Franklin Mountain State Park turned out to be another great birding location in west Texas.There are multiple entrances to the park and we did some hiking on the trails located near the
Tom Mays entrance. There is an easy trail (good for small kiddos) that just happens to have a bird blind located near a water source and several bird feeders. Here are some of the birds I stumbled upon.
The Cactus Wren was one of my favorite "desert" birds to see.
 |
| Cactus Wren (lifer) |
 |
| Curve-billed Thrasher (lifer) |
I saw a good number of House Finches but the one stood out from the rest. The other male House Finches had a reddish/pinkish hue while this one was a vibrant orange. I've read there is an "orange variant" House Finch, which I believe this was. The color difference is typically cause by diet.
 |
| House Finch (Orange variant?) |
 |
| House Finch |
 |
| White-crowned Sparrow (lifer) |
 |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
 |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
 |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
 |
| Rufous-crowned Sparrow? |
 |
| White-winged Dove |
This fellow and I seemed to be in sync with our feeling that it was gonna be a good day!
