April 9th: Another early morning with a 6:20am departure from the house. We headed directly over to the lodge restaurant arriving around 6:35am. Again we all enjoyed a fine breakfast with tacos once more being a hit. The weather this morning was overcast and rain appeared to be threatening (but never did come). We then headed down to cabin 61 on the east side of the Rio Frio. Here we added a number of new birds including a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and at the nearby feeders LONG-BILLED THRASHER, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and LESSER GOLDFINCH. Across the road we added brief but unsatisfying views of BELL’S VIREO and a great side by side comparison of BEWICK’S and CAROLINA WREN.. At the bridge a pair of BLACK PHOEBES performed nicely. Then we drove on to the area known as the cattle guard track. Here there we feeders but there quite a few small groups of birders which made watching the feeders or walking the track a bit challenging. Still we did add a number of new birds along this walk including two YELLOW-THROATED WARBLERS, PINE SISKIN (brief flyover), SUMMER TANAGER (female near the bank), a single GRASSHOPPER SPARROW (poorly seen) and VERDIN (not seen by all). We left without watching the feeders (too many present already) and crossed the road to the Pecan Grove trail. This proved to be an excellent area and we spent at least an hour wandering around. Best finds here were BELL’S VIREO (finally a good view), SPOTTED and CANYON TOWHEES and at the feeders a large noisy group of PINE SISKINS, AMERICAN and LESSER GOLDFINCHES. We also enjoyed several pairs of VERMILION FLYCATCHERS including males doing flight displays. Andy also got a good view of another GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. We then returned to the cattle guard area to watch the feeders. Here we waited patiently and eventually were rewarded with good views of both BLACK-THROATED and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS. It was now nearly noon so we took an early lunch at the lodge restaurant.

Then it was back to the house for a good break in early afternoon. While Tom, Marilyn and Andy relaxed, Bill and Barbara make a vigorous hike across the river to find the target Geo cache inside a cave. They were successful but both returned looking mighty hot and tired!

We rallied around 3pm and by now the skies were clear though it was quite windy. We birded the River road adding a number of new birds including BLUE-HEADED VIREO, BARRED OWL (heard), and another RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. Heading north to Garner State Park and then east we eventually reached a small park in Utopia. Here we added both “Myrtle” and “Audubon’s” forms of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, BLUE JAY (heard), COMMON GRACKLE (heard), and a single BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER. After a bathroom break at the rustic park bathrooms we headed south along the highway taking in the sea of yellow flowers along the roadside. About half way to Sabinal we added our first WILD TURKEY right beside the road. Bill almost got a photo but instead documented the place the turkey was last seen! Farther along this road we stopped to photograph flowers and added another new species - CACTUS WREN spotted by Andy. Continuing towards Sabinal we added our first LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. At the feedlots on 127 just west of Sabinal we found a nice group of sparrows including our first WHITE-CROWNED and SAVANNAH SPARROWS, a CURVE-BILLED THRASHER and a single COMMON GROUND DOVE. At the feedlots there were loads of blackbirds including many cowbirds and BREWER’S BLACKBIRDS. At the pond we added two SOLITARY SANDPIPERS and then farther on a male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD in a large flock of red-winged blackbirds and cowbirds. We then returned to Concan arriving at the lodge restaurant for dinner around 7pm. Dinner tonight was great with grilled chicken, spicy green beans, mashed potatoes and corn, plus peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. We ended the day with a tally of 81 species and a cumulative total for the trip of 102 species.