked the best day for hiking – overcast and not too hot. There are many switchbacks on the trail, and it took about 3 hours to reach the summit. We heard them singing, but my pishing was useless. We kept saying “We need Tom!” We did see a few nice birds, including a Mexican Jay, and some white-tailed deer.


At the Pinnacles, we took the trail to Boot Canyon, which is known as the best spot. We heard them again, and finally spotted one. It hopped around for several minutes, low in the bushes, and then finally popped into the open. Unfortunately, Barbara, with the camera, could not spot it at that moment. Our only photo is a poor shot from which one can’t see any of the field marks. We sat down and had our lunch, hoping for another sighting, but it was not to be.


We saw several other good birds on the Laguna Meadows trail, on the way back, including a Black-capped Vireo (no photo, of course).


We were 8.5h on the trail, and certainly earned a cold beer. We ate in the restaurant again, watching the Say’s Phoebe, which was nesting on the eaves. The first night’s spectacular sunset was not to be repeated again (although there was a fairly decent one on our last night).