We got up before sunrise Sunday to go on our last field trip of the Ft Davis Hummingbird Celebration.

Sunrise outside Ft Davis, TX

We stopped at a roadside park before getting to our first birding destination.

Mary, Patti and Nancy V have some of the breakfast wraps prepared for us.

Nancy R gets her breakfast and joins us.

There was a nice wall and picnic table at the stop--and birds in the trees.

Our first birding stop was the home of the Floyds in a private community called the Davis Mountain Reserve, called by the locals, DMR. Their home has a porch on two sides with many bird feeders all around.

One side of the porch at the Floyd's house

Mr Floyd (center) and Steve (R) with other visiting birders

Mary spotted a colorful butterfly at the edge of the porch: an Arizona Sister.

The Arizona Sister butterfly visited one of the hummingbird feeders.

Mr Floyd told us about the special suet mix he cooked up in cheap iron skillets he purchased to hang on trees in the yard. This one attracted a Black-crested Titmouse and Ladderback Woodpecker.

Rufous Hummingbirds

White-breasted Nuthatch on suet cake

Black-crested Titmouse

Male Black-chinned Hummingbird (L) and male Rufous Hummingbird

Male Rufous Hummingbird

Juvenile Rufous Hummingbird (L), Broad-tailed Hummingbird (above) and Black-chinned Hummingbird (on feeder)--thanks to Carolyn Ohl, Christmas Mountains Oasis, TX, for IDs

Adult male Rufous Hummingbird

Black-headed Grosbeak (adult female or juvenile male)

Broad-tailed Hummingbird (upper L), possible Rufous (middle) and Calliope Hummingbirds (R)

Chipping Sparrow

Broad-tailed and Calliope Hummingbirds

Adult male Calliope Hummingbird

Adult male Calliope Hummingbird

Adult male Calliope Hummingbird

Adult male Calliope Hummingbird

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

I thought this might be what Sibley calls a drab adult female Hepatic Tanager, but Bill D thought it looked more like a Summer Tanager and I queried Steve C from the festival for his opinion.

SWC: Definitely a Summer Tanager, primarily because of the relatively gigantic bill. The Summer Tanagers there are the western subspecies cooperi, which has a noticeably larger bill than eastern Summer Tanagers. I would call the bird an adult female and she is in molt. So, she looks pretty ratty/worn. Female Hepatic would have a somewhat smaller and solid dark bill, and a darker auricular patch. Both species occur in those yards as it is an overlap zone at the elevational high end for Summer and low end for Hepatic. So, it can get confusing. Our house is in between the Eastmans and the Floyds and we have had both species nesting.

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

White-breasted Nuthatch getting a drink of water from a tub at the base of a tree

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Adult female or juvenile male Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird (above) and Black-chinned Hummingbird (below)

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Adult male Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Male Black-headed Grosbeak

At the end of our visit, Mr Floyd let us know he and his wife are selling their home.

From the Floyd's home, we drove a short distance to the Eastman's home in the same community. Steve is sitting in front of feeders there hoping to get a photo of a Rivioli's Hummingbird.

Patti, Nancy R and Nancy V sat nearby looking at another set of feeders.

Female or juvenile male Rufous Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Calliope Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Calliope Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Calliope Hummingbird

Trumpet-like flowers (Anisacanthus linearis)

Black-chinned Hummingbird at Anisacanthus linearis

Black-chinned Hummingbird at Anisacanthus linearis trumpet flower

Black-chinned Hummingbird at Anisacanthus linearis trumpet flower

Trumpet flowers (Anisacanthus linearis)

Rufous Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Ladderback Woodpecker

Ladderback Woodpecker

Mary sat near a feeder where a hybrid hummingbird was coming to feed.

Nancy V and Nancy R watching hummingbirds at the Eastman home

Acorn Woodpecker at a skillet of suet

When we got ready to leave, Nancy R asked us to take a photo of her with the Eastmans, whom she'd met at a previous Ft Davis festival.

Mary Anne, Nancy, Marc

After leaving the DMR, we returned to Ft Davis for a last lunch at "The Fort Davis Drug Store."

Ft Davis Drug Store where we ate some of our meals during the festival

The women's restroom had some sort of fancy fixtures, but no one took photos. These were the fixtures in the men's room.

Before checking out of our room, we took a few photos; this was our bathroom--quaint, but not so practical

There was a small table next to the bathroom sink that Mary noticed had a carved and painted top.

Our "living room"

Our hotel was a historical location.

Hotel Limpia, Ft Davis, TX

Mary and I stayed in an annex of the the hotel called Orchard House.

Orchard House annex of Hotel Limpia

There was a bistro across the courtyard from the Hotel Limpia with an interesting planter outside.

View of the backside of the Hotel Limpia from the courtyard

Hotel Limpia, courtyard and the bistro to the right

Hotel Limpia courtyard

Shady corner in the Hotel Limpia courtyard with a sign welcoming birders

Rockers on the back porch of Hotel Limpia

We decided to stop by the Christmas Mountains Oasis, a birding hotspot south of Ft Davis that we missed visiting during the festival. As we approached the turn-off from the main road, Mary and I noticed this Pyrrhuloxia sitting in the shade of a power pole.

After following a rough gravel road with several steep sections and sharp turns, we arrived at the Christmas Mountains Oasis; it had a couple of big reservoirs that were far from full.

A ridge above Christmas Mountains Oasis

The temperature was well above 100 degrees, but there was a shaded observation area and Nancy V took advantage of it.

Several coveys of Scaled Quail came to feed on the grain falling to the ground under a hanging feeder.

Black and yellow Short-winged Lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera

Male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Lucifer Hummingbird

Blue-winged Teal at one of the partially-filled reservoirs

Blue-winged Teal

Blue-winged Teal

Back side of Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Male Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Flame Skimmer dragonfly

Lucifer Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Lucifer Hummingbird

Female or juvenile Lucifer Hummingbird?

Adult female Black-chinned Hummingbird

Flame Skimmer dragonfly

Juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Scaled Quail

Scaled Quail

Adult Scaled Quail

Juvenile Scaled Quail

Adult Scaled Quail with its brood

Adult and juvenile Scaled Quail

Scaled Quail

Scaled Quail

Adult Scaled Quail

Scaled Quail

White-winged Dove

Canyon Towhee

Juvenile Black-chinned or Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Adult male Varied Bunting at a feeder

Female Blue Grosbeak

Female Blue Grosbeak

Varied Bunting

Curve-billed Thrasher

Curve-billed Thrasher

Male Blue Grosbeak

Male Blue Grosbeak

Female House Finch

Curve-billed Thrasher

Curve-billed Thrasher

Adult Black-throated Sparrow

Adult Black-throated Sparrow

Profile of adult Black-throated Sparrow

Adult Black-throated Sparrow

Adult Black-throated Sparrow
A pad for perching was mounted on the bottom of the seed bucket; it looked like a piece of re-usable air filter material.

Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Male House Finch with new feathers coming in?

Curve-billed Thrasher

Female Roseate Skimmer

Cassin's Kingbird

Landscape around Christmas Mountains Oasis: we were too focused on the twisty gravel road coming in to see much of the scenery, so we took some photos on our way out.

Big sky around Christmas Mountains Oasis, far west Texas

Far southwest Texas landscape

Land and sky

Nancy V's CRV on the road ahead of us as we leave Christmas Mountains Oasis

Leaving Christmas Mountains Oasis, TX

Living in a dome, we're always interested in seeing what other domes look like.

Dome homes north of Christmas Mountains Oasis

Dome homes north of Christmas Mountains Oasis

A break in the mountains as we approach Terlingua, TX--I'm sure it has a name

We arrived at our B&B in Terlingua to find a silver brontosaurus guarding the area behind the house.

There were several whimsical sculptures around the grounds of the B&B; here a scorpion and snake (in the back R) made from wire and stones.

The view east from the front of our B&B in Terlingua, TX

Interior living area of our B&B; we enjoyed playing vinyl on the turntable

Mary in the kitchen with the sleeping area to the upper right

Interior of our well-appointed B&B

Log planter

This horny toad was about three feet long.

Front view of our duplex B&B; Nancy, Nancy and Patti stayed on the left and Mary and I were on the right

We had separate shower rooms between the living areas; in the 100+ degrees heat, ours was more like a sauna, even with a big built-in fan

Walking Stick insect, Order Phasmatodea

Walking Stick

Steve relaxing at the end of the day in one of the chairs available in front of the B&B

Mary relaxing with the eastern landscape in the sunset light behind her, at our B&B outside Terlingua, TX