Golden Cheeks and Black Caps

We headed out to Lost Maples State Natural Area on a clear and sunny weekday.  We've been to this park many times and have tent camped and RV camped here.

Lost Maples is known for its stand of Uvalde Bigtooth Maples that are relics from the last ice age.  During the Fall (October - November) the maple leaves turn into their beautiful fall colors.  If you’re from Vermont this is old hat to you but here in Texas, it’s a rare sight. 

We always stop at this bridge to look for 

Kingfishers and other birds.

Lost Maples is 2,200 acres on the upper Sabinal River.  It’s designated a Natural Area, rather than a State Park, which means the primary focus is the maintenance and protection of the property’s natural state.

Our goal today was to get in a little hiking and some bird watching.

Planning our hike.

We planned to walk about 3 miles and headed out.

There are plenty of places to stop and quietly listen for birds.

Lost Maples is also known for its birds.  Particularly the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler and Black-capped Vireo.  This is the time of year that they start arriving.  We were lucky enough to see them both!

The male Golden-cheeked Warblers are claiming territories and singing their little hearts out.

Golden-cheeked Warbler

Golden-cheeked Warbler

This one stopped singing long enough to enjoy a delicious caterpillar. Gotta' keep up your strength!

Golden-cheeked Warbler

The Black-capped Vireos were not as vocal, and are rarer overall, so we were surprised to see a pair feeding right next to the trail. 

Black-capped Vireo

Black-capped Vireo

We had more hiking to do and more creeks to cross.

Even though the Golden-cheeked Warbler and the Black-capped Vireo are the stars of the park, we still looked at other great birds and a few butterflies. A large Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was feeding on the flowers of a Texas Redbud tree. These are the first trees to flower in the spring.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

At the other end of the "colorful" scale, this well camouflaged Little Wood-Satyr was doing a nice job of blending with the leaves. 

 Little Wood-Satyr

There is a Red-tailed Hawk nest up on a cliff that has been there as long as we can remember. It is a huge mound of sticks under a limestone overhang and is apparently a great place to raise babies! If you click on this picture (to make it larger) and look real close you may be able to make out a hawk standing on the nest.

Red-tailed Hawk on nest

Here is one of the couple being more cooperative. 

Red-tailed Hawk

We saw a big blue bird and a smaller Bluebird. How you spell these is important!

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Eastern Bluebird

This is definitely the Texas Hill Country.

We had a wonderful, relaxing hike.

See you later!!