Colima Warbler the rarest breeding warbler in the USA – Boot Spring Canyon, Big Bend

Today was dedicated to birding in the Chisos Mountains, looking for a handful of scarce, high elevation, species including the rarest breeding warbler in the USA – Colima Warbler. The highest point in the range is Emory Peak at 7,825 ft and the Pinnacle trail, which we took, takes you over 6,000ft. In total we did 20 kilometres, leaving at 07.30 and arriving back at base camp ten hours later. Fortunately the weather was cloudy and relatively cool – ideal for day-long birding. We had heard stories of people setting off at  3.00am to avoid the worst of the mid-day sun, but leaving in day-light meant we could bird all the way up the mountain. Without realising it we’d already passed through one of the best areas for the warbler by the time we reached the rim of the plateau. We carried on to Boot Spring Canyon, another favoured location and, after a couple of hours fruitless searching, managed to located a single bird foraging in the canopy of a large Oak tree at the head of the canyon. This sighting made all the hard work of a long, and at times, difficult ascent all worth while. On our way down we again passed through the current favoured area and had more great views.

Amongst the many goods birds we saw was this Blue-throated Hummingbird