Hill Country Trip: Part 5

.Our final bird at Neal's Lodges was a Curve-billed Thrasher, spotted as we left the dining room.

From Concan we drove to Utopia, where we were to stay the night at the lovely Utopia on the River B & B. 

Shortly after we arrived, we were entertained by two male and two female Black-chinned Hummingbirds arguing over feeder rights.

Nearby, Black-crested Titmice were busy exploring the trees.

There were several Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers (below) as well.

Oddly enough, the most abundant species seemed to be Eastern Phoebe. I lost count of how many I saw or heard.

Flora and Butterflies

Although our trip did not produce the range of bird species that I had hoped for, any disappointment was more than offset by the abundance of wildflowers, including many roadside swathes of Texas Bluebonnets (below), Black-eyed Susans and Indian Paintbrushes.

Butterflies were abundant everywhere we went, too. Red Admirals were the most common.

However, there were also plenty of Monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries, Clouded Sulphurs and Pearl Crescents.

All in all, we both enjoyed the trip a lot - but I'm hoping to persuade Dee to take another trip to Uvalde and Concan in April, when bird numbers should be better!
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