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Sunday dawn revealed clear blue skies, which made photography at the park blinds a little easier than on Saturday. We again spent much of the morning and early afternoon at the blind near the Buck Lake trail.
Many of the same species turned up once more.
The House Finches weren't looking their best, because some were young birds while others were adults but still molting.
We were very excited to see our first Bunting. However, it was an Indigo rather than a Painted - and, like the Finches, it was looking far from its best.
Black-chinned Hummingbirds were extremely busy, with one male continuing to dominate the only feeder.
Black-crested Titmice are delightful little birds but I never find it easy to them because they seem to be constantly on the move in unpredictable directions.
Luckily, on this occasion one decided to spend a while bathing.
Our final minutes at the blind were enlivened by the arrival of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, which unfortunately never ventured down from the tree tops.
We moved over to the Juniper Blind, which was quiet except for Goldfinches, Northern Cardinals, Black-chinned Hummingbirds and a Black-throated Sparrow (below).
Things improved when a couple of juvenile Western Scrub-Jays appeared.
One seemed to think that the answer to the heat was to puff up its feathers.
On our way out of the park, we stopped to look for the male Vermilion Flycatcher that someone had told us was hanging out near the RV dump station. It didn't take long to locate the bird, although it absolutely refused to come completely out of the shade.
The splash of color provided by the male Vermilion at least partly made up for the absence of the brightly-colored male Painted Buntings.
So far our trip hadn't produced the number or variety of birds that I'd been hoping for. (Of course, Dee would say that none of our trips ever live up to my expectations.) However, I would still have Sunday afternoon and a little time on Monday morning to bird a couple of other sites in the area. One was the local sewage plant and the other was Junction City Park. With any luck both sites would produce some different and interesting birds.
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I was out early on Sunday to fit in a couple of hours birding in the state park before the drive home.
It was a dark and cold morning and few birds except Black-crested Titmice were visible at the Acorn Blind.
A walk down to the river produced few birds, apart from Turkey and Black Vultures.
However, by the time I got back to Acorn Blind, things were starting to look up. A female Summer Tanager appeared.
Then a Yellow Warbler.
Finally, a new bird: male Indigo Bunting.
He decided to bathe.
Another yellow bird was hopping around in the bushes: Bell's Vireo.
On my walk to the car, a Summer Tanager perched on a sign was totally unconcerned by my presence.
As I was leaving the park, I stopped at Lora's Blind. As usual, it was busy with sparrows, including a Field Sparrow that allowed several photos.
A Western Scrub Jay was busily looking for seeds.
An English couple already in the blind told me that they had seen a Wild Turkey just before I arrived. Five minutes later the bird re-appeared. It was the only Turkey I saw during our trip.
Back at the motel, Dee had been trying to evict a scorpion from our room, in case it stung Petra. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to trap it and so she had no choice but to kill it instead. A rather sad end to what was otherwise a great short trip.
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Saturday morning I did a little birding at the motel while Dee was getting ready.
Barn Swallows were flying in and out of nests along the building's walls.
More than a hundred Black Vultures streamed overhead as they left their roost on a nearby cellphone tower. Northern Mockingbirds, Northern Cardinals and Verdins were giving the day a noisy greeting, while the utility lines and the scrub below them had four types of Dove: Mourning, White-winged (below), Eurasian Collared and Inca.
A Lark Sparrow was having breakfast silhouetted against the moon.
Prickly pear cactuses were in bloom, as were coneflowers.
On the way to the state park, we did a quick drive around the city park in Junction. A male Vermilion Flycatcher was one of very few birds in view.
Our attention was captured by a black squirrel. That's certainly a species we don't see around Houston.
We reached the state park headquarters at 8:15, having had to stop along the entrance road to admire jackrabbits and deer.
The martin houses held a few Purple Martins in addition to many House Sparrows.
After registering, we were faced with the dilemma that faces all birders at the park: Do you go out on the trails and look for some of the rarer birds that inhabit the area, or do you sit in one of the blinds, where you are guaranteed to see a succession of beautiful (but predictable) birds coming to eat and/or bathe? As Dee and I are primarily birdwatchers rather than birders, we opted for the blinds.
We started at the Agarita Blind, hoping for some different species than those we had seen the previous day. As it turned out, we saw more of the same birds. Male and female Painted Buntings were very much in evidence. There were also plenty of Black-crested Titmice, Lark Sparrows and Field Sparrows.
Of course, there were also plenty of more common birds, such as House Finches and Northern Cardinals.
Since we weren't seeing a good variety of birds, we walked over to the Acorn Blind to see if that was attracting some more interesting birds. On the way we stopped to admire the singing of a male Painted Bunting on a treetop.
Before we even entered the Acorn Blind, we spotted a young Vermilion Flycatcher on a fence wire.
The blind gave us excellent views of Lark Sparrows.
A single Lesser Goldfinch appeared for a moment and then was gone. Surprisingly, it was the only one we saw on our trip.
There were male and female Painted Buntings galore.
More common birds included House Finches, Northern Cardinals, White-winged Doves and Common Cowbirds (female below).
A couple of Black-chinned Hummingbirds came in to bathe, while a Western Scrub-Jay scattered all the other birds as it flew in to feed.
Just when we were ready to take a break, there was a loud hammering on the wall of the blind. I went to check it out, hoping for a Golden-fronted Woodpecker. It was another (male) Ladder-backed Woodpecker.
When it saw me, it flew onto the fence surrounding the feeder area, where Dee was able to get a good look at it.
Late morning we headed back to Junction for an excellent brunch at Isaack's.
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